Video capture devices have always been quite expensive, and suddenly on Aliexpress there appeared small trinkets at ridiculous prices, which are simply called "HDMI to USB 2.0 adapter".
I bought such a toy and it suddenly turned out to be better than one might think.
The body of the device is metal, complete with a box without a brand name and an instruction in English, which is of little use.
At the end there is a standard "big" HDMI.
The device "pretends" to be a regular webcam, so it doesn't need drivers and works with any video capture software both on a computer and on a smartphone (this can be useful for organizing video broadcasts from a good camera using smartphone).
At the input, the device supports resolutions up to 4K, but transmits a stream to a computer / smartphone up to 1920x1080 30 frames per second. Audio is captured along with the video.
Since the device works via USB 2.0, the average bit rate is around 160 Mbps (20 Mbps). There are two encoding modes - MJPEG and YUY2. In the first mode, the device always transmits 30 frames per second, in the second 5-30 frames per second. Here is a complete list of modes.
At first I tried using VLC for capturing, but the bitrate was only 5 fps in FullHD mode. I was already upset, but I tried another program - Debut, and it turned out that for some reason VLC only captured in YUY2, and 30 fps works fine.
When capturing a video, the picture looks great, the delay is about 0.5 seconds (it is unlikely that you will be able to play on the console through this thing).
When capturing a screen from a laptop, it becomes clear that the real capture resolution is lower than FullHD. On the left is a fragment of a screenshot of the screen, on the right - a fragment of a captured frame.
At high magnification, grip defects and compression artifacts are clearly visible, and in both modes. On the left is the original, in the center is MJPEG, on the right is YUY2. Doubled in size. Note that although the picture is "cleaner" in YUY2, the vertical stripes are lost and the color has changed.
However, although it does not look very nice at high magnification on small characters, when capturing real video, the defects are almost invisible. I bought this device in order to take screenshots and videos from the screens of DVRs and set-top boxes for reviews and these captured images look great.
I bought a device here. It now costs $ 8.51 with fast free shipping.
Although this device cannot capture full HD picture point-to-point, in many cases the picture quality it provides is sufficient. A separate huge plus is compatibility with any video capture software and work with both a computer and a smartphone.
© 2020, Alexey Nadezhin
The main topic of my blog is technology in human life. I write reviews, share experiences, talk about all sorts of interesting things. My second project - lamptest.ru. I test LED bulbs and help figure out which ones are good and which are not so good.