FPV-Community Reviews

Today, we will review the “EasyCAP” USB2.0 capturing device with audio. It’s a nice little capture device that will result in high quality captures with a live preview on screen, and no lag. I’ve used the EasyCAP with my laptop as my only display for a number of flights with no problems. If you’re looking for a cheap easy way to use your laptop to capture your flights at the field, and maybe need an extra display for onlookers to watch, read on…

The EasyCAP will come in a typical “blister pack”. The front of the package boasts that the device is compatible with Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Vista. I have personally used it with Windows XP Professional, and Windows Vista Home Premium, both 32-bit.  The back of the package is full of other details and specs, I’ll copy some of the important ones here:

Features:

• USB2.0
• Supports PAL and NTSC
• Composite and S-Video inputs
• Stereo audio input (RCA Jacks)
• Dimensions are (L)88mm, (W)28mm, (H)18mm
• No external power (powered by USB bus)
• NTSC Resolution is 720×480 @ 30FPS
• PAL Resolution is 720×576 @ 25FPS

System Requirements are as follows:

• Compliant USB2.0 port
• Microsoft Windows 2000, XP or Vista
• Pentium3 800MHz CPU or better
• 256MB of RAM
• 4GB free HD space

I haven’t used it on a machine towards the lower end of those specs, so I can’t say how well it will work, but I can say that it’s flawless on my laptop, with XP and Vista using a dual-core Athlon64 CPU and 4GB of RAM.

Here’s what the package looks like, and all the contents…

Inside you’ll find the EasyCAP, a Quick Installation Guide, and a CD containing drivers and software. Also included is a USB extension cable which is nice, so you don’t have the device hanging out of a USB port which can easily be knocked loose or broken. It’s only about two feet long, so you don’t end up with a long cable laying around cluttering things up either.

Pros:

• Price! These things are CHEAP for what they do. You can find them for less than $10 with free shipping on eBay! (word of caution, make sure you get the right one, there’s the one I reviewed here, as well as another version with 4 video inputs and no audio input for security camera applications)
• Small and easy to throw in with the rest of your gear.
• No external power needed, power it with your notebook for a completely portable setup.
• Good performance. The recordings are great! It’ll record in better quality than the average FPV camera can produce.
• Decent video editing software included.

Cons:

• Maybe a bit of a headache setting everything up for someone that doesn’t enjoy tinkering with computers and software.
• You will probably get better recordings using a MiniDV camera, provided you’ve got a high end camera to feed into it.
• Most of the sellers with the best prices on eBay are in Hong Kong, which means a longer wait for shipping. (worth it for the price though I think)
• I’ve seen a couple of reports about problems using the EasyCAP with Vista, though I can’t confirm them, it worked for me.

It’s also interesting to note that the EasyCAP will work with pretty much any software that will recognize a webcam, so I’m sure you can think of plenty of uses besides FPV. You could use your high quality video camera as a webcam, or set it up as a security camera with motion detection on the video, etc. Got a bunch of VHS tapes you want to capture and burn to DVD, hook up your VCR and get busy! The list goes on and on. Not bad for a $10 purchase is it?

In closing, if you’ve got a laptop you’d like to use for viewing/recording your FPV flights in the field, and don’t want to spend lots of money, by all means consider the EasyCAP. It will not disappoint!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 15th, 2009 at 11:55 am and is filed under Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.