EZCap HD Capture Device Review

Let me start this review with the obvious suggestion to the company that makes this. Please, rename this product. Instead of a name, you gave it a description. I don't go to the store and ask for those "round, orange, citrus fruits with the red center." I ask for Ruby Red grape fruits.

I should also put in a disclaimer somewhere, so I'll put it at the beginning. I cannot say with 100% certainty that I have a genuine device. I bought it off of New Egg, and the seller claimed to be in New Jersey. Instead, the seller was in China, and using the name of an energy provider (solar and wind). The box does not list the manufacturer's name, nor does the leaflet that comes with it.

To further complicate issues, EZCap is associated with AGPTek, as well as EZCap. The device that I received does NOT have the EZCap logo on it, which seems to suggest that it is the AGPTek version. Besides laptop batteries, their page, if you can get it to load, mentions walkie talkies and inspection cameras. If you scroll to the bottom of the page, you see that they also have a water proof MP3 player, some ac adapters, and some tablets. There is no mention of the capture device.

Granted, it is possible that they do some sort of contract work with EZCap, but as I said, there is no mention of the device. I only know that the device is associated with the company because I have seen it advertised at Amazon and eBay. I also can say that my version of the device is the AGPtek model, because I do not have the EZCap label on top.

Having gotten all of that out of the way, I will review the device that I have, whoever made it, legal or not (that was aimed at the company that I bought it from, as well as Newegg.com, not AGPTek). The device is good. If that's all you care about, go grab one and start making your own videos. If you want more details, here's a few.

The device is SMALL. If you have seen the remote for the Xbox One, stack about five or six together. That's roughly the size of this thing. It has an in put and output for HDMI cables, as well as the micro plug for the composite adapter (the same input type of most smart phones). The composite adaptor is included, by the way. The back also has a place to plug in the power supply, also included. The front of the unit has a USB port, the on button, and an in, an out, and a mic port. That's it.

The leaflet gives you virtually no useful information. It will tell you that mics require the 280M version, but doesn't let you know which you have. It says to check the bottom of the box, but there isn't a place that specifically says you have one or the other. Based on the serial number, I am guessing that I do not have the M, because there is no M in the serial number.

Supposedly, you can use either a USB 2.0 flash drive or an external hard drive. I did try a USB 3.0, 1T HDD, but the device did not recognize it. I did plug it into both my XB1, and my computer, so I know the HDD works. It may have just been too large for the device to recognize. Eventually, I will try an old HD that I have in an external case, to see if it helps. Eventually.

I can say that not all flash drives work equally well with this device. While testing this on three different games, I found that my PNY was slightly better than my Lexar. Both are USB 3.0, and have 32G of memory. The Lexar seemed to record fairly well, but would often drop frames, or give more audio glitches than the PNY. The Lexar would occasionally not kick in when I hit the record button. I would have to stop and restart a couple of times, or even take the drive out and pop it back in. Then, when it was time to transfer the files to my PC, the Lexar would take as much as six times longer to transfer. There's a bonus review for you. PNY over Lexar for flash drives.

As far as the quality went, the video on both my Xbox 360 and XB1 were a bit off. The 360 was much darker, forcing me to reset my graphics output. In my YouTube clip below, Defiance Game: Season 2 -  Until the Arc Rises, the graphics were so dark that I wasn't shooting directly at enemies. I was aiming just below the red indicators above their heads.

The opposite was true for the XB1. Thief is a game that is played in a very dark world. A big part of the game play is the ability to blow out candles and turn out lights, so you can sneak around better. There were moments where it seemed like my character was out during an over cast day. Granted, the capture is more accurate than what I saw, but it was still annoying at times. There were times that I felt like I was cheating during Thief, because I had so much light to work in.

The audio is great for the most part. You will see in the Defiance clip that there are audio glitches. I have watched game play from a few other people that used the 360 or PS3 to play, and noticed that they had video and / or audio glitches as well, no matter what they used to record their games with. The game does have a lot of lag, since it is an MMO that features lots of events, instead of just giving people quests.

The other game that I did 360 tests with was The Darkness II. While using the HDMI cable for input to the device, I had lots of video glitching. Once I replayed the same cut scene with the composite cables, the glitching went away. Again, there was little difference between the two flash drives.

The one thing that impressed me the most about the device's ability to capture was how smoothly cuts were made. Clips are only about 5 minutes, 22 seconds on the 360, and 16 minutes and 32 seconds on the  XB1, give or take a couple of seconds. For the longer clips, such as the two I have posted below for this review, I inserted a comment where each clip was joined to another. I expected the clips to have a brief pause, hiccup, or flicker in between. Instead, the clips were all smooth and pretty. If I didn't place the annotations at the seams, I wouldn't have known where they were when I watched the finished clips.

It should be noted that I did not attempt to use composites for the output. Output is strictly HDMI, so I couldn't have tried it if I wanted to. I'll also add that there is not an input for the yellow composite cable on the adapter. I have no idea if this makes a difference or not, since I pretty much just use my TV for gaming, and watching the occasional TV show, such as Arrow.

Speaking of TV, I should point out that part of the sales pitch, as well as the leaflet, tells people that they can capture DVD and Blu-Ray movies with the device. They also add that you shouldn't, because it's illegal. I considered testing the XB1 TV app with the device, to see if I could capture TV or an old, public domain movie from a DVD. I chose not to, because I'm reviewing this for gaming purposes. There are also so many ways to pirate a DVD or Blu-Ray that would be easier. *LEGAL DISCLAIMER* Please don't pirate movies or TV shows. Please?

I was asked via a YouTube comment about the mic. AS I said, only the M model can record HDMI input games with a mic. The model I have can only do this with a composite. I did think of buying a cheap mic to test the device, but I couldn't find one locally. I attempted to use my SRS universal headphones, but the mic cord was so short that I couldn't move far from my computer.

To power the headphones, I had to plug the USB into my computer, on the other side of the room, with my EZCap in the middle of the room. If I would have paid more attention to the leaflet, I would have known that the mic wouldn't work with the XB1. I was not about to contort myself in the position that I had to be in to try again with the composites.

Before I sum things up, I should also add that the device comes with a free version of ArcSoft ShowBiz on a mini CD. The software does come with a registration code, which makes me think that AGPTek, or whoever packaged this, is legit. That still doesn't mean that I know who made it, however. The software will let you glue together the segments of your game, and add some nice annotations (captions) to it. It even claims that you can add voice overs, but without a mic....

You can, of course, add annotations for free at YouTube, but they do not show up on consoles, cell phones, or other mobile devices. Maybe it has something to do with bandwidth or load times. I don't know. I don't care. All I know is, it doesn't take ShowBiz any longer to process a clip with annotations added. It takes a little longer to add them, but not that much time.

So, is the device worth the $80 or so that they sell for? I am very satisfied with mine. I have even recommended it to others. It is not a perfect device, and I would like to be able to use HDMI input for the 360. However, the "higher quality" devices that some people insist on require you to have two things, that I don't want to buy just to play and record Xbox games.

The first thing is a computer with a high end graphics card. The EZCap uses a USB to record everything, so you don't even need to own a computer. If you have something that plays MPEG-4, you're fine. Of course, you may have to update your drivers, as I did. Big deal. And the free Q Time that I have is pretty choppy when playing them, but that's Apple's fault, not EZCap's.

The second thing you need is a smart TV. The more expensive, high end capture devices force you to use a TV's USB port, instead of an HDMI or composite cable. I am not about to buy a new TV, just to buy a more expensive computer and capture device. The video quality that I've seen really isn't that much different. It's just that while you play, the 360 picture quality is a bit darker, and the XB1 is a bit lighter. Big deal.

So yes, if you are on a budget, or are just recording game play as a hobby (say for bragging rights and epic fails), get this device. The reviews from other people are roughly the same between the models that have "EZCAP" printed on them as this model, so just go for the best deal.

And one last thing, I originally wanted to use the Blurex capture device. I bought one at Amazon, and it didn't work. It had even less information packaged with it than the EZCap, and like AGPTek, there is no mention of the device on their web site. The Blurex did not work at all. I could watch my XB1 boot up, but once my dash board popped up, the device would die.

They did have an 800 number listed on their leaflet, but with really bad hours of operations. And since I was trying it out on a Friday night, I just decided to return it flat out. I received my EZCap on the same day, and didn't have a single problem with it, other than needed the composites for the 360.

*UPDATE*

I recently noticed that the ArcSoft ShowBiz program that came with my EZCap may have caused some, if not all, of the audio issues. I edited together a clip that was over an hour, and the finished product had audio glitches. The original clips did not.

I also forgot to mention that the device produces an MPEG-4 file that may require you to update you Quick Time player (or what ever you play MPEG-4 files with). The software only puts out files in MPG4. To tech gurus, this may mean something. To me, it's just a faster way to type the file extension's name.