Review

If you’re looking for a very cheap solution to maybe try out gameplay streaming without spending a whole lot, then the EasyCAP DC60 is probably the way to go. However, it’s a cheap product and with those come some hefty flaws. The good thing is that the main flaws in this product can be worked around fairly simply. The EasyCAP DC60 seems to be an “off-brand” product, as no brand or company was posted on the product’s packaging.

After doing some Googling, I ran across a couple of DC60 quality test videos on YouTube and thought that it would be decent for just getting things started. I purchased the DC60 off for $7. I was pleasantly surprised that something that cheap would even work, period. In the box comes the capture unit which has your standard yellow-white-red composite RCA jacks and an S-Video port, a 2ft. extension cable (which mine didn’t work at all), along with the instructions and the drivers disc which has Ulead VideoStudio on the disc (an old version, as the software is now called Corel VideoStudio).

While setting the card up to stream for the first time, I noticed that the audio was giving me a lot of problems. It sounds like there’s static interference which overpowers the sound itself. I did a little research and found out this is a common problem with the card because of the way they’re (cheaply) constructed. Not a huge problem, so I just bypassed the audio ports on the card and connected it to my laptop through the 3.5mm mic port.

The video quality is decent and only slightly below par with other higher-end composite capture devices. You may have to adjust the color to your liking, but for $7, the card is actually worth the money just to record a few clips or if you wanna stream your gameplay without a large investment. Keep in mind though, that if you’re using it for streaming, a lot of people will click away and watch something else because there are plenty of streams that are using high-quality devices such as the Hauppauge HD-PVR, which is a little easier on the eyes.

Another thing to keep in mind is that the card itself is prone to over-heating, so you may want to take off the black plastic casing and expose the hardware of the USB card. It’ll keep it a little cooler and make your $7 investment last a little longer while you get things started and maybe invest in something a little better.

Overall, the EasyCAP DC60 is not necessarily bad, but it’s also not good. If you keep your expectations within reason and do a little research to see what the quality of the card is, then you should be fine. $7 is a fair price for the product since it does require a little bit of working around the card’s shortcomings.



About the Author

Ryan Smith
At the age of 3, Ryan received an NES from a relative and the rest is history. Sneaking up past his bed time to play Ninja Gaiden or Super Mario Bros was a common practice for him, and often caught too. Wasting his youth away on the SNES or Genesis, slamming controllers, and wishing death upon his video game foes. Many a nights Ryan stayed awake to defeat that final boss. There was nothing more rewarding. As the PlayStation and N64 came around, his love for video games increased until it inevitably became one of his passions. Now days, much of his free time is consumed by playing on Xbox Live with friends. Here on The Game Fanatics as the Reviews Editor, Ryan gets to share his passion of videos games with all of you! There's nothing more rewarding than that. /win
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