(my opinon)
Hauppauge is kind of low-end Win10
AverMedia C029 USB is higher-end and about the most current you can get good drivers
Both still import from Asia, Hauppauge from China, AverMedia from Taiwan
Hauppauge makes a good pass translating and documenting their products.. but sometimes the hardware or drivers lag in performance or stability. They are based in the US however and their website is somewhat easy to navigate. Just keep in mind I would say they are less desirable than AverMedia products.
AverMedia is completely based out of Taiwan, and makes a premium product, but also charges a premium price.. for good hardware. The translation and documentation however has always been less satisfactory. But they do also offer Software Development Kits for several products if you need that sort of thing.
Today, if you must buy brand new Hauppauge or AverMedia are the only real choices for SD resolution video.
Blackmagic, Magewell, Epiphan have all moved on to SDI and HD or higher resolution video and never really played in the SD space well.. they are also much more expensive and their legacy SD stuff is not well documented or supported. Its just a market they were never in very long or interested in today. Mostly I think they considered it "Security Camera" type stuff. They are also very expensive.. even used.. this is one time where expensive does not get you a better product.
The best products for SD capture are the old ATI AGP cards, like the 9600 with the special connectors. The less risky cards are the 9000 or 9800 which do not require the special connectors, but those are quite rare and appropriately priced even on some auction sites. But you do have to run XP to use them.
ATI did make some 9600 PCIe cards, and some Theater 200 cards.. but in my opinion only the ATI 600 pro or one of the ultra rare PCIe 9600 cards is worth the time.
Turning to USB2.0 there are some good choices, for XP and Windows 7
But for W10, really only the ATI600, and only with early W10, like 2015 thru 2018
Today W10, USB the Hauppauge LiveUSB2 is (okay).. but I prefer the C029 Ezmaker.. but expect a price point above that for the USBLive2.. as much as double the price
W10 is in a downwards spiral, due to the walled garden effect, Hauppauge and AverMedia are continuing to chase it.. but maintaining all the certs and approvals from Microsoft is becoming increasingly difficult.
It won't be long before you simply won't be able to use a PC to capture video.. it will be legacy gear and legacy OS.. or nothing.
PS: Diamond makes the VC500, different models for the Mac and PC, but stability is scatter shot depending on which model you actually get inside very similar looking external plastic cases.. they can be (okay) or maddeningly frustrating. Basically however they are a dirt cheap Dash Cam or Security Cam quality capture dongle.
If you just want simplicity.. I'd stick with the C029 from AverMedia.. but (do not) use the driver disk that comes with it, except for the capture software.. if you use that.. most would probably use
VirtualDub 1.9.11
AverMedia constantly updates their device drivers for Windows 10, and it shows.
Windows 10 changes every single year, just about everything kernel, architectures, services.. its a whole different operating system every year, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and so on.
If your keeping Windows 10 up to date it uninstalls and installs the next Generation of Windows 10 pretty much in the Spring of each year whether you want it or not.. or are aware of it or not.. so you need the device drivers (for that year). Odds are the driver disk that comes in the box are for the previous Windows 10 (year) and may install, or fail to install.. but won't work. You need the device drivers for your Windows 10 (year).
Simply double check your Windows 10 (year) from the Properties page for your Computer and then go to the AverMedia site and download the Windows 10 (year) version device drivers.. and all will be good, slick custom installer and everything just works.
Not many hardware makers adapted to the the Windows 10 marketing (disinformation) and ignored it and simply released drivers per (the new) Windows 10 update model. Its breath taking for hardware to (just work) with Windows 10.
Only caveat is be aware when Microsoft overwrites your current version of Windows 10.. and update the device drivers accordingly. There might be an "outage" after the new Overwrite when AverMedia hasn't released updated drivers.
If your task is critical.. run a version of Windows Microsoft truly no longer supports (like XP or W7).. then it won't update and stop working.
ALSO: All is not (perfect) with AverMedia, the broken English translations.. and less understandable user guides.. can be frustrating. The AverMedia website (even the English version) can be very frustrating. Generally however, within
VirtualDub, everything works.. my experience with Asian products is they are aware people use VirtualDub, VLC and OBS.. and test their products with them rigorously.. some advertise they are VirtualDub, VLC and OBS compatible.
If your more inclined to have a native speaking and intuitive website site experience.. stick with Hauppauge.. to some degree they will hold your hand, and you can get some questions answered. (But) they also rely on Asia for driver updates, so pretty much any fixes (if any) will take longer than they might from Avermedia.. who might spontaneous release fixed updated drivers faster.
TO BE CLEAR: I would not recommend using Windows 10 for video capture.. its far too unstable and untrustworthy.. its maddeningly difficult with all its constant personal information transfers back to Microsoft corporate.. unplugging it from the internet won't stop it chattering. I run Windows 7 or 8.1 for most things, but 8.1 mostly because its still under some level of support until 2023. I run Windows 7 and XP for video capture.. for obvious reasons (no more Microsoft interference and better device driver support, wider capture hardware choices at cheaper prices).
