Why are Elgato video capture cards disliked?
 

I have heard/read on here that the Elgato Video Capture device is generally disliked, called the "Elcrappo". I would like to know some specifics/details about this. What are the problems with it that have given it this reputation?

Two huge reasons:

(1) Elgato only really works with it's own lousy software, which converts to an overly compressed mess, zero quality to be had. No VirtualDub, no lossless, no options.

(2) Elgato screws with the values (brightness/gain, contrast/setup, color/chroma, etc), and it is generally overexposed with wonky colors. It's not true to the quality video signal on the tape, but is more like "the telephone" game, where the values are all far removed from the source.

Elgato makes many great items, such as the Wave:3 mic. But their video capture cards are garbage, and earned the nickname "Elcrapo".

I have been able to capture with it using VirtualDub. It hasn't crashed, but everything ends up chipmunk-sounding, and I got better results using the software that came with it, even though it's compressed. I wasn't sure if this was because of my computer (Windows 10) or the Elgato, or something else.

Well, no, you haven't been able to capture with it. Sure, you can hear or see something, but it generally doesn't actually work.

Even people with low/no standards know how awful Elgato and Easycap cards are. It's that infamous.

Is the Elgato the reason for the chipmunk problem with VirtualDub?

Well in my experience they are usually very expensive and also require a high perfomance pc to be used.

I believe they throw away 1 of 2 fields or blend them and you are kind of stuck with their compression algorithm. I will admit that the result is viewable and takes up almost no space (something like 2GB per hour) and it is super easy to actually use. If you are after quality and have a decently specced PC, have a lot of hard drive space, and are willing to do some more steps, you'd get better results with a variety of other things.

I'd have no hesitation about recommending it to the average tech-illiterate person to use it to convert their home movies for personal use that'll probably only ever be rewatched once or twice though. I think that was their target audience all along.

Out of interest I looked up Amazon's own (US) page on this item. Out of 9834 global buyer ratings, 74% gave the Elgato the top 5 star rating, 5% gave it 3 stars and 7% 1 star.


When we take into account that for many the cost of paying a business to digitise their home movies will be out of the question, that they may not have the skill or money to do it themselves to a high level, and that they often have no other way to view their tapes, so seeing and hearing them even at reduced resolution is a big deal for them, perhaps the overall positive buyer ratings figures begin to make sense.

Like you I'm not saying that by my standards it's a great product (I havent used it) but these are the main buyer ratings stats for what they're worth. Scroll down to the customer ratings section.


https://www.amazon.com/Elgato-Video-...s%2C511&sr=8-5