OXX USB capture device? (aka Dexetek, SilverCrest)

[Tea Monster]

I saw this on EBay and the case looked like it might be a re-badge of one of the ATI USB devices. I know the device was sold through Lidl or Aldi for a while in the 2010s for about 20.

It installs on Windows XP as a Dexetek Polaris Video Capture. It's also known as a SilverCrest.

Initially the capture looks OK when capturing in VirtualDub - I didn't bother installing any software apart from the drivers. It doesn't have the dark cast that the Tevion device I'm using has (tevion1x.jpg). Unfortunately, upon inspection, we have a few problems. The picture appears to be noisy (oxx1x.jpg). Upon a closer look, we have a few problems! I don't have the technical specs, but I wonder if the picture is captured at a lower res and interpolated upwards. It's truly awful and I would consider it unusable. For a closer look, in blender I zoomed in 2x size to get a better idea of detail (tevion2x.jpg/oxx2x.jpg). A mess!

This looks worse than your average generic EasyCap device. Avoid!

[lordsmurf]

Yes, sometimes cases can be deceiving. Externally, those may appear the same. Internally, not at all. Including the on-chip firmware/software you can visibly see. Not just capture cards, but TBCs and even VCRs. Every industry has some % of excess casing that was sold to lower-tier brands, manufacturers that cobble together their products from the leftover scraps of everybody else. You really have to watch for that, with anything you buy. Never assume "it looks the same, so it must be the same". Nope!

[Tea Monster]

Even with the same brand and make, manufacturers decide to replace expensive kit with cheaper variants and just don't say anything. It's not just video capture devices. This happened with the Blue Yeti microphone. YouTubers are finding that they are getting a vastly different product depending on what time the device they purchased was manufactured.

[vwestlife]

Crack it open and see what kind of chip(s) it uses.