In this post I will go over a handful of S-Video and Composite capture devices that I tried when I was in the market for one, and which one I found to be the highest quality as well as which is the best bang for your buck.

My goal was to capture S-Video from my various retro consoles, so that’s the metric this will be based on. I tried a total of 5 different USB capture devices, with a price range of $9 to $60. All of these have S-Video and Composite inputs.

All test pictures are from the 240p Test Suite running on a stock, recapped Genesis Model 1. Since it is not modded, there are some “jailbars”, a kind of video interference, in the source video. I decided to not use a modded console to as to see how well the various capture cards handle imperfect video. I think it is a more faithful comparison.

Highest Quality: I-O DATA GV-USB2

GV-USB2

Price: $60-$120

This is the listing I purchased mine from. It was cheaper than buying from a US seller, so be aware that the price will be higher from a US seller.

This one was recommended to me by a fellow CRT enthusiast and community member, kitty666cats/Mike Lindquist, and it turned out to be the highest quality picture of the ones I tested.

Color Bars 240p Girl 240p Sonic

I used these specific settings in OBS as they were the best settings IMO.

Settings

While I say this is the best quality capture card, I did find the colors to be a little less saturated than I would like, and the input latency is higher than I would like. I also had to make these adjustments in OBS for it to look right. But for the purpose of capturing quality footage, this is the one I will be using.

Best Bang For Your Buck: HDSUNWSTD USB 2.0 AV/RCA Composite and S-Video Capture Card

HDSUNWSTD

Price: ~$11

I got mine from Amazon, but there are various places you can get this one, just look for this particular case shape and design as the name will be something different depending where you get it.

Color Bars 240p Girl 240p Sonic

The reason I say this is the best bang for your buck is that out of all the one I tested, this one had the 2nd highest quality capture, decent input latency, and is only a few bucks more than the cheapest ones I tested. I personally find the color saturation to be nicer than the GV-USB2, but it does come at the cost of more “jailbars” than the GV-USB2.

Others I Tested

I’ll show the other ones I tested, in order of highest to lowest quality, so you can see how much variance there is with these cheap capture devices. I do not recommend these unless you for some reason like the way they look.

1. Tihokile USB VHS to Digital Converter for RCA to USB-Convert

Tihokile

Price: ~$13

I got this from Amazon, and it’s not too bad. I’d say it’s the best of the worst (of the ones I tested). It definitely has noticeable jailbars.

Color Bars 240p Girl 240p Sonic

I did have some issues with it needing to be plugged into the back USB ports of my computer, it kept resetting when plugged into the front ports, but that’s probably just my computer.

2. Nsendato USB 2.0 Type C AV S Video Capture Card Adapter

Nsendato

Price: ~$7

This one comes from AliExpress. It’s pretty close to the Tihokile, with just slightly more jailbars being visible.

Color Bars 240p Girl 240p Sonic

3. TCNEWCL USB Audio Video Converter

TCNEWCL

Price: ~$10

This one is truly awful and I do not recommend it at all. I only captured the color bars and then promptly started the return process.

Color Bars

Anb that’s all the ones I tested! I hope you find this helpful, and if you’re looking for a very high quality Composite to S-Video converter, made specifically for retro gaming, check out the one I have made. I’m really proud of how well it came out.


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