Home > Consumer Reviews > D-Link USB Video Capture Device

I'm a student filmmaker and received the D-Link capture device as a gift. I'm running the the device on Windows 2000 Professional and have had no problems with it. It works great with both RCA plugs and S-Video. My biggest problem has been with my computer equipment -- if your PC cannot keep up with the video transfer, you will lose a number of frames during the transfer. However, with a Pentium II 366MHz and 128MB RAM I haven't noticed any major degradation in the video quality.

My biggest frustration with the device is that it only captures up to a maximum size of 352x288 -- a limitation that you will not learn until after you've opened the box (I gave it 3 stars for not making that fact more clear). This limitation probably won't be a problem for most, but it's definitely something to keep in mind if you plan to transfer captured video to CD or DVD.

It's probably obvious, but worth mentioning just in case: this is only a capture device. If you plan to export movies back to a camcorder or VCR you'll need higher end equipment that supports this. Also, unlike some of the Dazzle products, the D-Link capture device does not capture audio. You'll need to run audio directly from your camera into your PC's line-in jack.

If you want a simple capture device for things like using your camcorder as a webcam (assuming it doesn't have an auto shut-off) or capturing video to edit and send to family and friends, then this should be sufficient for you.

If you are an independent filmmaker, professional videographer or plan to export your videos for viewing on a television then fork out the extra cash and get something that won't limit you. If you want to go all out, and your camera supports it, I would recommend following the route I'm taking and pay the extra money to get a DV (digital video) bridge to upload and download video.

I had ordered this particular device because I wanted to be able to convert home movies to my computer in the mpeg format. As I had read above in another review it said there was no sound but there is sound-you just need a cable that plugs into your soundcard. The quality it puts out is about what you expect for the price. Decent. If you are planning on making quality home movies for CD I would invest a little more money. However if you just want to make decent quality video clips for emailing or sharing with your friends, then this is a nice toy.

Be advised that this will not work on Windows XP and the D-Link website is less than helpfull for support on this. Although, I was able to make this work on my other PC which is a Windows(ME) machine, without any problems. If you are looking for a cheap and easy way to capture video this is it.

I wish I could rate this product on the performance, unfortunately I never made it that far. It is not compatible with Windows ME or Windows 2000.

Your video will have sound, if you know what you are doing. I went to Target and got a GE AV92602 "Y" adaptor cable. I connected to my sound card in the microphone port. I test it with Windows Media Encoder. It worked perfectly.