Startech USB2 HD PVR Review

This is Startech’s USB2 HDMI Capture device, and it’s pretty good. To summarize this quickly before we go all in here, it has a good set of inputs for game console recording, and has relatively decent software you will pretty much have to use for it. Now, lets get into it!
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The HD PVR from Startech comes with a good I/O, HDMI in and out, which I’m told can record PS3/4 gameplay (although will not work with DHCP content). It has RGB component video in and out (those old round connects that use coax cables), and component left and right audio in and out, but for some strange reason, they decided to throw in S-Video in and out too… Not too sure why, buy hey – it’s there if you ever (never…) need it!

Both sides have identical ports, which allow for all media to be passed though without issue. I wasn’t able to try using multiple ports at the same time to see if that would be a problem (since I just don’t have anything that could use RGB component ports, or S-Video for that matter) – so I can’t verify that, but I assume it would work fine. I can, however, verify that the HDMI pass through works, as we have been on and off using this for screen captures of external devices such as our Windows 10 coverage, and worked fine for the occasional Xbox 360 game capture I did.

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The device uses USB2, which at first I thought would be a problem. But thanks to it’s built in H.264 encoder (part of the reason the lag on the footage is so long), it really isn’t an issue. The device doesn’t even need external power – something it’s Hauppauge HD PVR2 competitor requires.Startech USB2 HD PVR Review.00_00_40_19.Still005

On the bottom, you’ll find four rubber feet which are pretty decent at keeping the device stable, although thanks to it being very light, it does rather easily move if pulled even slightly.

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Finally, before we move onto the software side of things, I wanted to mention the two LEDs on the device, one (shown above) lights up when the device is connected to show it has power. The second, which is in the same place as the one shown, except on the other end of the device, lights up when it has an active video feed in, such as an Xbox or Camera. This is nice as it is easy to diagnose problems between your capture PC, the device you want to record and this thing!Startech USB2 HD PVR Review.00_02_45_03.Still007

Onto software. After you download the USB drivers for this, you’ll pretty much need to download the Vivastation software on Startech’s website too. Once installed, plug in your device you want to capture (and the HD PVR) and open the application. The first thing you will see is a live feed from which ever input it auto selects, I assume it would start on HDMI. If you move your mouse towards the bottom of the window, you’ll find the kind of activities bar that appears – this is where you will do pretty much everything in the application. From left to right we have a record button, snapshot button, display ratio (Free, 4:3 or 16:9) button, volume down, up and mute buttons, playback button, scheduled record menu, input changer button and setup (settings) button.  Startech USB2 HD PVR Review.00_05_19_15.Still008Finally, I want to mention the settings menu. It has some interesting features like a sleep timer which can do a number of things after inactivity for a set time, and of course you can change where videos and pictures are stored, and the bitrate recorded at – but there is this strange Marquee tool, which as you can see by my face.. Well that should tell you all you need to know here.

To round up, this does not let you use this as a video capture source in Xsplit or OBS, so you have to do a window capture and have the program open and running for that to work. It has some interesting features and is good for basic applications, and seems to be stable with little bugs, but its lack of newer ports (such as display port for computers) or even just multiple HDMI in means in my eyes is doesn’t justify its near £200 RRP. For me, this isn’t overly worth the cost – but if it suits your needs, by all means go for it and let us know what you think of it!

 

Round Up
  • Value For Money
  • Performance
  • Functionality
  • Style
  • TechteamGB Score
3.8

Overall

Not a bad device, but the software could use some updates!

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