Getting the EasyCap USB 2.0 DC60 Audio/Video Capture Device working on Ubuntu 10.04

The EasyCap USB 2.0 DC60 is a quick answer for those of you who want a cheap solution to view/capture audio/video from their camcorders / DTH set-top boxes.

I  happened to have a DishTV Set-top box (with composite Audio/Video output) at my house and wanted to be able to watch and occasionally record some of the broadcasts, without having to shell out too much for that. My set-top box did all the tuning part, so I didn't need a TV Tuner. I just needed a capture card.

In my search for a PCI video capture card, I found that all I could get my hands on quick would be a TV Tuner with a Composite Video Capture port. Some quick checks with the local market and on ebay.in showed that good branded ones came for around Rs. 1,500. And that was not so cheap to make a quick decision.

If I was shelling out more than Rs. 1,200, I wanted to make sure that I got a good one - branded (something like Hauppauge/Pinnacle/Leadtek/PixelView/..., not any Frontech/Intex..). Another important factor was whether the device could be configured on my Ubuntu 10.04 system without much hassle.

I almost closed in on a few models on ebay, when the EasyCAP 2.0 USB caught my attention with a low price (Rs. 900). And a quick search in Google showed some positive results of compatibility with Ubuntu. I made quick reconsiderations. Expecting nothing hi-def from such a cheap device, and knowing that I could go in for a better one if this one failed, I decided to take the risk. I clicked.

The device reached on the fourth day of ordering. 

This is how I got it working on my Ubuntu 10.04:

1. Download the driver from here, and extract the files.
    
2. Run the following command at the terminal:
   sudo apt-get install build-essential mplayer
    
3. Next, go to the directory where you have extracted the tar file, and run the following command to install the driver:
   sudo ./install.sh
    
4. After the installation is over, check whether the kernel module was loaded successfully by issuing the following command:
   lsmod | grep easycap
    
5. Now plug in the USB device and check whether it has been detected, by issuing the following command:
   After the installation is over, check whether the kernel module was loaded successfully by issuing the following command:
   ls /dev/easy*

   If everything went right, you should see something like this:
   /dev/easycap0
/dev/easysnd1
    

6. Now that we have the device working, to make use of it, you could install any of the many view/capture applications in the Ubuntu repository.

   I found TVtime to be a simple lightweight viewer application. Install TVtime using:

   
   sudo apt-get install tvtime

   There you go. You have your capture device working for you. :-)

EasyCap USB 2.0 DC60

Specifications:

• USB 2.0

• Supports NTSC, PAL, Video format

• Video input: One RCA composite, One S-Video.

• Audio input : Stereo audio (RCA)mm

• Dimension (L)88mm x (W)28mm x (H)18mm

Price: around Rs. 900/-

Availability (in India): eBay.in, Zyxware (TVM)