With TV technology continually improving, it becomes increasingly difficult to play your old games. Many modern TVs simply don’t have the old RF or composite inputs anymore. While I still have a TV or two that does, I had no way of capturing that footage onto my computer.
After trying to use the composite functionality built into the Elgato Game Capture HD (which didn’t work for me initially), I stumbled across the option of converting a composite AV signal to HDMI. The marketplace is filled with no-name products that range wildly in price and performance, so getting one that was a right mix of both proved difficult. Eventually, I decided to go with the enKo Products AV to HDMI Converter. This proved to be a mistake.
Setting up the device was straightforward enough, as you simply plug in the signal and power cables to each end and you’re good. However, once I turned on my consoles, I was mightily disappointed.
On black screens, a thick gray line of pixels ran down the middle. Image artifacting is a big problem with this device as the picture, particularly on the Super Nintendo, was constantly distorted. I tried it with multiple Super Nintendo consoles and AV cables and got the same result. The picture was messed up and the video would cut out every few seconds. I also tried it with my Wii and it worked a bit better. The picture looked as it should, but the signal would still cut out.
Maybe a replacement unit would have done the trick, but I’m not in the market for that anymore. My experience with the enKo Products AV to HDMI Converter was awful and I won’t ever use any of their products again. On top of that, I was able to figure out how to stream retro consoles with my Elgato Game Capture HD, so I don’t need this product anymore. I’ve already returned this product and won’t look back.
In Third Person 