Aside from that erroneous focus hunting, you now have my attention!
For the cost, the image quality, working distance and auto focus capabilities have put this unit at the top of my list. The limited field of view is a little bit of a concern, but for the most part I don't see it as a big factor in my decision (although I do realise that there will probably be a couple of times when I will grizzle about it).
Do let us know about any progress you have with regards to the capture problem. Understanding this is perhaps the single most concerning issue for me. I would hate to get the unit only to find I couldn't integrate it with other equipment and workflows.
Capturing HDMI?
I found a cheap no-name device a few months ago that does a really good job of capturing the full rIt seems to be made by esolution HDMI from my Canon digital camera and digitizing it to USB2 at a reasonable 30fps. . The output is very good. It cost around $20.Its a black metal dongle that just says HDMI video capture on it. its enumerating as a uvc video device made by MACROSILICON
usb 1-3.4.3: Manufacturer: MACROSILICON
hid-generic 0003:534D:2109.002E: hiddev0,hidraw4: USB HID v1.10 Device [MACROSILICON] on usb-0000:00:12.2-3.4.3/input4
media: Linux media interface: v0.10
videodev: Linux video capture interface: v2.00
uvcvideo: Found UVC 1.00 device <unnamed> (534d:2109)
usbcore: registered new interface driver uvcvideo
USB Video Class driver (1.1.1)