Specific Capture Card Suggestion

[Reachground]

Dear YTtalk members!

I hope you fine people can help me with my request. It's quite specific so please read it all before you reply.

A few weeks ago I decided to buy AVerMedia's Live Gamer HD. Unfortunately it did not live up to my expectations and gave me nothing but trouble. I would appreciate if this thread does not turn into a discussion on how to fix it. That is something I'd be happy to talk about once all other options are ruled out. I will also add some of the problems at the bottom of this post FYI.

Here's what I would like the card to be able to handle:

• Record videogames from a PC to the same PC (HMDI/DVI - HDMI/DVI). Possibly to another PC if that solves all my other requests.
• Separate game audio from a single microphone (and Skype/Teamspeak/Mumble etc) without the need of additional software (for instance Virtual Audio Cable).
• Take the load of the computer by hardware compression. I have a 3TB hard drive (150MB/s write speed) so the compression does not have to be that advanced.

So far I've spent more than one full week trying to get the AVerMedia to work with the above specifications. Now I just want to move on and start recording games. I'm prepared to pay up to $500 for a card as long as it works as intended.

Looking forward to your suggestions!

//Reach

EDIT: I am well aware of the software solutions available. Even though they do a great job I'm only interested in hardware. Thank you.

***********************

For those of you interested in what trouble I ran into, here's a selection of the problems with that card. If you want to discuss it, please send me a private message and keep this thread open to suggestions about other solutions.

• The sound from the game does not synchronize with the video. It's ok at the beginning but if you record more than 15 minutes at a time it's really noticeable.
• The sound from the external audio does not synchronize with the sound from the game.
• The sound quality from the external audio is nothing more than a joke. Mp3 256kbs that sounds closer to 64kbps.
• If you have a usb soundcard you will not be able to listen to the game at the same time as you record since the card records the audio via HDMI. There are suggestions on the AVerMedia forums on how to solve it but it's not applicable in my case. The solution is to use Virtual Audio Cable which in turn adds lag.
• The output from the card produces a blurry image and it's not recommended to use at all.
• Live Gamer's video is limited at 20000kbps. That can be increased by editing a xml file which in turn voids your warranty.

These are the main issues that I, and many others, have with the AVerMedia Live Gamer HD. I recommend looking at AVerMedia's forum before buying this product.

 

[Unknown_User12]

• Record videogames from a PC to the same PC (HMDI/DVI - HDMI/DVI). Possibly to another PC if that solves all my other requests.

• 
  
  Why not just use software? PCs don't need capture cards..

 

[GoHan.]

• 
  
  Why not just use software? PCs don't need capture cards..

+ sometimes it's free

 

[Reachground]

I've tried software, got licenses for both Fraps and DXTory. At the moment I'd like to go for hardware to take the load of the CPU.

Thanks.

 

[Tarmack]

Was your performance that bad with FRAPS/DXTORY that you're thinking a full hardware solution is best? I mean, technically you are correct that hardware out is better, performancewise but most people who have the money to put towards capture cards also have a computer more than capable. If it's bad performance, maybe post your specs and how you go about recording, we may be able to sort it out.

Barring that, you did mention the ideal solution. HD Capture card outputting to a second PC. This is a common solution used when people get into more serious streaming as streaming 1080p high FPS degrades performance even on a great machine.

You then have one of two options relating to audio. If the capture card lets you specify audio inputs, you can record on your main machine. If not, or if you just want to keep everything separate you can use the secondary machine for both video capture and audio recording.

You're getting into high level professional territory trying to rig two computers together to pull this off though. Unless the computer is poor, it's hard for me to fathom a reason to go 1-2 capture cards over FRAPS. And even if the computer is slow... 1-2 capture cards in cost should net you some upgrades.

 

[Tarmack]

Was your performance that bad with FRAPS/DXTORY that you're thinking a full hardware solution is best? I mean, technically you are correct that hardware out is better, performancewise but most people who have the money to put towards capture cards also have a computer more than capable. If it's bad performance, maybe post your specs and how you go about recording, we may be able to sort it out.
Barring that, you did mention the ideal solution. HD Capture card outputting to a second PC. This is a common solution used when people get into more serious streaming as streaming 1080p high FPS degrades performance even on a great machine.
You then have one of two options relating to audio. If the capture card lets you specify audio inputs, you can record on your main machine. If not, or if you just want to keep everything separate you can use the secondary machine for both video capture and audio recording.
You're getting into high level professional territory trying to rig two computers together to pull this off though. Unless the computer is poor, it's hard for me to fathom a reason to go 1-2 capture cards over FRAPS. And even if the computer is slow... 1-2 capture cards in cost should net you some upgrades.

 

[Andrew Flint]

Easy.. Elgato game capture HD.

• It can record anything that uses HDMI including PC (might slow the PC down, so I would personally just use software...)
• records commentary using their software (not sure if this splits the audio into more then 1 track though.. sorry)
• Video sizes aren't that big (I got around 500MB for a 10 minute COD game)

Not totally sure on specifics because I only had it on lend for a week but it was awesome!

 

[Reachground]

Was your performance that bad with FRAPS/DXTORY that you're thinking a full hardware solution is best? I mean, technically you are correct that hardware out is better, performancewise but most people who have the money to put towards capture cards also have a computer more than capable. If it's bad performance, maybe post your specs and how you go about recording, we may be able to sort it out.

Barring that, you did mention the ideal solution. HD Capture card outputting to a second PC. This is a common solution used when people get into more serious streaming as streaming 1080p high FPS degrades performance even on a great machine.

Hey Tarmack!

Thanks for your suggestions. I know about the software solutions and I've tried them thoroughly. It would be great to see how far I could push my computer and I'm sure this great community would be able to help but I've made up my mind about hardware since it takes the load off the CPU. I play different games but a lot of them are FPS games and even if I lose a couple of frames my performance drops. I didn't buy a new computer just for this, a friend went to study in China and left his stationary with me for about a year. If that is the best solution I'll buy one extra myself when he gets back.

Streaming is something I'd love to do in the future but at the moment I'm focusing on recording 1080p gameplay.

Thanks again, I'm looking forward to hear about people's experience with quality capture cards.

Easy.. Elgato game capture HD.

• It can record anything that uses HDMI including PC (might slow the PC down, so I would personally just use software...)
• records commentary using their software (not sure if this splits the audio into more then 1 track though.. sorry)
• Video sizes aren't that big (I got around 500MB for a 10 minute COD game)

Not totally sure on specifics because I only had it on lend for a week but it was awesome!

Hey Pavilion Plays!

I'd love to hear more about the Elgato. I have that on my list of potential candidates. Just like you say, the problem with it is that it uses the computer's CPU to compress the video so that's only viable using another computer. It's is something I consider so it just might be the one to go for. I also like the idea of having a Virtual Sound Mixer to separate the audio.

Thanks again for your reply!

 

[Andrew Flint]

Hey Pavilion Plays!

I'd love to hear more about the Elgato. I have that on my list of potential candidates. Just like you say, the problem with it is that it uses the computer's CPU to compress the video so that's only viable using another computer. It's is something I consider so it just might be the one to go for. I also like the idea of having a Virtual Sound Mixer to separate the audio.

Thanks again for your reply!

Really I would suggest just using a screen capture software to record the pc.. it would make life so much easier

 

[Reachground]

Really I would suggest just using a screen capture software to record the pc.. it would make life so much easier

I humbly ask you and everybody else not to make that suggestion as that is not interesting to me at all.