el gato 4K60_Pro

Beyond The Basics: Capture Cards And PC’S

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el gato 4K60_Pro

Elgato 4k60 Pro / Elgato

 
So you are now streaming directly from your Xbox or PS4. It's great and all, but it seems quite..plain. Where are all the fun GIFs, sounds, and fancy overlays? In order to achieve this you will need to introduce a PC as your streaming source. This will give you the opportunity to add overlays, graphics and sounds to your hearts content.
 
The other required piece of hardware is a capture device that will accept video and audio signal from your console and display it on your PC for your stream output. Capture Cards can be internal, external, USB 2.0, USB 3.0. There is a handful of devices on the market, but some of the most widely used capture cards are from Elgato. This article won't delve into the differences, but perhaps a future post can cover this. Just expect to Shell out $100-$200. I personally use the older Elgato capture HD USB 2.0 external device in my setup and it still suits my needs and runs pretty flawlessly.
 
A quick comparison between the different models:
 
 Game Capture HD (old model):
 
  • UBS 2.0 (which introduces a slight delay on your computer monitor. You should have a second monitor/TV for your game play so this should not really be that big of an issue).
  • 'Master Copy' recording settings which will allow you to encode at different resolutions than your stream settings.
  • HDMI Input and component input for retro consoles
  • 1080p30 capture resolution
 
 
 
  • UBS 2.0 (which introduces a slight delay on your computer monitor. You should have a second monitor/TV for your game play so this should not really be that big of an issue).
  • 'Master Copy' recording settings which will allow you to encode at different resolutions than your stream settings.
  • HDMI Input
  • 1080p60 capture resolution

HD60S:

  • USB 3.0
  • 'Instant Gameview' which is close real-time viewing on your computer monitor.
  • Uses 'Stream Copy' recording settings which will replicate your exact stream settings when recording.
  • HDMI Input
  • 1080p60 capture resolution
 
 
  • PCIe internal card
  • 'Instant Gameview' which is close real-time viewing on your computer monitor.
  • 'Master Copy' recording settings which will allow you to encode at different resolutions than your stream settings.
  • HDMI Input
  • 1080p60 capture resolution
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