AVerMedia 4K Capture Card for Streaming,1440p120 Video Capture Device for PS5/Pro, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, PC, compatible with Twitch, OBS, Windows, Mac - GC551G2 Live Gamer Extreme 3

BLUF: This is an excellent device for the money, and a good Swiss-army knife for a consultant or QA team to have around. It comes with all the cables, too, and they're not bad.I bought this to record workstation demos for clients; software-only recorders are not reliable under high CPU loads, and this will record independently to a MicroSD card (U3, V30 or better).I cannot find an English manual for this thing. There is a FAQ, but a proper manual is missing from both the box and the web site. This is important, because there are some "magic button" combos that you will have to figure out by trial and error without it-- including some very frustrating things like "headset mute".Some information you may find helpful:YES, it records HD (1920x1080) video at high framerates.NO, it will not record 4K video.YES, it will reliably run under power from a normal (500mA) USB-A port. (The manufacturer suggests bringing a USB power bank along if you're using a laptop, which is actually not a bad idea.)YES, it really will record totally independently of the host system; all it needs is power and an HDMI connection. There is a big glowing button you whack to start and stop it-- that's it.YES, it will also work as an OBS Studio device (one video capture device that also brings in audio; you don't need a separate audio connection).YES, it will record HDMI audio. However, the levels are a little low.YES, the headset jack is 4-position (TRRS) 3.5mm, supporting a microphone. If the mic doesn't seem to work, hold each of the volume buttons down for a few seconds until the mute clears.YES, you can hear the HDMI audio passthrough in the monitoring headset.YES, you can hear your own headset mic in the headset. It is, in my opinion, way too loud relative to the HDMI video, so you may want to move the boom out a bit.YES, there is a mode to use it as a glorified card reader. This was done so that you didn't need to load and unload cards all the time-- I suggest USING IT THAT WAY, and taping over the card slot once the card is installed.YES, there are some low-latency drivers available; NO, you don't have to use them. The issue is a little complicated; see the website.When used as a standalone capture device, the native format is ".MOV".The device is physically quite a bit smaller than I expected, and quite light. Build quality is good.Grab one. I couldn't find anything else that was even close for twice the price.

My review will just be covering gameplay capture from the PS5. I don’t currently stream or anything so have no experience with that.I’ve been using the Elgato HD60S+ for several years to capture my game play from the PS5. It honestly worked great and capturing 1080p 60fps worked well. I didn’t use the pass through to play directly off the capture card (I have a HDMI splitter so play direct from the PS5 on a separate monitor), but when I tried it, there was a noticeable half a second to one second lag which made playing games bad anyway.But the main thing that made me want to try something new was that Elgato has this issue where the capture card gets used by another device in Windows and doesn’t show a signal. The only way to get it to work was restarting the PC. Trust me, I tried everything, even disabling all types of devices on Windows. Apparently anything that uses audio can cause the Elgato to see it as a source and then it doesn’t connect to your console. And it doesn’t have the ability to connect to more than one source.So I went with the Avermedia and so far everything has been working great. After connecting everything it got my PS5 signal right off the bat. I also have an XLR mic setup and was able to get that working during PS5 gameplay capture without too much trouble once I figured out I needed to download the RECentral program. I originally used their streaming software which didn’t work in capturing my voice during gameplay on the PS5. I’m sure it works fine or streaming but as I mentioned, I don’t have experience in streaming yet.The quality in gameplay capture is excellent. Everything looks great in 4K and the pass through virtually has no lag that I could play it off the capture card alone with no problem. I haven’t encountered any black screens or disconnects and so far it’s been a lot better than the Elgato I’ve used for so long.

First of all, the good stuff. I got this card to supplement the video on my 32" 4k monitor, and it does a fabulous job of that. REALLY good, high res video. Installation was p&p, and the effect was instant. I'm very happy with the video. BUT.....I have not been able to get the front panel RGB display to vary or shut off, and it is RIDICULOUSLY bright. I have downloaded software updates, drivers, etc., from the company website, but no success with getting this part of the application to work. Digging deeper, I found reviewers elsewhere have noted this issue also. I like the video from the card, and I was probably not going to use the lighting anyway, so I ended up putting electrical tape over the display to cut it off entirely. It is absurd that this is an issue on this high quality of a product.To be clear, this does not seem to affect the video quality itself, but it is VERY annoying, and not something users should have to deal with.

This worked within 1 minute of setup inside of OBS twitch streaming software I was holding my breath wondering what I was in for.Heads up to the less technically inclined, you likely when lead to change video format a timer to until your hardware and software are on the same page so to speak.I'm using Windows 10 and DaVinci and OBS desktop, so far I'm very impressed with the construction and operation ease.