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Capturing game play is becoming ever more popular with thousands of videos being uploaded to Youtube on a daily basis. The AVerMedia Game Capture HD is a device that can be connected to either a Wii, PS3 or Xbox 360 and can record your gameplay without the need for a separate computer.
Features
- Capture HD Gameplay in 1080p.
- Work without a PC.
- One-click Capture.
- H.264 Hardware Compression.
- Recording Playback.
- Take Snapshots while Gaming or Playback.
- Record Game Footage in Real-time.
- Pass-thru Mode Support.
- Record to the Internal 2.5” or External USB Hard Drive.
- Built-in 2.5” HDD Slot.
- Recording Pause.
- Remote Control Included.
The AVerMedia Game Capture HD ships in a nicely designed black box, which features a mix of in-game content alongside a product picture.
The back of the box shows the features of the device in 12 different languages as well as outlining some of the key selling points in more detail.
While the box is quite large, only half of it is taken up by the product, the rest are cables and other bundled accessories.
AVerMedia have included a quick start guide which is useful to get everything connected and in place for operation.
The company have included a power supply with both UK and European plug types.
The Game Capture HD does not use a HDMI connection, adopting a component cable connector. This thick cable connects to a Plsystation 3, Xbox 360 or a Wii. Technically you could keep all three plugged in (as long as only 1 console was on at any one time) and it would still work.
As the Game Capture HD doesn't need a computer to store your video content, the company have included a small remote that gives you all the basic options for the device.
While they have included a quick start guide, this only covers the basics of how to set the device up, and as such they have also included a full user manual with more in depth details of how to use the actual device.
Once the signal from the games console has made it to the box, we need the signal to then be sent to the TV, as such there is another component to component cable and a stereo audio cable.
The device looks to be much like a small set-top box or similar, and only features two buttons on the front; Power (on/off), and record (start/stop).
The rear of the device has two strips of component sockets, the top is the input, the bottom is the output which feeds back to the tv.
On the bottom of the device is a 2.5″ HDD bay, which is where you will need to fit a 2.5″ drive before using this device.
Opening it up we found the lid has a small securing bracket that has to be set to either 9.5 mm or 12.5 mm, depending on the thickness of your hard drive. This makes sure the HDD is secured firmly in the bay.
We fitted one of our 120 GB Kingston HyperX 3K SSD's giving us the best guaranteed performance for this device, while still having a good amount of storage to play with.
The Software or User Interface is very simple and doesn't require any installation as such. Once it is all set-up, you have a simple menu allowing you to view recordings and screenshots.
It's a shame, but clearly AVerMedia doesn't want you to use this device as a media server as it will only play its own content.
The file system is simple, but effective. You can even change the view type to list view.
There is also the option of file management, which allows you to copy one or multiple files to an external memory stick, or delete them.
There are a few settings that can be adjusted on this box, namely time, data, power management and video quality.
The best recording quality is ‘optimal' so we stuck with that for our tests, we would prefer to see how each setting changed the recording set-up (i.e. does it alter frame rate, resolution etc) but this is all hidden from view.
There is also the option to do a firmware upgrade and restore to factory reset.
Finally, there is a simple disk manager, allowing you to format internal and external devices.
We tried to test the AVerMedia device thoroughly, and ensured we had the latest firmware update before starting. The videos on this page are captured from the Sony Playstation 3, but it can also record from a Nintendo Wii and and an Xbox 360.
Below are 2 videos captured using the AVerMedia Game Capture HD device, all of these were recorded with the ‘optimal' quality setting. [yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTuw7SmO1NU']
The first video we recorded was from Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3. The quality is very good even with the intense action that is taking place in Chaos mode. [yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x02kh5AgYrE']
The second video is taken from Gran Turismo 5 and you can see that the gameplay is smooth, even though we reduced the framerate when processing this video.
The AVerMedia Game Capture HD is a simple device which can record game play from all the main games consoles. Unlike most of the competition, it doesn't require a computer to be connected and running.
It uses an internal 2.5″ HDD to store all the videos. However, this does mean it can't upload directly to Youtube, which is probably going to be the desire of most people who are capturing the video content.
In terms of its performance, the device has two key modes, ‘Standard' and ‘Real-time'. During Real-time mode we were really impressed with how quickly the device starts and stops recording. There is only a 2/3 second delay, which for this type of device is quick.
There is also no visible stutter or hesitation with our game play, showing that the pass-through is not affected when you press record.
However, during standard mode, which also gives all the menu options and allows you to use the remote control fully, there is a significant pause when the device stops recording which can cause problems while gaming (especially for FPS games). As such, we decided to keep the device in real-time mode until we wanted to change any settings as this then doesn't disrupt gameplay.
Unfortunately, the device boots up into standard mode by default, which is a little annoying as you have to remember to switch modes before starting to play.
In terms of the hardware, we are impressed. While it uses a component connection rather than a HDMI connection, the quality is impressive and the output files will be quite large, but it does handle them very quickly. When it is in Standard mode it does take a split second to save the 500+ Mb of video to storage. Admittedly we were using an SSD, so it might be a bit slower with a larger capacity HDD. However in real-time mode we didn't even realise it had saved all of our gameplay.
The only thing we didn't like was the remote control as you have to aim it within a narrow view of the device, and the buttons feel cheap and flimsy. There is also a small delay before key presses are registered and the next screen returned.
The software is slightly basic by design, especially when you compare it with that of the Hauppauge HD PVR 2.
To be fair, it has all the features you need, with the exception of being able to upload directly to Youtube or a similar video site. Instead the company have produced free software to convert to MP4 format which is then compatible with sites such as Youtube. You will have to transfer the files to a computer first to then run this software.
Overall, our experience with the AVerMedia Game Capture HD was positive. It is by and large, much more convenient and easy to use than the Hauppauge HD PVR 2 device, and the quality is noticeably better.
As it doesn't require to be connected to a computer you do need to add a storage drive inside the chassis. If you were going to be using it for a lot of gaming footage, a large 500GB 2.5″ HDD will only set you back around £40.
In terms of price the AVerMedia Game Capture HD device is available for just shy of £100 from Amazon.co.uk, which we think is a very fair price. We would certainly recommend this product if you have ever wanted to record your game play without dealing with the hassles of connecting to a PC.
Pros:
- Great quality.
- Easy to set-up and use.
- Doesn't require a PC.
- No interruption to gameplay.
Cons
- Need a 2.5″ drive.
- Software a bit limited.
- Remote needs a direct line of sight.
Kitguru says: A great device that records smooth gameplay at a great quality
