Question / Help Which Capture Card Should I Use?

G

Gummy

New Member
I'm trying to decide between two capture cards and was wondering if you guys could give me a hand. It's between the Avermedia C985 or the Elgato HD60 Pro. I'm picking between both of these because I've seen that USB 2.0/3.0 can run into some issues, so I want a capture card that uses PCI. But now the question is, which one is better and why? I'm going to be primarily using this to stream console games, but is there anything else I should keep in mind when purchasing these cards? I guess some pros and cons between each one would be nice to know. If anyone uses either one too and can give me their experiences that would be great. Thanks and can't wait to hear back! I'll leave links to the cards as well.

C985: http://www.amazon.com/AVerMedia-Pla...&qid=1458541226&sr=8-17&keywords=capture+card

HD60: http://www.amazon.com/Elgato-superi...8&qid=1458540648&sr=8-3&keywords=capture+card
 
FerretBomb

FerretBomb

Active Member
Between those two, I'd recommend the Elgato.

AverMedia gear is strictly starter-grade, and tends to be very limited. Plus, they use misleading marketing to give the impression their equipment will do more than it can.
The HD60 Pro is a much more capable card.

Personally, I'd save up a bit more and go for an SC512, or a Magewell. Though that's mostly as I need more than just HDMI inputs, and want RGB24 color.
 
G

Gummy

New Member
@FerretBomb whats the SC512? can't seem to find it, and thanks for your opinion as well. If I wanted to stream something like a PS2 game, I would need RGB24 correct? I think I would just emulate the games I own though after that point, so I shouldn't really need it.
 
FerretBomb

FerretBomb

Active Member
Micomsoft SC-512N1-L/DVI. Also sold as the Yuan SC512 single-channel capture card. It's my go-to cap card as it can handle a ridiculous number of types of inputs, with full qualiy and stupid-low capture latency. Can grab one (Yuan) on SabrePC without the passthrough daughtercard for $200 (just use splitters before the card), though they're in and out of stock every few weeks. A price point of $200 puts them on-par with the Elgato, but EG has much better english support. You can get a Micomsoft version from Solaris Japan for about $330 if you don't want to wait.

RGB24 is a sampling mode; it means that every pixel is sampled with 8 bits of color information (R+G+B = 8+8+8 = 24). The Elgato uses YV12 sampling IIRC, which means some colorspace information is lost. It's not very noticeable though.

The problem with the Datapath cards is that it's a major pain to split out audio from any HDMI-only sources that don't also have analog audio outs. Plus having to deal with another cable, and re-sync'ing the audio to the video, and dealing with drift, even if the sources DO have separated audio.
I have a DPV E2, and only plan to use it for an HDMI camera when it's time to step up from the c920s. It's a solid card and performs very well, but not capturing audio is a significant drawback, especially when combined with the normally quite high price point.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top