AVerMedia Live Gamer Ultra GC553 – 4K60 HDR Pass-Through, 4K30 Capture, Low Latency for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, Switch, Windows 11/macOS 10.13

I'm writing this review primarily because none of the other reviews seem to cover using the device on macOS, which is what I bought it for. This is for the GC553 connected over USB-C with an Apple Thunderbolt cable as the Mac instructions suggest. I have the device connected to a 2018 Mac Mini, which obviously doesn't meet the system requirements AVerMedia provides but that's fine because I'm not using their software. I took my chances going in knowing this was a standard USB Video device and figured if the Mini can encode 4K30 in realtime via hardware then why would I need discrete graphics? As it turns out, I was right and it works fine. The official software provided for the device can't even capture a stable 1080p30, which is expected since it's just encoding in software. But it can apply firmware updates and change settings. OBS can't do hardware encoding on the Mini either, so that's not very good either. The good news is that any app that can do video capture + hardware encoding on a Mac works perfectly. The easiest option is Quicktime Player, which comes with macOS. Quicktime Player offers two quality settings, High and Maximum. High is 720p, maximum is 1080p. Both capture at a flawless 60fps with no dropped frames. Unfortunately QuickTime Player doesn't let you capture at 4K. I don't know how many capture apps for macOS support both hardware encoding and 4K devices, but I found a 3rd party app called SwiftCapture and purchased that. It can capture 4K30fps directly to H.264 on the Mac Mini flawlessly, no dropped frames. This is exactly what I wanted and it confirms that the official system requirements are just a limitation of the official software and you probably can use the capture device on any mac with USB-C as long as it supports hardware encoding. Note that I use this specifically for capture to files only. I haven't looked to see if any 3rd party streaming app supports the hardware encoder on the Mac Mini. OBS doesn't as of version 23.2.1. You can still use that anyway but the framerate will be choppy since it's not hardware encoded. As far as the product goes, I was impressed by the size. It's much smaller than the HD PVR that I used to capture component video previously. And the fact that it is USB powered is also nice. Set up was fairly easy, just connect it following the instructions and use the software on their website to update to the latest version. The only disadvantage I can see is that it doesn't seem to be capable of capturing 1440p60 unless the source device is outputting that resolution. When you have 4K content, I can capture in 4Kp30 or 1080p60 which is downscaled from 4K, but it doesn't let you capture the 4K downscaled to 1440p60. When you put the device into 1440p mode during 2160p video it just displays a message about resolution not being supported. In the software provided it seems the only way to capture at 1440p is to put the device into 4k30 mode but save your video as 1440p30. I'm not sure if it behaves the same way on Windows but it would be nice to be able to directly capture into 1440p even if the content was 2160p. Overall it's a great little device if you just want to do video recording from a Mac, especially if you don't use the provided software.

When researching this device I got bad information. Unlike the previous Avermedia LGP 2 this device does not actually limit the Switch 2's 4K HDR or its Linear 5.1 Surround sound. When using the previous device I actually had to play games in 4K without HDR and listen to them in stereo sound only. I have had no such issue with this device. I am running the Switch 2 through the device into my Marantz reciever (9.1 dolby atmos) and it sends the full 5.1 Linear surround signal. The Switch2 is limited to this ONE type of surround sound in the console's settings. So you need to make sure you can pass through this signal if you are using a surround system (may not impact headphones as much). The basic idea is that I did not want to sacrifice 4K, HDR or my surround set up in any way while playing the Switch 2. I was not willing to play in stereo or without HDR like the previous device forced me to do. Now what I am talking about is playing the Switch 2 uncompromised, not the quality of the recording. I am only recording in 1080 P and the recording itself may be in stereo. I did not test that but it sounds fine for youtube, and I dont want to record in 4K since it takes up alot of file space. So this did exactly what I was looking for. Again if you are using headphones it will probably sound good enough. Just be aware that using USB headphones will remove the sound data from the recording. You will likely need to use wired headphones connected directly to your stereo using a 9mm jack to avoid the issue. Thats what I do if I want to use headphones on Switch 2. My expensive headphones are USB only and wont allow me to record the audio for gameplay, just the video. Normally I run the console through my dolby atmos surround system, so its not a big deal. I got this device SOLELY to record the Switch 2 (but without compromising audio and video passthrough). I use the PS5 Pro and Series X's recording feature to record gameplay on external HDD's for those systems. The Switch 2 does not have a built in recording feature for long videos unfortunately. For PC gaming I use OBS on the PC to record that. This was my only solution for Switch 2 without compromising the pass through. The only issue is that you will need pretty good PC specs to run this device. My main work PC was not powerful enough, but the PC I use for gaming for overly capable so I am using that PC to record Switch 2. I just need to turn that PC on whenever I record Switch 2.

I’ve been using this capture card for a little over 8 months and I’ve got to say... Elgato has its work cut out for them. 1080p120 recording capability is super nifty, and the passthrough ports enable you to use high refresh gaming monitors without having to worry about Windows desktop cloning ruining your fun. If you want G-SYNC/FreeSync support, you won’t get it here. But if you’re running a dual PC streaming setup like mine, you’re probably not having an issue hitting your monitor’s refresh rate anyways. This is also very plug and play with OBS, and supports 1080p60 YUY2 for the best performance.

I never write Amazon reviews even if the product I've bought is absolute garbage, but I'm not kidding you when I say this capture card has caused me nothing but grief. I bought it over 3 years ago. At first, it worked completely normal. The setup was a bit painful but that's only because it requires so many cords going into so many ports. I was recording gameplay and the quality was pretty good. Fast forward a couple months later, I'm trying to use this card again. I plug it in, it begins flashing green. Huh, that's weird. Unplug it, plug it back in. It flashes again, constantly, and my pc isn't reading the card. I do this over and over again until I'm hit with luck and it works again. Until next time when I go to use it and it flashes green no matter what. It's been so long and I've been unable to fix this issue. Uninstalling drivers doesn't work. Changing the usb cord doesn't work. Plugging it into another pc doesn't work. This is apparently a known "defect" or issue but nobody says anything about it...lol Wasted almost $200 on something I can never use or return again.

El producto funciona perfectamente con mi pantalla de 1440p@144hz en pass thru no tiene encoder pero captura 60fps sin ningún problema. Usando voicemeter potato puedo usar multiples Canales de audio por red y grabar video y audio del juego, voz, chat y música por separado. Si lo consiguen en 4500mxn o menos vale totalmente la pena. Lo unico malo es que el usb qué soporta es el 3.0, no soporta el 3.1. El cable a usar también es especial, yo no lo pude hacer funcionar con ningún cable USB c a USB c de los que ya tenia, ningún USB a a USB c me funciono tampoco. tuve que usar el qué venía con el producto. algunos puertos usb no soportan toda la velocidad, hay que probar cada uno hasta encontrar uno que si funcione probándolo en recentral. obs necesita captura de video Y captura de audio por separado.

The software is .. insanely slow and clunky. On a Windows machine (where this product worked, ish - see below) it took forever to install their utility, it constantly suggested a firmware update, then failed identifying the device it just told me to update.. Bad start. I did manage to update the firmware using a Windows VM, so maybe that's a fluke? But! I bought this to use it on Linux. UVC should make that easy, in theory. Unfortunately I couldn't make the device work on two entirely different Linux machines - it is detected but doesn't provide any output. After days of tinkering and seeing reports of other people with the same issue online I have to assume that I am out of luck, that this hardware isn't standards compliant and was therefore a giant waste of money for me. Exploring alternatives now

This one is worked for me. Was trying different not work for me as been very slow . After change this one is better .fast than other one and worked good.

WindowsのノートパソコンとMacのノートパソコンにセットアップしてみました。 Macは最後のintelマックですが全く問題無く使用出来ました。

I was wanting to upgrade from my elGato HD60 to capture the new consoles and stream, I was looking for a replacement and this had specs that seem reasonable. But what a let down this is. So many issues with connectivity: - Doesn't work on mac - Issues with HDCP (random if it works or not) - On reboot, computers can't see it (tried with 4 different devices) - Has a USB C port, but doesn't work with USB C to USB C. It made me lose time and footage from covering PS5 and Xbox. Please don't waste your time as I wasted mine.