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Hey just to give you a brief background. I have been a Youtube Commentator & Streamer for a few years now. For the last several months I have been using the Hauppauge HD PVR for my capture device. I was interested in the Live Gamer HD because of its ability to deliver 1080P through HDMI. The PVR used component cables and could only output 720P.
So far this is the best recorder I have ever used. I am no techie, but I got the capture card installed and running with no problem. The quality is outstanding and I LOVE the Easy Button that allows you to start & stop recordings painlessly. The recordings are easily managed and the output is MP4 in 1 file no matching files together like you have to when using FRAPS.
The capture software is sufficient and will allow you to record gameplay & stream. I tested the streaming through Recentral & XSplit and both worked flawlessly, however I recommend that serious streamers use Xsplit for the added feature of scenes.
Avermedia is promoting Low CPU & help with dropped frames.
My PC Specs Are: Intel i7-2700k 3.50 GHz |8 Gig Ram |NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 It is a newer computer so it is hard to tell just how beneficial this is to me, but I can tell you that CPU usage stays low while using the program. I also had no issues with dropped frames on TwitchTV.
I read other reviews that mentioned they were having trouble with Audio Sync and other issues. I can confirm that these issues WERE happening when the device was released, but Avermedia was pretty quick to upgrade firmware and push out updates to correct these problems. I wanted to mention that because I think it is important to recognize a company that keeps its users up-to-date with information and fixes issues promptly.
I can tell you that the latest build is running great on my system.
I created an in-depth Review & Walkthrough of what all is included and a quick tutorial of how to hookup your Live Gamer HD to Console & PC. I also demonstrate a quality test with 1080P HD Xbox360 & 1080P PC gameplay.
Enjoy!Channel:
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Before I give this review let me give you my background. I currently host the #1 MMO Live stream on twitch.tv. Now as a broadcaster I need a few things.1 I need to be able to capture games flawlessly with the least FPS drop humanly possible. Now before I started using this card I was using Dxtory to capture my games and it was decent but still a big hit on the FPS.
2 I need to be able to maximize the quality of the stream with a minimal upload connection in order to give my audience the best streaming experience without any lag whatsoever.
I have tried quite a few capture cards in the past. BMI was a decent card, but I could not stream in 1080p 30fps. I think most I did was 720p 30fps. I tried AVerMedias own Live Gamer HD but was once again held back by resolution restrictions on it. Finally the Live Gamer HD came out. At first Xsplit, the program I use to stream with, did not cooperate well the Live Gamer HD. Like any piece of hardware there are going to be issues at launch. Now I am speaking from a streaming standpoint here. In terms of capturing PS3 and XBOX360 gameplay the Live Gamer HD is flawless. No FPS drop like when you are using Fraps or DxTory. I have 2 videos on my channel capturing the XBOX360 Mass Effect 3 in 1080p and then Battlefield 3 in 720p PS3.
When Xsplit and AVerMedia started working together to get this card to work I got excited. Finally Xsplit came out with a version that supports AVerMedia and AVerMedia updated the firmware and drivers on the card to help fix some issues with 1080p resolution encoding capturing.
Let me tell you folks when I say the Live Gamer HD has given me the best experience performance wise live streaming this past week. I currently own a GTX 690 and when I stream AT 1080p, which mind you is a CPU hog and computer killer, my stream plays as if I wasn't even streaming. The Live Gamer HD has no flaw. It caputres my screen and gives the audience that 1080p loving we all want to see at no FPS loss, or CPU bogging down.
All it took was the work of the people from AVerMedia to find the problems and fix them asap and now I have what will be my capture card for live streaming and recording games for the next few years. The Staples like button "that was easy" to capture is also pretty nifty for recording console gaming on the go.
Specs:
i7 2600k OC to 4.5
16GB Corsair Vengeance RAM
GTX 690 EVGA
The Card also came with an Xsplit 3 month personal license code which is good for anyone trying to get a stream going on twitch.tv or any other streaming website. Came with all cables needed to get started. I would be surprised if AVerMedia can one up this card in future.
Towelliee
Towelliee's HD Gaming
twitch.tv/towelliee
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I've used programs like Fraps and Camtastia for years to record PC footage, and while those usually work just fine, you do come across games that suffer frame rate and response time issues when using a software screen recorder. This is even more of an issue when streaming live. Games like Alan Wake, Metro 2033, FSX+mods, etc all have issues with Fraps for me, even with a 1090T CPU and 16GB RAM. Often the frame rate will be halved or worse when using a CPU-intensive screen recorder, which is unacceptable for any kind of serious work.With this card, you don't have to worry about that anymore. All installs easily, from hardware to software, and then just load the program and press the glowing red button whenever you want to record the screen. Captures anything on-screen at 1920x1080p down to 640x480. Also records from external devices like game consoles and other PCs, but it really shines when recording the PC it's installed in. Passthrough HDMI & DVI cables/adapters are included and the image is nice and clean. Also worth noting it captures 4:2:2 YUV color.
I've not had any A/V sync issues like some seem to be reporting. The only small issue I have is with the software, which at this point is somewhat limited. It's supposed to be updated so more customization options are included in the future (for custom bit rate, frame rate, codecs, etc.) As of now you can only choose a few preset options. It would also be nice to be able to record at 60fps at 1080p, but you're limited to 30fps. Lower resolutions provide 60fps, but 1080p you're out of luck. Also, if you want to record through something like VirtualDub using DirectShow or whatever, you can do that, although it doesn't seem to capture using the on-card hardware encoder.
The Live Gamer HD also works very nicely when live streaming, and comes with a 3 month personal license for Xsplit at the time I got it. It's not fully supported by it yet, but once Xsplit v1.1 supports the card this will be even more awesome.
I'd recommend this card entirely. It may cost you a bit upfront, but the cost of a stand-alone PC to record externally is going to be even more, and even if you have an extremely powerful CPU you're still going to have more of a hit with that than you do with this. It also encodes directly to compressed MP4 up to 15,000kbps, so even slower hard drives writing at 40MB/s have no problem keeping up. For both users with older PCs who have CPU usage issues and newer PCs who are serious about the highest-performance on a single PC when capturing, the Live Gamer HD is great.
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UPDATE 8-17-2012: If you read my previous review below, you can see a host of issues that I originally had with this card. It really did feel like the card was completely useless. I have been reporting issues and giving feedback on their support forums. Through this process, AVerMedia approached me and asked if I would be willing to help test an unreleased beta build of their driver. I can tell you that once that version of the driver is officially released, the card will function nearly perfect. That driver release, combined with the upcoming features being added, makes this card a good buy.AVerMedia is a good company that obviously stands by its products and works to serve their customers. I give this 4 stars instead of 5, simply because of the initial trouble that I had with it. It feels like they really should have done some more QA before fully releasing this product. But, they have fixed the major issues at this point. If I purchased this card and had access to the test driver from the beginning, this would have been 5 stars all the way.
PREVIOUS REVIEW: As of 8-13-2012, I must advise against purchasing this product. The following is a list of the major issues with the card (not minor gripes):
1) Recorded sound is distorted and over-amplified
2) Audio has issues syncing the longer you record, anything over 5 minutes results in a 1-2 second delay of sound
3) FPS is variable. Despite setting it to record at 30 FPS, it's a crapshoot between 28 and 30 FPS. You never know what you'll get
The above issues combine for a very bad experience using this card. It produces 100% useless videos. I feel like AVerMedia is trying to correct these issues, albeit slowly. But so far it seems like each update has added more issues or, worse yet, amplified existing issues.
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So, I purchased this so I could capture some PC Gaming with hardware H.264 encoding. This thing performs like a beast. It captures, up to 1080p at 30FPS, flawlessly with no hit to FPS at all. However, the way you hook it up to get your computer that the card installed to is a little tricky.You need 2 HDMI cables (provided), and a monitor or display device (Television) capable of 1080p or the resolution you want to record in. You need to take the HDMI out from your video card, and plug it into the HDMI in of the Live Gamer HD, then take the HDMI out of the Live Gamer HD and put it into the HDMI in of your Display Device (Television or LCD). Basically the Live Gamer HD just mirrors what your graphics card is doing and captures it in real time with RAW data. This offers massive performance over programs like Fraps or Camtasia as they use system resources while the game is running.
This device isn't limited to PC Recording in that crazy config.
Out of the box, you can hook up your Xbox 360 and record beautiful 1080p video, take lovely snap shots and share them with anyone. You can live stream using Twitch, Ustream or a custom URL if you know all those settings. I did a few test streams and it ended up looking great on the other end. With the amount of settings the software has, you can easily tweak it to your hearts content and to what your current cable internet package allows you in the form of upload. Be careful if you set it too high, you will not be able to play multiplayer without severe lag.
Now, onto what I hate, and that's the movie industry. There's this thing called HDCP or High Definition Copy Protection, the MPAA (devil) thought maybe you and me might use HD video feeds such as from our Blu Ray players, PS3, and other devices to record content that we have. The implemented this encryption in all hardware since the beginning of HDMI almost, so it's no doubt that most everything has it on there. I'm not sure why the Xbox 360 doesn't have this on there, maybe they opted not to spend all that damn money on licensing or they just didn't care if people recorded their gameplay to show others and promote their product free of charge?
Well, if you want to record your PS3, iPhone, iPad, Blu Ray Player, or any other device that might connect to HDMI and was made in the last decade or so.. you're gonna have a bad time.
I attached some screenshots from the software of this application and it does have HDCP restrictions. It's not the fault of the software company, or the hardware. You can't find a hacked software that disables HDCP, it's a HARDWARE encryption. Without going into to many details, suffice to say, it's some next level crap.
If you do some googling, and try to find out that your PS3, MacBook, iPad, and any other devices that have HDCP can't be bypassed without 100's of dollars worth of equipment, it's pooh talk. Amazon, the wonderful company they are, actually sell the best and cheapest option to bypass HDCP. The product is a Sweell 1x2 HDMI splitter, I will try to link the item in the description so you guys can order it as well.
After you hook that baby up, HDCP is rendered invalid, and this hardware can really take off!
10/10 would buy this again. I'm actually installing the hardware on an Intel Atom PC so I can dedicate it to recording all sorts of inputs. Because this PCI device has a hardware encoder, the only processing power you need is enough to copy to a hard drive, and of course h.264 playback.
Feel free to ask any questions, you can check videos out on my youtube as well that I record with.Sewell 2 Port 1x2 Powered Hdmi Splitter V 1.3b 3D Certified-Up to 1080p
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