ElgatoHD60 S, usb3.0 External Capture Card, Stream and Record in 1080p60 with ultra-low latency on PS5, PS4/Pro, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One X/S, in OBS, Twitch, YouTube, works with PC/Mac

Before I get to the review I'll quickly detail my computer specs since it may matter.i5-4690k16gb ramnVidia GeForce GTX 10701TB Samsung 840 Evo SSD which I had the software set to use for recording storageSo I actually purchased this on May 11th so I could record my (admittedly rather bad) gameplay from my consoles. When I got it I had a few issues which I'll detail but first I'll go through the pros.First off the unit is really easy to setup. Just download the software from the website and install it then connect the device. If you wish you can install the software ahead of time while you wait for a unit you ordered to arrive.The software itself is pretty stable. I didn't have any real issues during recording. The only one I had, which may of very well been user error, was that it seemed to be "recording" where the clock was moving but it didn't record. I had messed with some settings prior so I reset everything to default and it worked fine after.I'm actually able to get full 1080p 60fps without issue. This worked fine out of the box. It may have to do with my specs though and as such your mileage may vary. There are steps on the Elgato help site that can work towards improving performance if for some reason you are not able to get that.The recording was clear and didn't have any frame drops. Please be aware if you are trying to play the video via VLC and getting frame drops or what appears to be a scrambled picture please try another player that might actually use the system decoder. VLC uses its own decoder and it seemed to have issues when I tested my first couple of recordings. When I used a different player it worked fine. If people have to know I do use K-Lite Codec Pack but I don't think that was what fixed it but it may affect what system decoder was actually used. The fact that I use that doesn't constitute an endorsement or recommendation of that software. The issue with VLC may be resolved in a future update of the software if it isn't already.Elgato Support is very very good. They communicated via email and there may be a delay but responses are from actual people and I didn't have any troubleshooting based auto-replies. I did get one for the initial email receipt but that just gave appropriate response timeframes so that expectations could be established. Kudos to them for doing that.You do not have to hook up the HDMI out if you don't want to. For me I was just using it to hook up to the computer and using the software is perfectly acceptable.The delay is pretty much invisible. I was able to play the game using purely the feed from the software without any real issue.Now for the cons.My unit had a seemingly loose USB connection. When moving the unit would sometimes disconnect. I did get the unit replaced with Elgato where the issue continued. As a second step they actually sent me a replacement USB 3 to USB C cable (same as what was in the box) and that seems to have resolved the issue. So... if your unit seems to drop out while you are moving it then it may be advisable to just try a different cable and see if the issue persists. I can only guess there was a loose wire in the connector that plugged into the Elgato HD60 S.If the unit does happen to disconnect while the Game Capture HD program is running then it may crash. This may result in the loss of the recording or corrupted data in it. For the most part, this is a minor issue because it shouldn't disconnect on its own anyways.

I'm just going to make simple comparisons between the Elgato HD60 S, and the Avermedia Live Gamer Ultra.Elgato HD60 SPros:- Capture card's design has excellent build quality, and it's very compact too!- Immediately picks up the video signal of my Nintendo Switch the moment the system is turned on- Excellent video quality- Frame rate is at 60 FPSCons:- Colors will be a bit off under the default settings. You can use OBS's Color Correction filter to improve them, so it's an easy fix.- The audio from the game's capture will fade in once the system is turned on, but this is really a minor complain on my end.- The Elgato's firmware and software get constant updates like about every week or so. Unfortunately, you NEED to keep everything up to date, otherwise your capture card will not work properly.- Needless to say, you definitely must download pretty much all of the software from Elgato's website.Now for the Avermedia Live Gamer UltraPros:- Excellent design, as it has it's own vent to extract heat (The Elgato HD60 S does not have a vent that is visible, but that's not important to know.)- Great video quality- Frame rate is at 60 FPS at max- Updates are not constant, but they do happen when updates for the firmware are needed.Cons:- Build quality on the capture card itself feels just a little cheap, but it definitely beats the build quality of the first Live Gamer Portable capture card, which I had back in 2015, but it died on me months later.- The video signal reception is delayed the moment you turn on your console, but it also depends on the console you are using. Unlike the Elgato, you have to wait a few seconds for the video feed to show up in OBS (If you use that, which I also recommend)- Colors on the video feed may be a bit off by default, but then again, OBS's Color Correction filter can fix that easily in seconds.In conclusion, these two capture cards that I own are very much neck-and-neck in terms of quality, durability, technique, software, and also firmware features. No matter which capture card you use, however, I strongly recommend using OBS for the best streaming experience (or recording).

I write this from the perspective of someone completely new to video game capture (which isn't much different from regular video capture). I was recommended the HD60 S model by a lot of gamers online, so my choice was easily made for me.— DIFFERENCES —The main difference between the HD60 and HD60 S is that the S has the lowest delay between the game on your TV and the preview on your computer. I also got it because it records at one resolution setting of your choice while the HD60 can steam at one resolution while recording at another. The HD60 S also comes with a USB-C to USB cable versus a USB to USB cable.— SETUP —Setup was easy and intuitive. It comes with two cables: one HDMI and one USB-C to USB cable. It's pretty self-explanatory as to what cable goes where. Plug an HDMI cable from your game console to the capture device, then plug another HDMI cable from the capture device to your TV, then plug the USB-C cable from your capture device to your computer. Go online and find the software to install (the link is mentioned in the box) and you're done.After the software is installed, research online which settings are best for your video game system, or, if you know what you're doing you can choose exactly what you want. If you plan on editing this, the usual route is to record at a high setting (1080p) and reduce down to what you need. At least that's what I do. From there, you can organize your raw video files and edit using your preferred editing software.— SUMMARY —Video capture has come a looong way since I started doing it years ago with FireWire (what a headache that was). This device is the distillation of simplicity and usability. Anyone can easily understand and use this device. Recommended.