Looking for Capture Device Recommendations

[Games Retrospect]

I'd like to start a YouTube channel at some point, not as a career path or anything like that, but I'd like a platform where I can share ideas, opinions, reviews, show my collection and hopefully, have a conversation with like-minded people. I have pretty much everything in terms of hardware with one important omission: a capture device. I read some reviews and lists, but since I have to invest a lot of money on it (I'd have to import it because the local prices are prohibitively expensive), I really want to make sure the thing I get is useful, easy to use and won't get outdated in a few months. So with that in mind, here are my questions: Which is, in your experience, the best capture device? Which has the best price/quality ratio? And since I've never used one, how do they work? I assume they connect to your console and laptop/PC to save the video, but I honestly have no idea. If anyone who reads this could share thoughts, opinions or point me in the direction of some beginner articles where I can simply start reading on my own, I'd appreciate it! Thanks in advance as usual.

[Austin]

I've generally had good experiences with Elgato's products. I have heard Avermedia, Hauppauge and Black Magic have decent devices too. You'll probably want to do some research.

 

If you are capturing analog sources, you'll need either an older model of either of those cards (for instance, the original Elgato Game Capture HD has a port for analog inputs, anywhere from composite, to s-video and component), or you'll need a modern card with an HDMI scaler running into it.

 

Note that certain cards require Windows 10. Older cards do not, so again, you'll want to do some research.

 

The software on these things is generally easy to use, although I personally recommend just using OBS to record. It has more flexibility than recording straight from the capture card software.

 

There are cheap dongles you can get as well, stuff like the old Dazzle cards, if you just want to do composite, maybe s-video.

[Pipercub]

HICAP50B, top of the market!

 

 

[Newsdee]

Personally, I use an X-Capture 1 from the Japanese Micomsoft (makers of XRGB Frameneister) and I am very happy with it:

https://solarisjapan.com/collections/micomsoft/products/xcapture-1-usb-3-0-hd-capture-unit

 

In my case I wanted something that took analog inputs and could record without hassles. Prior to that I had an Avermedia U3 but it crashed extremely frequently.

 

The one thing it doesn't do is realtime upscaling, but that can always be done in post processing. I know it's pricey but it's a great device.

[Reaperman]

I will go ahead and throw a not-recommended on the Avermedia Live Gamer Portable 2. The tempting feature with it is that it doesn't require tethering to a computer. However, it's extremely picky about sync, so I have to convert everything to 60fps for it, which leaves the video with small stutters. It also crashes a lot, requiring all the cables to be removed, then reinserted to restart the device. Support was awful enough that I won't buy another product of theirs based on that experience alone.