My name is EposVox and today I’ll be discussing some tips and tricks for getting the best
possible recording quality in the Elgato Game Capture HD software.
I will have other tutorials on Elgato’s capture cards and a plethora of other technology
topics on my channel, so be sure to subscribe if you find this video helpful, and check
the YouTube card above or description below for a playlist with my other Elgato Gaming-related
videos.
If you’ve got a brand new, powerful gaming computer and you’re excited to start recording
the best possible quality recordings from your Elgato Game Capture card, this tutorial
will show you how to set everything up to be maxed out and give you all the features
you need.
But keep in mind this does require a powerful computer.
If you have a lower-end PC or are having performance issues, I have another video in the playlist
for improving performance in the software.
It’s also worth noting that desktops have a huge advantage over laptops in terms of
performance and reliability with this kind of recording setup.
Also, using a second internal hard drive or SSD to record to instead of the main C:\ drive
can be beneficial as well.
I’ll discuss this in a bit.
There’s a few specific settings we’re going to look at - encoding quality, resolution,
bitrate, frame rate, and enabling features.
Let’s jump in.
First and foremost, let’s make sure your video codec settings are set up for the best
possible quality.
Click the settings gear icon in the top right corner of the software and go to the “Advanced”
tab.
For the “Decoder” and “Encoder” drop-down menus, select the option for your graphics
card - in my case, the Nvidia GTX 1080.
Hardware encoding currently supports Intel and Nvidia graphics devices.
If you have both the option for an Intel HD Graphics such and such or the Nvidia option,
choose the Nvidia option.
The Intel choice is still your CPU, and not what you want.
GPU encoding, which is what we’re enabling here, is much more efficient and reliable
than Software/CPU encoding.
This will allow you to get a much higher quality recording with much less impact to your computer
performance.
AMD Graphics Cards are not currently supported, so try to go with the Intel option, or just
Software.
Next, make sure the Quality slider at the bottom is set to “Highest Quality.”
Next, we’re going to look at your video file settings for recordings.
This time, click the gear icon below the “Device” section where it says your capture device’s
name.
Next to “Profile” is where you can change the resolution and frame rate of your video.
For 1080p, choose “HD 1080.”
If you only want 720p, choose “HD 720.”
For 60 FPS, check the box next to “Allow 60 fps.”
Do note that the original Game Capture HD device can only record 60 FPS at 720p, it’s
limited to 30 fps at 1080p.
For the newer devices, feel free to enable 60 FPS at 1080p.
Also, make sure the slider next to “Quality” is set all the way to the right, where it
says “Best.”
This affects the bitrate, or bandwidth, of the data being recording to your video file.
More data means better quality.
If you’re setting all of this up, you probably want all of the features enabled, too.
So go back to the main system settings icon at the top right, and make sure “Enable
Flashback Recording” and “Enable Stream Command” are both checked.
Check out my playlist, linked in the description, for videos on how to get the most of those
tools.
Recording video is a data-intensive process.
While the Elgato capture cards don’t record at any earth-shattering, Black Magic Intensity
Pro-level bitrates, they can still be a bit to handle for some PCs, even higher-end ones.
You’re going to get the best performance - and most reliable experience, free of visual
artifacts or glitches - by recording to a secondary internal hard drive or SSD.
Your PC’s main drive is the C:\ drive, but that’s what the operating system, programs,
and games are all running off of, generally speaking.
This means the drive is already being put under heavy load, which can cause some problems
for recording.
Many laptops are difficult to add a second hard drive to - if it’s at all possible.
The process is quite easy on a desktop, however.
If you’re on a laptop that has USB 3.0 ports, you can use a USB 3.0 hard drive - they can
keep up with the recording requirements, in most cases.
There are plenty of guides online for installing a second hard drive in your machine if you
want to look into it.
Just a recommendation I always like to make.
If you choose to do so, you then need to change your Elgato video library location to that
drive.
Head back to the main software Preferences, and under “Library Location” choose a
folder.
Mine is under G:\Record\Elgato - but your drive letter will vary and you can organize
your folders however you like.
I hope this video has been helpful for you.
If it has, smash that Like button, get subscribed for more awesome tech videos, and check out
the description below.
There, I have a link to the playlist with all of my Elgato Gaming tutorials and reviews.
Check them out!
:) I also have product links to each Elgato card, if you’re looking to buy.
Thanks for watching and I’ll see you in the next one.