AVerMedia finally decided to put up a fight against Elgato again by releasing their Live
Gamer HD 2 - a PCIe 1080p 60FPS capture card akin to the HD60 Pro.
But was this release a year too late?
In this video I’ll be answering a question I’ve been asked quite a few times - which
is better?
The Elgato HD60 Pro or the Live Gamer HD 2?
For those of you without much time - just get whichever is least expensive for you.
For those wanting the details, stick around.
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I’m EposVox, here to make tech easier and more fun, today comparing Elgato’s HD60
Pro capture card to AVerMedia’s Live Gamer HD 2.
Both currently sit around the 200 dollar price point and offer similar features.
But is one better than the other?
I had a brief time to pop both into my main machine and daisy-chain them together for
quality testing and find out.
Due to age alone, as the HD60 Pro released in April 2016 and the HD 2 released earlier
this year, Elgato’s card seems to go on sale for a better deal than AVerMedia’s
- usually around $160 or so for the HD60 Pro.
Plus there’s naturally going to be a bigger used market, too.
Just worth noting.
Feature-wise, the cards are almost identical.
They’re both PCIe 1X internal capture cards that accept a 1080p 60hz HDMI signal and feature
HDMI passthrough.
Both cards have very low latency to the computer, and offer 60 megabits per second compressed
video via their respective native applications, and a separate, uncompressed video feet out
to third-party programs like OBS Studio.
The HD60 Pro is much smaller than the Live Gamer HD 2, however, and even comes with a
low-profile bracket for small form factor capture or streaming rigs.
The Live Gamer HD 2 is quite a bit fatter, but features 3.5 mm analog line in and out
capabilities - for routing a mixer, controller and headset line, or so on through.
On one hand, it is strange that Elgato didn’t include this feature since their USB cards
usually offer it.
But on the other hand, the feature rarely works out well, is super prone to ground loop
or interference issues, and overall is just a headache to mess with.
Plus, in AVerMedia’s RECentral software, you can’t capture both HDMI and analog audio
at the same time - only one or the other.
The Live Gamer HD 2 also features a LED-backlit logo, whereas Elgato’s is just painted on.
But you can’t change the LED color, so keep that in mind for your e-peen needs.
Software-wise, they’re pretty similar, too.
I’ve had a bigger history of issues with Elgato’s Game Capture app, but that’s
mainly because I’ve put in way more time with it.
They both let you change some basic settings, select audio devices, record multi-track live
commentary, change the resolution and bitrate up to 60 megabits per second, record and take
screenshots.
Elgato’s app features flashback recording, which allows you to keep an active video buffer
going to then go back and record things that you didn’t initially hit record for.
This is a life-saving feature, in my opinion.
Both programs feature some live streaming capabilities - though AVerMedia’s is a brand
new implementation that likely needs work.
AVerMedia’s RECentral takes a few seconds to actually “kick in” “recording mode”
for some reason, which can be an annoyance and potentially cause missed clips.
What about actual image quality?
Admittedly, I had a preconceived notion in my head - that the HD60 would look better
IF they looked different at all, with the primary assumption being that they wouldn’t
look any different.
I was quite surprised to discover in my testing that the AVerMedia Live Gamer HD 2 is actually
ever-so-slightly sharper than the HD60 Pro.
Now, running some gameplay side-by-side, you’d never honestly tell a difference.
But when you pixel-peep in to like 500% on my 4K monitor, you can see specific little
texture bits where the HD60 Pro is a little more muddy or mushed together than the Live
Gamer HD 2.
This was interesting, and I thought might have to do with the fact that I had RECentral
set to use the Nvidia Nvenc hardware encoder, whereas the HD60 Pro was using its internal
H264 encoder.
So I popped Wipeout back in, set RECentral to H264 and compared again - nope, via their
60 megabits per second compressed engines, the Live Gamer HD 2 is actually a bit sharper
than the HD60 Pro.
But again, these are tiny little details that you’d honestly never really know the difference
between in the final YouTube-compressed upload.
And I used some HD60 Pro footage in my Destiny at 8K video - clearly it’s sharp enough,
right?
Well that video was recorded in OBS Studio, where both cards provide an uncompressed feed
to the software.
Here, I fail to see any true quality difference between the cards.
The HD60 Pro has a tiny bit more contrast, but that can be adjusted for.
Sharpness-wise, they look exactly the same.
I couldn’t keep OBS from crashing long enough to get too much capture footage, but what
I did get showed the exact same results.
So it’s less of a difference in the hardware itself and more just the encoding engine used
in their native apps.
So which should you buy - an AVerMedia Live Gamer HD 2 or the Elgato HD60 Pro?
Honestly, circling back to the opening of the video, whichever is cheapest for you.
Unless you truly just need that analog input directly on the capture card and know how
to make use of it properly, it doesn’t make a difference.
If you want to build a tiny, low-profile capture rig, the HD60 is required.
If you want more flashy e-peen LED goodness, get the Live Gamer HD 2.
Either way, just have fun and play some video games, yeah?
Plus, we’re about to enter the scene of 4K capture cards within the next year or so,
so that will be fun.
I hope you enjoyed this video or found it helpful.
If you did, smash the like button, get subscribed for more awesome tech videos and consider
purchasing the capture card of your choice via my affiliate links in the video description.
I’m EposVox, and I’ll see you next time.
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