Game CAPTURE CARD

Wanted to get some advice from the people in the know.

Been thinking about getting a capture card for a long time now. Never used one in the past, don't understand many things.

1. The first and the main one - don't want to spend a fortune on one. It was quite a revelation to me that these devices are so expensive. I do not understand for what reason they are, really. Should be cheap as crap, IMO.

2. The best ones, AFAIK, at least for non-professionals, are Elgato's, correct? Should I even try to search for anything, BUT Elgato? Is everything else just a waste of money and time? eBay has a lot of noname Chinese ones, but common sense says they're crap.

3. IDEALLY I'd want to be able to capture all consoles - old AND new. Meaning it has to support composite, component and HDMI. But that's probably a tall order, if I don't wanna break a bank..? If such a card (a decent one) is too expensive (how much, by the way?) then how much would a card that's only able to capture PS3/X360/PS4/XO cost, at the minimum?

4. How do these cards even operate? I was under the impression that they just save the video to the SD card (you then unload the video from time to time off it). But now I read in all the eBay listings that these capture devices go directly into your PC and your PC has to be beefy on top of that. What? PC has to do some work as well? Wow, these cards seem worthless. And if your PC is 30 feet away? You'd need that long of a USB cable? Doesn't make sense to me.

5. LAG. Wasn't able to find info on this. Elgato says they introduce "little to no lag". Considering modern TV's themselves already introduce lag, having the card add up to it even a little bit would ruin the experience of gaming for me. So do these cards introduce lag? Do all people who capture just tolerate this lag???

1. The expensive ones generally can capture at higher resolutions and frame rates. If you take the average capture card, no matter how powerful your PC is, it will still capture the game at 720p and 30fps. The more expensive ones have the capability to capture from better performance. They also allow better audio capture and stuff like that.

2. Elgato is very popular and is easy to use. I don't know if they are necessarily the best ones and I highly doubt that anything else is by default crap. The good thing about Elgato is there is no guesswork on its performance and set up. If you get an Elgato, it'll work and it will be easy to use. Others might or might not. You'll have to do the research. This is why most people just get an Elgato.

3. I haven't seen any composite and HDMI cards, but they'll surely exist. This is where the more expensive cards also come into play as they support switches to capture composite through HDMI. Never used it myself and no idea about its quality though. I have a simple Elgato HD60 which cost me like 80 bucks or something? This was a long time ago, I don't really remember. Still does what I want it to do though.

4. Eh, what? They are worthless how? Do you want to capture your games or not? I am having trouble understanding what the issue is. Again, this is where more expensive cards come into play if you don't want to use your PC. You can just hook up the card to your console and go, then transfer the video to your PC whenever you want. Which means the card is going to cost a shitton of money. The way to do it reasonably is to just use your PC. If your PC is 30 feet away you should put it closer or buy a tremendously long USB-HDMI cable. I mean, I would invite you to create your own capture card, but I'm pretty sure that this stuff is not as easily to build as you think it is.

You connect your capture card to your PC and your console (or just your PC if you are capturing from your PC game), it captures and transfers to your PC. It's pretty simple and Elgato comes with really good software for the capture as well. Easily cut and edited how you want.

5. They are being modest for bureaucratic purposes. I experience no lag whatsoever and I am extremely sensitive to any type of lag. When my PC hics, I do notice it. But that's like once every 2 hours or something for a couple of seconds. There is of course capture and stream delay of a few seconds, but that doesn't really matter.

You can probably pick up the Elgato Game Capture HD for around £60-70 now. This is an older one but can still capture 1080p at 30fps and has streaming built in along with a decent amount of quality options and settings for commentary.

That version also has a component input port and HDMI which covers pretty much anything after the early Genesis/Nes era consoles so is very versatile. This does not plug into your PCI slots however, it's a small box that you connect your console to and then to the PC.

The Elgato ones operation is also very simple. You just download their software and plug the capture box into your PC via USB (also doesn't require additional power) and you're good to go. You can select the output location on your PC. Ones that have storage on board are ones designed to be used entirely by themselves and without a PC. If your PC is a long way away from your consoles then you'll need a long ass cable.

I have zero lag on my Elgato, the actual feed is a little behind but you experience zero lag on your actual playing screen.

One thing I'd recommend is investing in some large and reliable hard drives. HD video fills up space extremely quickly.

i still use a avermedia c027(or DarkCrystal is the updated version), it has all the connection types you want and is relatively cheap, only it doesn't do 1080p only 1080i, so meaning 720p60fps is the best it's gonna do.

So I have gone down this rabbit hole a bit as of late, trying to upgrade to a USB 3.0 card. If you are looking for a capture device that can handle a range of console, try looking at a Hauppauge HD PVR 2 Gaming Edition. I just sold my old one and I loved it. Came with a composite or component hookup for older consoles and HDMI for newer ones. The main thing to keep in mind is that it will not upscale old consoles. It will capture at the native resolution. This is part of the reason I got rid of my HD PVR 2. I listened to Drew talk about the Framemeister so much that I preordered one myself so I could get 1080p but I realize that's not the path for everyone.

Another good option if you don't care about 60FPS is the original Elgato Game Capture HD. It had an extra port to connect older consoles through specialty cables and by all accounts is a great capture card. It's something to consider. Also don't be afraid to go used. I got the Hauppauge used and it worked like a dream. Most people who stream know how expensive the gear is and tend to take pretty good care of it. Hopefully some of this was helpful to you, good luck!