Elgato Game Capture HD Review

Elgato Game Capture HD - Image courtesy of Amazon.com

A big thank you to Elgato for supplying me with a review unit.

I've always used DirectShow capture cards, so I was really not sure what to expect from this device. First, let's talk about the contents:

1. The unit itself
2. USB cable
3. PS3 Component cable
4. Component breakout cable (the same one that is bundled with the StarTech PEXHDCAP if you are wondering)
5. HDMI cable

The PS3 Component cable is a nice addition. This stops you having to buy official Sony cables. The breakout cable will allow you to connect any Component system to the Elgato. You can also attach Composite to the red connector but I'd highly recommend moving to S-Video for retro systems. In order to capture from S-Video, you will need to purchase the Analog Video Adapter from the Elgato Store.

One of the best features of this card is the lag less pass through when using Component to HDMI. I am able to input my Wii at 480p Component and output 480p over HDMI without lag. This stops the need of having to buy Component to HDMI converters or messing around with those Wii2HDMI adapters. You can also power the Elgato from any USB port (on a TV for example) so it's also a great option if you just want a Component to HDMI converter. If I did have to make one criticism of this, it would be the lack of a dedicated Component adapter for the Wii like the PS3 has. This is probably superfluous to requirements due to the Wii U but users who don't want to spend money on buying a new console might feel a tad annoyed.

I downloaded the latest drivers from Elgato's website (as of writing 1.42.23) and connected the unit to a USB port. That was pretty much all the setup process entailed. I was really skeptical about how well a YV12 4:2:0 encoder would match up to what I had been using. My previous capture setup involved 4:2:2 Lossless capture via Lagarith or UT Video.

While configuring the device for 720p capture, I noticed something interesting. If you have the "Preserve Source Format" option ticked, you can happily record a maximum 26.3 Mbps at 59.94 fps. However, untick this option and you are left with a maximum 15.0 Mbps at 29.97 fps. I am all for being able to record at 29.97 (let's face it most of the games on PS3 and 360 are all 29.97 anyway). I don't see the reason for substantially lowering the bit rate though. They should keep the 26.3 Mbps option for 29.97 fps content. Let me explain why this would be a good idea.

Here is a raw BMP file with 59.94 fps: Click
Here is one with 29.97 fps: Click

As you can see the 59.94 capture is clearly better. The 29.97 is much more "blocky" (especially the bottom left side of the tree leaves). If they allowed you to allocate 26.3 Mbps for 29.97 content, it would look even better than the 59.94 video since the bit rate isn't being allocated over as many frames.

The 1080p capture option is very nice. A 1080p 59.94 source is recorded at 29.97 with 30.0 Mbps. I forgot how great 1080p video looks on my TV as it's always been at 720p. Since the Elgato can be pushed to 30.0 Mbps, the user should be able to select the maximum 30.0 Mbps for at least 720p. Even 480p is limited to 15.0 Mbps. I would like to see that lifted to 20.0 Mbps so a consistently high quality file can be captured even in very high motion game play. Regardless of capture bit rates, it is nice to see that the Elgato correctly captures HD colours (Rec. 709). The device also properly handles 16-235 and 0-255 video which very few DirectShow capture cards actually do.

In comparing the capture quality to something like the Blackmagic Intensity Pro (HDYC UT Video Lossless), you can see some very slight degradation in quality with the Elgato but it's hardly anything to complain about (since the bit rates are substantially less).

Blackmagic BMP: Click
Elgato 26.3 Mbps BMP: Click

I am more than happy with the capture quality of the encoder but as said above, I'd like to see the bit rates slightly increased.

Now let's talk about interlaced content. I connected up my SNES and was told that the capture would be 720x480i at 59.94. This is completely wrong. It should be 720x480i at 29.97 (weaved capture). If you untick the "Preserve Source Format" option, the software will capture a deinterlaced 640x480 image at 29.97. This is also wrong as then you would be losing half the frames (old systems are actually 60 fps). I can see why they probably did this though. Most people won't care as it's only if you would be submitting a run to SDA would you ever need the full 60 fps. If you want to use this device with interlaced content/retro games for SDA, you should look elsewhere. Don't get me wrong, it still works with 240p material, just other devices handle it better.

If the above issue does get fixed, there is also another problem with Composite and S-Video in the black levels. The capture filter for the Elgato looks to only support the basic "NTSC_M" (USA at 7.5 IRE). This is a problem because many retro consoles such as the US SNES are just basically Super Famicom (NTSC-J) consoles. This is why you can play Super Famicom games in a US SNES. Since these are NTSC-J consoles, they also output the black level at NTSC-J standard (0 IRE). This could be fixed by giving an option to choose between 0 and 7.5 IRE when the user selects Composite or S-Video (put it in place where the user selects between Standard and Expanded for HDMI).

The last thing to talk about is live streaming. Since the Elgato has native XSplit and OBS support. it's easy to set up and get going. Due to the preview delay, I had to delay the microphone to match the game. I got it to sync up with my microphone at a setting of 1400ms. This seems like the standard to use from videos and tutorials I watched.

Everything works well with the live streaming. However, speedrunners have extra issues to contend with. Ideally we want to capture a high quality local recording and live stream at the same time. There is currently no way to do this with the Elgato. The only workaround would be to local record in the Elgato software and then screen capture the preview window inside XSplit or OBS. That's not exactly a good solution, especially if screen real estate is a problem. I would really like a way for the Elgato to work similarly to AmaRec's Live feature where you take a DirectShow source that can then be added to as many applications as you want while still being able to record in the software itself.

Showing timers/splits on stream is also another problem. Not only will you have to sync up a microphone, but you also have to delay the timer in WSplit (or similar program). If you are curious how to do this then right click and go to Configure in WSplit. For start delay input something along the lines of 1.4 (aka 1400ms to make it the same as the microphone delay). A big thanks to SDA user Vid3odrome for the solution to timing splits and the Elgato together.

There is also a slight issue with editing the files. The .ts files can be imported into programs such as Sony Vegas but they have no sound. The included MP4 converter fixes this and won't touch the quality. However, I noticed a peculiar issue with the frame rate detection in Sony Vegas. It is detected as 59.908 fps (this should be 59.940). This isn't a big problem but I would definitely like Elgato to check this one out in case video/audio sync becomes a problem for very long recordings. I also tried other Elgato MP4 recordings and they also seem to slightly deviate from the standard 59.94 detection in Sony Vegas. I should also note that if you are using SDA's encoding program (Yua) then you only want to feed it the MP4 files as even the frame rate of the progressive .ts files are not being properly encoded.

I also discovered what I can only assume is a bug. The HDMI pass through can be toggled between Standard (16-235) and Full (0-255) in the Elgato software. However, it always defaults to Full on power up. This can be fixed by opening the software but the problem is if you close the software, the pass through goes back to 0-255. The only way to keep the pass through in 16-235 mode is to keep the software open. I hope Elgato can fix this to where the software "remembers" the 16-235 choice on exit or even when it is powered up.

That's pretty much everything I have to say on this capture card. Even with the issues I mentioned, it's a really stunning unit. Highly recommended if you want to use progressive content and hopefully the points I raised can be fixed in a future software update.