Elgato HD60 S Review

Some months ago I was wondering if Elgato was ever going to tackle an external USB3 card, I got my answer some weeks later. I've had the card for about 5 weeks now, enough time to give a good insight into it.

So what exactly is the HD60 S? Well to put it in simple terms, it's an external Elgato HD60 Pro that I recently reviewed. It's really great for the laptop market or for those who own a desktop but don't want to fiddle about with internal installation.

The build quality feels really nice and what you would expect from Elgato. It's slightly smaller than the original Game Capture HD design and seems equal to the original HD60.

System Requirements

I want to quickly discuss the official system requirements from Elgato as there are two main points I want to talk about.

PC: Windows 10 (64-bit)

4th generation quad‑core Intel Core i5 CPU (i5-4xxx or comparable)

Intel HD or NVIDIA GeForce 600 series graphics (or better)

4 GB RAM, built-in USB 3.0 port

Those are not particularly high specifications for most systems these days but they are still modest. The reason for this is the HD60 S does not feature an on board H.264 encoder like the HD60 Pro so the encoding is done on your system.

Some people might be confused about the OS compatibility. Windows 10 is preferred but it will also work fine on 8.1 and 7. In fact I was using 8.1 so don't feel like you need Windows 10 to use the card.

Software and video quality

The Game Capture software hasn't changed much from the HD60 Pro, solid and steady as ever with the HD60 S. It's just simple and easy to understand that will take you maybe 10 or 15 minutes to get the hang of.

One thing I found interesting is that they chose to change the maximum bit rate to 40Mbps when the Pro was 60. They probably did this due to on board encoding as discussed previously.

Like other Elgato cards, you are still stuck with YV12 (4:2:0) capture but this really doesn't mean much when most media you create is streamed in YV12 or converted to YV12 by YouTube anyway. If you really want YUY2 (4:2:2), you would need to look into using the DirectShow driver described below. Here is a 1080p60 40Mbps sample from the Elgato software for your viewing pleasure.

Although the card is basically made for 1080p60, they have not forgot about other common resolutions. The HD60 S officially supports 1080p60, 1080p30, 1080i, 720p60, 720p30, 576p, 576i and 480p.

One really cool change in the software since 3.10.65 has been the non splitting of .ts files once the file size hit 4GB. I should note that file splitting still occurs if you use flashback recording.

The HD60 S also has support for Elgato Sound Capture and you know how much I love that.

Drivers and OBS/XSplit Compatibility

Like the HD60 Pro, Elgato is supplying two drivers for the HD60 S. One is tailor made to add functionality on a product by product basis and the other is a run of the mill DirectShow driver that unlocks the YUY2 functionality as described above. I see no reason to use the DirectShow driver as the one they bundle with the Game Capture software will work with OBS and XSplit anyway. You would only really be missing out on AmaRecTV support.

As of writing, the HD60 S comes fully working with OBS using either driver. However, XSplit will require an update to be used with the non DirectShow driver. If you require immediate access to the HD60 S in XSplit, I recommend you install the DirectShow driver by clicking here. I'll update this when XSplit has rolled out support for it.

Click to enlarge

USB3 Bandwidth and Preview Latency

The HD60 S seems to be using the CY3014 USB3 chipset and I'm glad they did. It has shown how stable it is at processing 1080p60 video on other cards using the same chipset (XCAPTURE-1 and the USB3HDCAP). It was a good decision to keep it and not go down the road of other devices plagued by issues such as the Intensity Shuttle.

Due to this, preview latency is kept as low as most internal cards. For my Asus laptop, it seems to be always 2 frames and should be fine to play from. Of course this number depends on your system so it might be 3-4 frames on slower systems or closer to 1 on high end rigs. You definitely won't need to fiddle with microphone offset that's for sure.

Conclusions

A shorter review than normal but that's my style with reviews. I want to give a quick description of the product and then highlight any key points or things I think need improved. The fact this review is short shows how good the card is. If you do consider buying this, you are getting exactly what you pay for. A USB3 external card capable of easily capturing 1080p60 video and anything in between. 

Elgato HD60 Pro Review

I've been wanting to review this for quite awhile and thanks to the kind folks at Elgato, I was supplied a review unit.

Originally when this was announced, I was pretty sceptical about a card that only accepted HDMI. I found it very weird that they dropped Composite/S-Video/Component support from the original Game Capture HD design.

After having time to reflect on it, I think Elgato has chosen wisely. The future is HDMI and this card is meant to cater to that. Recently I've been getting into PC and PS4 gaming so keeping around older consoles like a Super Nintendo doesn't mean much any more. Time to move on and embrace the new! Eventually some hardware based solution that doesn't suck (Retron 5 etc) will come out and we can all enjoy the glory of HDMI even with our older games.

Packaging and contents

Elgato have gone with a similar packaging design to the original Game Capture HD and who can fault them. It looks really nice and is very practical. Inside is the capture card itself, an Elgato Gaming case badge, a mini PC bracket and at the back is a HDMI cable.

I personally like the approach of not supplying driver CDs with computer products. They are almost always out of date and pointing the user to grab the latest from the internet is always the way to go. The card is surprisingly small compared to other cards I've used. It's basically nearly half the length of the SC-512 and it should have no issue fitting into any case.

The build quality is also really solid and sturdy. You can tell they really put care and effort into this card. I like that they label the input and output ports very clearly. Too often have I stumbled with this on other capture cards and been scratching my head for a minute or two as to why I don't have a signal (I'm looking at you Blackmagic).

Software installation, usage and owning a capture card, worth it?

The latest drivers and software can be downloaded from here.

Click to enlarge

The software supplied is as user friendly as it gets and anyone regardless of technical knowledge should be able to use every feature after 10 minutes. One of my main issues with the USB version of the software was that changing any setting hanged the video preview for 5+ seconds. With the internal offering, this is cut down to maybe a second and is much more responsive because of it. You are also easily able to record commentary over the game and individually tweak the volumes which is good when making tutorials or an actual "Let's Play".

The flashback feature basically allows you to record without recording. Missed an awesome moment? Just slide it back and hit record. Can't say I would use this much though and this is where the line between owning a capture card and just using the built in PS4 recording comes into question.

Most of the normal gamer user base is going to be fine with the 15 minute PS4 record limit if they are doing a Let's Play or whatever. They can technically get around that and have unlimited time if they stream it on Twitch and then upload the highlight to YouTube. I guess that approach is okay but what does that suffer?

1. Actual 1080p quality recordings are missed and depends on the users internet connection
2. Editing that video is going to be troublesome rather than having offline MP4 files
3. Lack the ability to record other HDMI consoles without the PS4 feature
4. The PS4 stream layout is always like everyone else who does it, nothing unique. You can't put up splits if you're doing a run or set up the scene how you would like

I'm still 100% sure it's way better to own a capture card than using inbuilt console recording. Maybe in the future this will change but that is probably still years away.

Video quality and DirectShow drivers

Obviously the main selling point of this card is 1080p60 so let's try and focus on that. On the original Game Capture HD, Elgato limited the capture bit rate to 30Mbps when other USB2 solutions were offering 60Mbps. Thankfully it looks like Elgato have changed this for the HD60 Pro and 1080p60 at 60Mbps is the top offering. Here is some Elgato software 60Mbps recordings of what you can expect: Beyond: Two Souls and The Last of Us (make sure to locally download for an optimum viewing experience). The software records video in YV12 (4:2:0) mode which is to be expected. The lowest capture bitrate is 14Mbps if you were wondering.

I didn't actually find out until yesterday from Elgato that the HD60 Pro has a DirectShow driver! They have kept it low key as they believe "it can create more issues than it solves". I don't personally believe it does. Its made adding the card to programs like XSplit and OBS as easy as it should be. You can get the driver here.

Fortunately for us, someone at Elgato has been paying attention and has released the DirectShow driver with YUY2 support. It is possible to record from this card in lossless YUY2 mode. Needless to say I was quick to open up AmaRecTV and test this out.

A quick configuration to 1080p and away we go!

It works just like the SC-512 would when recording YUY2 video. It's really fantastic and what you would expect from the card. Below is a YV12 vs YUY2 comparison if you are interested (madVR is used as the renderer).

Lagarith/x264vfw Lossless YUY2

Elgato YV12 60Mbps

As you can see there is basically no quality loss. The 60Mbps strikes a great balance between quality and compression for such large resolutions and frame rates. The Elgato YV12 encoder is really performing well even against lossless files.

As for audio, the Elgato software limits audio capture to AAC since it outputs TS and MP4 whereas the DirectShow method is your usual PCM. Elgato should maybe think about implementing 5.1 audio support somewhere down the line. I know of 2 or 3 people who have bought the more expensive Magewell offering since it boasts 5.1 support.

It's really hard to give recommended source bitrate configurations since it depends what type of games you are playing. Anything slow without much action (think Beyond: Two Souls) seems to like ranges between 40 and 45 with anything above that being superfluous. The more visually demanding games will need around 50 and 55 Mbps to stay consistent in quality.

XSplit and OBS Support

The HD60 Pro is supported in each main streaming program with the DirectShow driver. Below are my OBS settings.

XSplit was a tad more difficult to set up. I had to manually specify the audio source within the capture card properties in XSplit. Hopefully in later XSplit versions this is automatically detected like it is for the AVerMedia cards or the Blackmagic Intensity Pro.

Limited and Full Range DirectShow Support

One of the issues with the DirectShow driver is that it is not clear how the user is supposed to toggle between HDMI ranges. The only way I could figure out how to do it was similar to the AVerMedia LGX method I came up with where you open up the Elgato software, toggle the range you need and then reopen AmaRec/XSplit/OBS. Here is the difference it can make so make sure you do it properly! I'm outputting full range 0-255 video in these screenshots.

16-235 toggled on

Proper full range 0-255 toggle

Conclusions and recommendations

This is a really solid offering from Elgato. Anyone in the market for a HDMI/1080p60 solution should probably pick this up. Obviously the main competitor is the Micomsoft SC-512 which has more inputs but like I said in the introduction, that really means nothing as time passes. If you do care so much about capturing your retro consoles you already should have an XRGB Mini which outputs HDMI and you guessed it... capture it with the Elgato HD60 Pro. You can even reinvest the money you saved in buying the HD60 Pro into an XRGB Mini.

The only real recommendations I can make to improve this is implement 5.1 audio support which should be well within the bandwidth requirements. I also find it weird that the software is limiting the user to capture audio at 224 kbps. Audio is so small in comparison to video data that I'd like to see configurable options for audio such as a slider that the software currently uses for configuring video quality. A range from 224 to 320 should ensure great quality stereo audio.

As mentioned above, an easier way to toggle HDMI ranges when using DirectShow should be implemented for future versions.

Thanks for reading. Any additional questions about the card you can contact me using the form on my blog or leave a comment below.

Elgato - Component capture issues on v2.0

Around the time the HD60 came out, Elgato unveiled new updated software (v2.0). At the time I didn't think much of it and updated. I'd only really been using HDMI so I never saw an issue until now. Today I had a need to capture some Wii Component video for a friend. Once the main menu came up I instantly said to myself "this looks wrong".

I decided to capture 2 games to compare (Donkey Kong Country and Clock Tower). I then downgraded to version 1.42.24 which I know to be correct and recaptured the same scenes. Here are the results.

Clock Tower:

v1.42.24

v2.0

Overlay comparison is here: Click

Donkey Kong Country:

v1.42.24

v2.0

Overlay comparison is here: Click

Second comparison:

v1.42.24

v2.0

Overlay comparison is here: Click

As you can see, the newer version is a mess. I thought I would clarify that I was using the latest 2.01.56 software when I say "v2.0". Luckily you can still download v1.42.24 on the Elgato website but if for some reason they ever remove it, I have mirrored the download on my Google Drive which you can download here.

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.