Video Capture Card Review: Avermedia Live Gamer Portable

Natalie is a writer who works at her local library. She enjoys writing reviews, watching anime and TV shows, and playing video games.

What is the Avermedia Live Gamer Portable?

Video Capture Card: Avermedia Live Gamer Portable

The Avermedia Live Gamer Portable is a video capture card that will let you record your gameplay from the PlayStation 3 and 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One/X, Nintendo Wii, WiiU and Switch, and PC.

What’s in the box:
• Live Gamer Portable (C875)
• HDMI cable
• Component cable
• USB cable
• 3.5 mm audio cable
• PS3 cable
• Carry pouch
• Quick guide

I recently reviewed the Elgato Game Capture HD, and now I am reviewing what I bought to replace it. While the Elgato is a very nice capture card and I did like it, I found the Avermedia Game Capture Portable to be a better product, but I’ll explain more as this review goes on.

With the Avermedia Live Gamer Portable, you can capture, record and stream gameplay using your computer. But unlike the Elgato, the Avermedia Live Gamer Portable lets you record gameplay without using a PC.

Using an SD Class 10 card you can record gameplay without a PC, but you need to have a special setup to record a microphone as well as gameplay simultaneously.

System Requirements For Recording and Streaming

Here are the requirements for recording and streaming on the PC. These are the requirements for both desktops and laptops.

For PC:

• Intel® Core™ 2 Duo 2.8 GHz/AMD Athlon 64 X2 3.0 GHz
• VGA card supporting DirectX 10.0c
• 4GB

For Laptops:

• Laptop: Intel® Core™ i7-4810MQ
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 870M
• 4 GB RAM (8 GB recommended)

It is Easy to Set Up

The Avermedia Live Gamer Portable is easy to set up. Like the Elgato Game Capture HD, the Avermedia capture device is easy to set up. I found it easier to set up than the Elgato Game Capture HD. I found it much easier to use than the Elgato and I found that the REC Central program was also nicer than the Elgato’s program and it has an easy-to-use interface.

The Extra Feature of Hands-Free Recording Gives Avermedia an Edge

The ability to record without using PC is a major advantage over the Elgato because if you don’t want to record commentary or your record post commentary you don’t have to use the PC as long as you have the correct SD card with enough space to record footage you don’t need a PC or Mac to record footage. You might need software that can convert the video format of .m2ts to a format that you can edit on the PC.

You can record your voice commentary without a PC but you have to buy extra equipment to do that.

If you use a PC record you can choose your video settings to your preferred format.

The Video Quality Is Excellent

I find that the video quality of the Avermedia Live Gamer Portable is a major improvement over the Elgato Game Capture HD, not that the Elgato had bad video quality, but the Avermedia capture card and the video quality look better and has both brighter colors and better resolution for the videos.

The picture quality stands out to me the most because it just looks better just looking at the raw files that I recorded.

The Avermedia Also Has A Wobbly Mini USB Connector

The wobbly mini-USB connector strikes again when I record using the Avermedia Live Gamer Portable. This does not affect me when I record using the HDMI connections. The mini-USB also wobbles, but I can still get it to work when I record footage from the PS3.

I don’t know what’s going on with these mini-USB connections, but I’ve used two different capture cards and they both have the same problem, but fortunately, mine hasn’t broken yet.

This Capture Card Does Not Record 60 Frames Per Second

This capture card does not record at 60 frames per second, if you want a capture card that can record at higher frames per second you’ll have to buy the Avvermedia Live Gamer Portable 2, If you are fine with recording at 30 frames per second this won’t matter, but I know that there are some gamers that want the highest quality possible when it comes to recording their gameplay.

The Avermedia Live Gamer Portable might be great for entry-level gamers, but if you want the best capture cards they have you’ll have to pay a lot more, especially if you want 4K.

Reader Poll:

This is A Nice Capture Card for People on a Budget

The Avermedia Live Gamer Portable is a great capture card if you’re on a budget and you want to start recording console or PC gameplay. It has good vvideo quality and is easy to set up and use.

I love this capture card and it’s perfect for my needs as a YouTube content creator. The mini-USB connector is wobbly but the HDMI connections work fine. I haven’t had any problems using the capture card to record footage from my PlayStation for or PlayStation 3.

Quick Summary

Final Grade: A-

The Avermedia Live Gamer Portable is a nice video capture card that lets me record gameplay from my consoles. While it isn’t perfect, it’s still a very nice capture card. It would be better if it didn’t have a wobbly mini-USB connection but it’s still a great product for recording games.

Because you don’ necessarily need a PC to record, it’s great for gamers that need to capture game footage for YouTube reviews or gaming news stock footage.

If you’re looking to start a gaming YouTube channel you might like this product, but if you want higher resolution or video quality you’ll have to buy the Avermedia Live Gamer Portable 2 or other capture cards because this capture card cannot record at 60 frames per second and if you want to show off first-person shooter games or have the best video quality you’ll have to spend more money.

This is also an expensive capture card, but not nearly as expensive as the Elgato Game Capture HD or newer models of Avermedias capture cards, but it’s still over $100 just for this card alone.

Is this capture card worth paying at least $100 for? To me, it was since I found it new cheap on eBay, but it might not be worth it for everyone else, especially if you want higher video quality when it comes to the recording.

It’s a great capture card but if you want better video quality you’ll have to buy a different capture card, but it’s definitely great if you want to start recording your gaming footage and you don’t have a fancy gaming PC and you own a console.

It might not be cheap but it’s worth the money if you want to start creating YouTube gaming content. Keep in mind that all capture cards that give you decent quality aren’t inexpensive, no matter which capture card you choose. The Avermedia Live Gamer Portable is a good price for the quality, but it’s not the best that you could buy for live streaming or recording games.

My Rating:

This article is accurate and true to the best of the author’s knowledge. Content is for informational or entertainment purposes only and does not substitute for personal counsel or professional advice in business, financial, legal, or technical matters.

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