Avermedia goes 4K with a new range of capture cards

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Livestreaming and gameplay videos are big business now, but the technology used to capture footage has been fairly static for a while. Now that both internet speeds and hosting have improved, it’s time to move to higher resolutions. Previously capture cards were limited to 1080p for both capturing and pass-through to the monitor but that’s now changing. These are the first 4K-able capture cards from one of the leaders in the field, Avermedia.

Image: Avermedia

Up first is the flagship of the range, the GC573 Live Gamer 4K. Using HDMI2.0 it can capture 4k HDR footage at 60fps, 1440p at 120hz and 1080p at a whopping 240hz. No more having to decide if you want high resolution or high FPS, you can now have both. This model is designed to go into a computer’s PCIe slot, much like a graphics card, and can record in H.264 or the newer H.265 format. It also supports 7.1/5.1 sound passthrough, so no more being limited to stereo sound. There’s also RGB lighting, controlled by the RECentral program.

System requirements for the card are:

For 4Kp60 HDR or 1080p240:
– Intel® Core™ i5-6XXX or above
– NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1060 or above
– 8 GB RAM (Dual-channel)

Image: Avermedia

Then there’s the GC553 Live Gamer ULTRA. Again, this has the same 4k HDR 60 fps passthrough, but it will only record at a max of 30fps at that resolution. It will also record in 1440p 60fps, 1080p HDR 60fps or 1080p 120fps. H.264 and H.265. This time, however, it’s connected to the recording PC with USB instead of PCIe so it’s portable. It’s also plug-and-play over USB 3.1 so no drivers needed. No USB2.0 support, so make sure your computer supports USB3.0 or 3.1.

System requirements are:

For 4Kp30 or 1080p120:
– Operating system: Windows® 10 x64 (Support UVC Protocol)
– Desktop: Intel® Core™ i5-6XXX or above + NVIDIA® GTX 1060 or above 8 GB RAM (Dual-channel)
– Laptop: Intel Core i7-7700HQ or above + NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX1050 Ti or above 8 GB RAM (Dual-channel)

Image: Avermedia

Rounding up the lineup is the GC551 Live Gamer Extreme 2. This update to the popular USB-based capture card can pass-through a 4k 60fps signal to the monitor, while recording is limited to 1080p 60fps. It also records both in H.264 and the newer H.265, but no HDR content here. No USB2.0 support, so make sure your computer supports USB3.0 or 3.1.

System requirements are

– OS: Windows® 10 (64 bit)
– Desktop: Intel® Core™ i5-4440 3.10 GHz + NVIDIA® GTX 660
4 GB RAM (8 GB recommended)
– Laptop: Intel® Core™ i7-4810MQ + NVIDIA® GTX 870M
4 GB RAM (8 GB recommended)

All three capture cards come with the Avermedia RECentral streaming software, which can simultaneously stream your content to Twitch, YouTube, and more. Set up your overlays, notifications etc and you’re away on your livestreaming career. It won’t make you a star – that’s up to you, but it will make you look like one.

We’ve reached out to Avermedia for a review unit, so we’ll be putting the Xbox One S and PC up to some 4K challenges soon.

Do you use a capture card? Which one is your favorite? Let us know in the comments.

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Joe Rice-Jones

Maker, meme-r, and unabashed geek with nearly half a decade of blogging experience at KnowTechie, SlashGear and XDA Developers. If it runs on electricity (or even if it doesn't), Joe probably has one around his office somewhere, with particular focus in gadgetry and handheld gaming. Shoot him an email at joe@knowtechie.com.