AVerMediaLive Gamer Ultra GC553 – 4K60 HDR Pass-Through, 4K30 Capture, Low Latency for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, Switch, Windows 11/macOS 10.13

I'm writing this review primarily because none of the other reviews seem to cover using the device on macOS, which is what I bought it for. This is for the GC553 connected over USB-C with an Apple Thunderbolt cable as the Mac instructions suggest.I have the device connected to a 2018 Mac Mini, which obviously doesn't meet the system requirements AVerMedia provides but that's fine because I'm not using their software. I took my chances going in knowing this was a standard USB Video device and figured if the Mini can encode 4K30 in realtime via hardware then why would I need discrete graphics? As it turns out, I was right and it works fine. The official software provided for the device can't even capture a stable 1080p30, which is expected since it's just encoding in software. But it can apply firmware updates and change settings. OBS can't do hardware encoding on the Mini either, so that's not very good either. The good news is that any app that can do video capture + hardware encoding on a Mac works perfectly. The easiest option is Quicktime Player, which comes with macOS. Quicktime Player offers two quality settings, High and Maximum. High is 720p, maximum is 1080p. Both capture at a flawless 60fps with no dropped frames. Unfortunately QuickTime Player doesn't let you capture at 4K. I don't know how many capture apps for macOS support both hardware encoding and 4K devices, but I found a 3rd party app called SwiftCapture and purchased that. It can capture 4K30fps directly to H.264 on the Mac Mini flawlessly, no dropped frames. This is exactly what I wanted and it confirms that the official system requirements are just a limitation of the official software and you probably can use the capture device on any mac with USB-C as long as it supports hardware encoding.Note that I use this specifically for capture to files only. I haven't looked to see if any 3rd party streaming app supports the hardware encoder on the Mac Mini. OBS doesn't as of version 23.2.1. You can still use that anyway but the framerate will be choppy since it's not hardware encoded.As far as the product goes, I was impressed by the size. It's much smaller than the HD PVR that I used to capture component video previously. And the fact that it is USB powered is also nice. Set up was fairly easy, just connect it following the instructions and use the software on their website to update to the latest version.The only disadvantage I can see is that it doesn't seem to be capable of capturing 1440p60 unless the source device is outputting that resolution. When you have 4K content, I can capture in 4Kp30 or 1080p60 which is downscaled from 4K, but it doesn't let you capture the 4K downscaled to 1440p60. When you put the device into 1440p mode during 2160p video it just displays a message about resolution not being supported. In the software provided it seems the only way to capture at 1440p is to put the device into 4k30 mode but save your video as 1440p30. I'm not sure if it behaves the same way on Windows but it would be nice to be able to directly capture into 1440p even if the content was 2160p.Overall it's a great little device if you just want to do video recording from a Mac, especially if you don't use the provided software.

I’ve had this card for about 2 years now, and I’ve used it on a few different devices. The software is easy to download, the set up is simple, and the device is powerful.The signal quality is very good, and there is no input lag with devices I typically use. To be more specific, I primarily use this card so my laptop acts as a portable monitor for my Nintendo switch. Otherwise, if I have friends doing a streaming party on discord, I can connect this to any device I’m playing on (Xbox, switch, even my Nintendo 64) and stream what I am playing as well to join the party.This device is compatible with anything that could be plugged in and sends a signal to an HDMI, it has an HDMI in and out port, and can generally fit into any already existing setup.The device also comes with video editing software, and the streaming app allows for modification of many different video and audio inputs into the same frame at once. As long as you have enough RAM on your PC, you should be able to place your game, WebCam, video, mixed audio, timer, stream chat, and anything else you want all into a single frame and have it run well.Absolutely worth the price, if mine ever breaks, I’m buying it again!

I am not highly familiar with this brand, although I had a VGA video converter from them a few decades ago that was decent. Looking for a replacement for my ElGato HD60 (which I'm giving a 1-star review), I found this on Amazon. I've not heard much about this unit, not seen many video producers or streamers talk about it, but I gave it a shot since I had so much trouble with ElGato.This thing performs excellently. The video quality is great and there is virtually no lag. I can play games in the preview window with no trouble. The unit is very compact and sleek, and I like that it only needs USB power. It works fine in OBS. I did have some sound buffering on my front USB port, but the rear USB port was fine, so try that if the sound isn't good.I will say that I haven't tried the 4K. I do think it's a shame this only supports 30FPS recording in 4K, and for gaming I would much prefer 60FPS HD, but this may be a useful product for someone needing 4K if 30FPS is enough.