AVerMedia Live Gamer Portable Capture Card Review

A few months ago I took a look at a product that entered a new line on to the list of different products that I’ve looked at over time. This is namely AVerMedia’s RECentral Live Gamer HD – a PCI Express based hardware encoder that takes the effort out of video capture with a simple plug and play installation and a instant record button that connects via USB.

Following on from this bit of kit that ticked all the boxes for me, AVerMedia’s R&D teams have been busy working away, thinking a little outside of the box and this brings us forward to what I’ve got to look at today.

Whilst the PCI-e based capture card is a great bit of kit, there is one slight downfall (if you was to see it as one) in that if you’re capturing footage from say a games console such as the Xbox 360 or PS3, you need to have your PC nearby in order to capture the footage. If you’re at a LAN event such as Multiplay’s Insomnia series or you’re popping round to your mates house for a gaming session, the prospect of having to lumbar an extra system around isn’t exactly going to rate well and the thought of having a compact portable alternative is music to the ears for many gamers. Fear not as this is exactly what AVerMedia have done.

Gearing the LGP for a whole heap of different sources, AVerMedia include quite an extensive set of cables with the device. These include (from left to right) component A/V, a short HDMI to HDMI, USB, 2.5mm to 3.5mm audio and a PS3 to A/V cable. On top of all this, there is a carry case for the recorder, which I have to say feels really nice with its suede texture and also a 3-month subscription to XSplit for live broadcasting. Drivers and software can be downloaded from the AVerMedia product page, meaning you will always have the latest set of drivers when you come to install.