Our Verdict
The AverMedia GC553Pro might be the most affordable and reliable piece of kit I've found for recording high quality content. It's just a shame you have to use the clunky AverMedia software to do it.
For
- 4k60 or 1080p240 passthrough and recording
- 5.1 audio
- Fair price
Against
- Needs app for full settings
- App isn't easy
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Capturing gaming content has never been easier or more affordable than it is today. You can walk into an electronics store, pick up basically any capture card off the shelf, and walk away with a functioning solution. Better yet, do some research and get a great solution for an affordable price. AverMedia is one of the bigger players in the capture card space who are always angling towards more bang for buck, and the Live Gamer Ultra S (or GC553Pro) might be some of the best bucks I’ve… banged?
Straight out of the box, the GC553Pro is a unit with cyber chic in mind. It's a relatively small and slim rectangle box, with ports and vents seemingly everywhere. So much so, you can see through to the PCB inside, which appears to take up only a small fraction of the actual unit. When purchasing you can choose between a black or white model. It's not a tonne of options but it's more than most, and the simple colourways should match most gamer's kits quite nicely.
But that is definitely a factor with this capture card, you're going to need something good enough to run it. Not only do you need to have USB ports on your computer that are capable of receiving the high quality signal, but you also need to be able to store and read all that media. ✅ You're after the best quality recording or streaming at the cheapest price: I don't think there's a card out there as affordable as this one that has the capture capabilities it does. ❌ You don't want to use the app: To access the full quality of this card you need to be using AverMedia's software. If this is a deal breaker for you, save yourself some cash and grab a cheaper card that's more plug and play. My laptop which I often use to stream gave it a fair go and did fine on the lower quality recordings, but simply didn't have the ports needed for better and would have run out of storage really quickly if it had somehow managed. This capture unit doesn't do any of the heavy lifting for you aside from allowing those signals to pass through easily, so your PC needs to be up to the task. So long as your rig can run it this is a really handy capture device, beyond just high quality game footage. A friend of mine has been trying to use Elgato's CamLink to provide passthrough for high quality camera footage for his stream. Looking at it we thought the GC553Pro should be up to the task, so gave it a crack. It took some work within the AverMedia app, and we had to set it up as a virtual camera, but by the end of it we had high quality camera recording far better than CamLink had ever managed to provide. Then, we left it running for several hours with no complaints—something the Elgato couldn’t reliably perform. The AverMedia GC553Pro is a keen augment for your PC, allowing you to record high quality video while still playing in high quality pass through with relatively little fuss. It doesn't mind if it's from a console, a phone, or a camera—as long as it can use HDMI, it seems this thing can do it. If you want lower quality, then it'll work with almost no fuss, but I think you'd be hard pressed to find a card that can record and passthrough at this level for a better price. 👉Check out our list of guides👈 1. Best gaming chair: Secretlab Titan Evo 2. Best gaming desk: Secretlab Magnus Pro XL 3. Best gaming headset: HyperX Cloud Alpha 4. Best gaming keyboard:Asus ROG Strix Scope II 96 Wireless 5. Best gaming mouse: Razer DeathAdder V3 HyperSpeed 6. Best PC controller: Xbox Wireless Controller 7. Best microphone: Shure MV6 USB Gaming Microphone 8. Best webcam: Elgato Facecam MK.2
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✅ You're sick of bad passthrough: It sucks to have to give up on the good gaming experience because you want a good recording or streaming experience instead. This card does well at both.
The AverMedia GC553Pro might be the most affordable and reliable piece of kit I've found for recording high quality content. It's just a shame you have to use the clunky AverMedia software to do it.
No, she’s not kidding.
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