AVerMedia Game Capture HD
Alternative to the HD-PVR...
(None of the pictures are mine, though I will replace with my own if needed)
With the front page article on the HD-PVR I decided to write about an alternative product - the AVerMedia Game Capture HD. I am going to abbreviate it GCHD form now on. The GCHD takes a different approach than the HD-PVR to record your game time. It records directly to either an internal hard drive or USB drive. No computer is needed. It records to H.264 video and MP3 audio. This a format that is media server and YouTube friendly.
If you haven't read the front page article on the HD-PVR please do so. To sum up the HD-PVR sits in between your game console and your computer. You computer is used to record the video. There is a video pass-through so your game can still be played on your TV. Similar to the HD-PVR the GCHD is component cables only - this is to copyright protection in HDMI. The GCHD has many of the same limitations that the HD-PVR have, but this is mainly outside the control of the units. Like both units have a max of 1080i recording resolution. The GCHD removes the computer part of this equation with an internal hard drive or USB drive (both sold separately). I installed a 250gig internal drive in my GCHD. The problem with this is then the GCHD could not be used to capture live gaming, like if you want to stream your gaming onto Twitch.TV. The GCHD is more useful if you want to capture your clan matches.
In order to get the video files off of the GCHD and onto your computer you will need a USB drive. I have an 8 gig thumb drive that I use. You copy the file from the internal hard drive to the USB drive.
The video quality is great. Once I get a chance to learn these new forum controls I will show an Xbox and a PS3 recording. The GCHD is very simple to use, I didn't have to read the manual.
When using the video pass-through the GCHD can be setup to automatically turn on and off when a video signal is present. This is a very nice feature. The video pass-through is also on even when the GCHD is turned off so you can game as normal without having the GCHD turned on.
There are some drawbacks though. At least on my unit the video pass-through is not that great. The video from the movie files is much better than what I see on my television. I am unsure if it is because I am use to HDMI or if the pass-through on the unit degrades the component signal a little. When playing DC Universe Online the text chat was a little fuzzy and hard to read. I just had to change the brightness on my TV from 55 to 90 in order to compensate. I can see that being a bit of a drawback for certain TV models.
Another drawback is, as I mentioned before, you have to use an intermediary USB drive to transfer contents to your computer. I would have like to have seen a way to plug the device into your computer through USB to get the files off of it.
One final drawback is the only audio inputs and outputs are RCA. This can be a problem if you want to game in surround sound and also record the sound. This also leads into hooking up the device to both a PS3 and Xbox. The problem with both the Xbox and PS3* is you cannot output audio on optical AND RCA at the same time. At least I could not find away. If someone knows how please let me know. I ended up doing a work around. I hooked up my console to my EarForce X41 base station and then used the aux out from that into the GCHD. For most people, through, I am not sure how to get around this issue.This is a feature where the HD-PVR has trumped the GCHD.
The GCHD is currently $135 on Amazon.com while the HD-PVR is $195. You do need to have some type of storage media for the GCHD just as you would need a computer for the HD-PVR. Overall for the cost of the device I think it is worth it if you don't want to keep a computer attached to your TV. The pass through quality and audio input issues can be worked around but is an annoyance.
*You can output to HDMI and RCA at the same time on the PS3. See comments, it does work.