Game capture cards have come along way since the early days of the Dazzle Video Capture and the Hauppauge USB Video Capture Device. These devices where originally made to transfer video from VHS tapes to a digital file on the computer. Early let’s players and content creators figured out that they could hook their consoles to these deceives and and record their gameplay, edit it and post them to early social media sites. Over the years companies would start to release capture cards that were geared to gamers. Now game capture cards have become an essential tool for streamers, YouTubers, games journalists/reviewer and anyone who wants to show off the latest game, epic loot that they found or something awesome or cringy that happened in game. One of those companies that is leading the charge in improving capture cards is AVerMedia.
AVerMedia is a Taiwanese communication technology company manufacturer that provides PC, tablet, and mobile TV-viewing solutions, along with high-definition video and real-time audio-visual product designs, manufacturing, and marketing, according to their About Me page on their website and their Wikipedia page. Now most gamers, streamers, YouTubers, etc will know AVerMedia mostly for their external capture cards due to them having a feature where consumers can insert a SD memory card or in some cases a hard-drive and record their gameplay without a PC. While these devices can be used to stream to services like Twitch and YouTube, they are bit on the pricey side for your average gamer who wants to start recording and streaming their games. Even their closest competitor, the ElGato HD60, is pricey at $169.99 for those who are just starting out. AVerMedia decided to solve this problem with their latest entry to the Live Gamer line of capture devices, the AVerMedia Live Gamer Mini.
AVerMedia Live Gamer Mini Product details
- Interface: USB 2.0 (USB Micro)
- Video Input: HDMI
- Video Output (Pass-Through): HDMI
- Audio Input: HDMI
- Audio Output (Pass-Through): HDMI
- Max Pass-Through Resolution: 1080p60
- Max Record Resolutions: 1080p60
- Supported Resolutions (Video input): 1080p, 1080i, 720p, 576p, 480p, 480i
- Recording Format: MPEG 4 (H.264+AAC) / Supports hardware encoding
- Dimension (W x D x H): 100 x 57 x 18.8 mm (3.93 x 2.24 x 0.74in)
- Weight: 74.5 g (2.63oz)
- Bundled Software: RECentral streaming software, StreamEngine plugin
- MSRP: US$129.99
Coming in at a little over two ounces, the AVerMedia Live Gamer Mini lives up to its name. For reference, here is a size comparison between the LGM and the Nintendo Switch, PS4, Xbox One and the SNES Classic:
Now the Live Gamer Mini is designed with the beginner in mind. That means no 4K/HDR or high refresh rate experiences, just HD 1080p at 60 frames a second. It has a built in hardware encoder, so it is able to run on low spec PCs. In other words, the LGM is able to process all of the date on the device itself without having to rely on the PC’s CPU. This means smooth recordings and zero latency issues. Explaining it doesn’t really help much, so here is some b-roll of various games that was taken using the Live Gamer Mini, using the default settings and using the RECentral software:
Again everything was super simple to get set up and recording. This was also the same process for streaming, in fact all I had to do was just sign in and link to my account. No having to copy and paste a stream key. You can even stream to multiple services at once. I don’t think even OBS can do that. RECentral has come along way it seems from being not very useful to now being something that opens up a whole lot more options for streamers. There are more advance features, but as a total beginner I kept things stock. I’m sure those who have much more experience will be able to take advantage of the settings. But for those who prefer OBS or any other 3rd party recording software, AVerMedia has developed a plug-in called AVerMedia StreamEngine to help optimize the LGM so that those who are using 3rd party software like OBS can have more control of their streams.
The AVerMedia Live Gamer Mini is truly made for the beginner in mind. Plug, play, record. If you want to customize your settings you can do that too. Just know that although it may be small and portable, you will need to plug it into a PC/laptop in order to capture gameplay. At $129.99 the LGM is a great choice for beginner streamers and content creators who want something easy to use.
