AVerMedia Live Gamer ULTRA S Review - Compact and Powerful 4K Capture

TweakTown Rating: 90%

Our Verdict

The AVerMedia Live Gamer ULTRA S is a compact HDMI 2.0 external capture card that supports various resolutions and refresh rates, including 1080p240 VRR, ultrawide, and 4K60. And with AVerMedia's intuitive Streaming Center app, you'll be up and running in seconds.

Pros

• Supports 1080p, 1440p, 4K, and Ultrawide
• 5.1 audio recording
• Excellent recording quality
• Compact and straightforward to use
• AVerMedia's Streaming Center app makes capture a breeze

Cons

• No on-device recording to SD card
• No audio input for headset or microphone

Should you buy it?

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Introduction & Specification Details and Close-up

With the rise of video game content creation, streaming, and social media clip posting, the transition from software to a dedicated capture card for video isn't as daunting or cost-prohibitive as it once was. AVerMedia has been developing and releasing many internal and external capture cards for years, and its latest is worth checking out.

The new AVerMedia Live Gamer ULTRA S builds on the company's extensive knowledge and support to present a quick, easy, affordable solution for PC and console gaming capture and streaming for the 4K age. Smooth and seamless 4K60 capture and passthrough, with support for the full range of HDMI 2.0 video settings, VRR, HDR, and true-color RGB24 capabilities. There's a lot of power packed into its small package.

If you look online, there's no shortage of external capture cards, with many coming in cheaper than the $150 price point of the AVerMedia Live Gamer ULTRA S. However, you'll quickly find that the more expensive you go, the more capabilities you'll have. The Live Gamer ULTRA S hits the right spot because the most affordable USB 3.0/3.2 external capture cards top out at 1080p60 recording with 4K60 passthrough. Here, you've got the option for full 1080p240 recording on top of 4K60 with support for VRR and HDR at 1080p and 1440p.

Upgrading to full HDMI 2.1 capture requires a more powerful (and expensive) capture card with a fast Thunderbolt or USB 4-style port to accommodate the increased bandwidth. That said, after spending several weeks with the AVerMedia Live Gamer ULTRA S, it's quickly become my go-to device for capturing Xbox Series X, PlayStation 5, and PC gameplay. The USB 3.2 Type-A connection makes it compatible with most PCs and laptops. The simple plug-and-play design paired with AVerMedia's intuitive Streaming Center app makes the entire process seamless and quick. After installing the required software, you're pretty much good to go and ready to start recording high-quality video. For those looking to stream, there's even a Streaming Center plugin that pairs with an existing OBS camera and microphone setup.

Specifications & Close Up

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Kosta's Test System Specifications

Design & Software

Design

When it comes to capture cards, one of the most critical but often overlooked things to check is what resolutions are supported. Here, the AVerMedia Live Gamer ULTRA S excels with support for the usual 1080p, 1440p, and 4K resolutions, plus ultrawide resolutions like 3440x1440 and even 480p for those wanting to capture retro gaming at its native resolution. This covers all bases for console, PC, and handheld devices, so you'd be hard-pressed to find an HDMI 2.0 signal that isn't immediately recognized by the Live Gamer ULTRA S. However, as it's not an HDMI 2.1 capture card, the passthrough does top out at 4K 60FPS with HDR. On the plus side, the Live Gamer ULTRA S also supports 5,1 recording over HDMI, which is impressive.

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Taking a detour away from resolutions and video, there's a lot to love about the physical design of the AVerMedia Live Gamer ULTRA S. This thing is small, weighing under 100 grams, and is also USB-powered (using only 2.7W on average), making it perfect for connecting to a laptop or PC and moving around. Port-wise, you've got HDMI IN and HDMI OUT on one side and the USB-C OUT port on the other, which is as easy as it gets for a capture card.

However, the simple plug-and-play design does mean it is missing some features of other external capture cards, including some from AVerMedia. There's no audio input for connecting a headset and no SD card slot for recording without a PC or laptop. The latter is disappointing, but not surprising. It simply would have been nice to have that option.

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Going back to the capabilities of the AVerMedia Live Gamer ULTRA S, two cool available features are the ability to record smooth VRR gameplay at 1080p and 1440p and video using the uncompressed RGB24 format. VRR support means you can record PC games with an unlocked frame rate without visible tearing and stuttering, while RGB24 allows for capturing archive-quality video.

Software

Thankfully, the Live Gamer ULTRA S's simple plug-and-play physical design translates to the software side. AVerMedia Assist Central Pro offers a simple interface for checking the device's firmware version, the current display input setting, and switching between various modes created for consoles and other hardware. Assist Central Pro also includes the ability to install the dedicated Streaming Center app for recording and the Streaming Center plugin for OBS.

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Streaming Center is a Windows-only app that allows you to record high-quality gameplay at various resolutions. The app layout is intuitive and straightforward, and you can control recording resolution, bit rates, and codecs. Streaming Center can connect multiple audio and video devices, giving you direct control over window sizes and volumes. It's nowhere near the level of granular control you get from OBS, which is the app of choice for most streamers; it can be viewed more as a simple alternative.

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Streaming Center also offers a quick indicator to tell you if the signal it receives is a VRR signal, too - and this feature (VRR recording) is limited to the Streaming Center app. The latency and preview quality are good enough that you can still play while watching the app running on a laptop rather than what's happening on your main display or TV. This is precisely what we did when capturing some 4K60 Xbox Series X gameplay for this review.

Performance

The following 4K60 capture of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered on the Xbox Series X, tested in various scenarios using different settings, showcases how easy it is to get high-quality YouTube-ready footage from a modern gaming console with the Live Gamer ULTRA S. Granted, Oblivion Remastered in performance mode doesn't run at a solid 60 FPS so the slow-down or varying frame rate in the video is indicative of the game running on the Xbox Series X. Still, it does look fantastic, and the Live Gamer ULTRA S is perfect for capturing high-quality gameplay using settings that equate to around 6 minutes of footage coming in at around 2GB.

The second video, of id Software's iconic Doom II, was also captured at 4K60 on the Xbox Series X using the most recent remastered version of the game. Here, the clean and crisp 4K video looks brilliant, and running at full screen on a high-end display, even with YouTube compression, looks on par with the real thing.

Overall, the Live Gamer ULTRA S's capture quality impressed us whether we were gaming on an Xbox or connected to a GeForce RTX 5080-powered PC. Streaming Center is also great for pure gameplay, and for those with a PC or laptop used for streaming, it's an excellent tool for both console and PC streaming via OBS. Of course, here, you also need a separate camera and audio interface to capture your face and audio.

Final Thoughts

Simple to use, the AVerMedia Live Gamer ULTRA S supports almost every HDMI 2.0 resolution and refresh rate, including ultrawide, making it a versatile capture card for gaming creators and streamers. Using a dedicated capture card over simply using software to record gameplay is always preferable, as the video quality tends to be noticeably better, with higher bit rates making a real difference. Ultimately, the Live Gamer ULTRA S excels as an easy-to-use external capture card thanks to its simple setup and AVerMedia's intuitive Streaming Center software.

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Although we would have liked to have seen a 'record to SD card' option and audio input for a headset and microphone, these aren't deal breakers, as those features would have resulted in a more expensive device. However, by focusing on things like VRR, accurate RGB24 recording, and supporting a wide range of resolutions and refresh rates while maintaining pristine image quality, perhaps AVerMedia's goal with the Live Gamer ULTRA S was to deliver an HDMI 2.0 capture card that could handle anything you might throw at it. And for that, it comes highly recommended.