Avermedia live gamer extreme 2 review in Spanish (complete analysis)

Within the Avermedia catalog we can find all kinds of hardware capture machines that will free our GPU from the task and allow us to maximize our performance. Today we present you one of its classic models, but renovated to adapt to 4K televisions and monitors.

Wanting to see our review? Do not miss it!

We are grateful for the trust in Avermedia for the loan of the product for its analysis:

Technical characteristics Live Gamer Extreme 2

A 4K grabber that doesn't capture 4K

We have to put ourselves in a situation so as not to take unpleasant surprises. The new Avermedia Live Gamer Extreme 2 is one of the simplest in its range, within its external models and is one of the most basic in offering 4K capacity.

The problem is not that it supports 4K, which is fine, but that it only does it as a step towards our monitor or television. Its capture capacity is limited to 1080p60, which is not bad, and it is not capable of working autonomously, it has to be done using a computer with Windows or MacOS operating system.

What is the advantage then over previous models?

The main advantage of the Live Gamer Extreme 2 GC551, over the model it replaces, the Avermedia Live Gamer Extreme GC550, is precisely that it can give way to a 4K image of up to 60Hz vertical frequency, when the previous model only supported signal of up to 1080p60.

The difference, therefore, is minimal, and in fact this grabber has important limitations because it does not support 4K resolution step with HDR or higher frequencies, for more signs Avermedia has just launched the new GX553 model that does have HDR support, which It supports frequencies up to 144Hz in 1080 and it is capable of capturing in 2160p30, 1440p60, 1080p120 and 1080p60 HDR.

The price difference is also important, Live Gamer Extreme 2 has replaced the GC550 for the same price, about 156 Euros, and the new HDR-compatible model costs 80 Euros more. If price is a decision factor, it is clear that you have to pay a lot more to receive a substantial improvement.

Analyzing the data

Once we know what is in front of us, it is time to focus on the technical data of this grabber. It is a model with hardware capture that uses our PC as storage, hardware contribution and recording control, so not all the process load is carried out by the capture machine.

This is important because we have to take into account that you will not be able to capture protected content or we will not achieve anything. Luckily the games, the real objective of this capture, do not use protected broadcast, at least not yet.

Then three types of resolutions that we have to be clear about when it comes to this grabber:

• Grabber Pass Resolution: 2160p60 and 1080p60. This means that we cannot use lower, higher or intermediate resolutions. It does not support, for example, 1440p or 1600p resolution (usually known as 2k, although strictly they are not). It also does not support HDR and therefore does not support 120, 144 or 240hz high frequency outputs. Input resolution: We can use this grabber as a pure grabber by connecting a second HDMI cable to it and using screen mirroring, we don't have to plug the monitor into it if we don't want to. So the supported resolutions are: 2160p, 1080p, 1080i, 720p, 576p, 480p, 480i. Capture resolution: Supports modes up to 1080p60. This means that we will be able to synchronize the number of FPS per second, with up to 60FPS, but we will not be able to capture a 4k output, although we can see it on the target monitor.

The file format from the capture is MPEG 4 as the container using H.264 or HEVC codec for video and ACC for sound. The capture quality exceeds 60mbps bit-rate, which is very high for this resolution and is completely configurable by the user.

The capture is per processor, that is, little contribution of real hardware, which has its advantages, but also its disadvantages. We'll take a look at this in the performance tests and also in our review of Avermedia's capture software, ReCentral 4.

Format and connectivity

Although at the moment we are not very impressed by the data and characteristics of this grabber, the truth is that things improve when we focus on the format. It is compact and light and the connectors are well distributed, the only thing I see a little silly is that we can personalize the card thanks to a cover that we can remove and change for something printed that we consider appropriate. Honestly spare.

What is fine is the distribution of connectors, concentrating the HDMI 2.0 on one side of the back of the capture device and on the other side a USB-C connector that is completed with a USB-C to USB-A cable with which controllers and we will feed the controller from the PC.

Avermedia RECentral 4

The operation of this grabber, and of all of the brand, is governed by the RECentral application, which is currently in its fourth major version. This application allows us to control several capturers at the same time, or multichannel capturers, to capture and stream in real time from several points simultaneously. It is practically its great asset compared to the capture systems offered by the different manufacturers of graphics chips.

Another of its advantages is that it allows us to adjust the quality practically to the detail and also allows us to choose between the capture system of the card itself, at least on Nvidia chips, and that of capture through the CPU. The first consumes less CPU and the second allows us, if our processor has enough cores, to reduce GPU consumption and increase the FPS rate while we capture and play.

RECentral also allows us to stream in real time through the main social networks for players. Everything is centralized and is accessible through hotkeys that allow us to start the capture without having to open the application. Another of its advantages is that it captures everything we see, including the Windows desktop.

Avermedia also provides with this model a Cyberlink PowerDirector 15 license that is not the most recent version of this application but is more than enough for a fairly elaborate video editing and with hardware assistance for the compression and execution of effects in time real.

CPU consumption and FPS difference

RECentral 4 creates a service in Windows that allows you to manage the operation of the grabber, but this is not the one that will generate system consumption. When we capture we can choose two operating modes that will consume CPU or GPU. The capture engine of the application itself uses CPU, which is fine if we have a processor with many cores of which some can be dedicated to capture, and the GPU mode if we prefer to use the capacity of our graphics card to perform the task.

We have calculated the consumption of both methods with a quality of 1080p60 at 60Mbps of video capture bit-ratio and 256-Bit for video capture:

In the results, made with a 16-core Threadripper, we can see how using CPU we increase the FPS rate of the card, which is an RTX 2080, but we put a consumption of up to 25% of CPU. In this processor it means using a total of four cores and 8 process threads. The game at that time is around 30% of CPU consumption so in this processor we still have 6-8 cores, 12-16 process threads, for other tasks.

If we use GPU, the CPU consumption is reduced to an average of 5%, more by the display of the capture in real time than by the use itself for the capture engine. What happens is that we lose almost 8% FPS rate in the same demo of the same game. Conclusion: if we have an 8-core processor, we will be able to use the processor and dedicate the GPU to the game, if we have a 6-core processor or less, perhaps better to use the GPU so that the CPU is not saturated and becomes a neck of bottle for the GPU.

Final words and conclusion about Avermedia Live Gamer Extreme 2

The truth is that with the recording systems available to any modern graphics it is difficult for me to find a reason to buy this video capture device that is not being able to capture from other sources than a PC and for this we will have to have a PC nearby of the device to be captured since the recording will be controlled from the computer, either Windows or MacOS. Another virtue that the buyer of this capturer can look for is being able to add cards to have a multi-channel capture system.

Although if you want to get the most out of your computer while you play without removing resources from your PC, buying a capture device is a 100% recommended option. The Avermedia Live Gamer Extreme 2 allows us to have a higher quality while capturing and of course, with less lag. In this way you do not mortgage the PC resources if you record without a capture device.

For the rest of the reasons I see no reason to spend 155 Euros on a grabber that will make us depend on the GPU of our system or the CPU without a large contribution of hardware on your part. The good thing is that it allows you to view 4K, without HDR, and that its handling is simple by feeding and transferring data through a USB 3.0 connector. For the rest, we have not been at all impressed with this Avermedia model.

ADVANTAGE	DISADVANTAGES
+ Compact and light	- It is not capable of recording video in 4K but it renders great 1080p.
+ HDMI 2.0 input and output connectivity. In addition to having a USB 3.0 connector.	- Fully dependent on PC or Mac for recording or streaming
+ Free and intuitive software.

The Professional Review team awards him the bronze medal:

DESIGN - 68%

PERFORMANCE - 65%

SOFTWARE - 70%

PRICE - 65%

67%