Hello everyone, i've been speedrunning for few months now, playing on pc, but i want to try some switch game too. So i was looking for some capture card but i really really don't know where to start lol.

I don't know which criteria i should look for ?

I don't know how a capture card work so if someone can explain me broadly ! (i suppose its plug between the sources and your monitor, but after that, can i just get the video output on my pc and use it on obs for example ?)

For now it's mainly to record switch game (on ps4 i can stream via twitch so it's not really a problem and i'm not using old console for now)

For the price, i didn't really think about it. Will see that when i'll know more about those.

Thanks everyone, have a great day !

A capture card works by taking the video and audio from your console and sending it your PC as a video source that can then be captured by something like OBS. You can either plug the console into your capture card and play off the video feed in OBS, or you can find a capture card with a pass-through (or use a splitter) to play the game off a TV while still capturing the gameplay in OBS.

Now, as for recommendations, it depends on your price range and setup. If you plan on playing off the OBS capture, I would recommend an internal capture card that connects to your motherboard as these will have the least delay. Something like the HD60 Pro from Elgato. If you plan on splitting the video signal, something like an Elgato HD60 S - which is an external card that connects via USB - could be an option.

There are many brands to pick from, Elgato is a good one, I’ve heard decent things about some Razer and Avermedia cards too. But the general price point for a decent quality external capture card is gonna be $150+ and an internal will probably be $200-$250. You might find other brands lower and closer to $100-$120 but they’ll probably all be external USB cards. You could also go as high as $300-$350 as well for some, what you pick depends on your price range and desired setup.

There are also a ton of online tutorials and reviews for products if you don’t know what card to pick or if you want to see more information about how all of this works.

Hey @Timmiluvs, thanks for the answer.

For the setup, my desktop pc and my tv are not really close, but it's not a problem i guess, i was looking for playing on my tv and get the signal on a laptop. I don't want to play on obs so i think i'm rather gonna go on an external card.

For the price i think 150-200 budget will be great, i prefer not to go higher on the price.

Gonna take a look at the Elgato HD60 S and look some videos

ive got the AVerMedia LGX (not sold anymore to my knowledge but the LGX2 is still sold) and it does hdmi and component recording with very low latency (1080p 60fps at max) i bought it for 150€ at the time and ive been really happy with it. my friend bought the LGX2 and he has been happy with that.

also from my friend's experience i wouldnt recommend the elgato, my friend constantly had problems with it. sometimes it just refused to show the video or audio. of course he might have just been unlucky but keep that in mind :P

Take a read through this thread if you're interested in USB 3 cards:

https://www.speedrun.com/Streaming_Recording_Equipment/thread/havyr

TL;DR: I recently got an Elgato HD60S refurbished for around 70$ and it's been treating me well so far.

Thanks Krayzar, gonna take a look

@Krayzar interesting thread, didn't know about those hdcp shit

Has anyone looked into the Plugable Nix Capture Card? It's cheaper than the elgato and looks decent. Haven't tried it myself though.