AverMedia Live Gamer Ultra 2.1 review: "A perfect capture card for console gamers looking to stay competitive"

GamesRadar+ VerdictThe AverMedia Live Gamer Ultra 2.1 is a truly next-gen capture card that allows you to record games at 4K60 without compromising on your existing setup’s performance. Variable refresh rate passthrough is a massive bonus for PC and console gamers looking to stay competitive on stream, but vivid and colorful captures are the real winner here.Pros+Turns in crystal clear footage+Captures vibrant colors+Solid passthrough for PC and console players+Nice designCons-Some important settings are missing-Occasional choppy footage when recording back-to-back GamesRadar+ Verdict GamesRadar+ Verdict The AverMedia Live Gamer Ultra 2.1 is a truly next-gen capture card that allows you to record games at 4K60 without compromising on your existing setup’s performance. Variable refresh rate passthrough is a massive bonus for PC and console gamers looking to stay competitive on stream, but vivid and colorful captures are the real winner here. The AverMedia Live Gamer Ultra 2.1 is a truly next-gen capture card that allows you to record games at 4K60 without compromising on your existing setup’s performance. Variable refresh rate passthrough is a massive bonus for PC and console gamers looking to stay competitive on stream, but vivid and colorful captures are the real winner here. Pros+Turns in crystal clear footage+Captures vibrant colors+Solid passthrough for PC and console players+Nice design Turns in crystal clear footage Captures vibrant colors Solid passthrough for PC and console players Nice design Cons-Some important settings are missing-Occasional choppy footage when recording back-to-back Some important settings are missing Occasional choppy footage when recording back-to-back Why you can trust GamesRadar+Our experts review games, movies and tech over countless hours, so you can choose the best for you.Find out more about our reviews policy. Why you can trust GamesRadar+Our experts review games, movies and tech over countless hours, so you can choose the best for you.Find out more about our reviews policy. AverMedia has been one of the only true, long-standing rivals to Elgato in thebest capture cardrace, but its products have never done enough to make me switch camps. Its latest external option, the Live Gamer Ultra 2.1, is particularly enticing because it allows 4K60 passthrough and recording, but more importantly, variable passthrough refresh rates of up to 144Hz. As consoles continue to achieve slicker frame rates, the ability to reliably record footage while not compromising on in-game performance is a bigger and bigger draw. At $299.99 / £279.99 though, is this enough to make status-quo Elgato options look second-rate? And do most players really need to spend that much for the features on offer here? Well, as someone who’s always been scared to spend that type of money on a brand that doesn’t seem as gaming-focused as Elgato, I can say my fears have well and truly gone. Design (Image credit: Future / Duncan Robertson) Capture cards don’t usually put much emphasis on their aesthetics. For the most part, they’re simple little black boxes that have some minor branding but don’t exactly sing and dance. The AverMedia Live Gamer Ultra 2.1 has a tantalizing RGB array on its front though, which really cements it as something that tries to go above and beyond what’s come before. You can sync this RGB lighting with your PC hardware if you’re so inclined, and at the time of writing, AverMedia has support for ASRock Polychrome and MSI Mystic Light, as well as settings in its own gaming utility tool. Pretty lighting aside, the Live Gamer Ultra 2.1 is still easy on the eye. It sits flat and routes all of its cables through its spine, making it easy to access and lovely to display on a TV stand or gaming desk. Remarkably, as light as this capture card is at 115g, it actually manages to sit flat when cables are routed through it. Most of thebest HDMI cablesare so thick that they make horizontal capture cards like this sit up on one end, but the Ultra 2.1 holds fast, which is something we found theAverMedia Live Gamer Extreme 3struggled with. (Image credit: Future / Duncan Robertson) The IO on the back of the Live Gamer Ultra 2.1 isn’t quite as heavy-duty as theRode Streamer X, but it does allow for some really solid connectivity for capturing footage. There’s a standard HDMI-in and HDMI-out - both of which are 2.1 compatible so you can 4K to your heart’s content. There’s a USB-C port for connecting the card to a gaming PC or laptop, and there’s a 3.5mm headphone jack for routing audio as well. Something I absolutely adore though, is the final port you’ll find. If you stream on a console with an external capture card through a PC, and you want to play with headphones, chat with your friends, hear everything clearly, and record your chat audio, you will likely run into some very infuriating technical issues. For Elgato’s older capture cards, this meant you needed to invest in a separate chat-link cable which just made things so much more complicated. For the Live Gamer Ultra 2.1, AverMedia has put an ingenious second 3.5mm headphone jack on board and supplied a cable for it in the box. Basically, this means you can put the supplied 3.5mm cable into yourPS5 controller, route all your audio into the capture card, but then plug your headset into the capture card’s second audio port and you’ll still be able to hear everything without having to completely mess up your PC’s audio settings. Features (Image credit: Future / Duncan Robertson) As mentioned, the AverMedia Live Gamer Ultra 2.1 allows for recording in up to 4K 60fps, but in truth, that’s just the beginning. At 4K, you can record footage at 29.97, 30, 50, 59.94, and 60fps. I particularly like the ability to record at the 29.97 and 59.94fps rates because a lot of video editing suites work to that speed rather than full-fat 30 or 60fps. You can, however, record at a wad of other resolutions. The Live Gamer Ultra 2.1 supports 1440p recording and has ultra-wide recording capabilities as well. There’s a lot of versatility to be had with your recording setup here, and as someone who records footage on varying platforms and is very particular about their video editing settings, I appreciate that. There’s also allowance for HDR, which will be a big plus for current-gen console gamers who don’t want to miss out on color accuracy in online play, which can give them a big leg-up against the competition. RECentral is the companion software for capturing footage or live streaming, although OBS and Streamlabs will obviously work as well. In RECentral though, you’ll be able to record in 2160p, 1440p, 1080p, 1080i, 720p, 576p, 576i, 480p, 480i, and in YUY2, NV12, RGB24, P010(HDR) formats. Exporting works a treat, and the software gives you the option of H.264 or H.265 codecs at varying video and audio bitrates. Finally, you can customize how many audio channels go into each recording, and choose to route yourbest mic for streaming and gaminginto the mix as well. Performance (Image credit: Future / Duncan Robertson) Although an external capture card is what you pay for, companion software is honestly where true value for money lies with this kind of accessory. This is where Elgato has always fallen short for me, not because its application lacks settings but because it can be very volatile, bringing in a load of infuriating technical issues. Those technical issues for me have included random freezes, hours of lost gameplay recordings, and bizarre firmware bugs that mean restarting your application or sometimes your whole system. These things are a nightmare, and not what you want after spending money on a bespoke product that’s designed for this specific purpose. AverMedia has dodged every one of those bumps in the road, and during my entire time testing the new Live Gamer Ultra 2.1, it’s been plain sailing. It is, however, a bit bizarre to me that AverMedia has allowed for such a vast array of recording setups when it comes to resolutions, framerates, and bitrates, and yet it hasn’t updated its software to allow for things like color grading, capture editing, or even a render progress bar. I was slightly wary of not being able to edit things like contrast levels and saturation - for more artsy creators this will need to be done in post. Luckily, when I reviewed the recorded footage from this card, I was amazed at the brilliant clarity and vivid colors that greeted me. It just so happened that when this capture card arrived on my doorstep I had a lot of footage to record for a video all about gaming landscapes - and it made every single gaming vista I featured look stunning. I mainly tested this card with a PS5 hooked into my PC, and the only times I thought the software/capture card was failing me was when I recorded two different games in two separate files, back to back. If you’ve used an external capture card before, you’ll likely know that it’s important to let one video render completely before starting the next recording. However, without the addition of any kind of “render-export-ometer,” it’s a bit tough to know when you’re safe to get going again. Even hooking this capture card up to theAcer Predator Orion Xand utilizing its unlocked i9 processor and RTX 4080 GPU, I got a few bits of choppy footage that lacked a bit of clarity when recording back-to-back. Luckily, framerates were always consistent so this didn’t cause any video editing headaches. (Image credit: Future / Duncan Robertson) What I was really impressed with, was the AverMedia Live Gamer Ultra 2.1’s ability to capture solid 30fps footage even in games that had unreliable framerates. Sable is one of my favorite games from recent years, and personally, I think its janky framerate dips can add to its charm. Nonetheless, it is a choppy game to try and snag footage of for that reason, and yet the Ultra 2.1 turned out blissfully smooth 1440p video. When recording on a lesser card or on the PS5 itself, that definitely hasn’t been the case for me, so that’s a big win. But what of that high refresh rate passthrough? While external capture cards specialize in console recording, to me, that 144Hz refresh rate tells me this one is designed to make the most of higher-end PC gameplay too. While it’s slightly more unorthodox to hook up an external capture card between a GPU and a monitor, that’s what I did, and the results were pretty telling. MyAcer Predator BiFrost Intel Arc A770does struggle with video encoding at times, and any time I’ve tried recording footage directly from it the results haven’t been the best. A versatile external capture card like this definitely helped to take the strain off my PC components and captured more consistent footage overall. If you have the CPU and RAM to help the program run while also playing demanding games at 4K60, this can definitely help. Should you buy the AverMedia Live Gamer Ultra 2.1? (Image credit: Future / Duncan Robertson) If you’re looking to take your content creation, whether it’s lets plays, live streams, or video essays, to the next stage, external capture cards don’t get much better than the AverMedia Live Gamer Ultra 2.1. If you want 4K60 passthrough, variable refresh rates, and recording capabilities up to that point, this is probably the most competitive external option we’ve tested at the time of writing. However, this capture card doesn’t come cheap, and the money could arguably be put towards one of thebest graphics cardsor an internal capture card instead - although that will only really suit those recording off a PC. Admittedly, I don’t have much need to record footage at 4K60, but having wanted to boost the resolution of myYouTubevideos for a while now, this is definitely something I’ll be looking to do from now on. Really, this is a perfect capture card for console gamers looking to stay competitive while streaming. The passthrough, at least in competitive games, is where a lot of value is heading these days, and if you can afford it, this is a product you can count on. For me personally, this has put an end to years of technical issues I suffered from with Elgato cards, and that’s exactly what I was hoping for. How we tested the AverMedia Live Gamer Ultra 2.1 For more on how we test the latest streaming gear, check out ourhardware policy. Looking for more live-streaming accessories? Get our thoughts on thebest webcams, thebest green screen, and thebest ring lights. 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action"4The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim review – “An uninspired expansion of the most iconic screen take on Tolkien"5Nightbitch review: “Amy Adams' disappointing dark comedy is all bark and no bite"1Doctor Who 2024 Christmas special review: “Ncuti Gatwa is as magnetic as ever in this delightful festive treat"2Secret Level review: “An uneven experience with serious highlights that ultimately make up for the misses"3Skeleton Crew review: “Perfectly captures the vibes of classic Star Wars with a swashbuckling twist"4Creature Commandos review: “James Gunn’s heartwarming, R-rated tale about super-monsters proves that the DCU is in good hands"5Cobra Kai season 6, part 2 review: “Returns to the sort of hard-hitting form that made it such a fan favorite in the first place” GAME REVIEWSMOVIE REVIEWSTV REVIEWS1Nemesis review: “A magical sense of tension"2Arcs review: “A whole lot of game in a small package"3Path of Exile 2 review: “A stellar start to a thrilling and brutal dark adventure"4Indiana Jones and the Great Circle review: “The best adventure Indy has embarked on in over 30 years"5Marvel Rivals review: “So preoccupied with trying to be like Overwatch that it forgets to play to its own strengths"1Sonic the Hedgehog 3 review: “Keanu Reeves as Shadow is wasted whilst Jim Carrey steals the show"2Mufasa: The Lion King review – “It’s no Hakuna Matata but this Disney origin story is a class above the 2019 movie"3Kraven the Hunter review: “The insistence on an R-rating helps save this, with a decent helping of bloodthirsty action"4The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim review – “An uninspired expansion of the most iconic screen take on Tolkien"5Nightbitch review: “Amy Adams' disappointing dark comedy is all bark and no bite"1Doctor Who 2024 Christmas special review: “Ncuti Gatwa is as magnetic as ever in this delightful festive treat"2Secret Level review: “An uneven experience with serious highlights that ultimately make up for the misses"3Skeleton Crew review: “Perfectly captures the vibes of classic Star Wars with a swashbuckling twist"4Creature Commandos review: “James Gunn’s heartwarming, R-rated tale about super-monsters proves that the DCU is in good hands"5Cobra Kai season 6, part 2 review: “Returns to the sort of hard-hitting form that made it such a fan favorite in the first place” GAME REVIEWSMOVIE REVIEWSTV REVIEWS 1Nemesis review: “A magical sense of tension” 1Nemesis review: “A magical sense of tension” 1 Nemesis review: “A magical sense of tension” 2Arcs review: “A whole lot of game in a small package” 2Arcs review: “A whole lot of game in a small package” 2 Arcs review: “A whole lot of game in a small package” 3Path of Exile 2 review: “A stellar start to a thrilling and brutal dark adventure” 3Path of Exile 2 review: “A stellar start to a thrilling and brutal dark adventure” 3 Path of Exile 2 review: “A stellar start to a thrilling and brutal dark adventure” 4Indiana Jones and the Great Circle review: “The best adventure Indy has embarked on in over 30 years” 4Indiana Jones and the Great Circle review: “The best adventure Indy has embarked on in over 30 years” 4 Indiana Jones and the Great Circle review: “The best adventure Indy has embarked on in over 30 years” 5Marvel Rivals review: “So preoccupied with trying to be like Overwatch that it forgets to play to its own strengths” 5Marvel Rivals review: “So preoccupied with trying to be like Overwatch that it forgets to play to its own strengths” 5 Marvel Rivals review: “So preoccupied with trying to be like Overwatch that it forgets to play to its own strengths” 1Sonic the Hedgehog 3 review: “Keanu Reeves as Shadow is wasted whilst Jim Carrey steals the show” 1Sonic the Hedgehog 3 review: “Keanu Reeves as Shadow is wasted whilst Jim Carrey steals the show” 1 Sonic the Hedgehog 3 review: “Keanu Reeves as Shadow is wasted whilst Jim Carrey steals the show” 2Mufasa: The Lion King review – “It’s no Hakuna Matata but this Disney origin story is a class above the 2019 movie” 2Mufasa: The Lion King review – “It’s no Hakuna Matata but this Disney origin story is a class above the 2019 movie” 2 Mufasa: The Lion King review – “It’s no Hakuna Matata but this Disney origin story is a class above the 2019 movie” 3Kraven the Hunter review: “The insistence on an R-rating helps save this, with a decent helping of bloodthirsty action” 3Kraven the Hunter review: “The insistence on an R-rating helps save this, with a decent helping of bloodthirsty action” 3 Kraven the Hunter review: “The insistence on an R-rating helps save this, with a decent helping of bloodthirsty action” 4The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim review – “An uninspired expansion of the most iconic screen take on Tolkien” 4The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim review – “An uninspired expansion of the most iconic screen take on Tolkien” 4 The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim review – “An uninspired expansion of the most iconic screen take on Tolkien” 5Nightbitch review: “Amy Adams' disappointing dark comedy is all bark and no bite” 5Nightbitch review: “Amy Adams' disappointing dark comedy is all bark and no bite” 5 Nightbitch review: “Amy Adams' disappointing dark comedy is all bark and no bite” 1Doctor Who 2024 Christmas special review: “Ncuti Gatwa is as magnetic as ever in this delightful festive treat” 1Doctor Who 2024 Christmas special review: “Ncuti Gatwa is as magnetic as ever in this delightful festive treat” 1 Doctor Who 2024 Christmas special review: “Ncuti Gatwa is as magnetic as ever in this delightful festive treat” 2Secret Level review: “An uneven experience with serious highlights that ultimately make up for the misses” 2Secret Level review: “An uneven experience with serious highlights that ultimately make up for the misses” 2 Secret Level review: “An uneven experience with serious highlights that ultimately make up for the misses” 3Skeleton Crew review: “Perfectly captures the vibes of classic Star Wars with a swashbuckling twist” 3Skeleton Crew review: “Perfectly captures the vibes of classic Star Wars with a swashbuckling twist” 3 Skeleton Crew review: “Perfectly captures the vibes of classic Star Wars with a swashbuckling twist” 4Creature Commandos review: “James Gunn’s heartwarming, R-rated tale about super-monsters proves that the DCU is in good hands” 4Creature Commandos review: “James Gunn’s heartwarming, R-rated tale about super-monsters proves that the DCU is in good hands” 4 Creature Commandos review: “James Gunn’s heartwarming, R-rated tale about super-monsters proves that the DCU is in good hands” 5Cobra Kai season 6, part 2 review: “Returns to the sort of hard-hitting form that made it such a fan favorite in the first place” 5Cobra Kai season 6, part 2 review: “Returns to the sort of hard-hitting form that made it such a fan favorite in the first place” 5 Cobra Kai season 6, part 2 review: “Returns to the sort of hard-hitting form that made it such a fan favorite in the first place”