AVerMedia Live Gamer Ultra S review — Broad appeal with some niche use cases too

Capture cards are fickle beasts, with a variety to choose from each with their own quirks, strengths, and drawbacks. I’ve been using AVerMedia external cards since I started at GT, and I’ve had my fair share of issues. My first Live Gamer Portable Plus made recording 1080p footage incredibly easy, which is perfect for Switch, but it eventually started corrupting any Micro SD card I put into it and the HDMI port… fell out. I’ve been using a replacement for the past few years, but the 1080p limit has been hampering me, so it was time for an upgrade. Meet the AVerMedia Live Gamer Ultra 5, a much smaller and simpler device, though it certainly has drawbacks of its own. 

Let’s start with the good: footage captured using the Ultra S looks amazing. It can record up to 4K and 60 fps or 1080p at 240 fps, with several options in between. Anything above 60 fps isn’t exactly useful seeing as YouTube doesn’t let videos go any higher, but it’s cool to know I can if I need to. Generally, 1440p is the sweet spot for me, so most of my footage sticks around there. 

Initially, I had issues with the passthrough not working properly, specifically when HDCP was turned on. I couldn’t see the capture preview through the app as it just displayed an HDCP warning, and without the passthrough I couldn’t navigate the PS5’s menus to turn it off. The second time this happened, the passthrough worked just fine, however, so I’m willing to call that initial experience a fluke. 

Speaking of the app, though, I feel it’s a step down from ReCentral 4. I already didn’t really like that app, and the Streaming Center just exacerbated those issues. It’s less intuitive, having two separate record buttons that do different things apparently, and - key for my recording set up - it doesn’t allow for audio preview. This means when using the app, I cannot hear whatever I’m capturing as the monitor my PS5 is connected to has no speakers. I can’t connect headphones to the DualSense or the console itself, as that would override HDMI audio output meaning my recording would have no audio instead. This would be horrible for something like a rhythm game, but I did eventually find a way around the app.

OBS is just a better program all around, and it’s also just as free as AVerMedia’s app. It did take some work to get OBS to properly capture what was coming through the card, but eventually I got the footage looking nice and was able to hear the audio without screwing up my capture. The Streaming Center app does need to be open for this to work, but thankfully I don’t need to interact with it in the slightest. 

While I don’t personally need this feature, the Ultra S is missing one thing from the Portable: capture without needing a PC connected. This isn’t too much of a drawback, given the issues I had with Micro SD recording in the past, but it may matter to some so it’s worth mentioning.