Elgato Game Capture HD60 S

The German company Elgato jumped on the approaching gaming train early. As a manufacturer of "EyeTV", Bavaria was predestined to get involved in the market. Nowadays, Elgato offers other products in addition to the main product of the gaming division "Elgato Game Capture". Products for live streamers and YouTubers at. Since March 2017 they have been offering a kind of media mixer with the Stream Deck. But this test is about the Elgato Game Capture HD60 S. The product is in the upper price segment of our game Capture card comparison series and now has to prove that it is worth the money.

The Elgato Game Capture HD60 S features excellent recording quality and easy configuration. The software offers a clear design and nice features, but crackles in the sound output. Due to the high price, we tend to use other devices.

Round and light

The Elgato Game Capture HD60 S comes in a matt black plastic look with rounded edges. At 113 grams, the card is the lightest in comparison. The size is also remarkably small. It is only 1,8 cm in height, 11,2 cm in width and 7,5 cm in length. This makes the Elgato Game Capture HD60 S very mobile and, above all, space-saving. There would certainly be room for the little rascal behind the television.

The Elgato Gaming logo is emblazoned on the top. In the middle, a slit runs through the card from both ends. It contains the status LED bar. On the left are the 3,5mm jack input, the HDMI input and the USB port. Fortunately, it is a USB C port. As a result, users benefit from a long-lasting connection. The USB cable of the HD60 S ends in a classic USB A plug. So you don't need a C-connector. On the right is the HDMI Pass Through. The underside of the card is rubberized, but doesn't offer enough grip to be declared as non-slip.

We really like the design of the product. Functionality prevails over design, while the looks of the Elgato Game Capture HD60 S have not been neglected either. Above all, a "gamer-oriented" design was avoided. No red LED eyes in my living room. Do you hear, ASUS?

The scope of delivery of the HD60 only includes a two meter long USB cable and a one meter long one HDMI cable. HDMI in particular could have been a bit longer, but we generally agree with that. A component cable is missing. That would be necessary to tap older consoles such as the Nintendo Wii. At the asking price one would have expected that.

Pass through means the immediate forwarding of data. In case of Capture cards This means that the HDMI Pass Through transmits the signal from the connected device without latency so that you can use it on an additional monitor.

Plug in and off you go

The installation of the Elgato Game Capture HD60 S can be implemented without any problems. Visited this website and download the program. After installing Game Capture HD, you can connect your Elgato Game Capture HD60 S to the PC. The program should recognize the capture card and switch to the message "No signal". Click on Settings and select your input device, for example Nintendo Switch or Xbox One from the dropdown menu. In our case we choose the PlayStation 4. At the same time, you can also make sure that "Allow 60 fps" is ticked and the quality is set to "Best". If you want to play on your PC, also enable the option "Allow 60 fps for video previews" below. Then connect the capture card to your console via HDMI. If you want to play on your TV, connect it to the output of the Elgato Game Capture HD60 S. The console signal is now displayed both in the software and on your TV.

In order to see the PlayStation 4 signal, the HDCP copy protection must be deactivated. You can find the option in the console settings.

Configuring Game Capture HD

The Elgato Game Capture software is well designed and offers many options. In the menu on the right you will find the options "Capture" and "Edit" at the top. To the right are the tool's basic settings such as video location, automatic splitting, hotkeys, and video codec options. We recommend keeping the default settings. In addition to that, you can also find the Flashback Recording here. This allows you to record past game moments afterwards. Under "Capture" you will first find your device including the current resolution and frame rate. To the right are the settings for your product. We have already described the options above. Under Live streaming, accounts (e.g. Twitch or YouTube) can be specified for direct transmission. However, we recommend streaming via the free OBS.

One column down are the Game Sound and Live Commentary settings. Caution is advised here. The volume wheel is misleading. The value 70 does not represent 70% but represents a change of 0 dB (= sound is as loud as the console outputs it). Exactly the same game on yours Microphone. Here the value 50 represents no change. If your microphone is properly leveled, do not change the value. If you need help with levels, check out our test Complete audio 6 from NI over. You can find the instructions under "Installation".

Below the preview you will find "Stream Command". Here you can select templates for your stream or video, some of which are already yours Webcam use. This is well done, unfortunately the editor for creating your own designs is not really well done. At the bottom are the buttons for starting and stopping recordings, streams and comments. In the middle, the preview can be deactivated and the sound can be muted.

In the "Edit" tab you can "edit" recorded videos. In other words, you can make cuts and then export the finished video. By the way, the export does not reduce the size of the video. Since the recording programs are known to be relatively high, you will not be able to avoid another editing program or at least a converter. In fact, our measured video size is 2,81 GB per 10 minutes of recording. Don't get me wrong, we certainly don't expect Premiere Pro as a freebie from Elgato. You can be satisfied with the function, but a little more features would not have hurt.

Great shots guaranteed

The recording quality of the HD60 S is great. Both video and audio quality are excellent. A maximum of 1080p with 60 FPS can be recorded. The program uses a maximum bit rate of 40.000 kBit/s. This is absolutely sufficient to achieve sharp and error-free images. As long as the console doesn't collapse, the frame rate of the recording also remains stable. Typical for capture cards, the recording appears a little less saturated than the original. The sound of the recordings is loud and clear. 

Due to the low latency of about 177 ms (17 frames at 96 frames per second = 17/96), most games can be played directly in the software's preview. Elgato calls this Game View. In addition, the low delay makes it easier to stream content platforms like Twitch because no synchronization needs to be set.

The only thing that bothers me is the program's sound output. In our test we could hear a clear crackling. This was particularly evident with repetitive tones such as in the main menu of the consoles. The crackling goes down in the game, the recordings are not affected. 

Good quality at a high price

The Elgato Game Capture HD60 S is one of the best capture cards on the market. We are only dissatisfied with the price. At currently €180, it is the most expensive product in comparison. Unfortunately, it offers hardly any functions worth mentioning that the competition does not offer. Even Flashback Recording is not unique, Hauppauge offers a similar feature. In addition, additional cables for the inclusion of older consoles are missing. The crackling in the game capture software is not a general problem and apparently very few customers are affected. Therefore the problem can be hidden. If you find the Elgato Game Capture HD60 S cheap, grab it. At the normal price we would recommend one of the other cards. You can find out more about this in our comparison article.