Capture Card Advice?

[inthenameofDT]

I've been researching capture cards off and on for the past couple of months, and haven't come much closer to a decision on which to buy. Reviews on sites like Newegg are typically only about half good, which isn't good enough when considering a purchase over $100. That said, my knowledge is still limited.

I would prefer to go PCI-e, due to decreased latency. First and foremost, with an HD capture card, will video and audio signal be unaffected by the use of a composite/component to HDMI converter? I would enjoy being able to capture N64 and Wii on the same device I would use to capture Wii U.

My second question deals with the actual capturing. Presently, I use OBS to simply capture the area I have an emulator loaded. Do these cards have software that would allow me to essentially do the same thing? Best I can find is that the LiveGamerHD allows something similar to that, while the ElgatoHDPro requires use of the HDMI-passthrough output.

Any suggestions, help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

[DrHouse64]

It's not PCI-e but I heard the XCapture-1 is very good.

[inthenameofDT]

The SC-512 is supposedly excellent as well, but both are far out of my price range. :p

[MayImilae]

Me and JMC47 both have the SC-512 for testing purposes, and it is excellent! But yes, very expensive...

If you want to find a decent budget card, look for where people have asked stream runners this question. They have the most experience with capture cards and will be able to give you great advice!

Also, use component for your Wii. It makes a huuuuge difference!

[ExtremeDude2]

Also, use component for your Wii. It makes a huuuuge difference!

Speaking of which, does quality tend to matter for these?

[inthenameofDT]

Also, use component for your Wii. It makes a huuuuge difference!

I do, and have for a number of years. When I got my first HDTV I immediately noticed latency in my controls on the Wii, which lead to research, which lead to progressive scan from use of component. This is why I mentioned both composite and component conversion. (thumbsup)

Thank you!

[MayImilae]

Speaking of which, does quality tend to matter for these?

*shrug* I did get a fairly high quality cable though. I didn't want to risk it being bad...

[inthenameofDT]

*shrug* I did get a fairly high quality cable though. I didn't want to risk it being bad...

I just have whichever component cable Nintendo released themselves. Also, while I can assume the answer, I'm not sure, would running a composite conversion to HDMI still be essentially the same when connecting a Wii to a computer screen? Or would it need the progressive capability of a component conversion all the same?