Roxio Game Capture HD PRO Card Review

For example the card is external and plugs into your computer via the supplied USB 2.0 lead, so there is no need to pry open your case. It is also pretty small and portable, so if you needed to capture footage away from home you could quite easily take this with you. Secondly all the technical wizardry is handled by the card so your computer does not need to be as powerful to run it.

Thirdly the software that comes with the Roxio is equipped with a series of handy YouTube guides explaining how to setup the card and use the supplied video editing suite and Live streaming function. Yep this card allows you to stream your gameplay Live over Twitch.

Best of all this card can now be had for £112 from Amazon which offers fantastic value for those looking to capture and edit footage quickly and without needing a degree in IT to understand its functions.

Card Design/Build Quality

As for the build quality of the card, well, its weight is possibly a little too light for our liking which sometimes gives it that plastic feel. Though it’s still well constructed and has small rubberised feet at the base to aid grip when used on a flat surface. At the front of the card it also has an embedded arrow symbol which lights up when powered (looks cool) and two small LEDS to the base which are used to indicate which input has been connected i.e. HDMI or Component.

Setup

Mind you one thing you will need to do before setting up the card is to plan ahead by grabbing a few extra cables. The Roxio does not come with either a HDMI or Component lead(s), so we would budget an extra £20-£30 if you plan to capture off both your PS3 and Xbox 360.

To explain the reason for the extra cables we need to explain first how the capture card is linked to your consoles in the first place. To the sides of the card are 'Input' and 'Output' connections, these comprise of both HDMI and Component.

On the Xbox 360 you plug in your HDMI lead - that was connected to the TV -  into the 'Input' of the card and another HDMI lead is needed to go from the 'Output' side to the TV. You are now a step closer to capturing.

For the PS3 you may be wondering why the Component lead and not the HDMI? Well this is an issue with HDCP protection which stops the output of the PS3 from being recorded. For this reason as a work around you need to use a Component lead to bypass this. While this may sound like a burden and a negative on the cards side, in all honesty it would be the same problem for any game capture card you buy.

For this reason you will need a PS3 Component lead. We got ours in-store from Maplin’s for £10 http://www.maplin.co.uk/ps3-component-cable-224042 although you can possibly source one from e-bay a little cheaper, but we advise not to go too cheap otherwise this may compromise on quality.

Additionally you will need a Component lead going from your TV to the capture card and a set of audio leads (L+R(RedandWhite). We got our Component lead from Curry’s - at a bargain price we must add. The cable used to cost £40 but we got it for £10. However this was again an in-store price/deal.

PS3 Setup

Once you have the PS3 cables etc. you can follow the Quick Install guide that comes with the card or view the YouTube visual guides that are accessible via the main Roxio PC software.

However if memory serves us we just left our HDMI cable in the console and then connected the Component lead from the PS3 to the 'Input' of the Roxio card. We then connected the separate audio and Component leads from the 'Output' of the card into the 'Input' of the TV.

After this we switched on the console and headed to the settings option where we changed the display setting from HDMI to Component (making sure we switched to the correct input on the TV afterwards so we could see the picture).

But when choosing the compatible output resolution we found you need to set this to 1080i as the capture card will not work in 1080P via the Component lead – however it’s better than nothing and most games are in 720P anyway so not an issue!

As mentioned the YouTube video covers most of this setup anyway. After the Component setup and is configured you can then remove the existing HDMI lead and always use this for your Xbox 360 - if you own both consoles - and save yourself a tenner in the process (i.e. you won't need to buy an extra HDMI lead for the Xbox).

While the above sounds complex, it isn’t really and before long you are ready to capture!

Capture Software

After plugging in the card via the supplied Gold plated 2 metre USB lead you can then install/fire up the main software. To start with you are greeted with an intuitive interface that includes the aforementioned YouTube guides and two links to both your capture software and editing suite.

Once you launch the capture element you will find it provides a handy dropdown box for selecting your capture input i.e., HDMI or Component and then a slider to adjust the bit-rate quality. However before you start to capture we found that powering up our console(i.e. PS3) first and then heading to the Roxio software afterwards was the optimal choice for capturing, otherwise the console itself did not display the colours properly.

Anyway we digressed slightly. Within the capture window you have other options to play with including where the captured data is held and settings for adjusting the Live streaming quality. To the right you also have a preview window (which can be expanded full-screen). This is where your consoles screen will appear.

Directly below this are a few more toggles to look at, including an option to take a screen-shot of the in-game footage and brightness/contrast controls which is useful for adjusting darker games*. You can also mute the preview audio which is another great feature, especially if you like to play the game in real-time while the game is previewing the footage in the background - on say a laptop.

The software itself does allow you to control the console while in its preview mode. However there is a delay while doing this so it’s best to set the capturing going and then control the game through your console directly - by selecting the relevant input on your TV.

Playing while capturing

We could comfortably play the game while the game was capturing on our laptop. Mind you we noticed there was a little bit of a delay while we were playing Batman Arkham city for example, but it was nothing major and to be honest the more powerful the computer the less likely you are to experience the delay. For example on our laptop we had an Intel Core 2-Duo 1.6 GHz CPU with 2GB RAM, but on our 3.2Ghz Quad-based PC there were no noticeable delay issues at all. Mind you if your PC is a little sluggish this can affect the footage that is rendering to the hard drive! Thus it's recommended that you capture onto a secondary hard drive if possible, as this is less likely to be hampered by background processes - compared to say a main system drive.  *However on the PS3 due to the Component lead we did have to experiment with the brightness/contrast controls more. This is evident in the Game-play footage we posted at the base of the review. Even so once you master which settings work best, the results get a lot better. 

Editing software

Once the capture is finished you can then preview the footage or open it up in the supplied editing software.

From our experience most freebie software is normally poor, but we have to say that Roxio’s offering is pretty darn good! You have a simple time-line running at the base of the screen which allows you to fine tune the footage, by cutting, splitting or cropping.

There are also various effects, transitions and overlays to the side which can be added to the timeline quickly. In terms of the effects these include fades; swirls etc. and they can also be previewed in real-time before applying.

At the same time there is a larger preview window at the top of the screen which allows you to view your changes with a series of playback controls/sliders. There are also additional enhancements to play with in the form of a screen capturing (i.e. take a shot of your game-play footage) and an auto colour correction wizard (used in the PS3 captured footage).

Additionally you can adjust or mute the captured audio so you can add your own voice overs, music and such like.

While the options may appear minimalistic compared to other editing software suites on the market, for newcomers we think the options are perfect and it allows you to edit your footage in no time at all! Well we say no time but as with any rendering projects, your computers spec will play a role in how long it takes to apply effects and render the footage.

Mind you what we did like is that if you enable the Auto colour mode, for example, to enhance the footage, once its been done you can enable and disable the feature on the current video file and it changes to/from this mode instantly.

In terms of rendering, we found that our 720P 13 minute+ video rendered to 1.26GB. During the rendering process it also shows a mini preview and countdown timer to indicate how long you have left before the rendering is complete - this is a nice touch!

Live Feature

We have yet to test the live footage, but from our experience using the laptop - and capturing footage at the same time - you should not have anything to worry about if you have a reasonably fast/stable broadband connection.

If Corel allow us to keep the card for a while longer we will try and setup a live stream so you can gain first-hand experience of what it is like.

Summary

The only problems we faced with the card and setup was the inadequacy of our own computers and the PS3 capturing was less effective on the Component side, more so in the brightness and contrast department. But in fairness to the PS3 this is something you can adjust before and after the footage has been captured. But as capture cards go the £112 price tag makes this an excellent prospect for those looking to get into the world of capturing console gameplay footage for the first time! The capture process is quick and simple, the editing software functional and more importantly the rendered footage looked pretty good!

Just allow extra for the cables - more so for the PS3 - and you are good to go!

Pros

• Easy to setup
• Portable
• Capture HD Footage
• USB Driven so know need to install card
• Component & HDMI
• Useful Editing software
• Live streaming

Cons

• Requires additional cables
• PS3 works only with Component and needed more adjustment to the brightness/contrast
• Less options in the editing suite for pros but then this card is aimed at newcomers so not an issue. You can always invest in more advanced editing software at a later date.

Great card!