Page 2 - A Closer Look - Hardware and Software
When it comes to PCI Express-based capture cards, they can be found either with an exposed printed circuit board or a metal enclosure to act as a heatsink. The AVerMedia Live Streamer Ultra HD GC571 takes the former approach for an economical look. AVerMedia has at least finished the PCB in black to make it slightly cleaner in appearance. You can see an AVerMedia logo on the end of the card. The GC571 model number can be found in the middle as well.
At the other end, we have two HDMI connections, with one for input and another for output. These are both HDMI 2.0 compliant connections. Attached at the back is a full-sized bracket so you can install it into your system. It probably would have been nice to see a low-profile bracket included in case you want to use this in a smaller form factor case, especially given how diminutive the Live Streamer Ultra HD is in size. Speaking of which, this card is 121mm wide, 113.5mm long, and 21.5mm thick. Most of the width just comes from the fact the card has a full bracket to attach to your case, as the rest of the PCB is not as wide. The card weighs about 62g, which is quite light. Based on the size of the bottom connection, you can see it will fit in a PCI Express 3.0 x1 slot.
Flipping to the back, we do not have a whole lot to speak of. There is one large black label with all of the necessary safety certifications and disposal information for this card. You can see the AVerMedia logo once again, along with the HDMI logo. We also can see this card was Made in Taiwan. Finally, we have the serial number printed on the back here for identification purposes. There are no hardware components mounted on this side.
As we have an exposed PCB on the AVerMedia Live Streamer Ultra HD GC571, it is easy to identify some of the components. However, the heart of the operations seems to be covered by a shiny AVerMedia sticker. Unfortunately, I was unable to dig up much more information about this system on a chip or SoC. Other identifiable parts include an ASMedia ASM3042 USB 3.2 Gen 1 host controller and a Winbond W25X40CL 4Mbit flash memory. This ASMedia controller is likely used as a bridge between the PCI Express interface and the SoC. On the other hand, the exposed PCB also means the card is passively cooled. I am a bit surprised we do not even have a smaller heatsink to cool off some of these components.
AVerMedia provides two software utilities to use with the GC571. Both can be downloaded from AVerMedia's website. The first software utility is called Gaming Utility, and the download is 33MB in size. This software is made primarily to check the status of the connected capture card. These menus show the current status of what is connected, including the video and audio output, as well as if it is being used by any other software application. In this case, I had my Nintendo Switch attached. Here you can enable or disable HDCP as well. Under Settings, you can find options to update the firmware on the capture card and update the software utility itself. You can also change the input and output between HDMI 1.4 and 2.0. Otherwise, the Gaming Utility is made more for status and updates rather than using the AVerMedia Live Streamer Ultra HD GC571.
The second piece of software is AVerMedia's RECentral 4, which is made to record and stream your gameplay. This installation executable file is 155MB in size. There is a total of three primary screens in RECentral, and all of them can be selected in the wheel on the top left corner. The middle AVerMedia logo links users to their website.
The first screen is marked as "Capture/Stream", which is where you can see a screen showing your input and all the necessary configurations to set for recording or streaming. Down the left side of the menu, you can see the attached capture device. You can click on the device to make modifications such as the input resolution and frame rate. In the middle, we have the output of the attached device. All of the volume levels for input and output can be changed on the bar underneath the display. The large button on the right-side changes to either start recording or streaming, depending on the sub-menu you have selected. These sub-menus can be found in the three tabs on the smaller area of the window, below the display. Here, you can set up profiles for the resolution, frame rate, and other settings. There are three preset profiles marked as Normal, Good, and Optimal, with increasing video bitrates, resolutions, and frame rates. In the streaming tab, you can set the key for where you are streaming to, including integration with sites like Twitch, YouTube, and Facebook, as well as some Asian platforms like Douyu, AfreecaTV, and Kwai. The last tab is marked Multistream, where you can stream to multiple platforms at the same time.
The second screen to look at is marked "Media Share", which shows on the screen as a File Explorer. From here, you can upload your saved clips to YouTube. The third and final screen is the cogwheel, which is the Settings page. Interestingly, there are a lot of similar options between here and Gaming Utility. This includes updating the software and firmware of the Live Streamer Ultra HD GC571 as well as enabling or disable HDCP. You can also change where all the files are saved, set up keyboard shortcuts for commands, enable and disable V-sync, and manage profiles.
Overall, RECentral is a functional piece of software, but I did notice some issues while using it. Primarily, RECentral often froze up during testing once I started recording. The entire utility would become unresponsive, and I could only close the window. Worse yet, I would have to force close the RECentral process in order to start it back up again. This sort of behavior made the experience feel unfinished. The Live Streamer Ultra HD GC571 is also compatible with Open Broadcast Software, or OBS. If you are more familiar with this application, using the capture card is just a matter of adding it as an additional source.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. A Closer Look - Hardware and Software
3. Performance Tests
4. Conclusion
