This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Are you ready to be video game star? At its outset, Web 2.0 was suppose to "democratize the internet" and while this is mostly the warm wind one associates with Silicon Valley (see collected statements of Mark Zuckerberg and Evan Williams), recent years have seen a considerable "disruption" of broadcast entertainment by the likes of YouTube and Twitch and the arrival of video game as appointment viewing. Just a few years ago, the idea of watching people play video games would be seen as the height of insanity, but in August 2014 Amazon paid nearly a $1 billion to purchase Twitch.tv (at the time of purchase, Twitch represented, according to CNN, 1.35% of all internet traffic). And so while a political voice may be out, a new kind of stardom is in, video game entertainer.
El Gato
Of course, one needs technology to make this stardom happen, and first on that list should be a gaming capture device, the most popular of which is the El Gato Game Capture HD series. The newest in this series is the HD60 which has been, according to the company literature, upgraded for the next generation of consoles (Xbox One, PS4). The HD60, like the HD that came before, is a combination of hardware encoder and editing software that is meant to make the production of video game videos and streams as turn-key as possible. The only limitation of this newer edition is the consoles that it is compatible with. The HD60 can only work with the Xbox 360 & One, Wii U, and PS4 (the PS3 is incompatible because of its use of an encrypted HDMI input. The PS4 allows for this feature to be turned off).
Hardware
The first component of the El Gato HD60 is the hardware. The device is roughly the size of a portable hard drive coming in at roughly 4.5 x 3 x 3/4 in. and sports a nice rounded design, a vast improvement over the boxy style of its predecessor. The HD60 functions as a pass through between your console and your TV, with HDMI input and output plugs (one HDMI cable provided).
However, the heavy lifting is still accomplished via a computer connected with a USB 2.0 cable (mini-USB to USB), that serves as both processor and storage for the device. And it's because of this that anyone interested in using the El Gato will have to invest in, at least, a mid-range computer. Here are the hardware requirements from the computing end of things.
From the hardware perspective the HD60 is remarkably easy to use and anyone capable of hooking up the required console system will have no problems adding the El Gato to the mix.The small size is certainly a benefit as it makes the device relatively inconspicuous, a necessity in what is already the valuable real estate of an entertainments centers and computer desks. The device is so small, in fact, that El Gato makes a carrying case so that the party can become portable. With the rounded edges, smooth black matte finish and an accent light that fires up and fades nicely, El Gato has made all of the right aesthetic choices when its comes to the HD60's design.
Software
The other half of the game capture equation is the software that is provided by El Gato. The software is free from the El Gato site for inspection (although its completely useless without the device itself.) Like the hardware, the software is as simple to use as it could possibility be, considering what's happening behind the scenes. The interface allows the user to record with one button (or even a pedal), easily title and tag their videos, and adjust the quality of the sound and video with little more than dials and drop down menus. One of the cooler features of the software is that one is able to stream to Twitch, YouTube, or Ustream with the push of a button, the user being able to save log-in information to any of the services and simply selecting the desired account from drop down menus.
The best features of the software, however, have nothing to do with the logistics of recording but everything to do with the look of the videos themselves. If you look just below the image of the screen in the above image, you can see what El Gato calls "Stream Command." Stream Command allows users to insert webcam videos onto their game play, as well as graphics announcing the gamer's team or channel name or even sponsor for the video/stream. Not only are there templates (the boxes under the image of the game console) but the webcam video and graphics can be moved or resized to the operator's desires. On top of this, El Gato allows gamer commentary to be added to the video or stream, and picks up their voice via headphone or a computer microphone. For more advanced users, the sound and voice files can be split into separate files during the exportation of the video to allow individual editing of the sound tracks. Although, it is possible to edited the video from within the software itself, more advanced users may find the available tools somewhat rudimentary.
However, all is not great in the land of software for the El Gato. First, and this might seem like a rather tedious complaint, the El Gato HD60 does not come with a users manual, instead pointing the buyer to their website where a manual can be discovered as well as FAQs. The problem is the manual itself is not updated along with the software, so you may have a scenario described for software version 1.2 but the interface for 2.1.1 might be substantially different. This situation held for the FAQ section of the site as well, where answers may have applied to a version of the software that is utterly foreign to the current state of the user experience. Second, and a more fundamental problem, the software is buggy, sometimes resulting in the need to shut down the program just to get the webcam to remain where the user places it in Stream Command, but it may also result in the loss of an entire video session because the software failed to pick up the game audio or the webcam froze during the recording. While these are not persistent problems, the need to shut everything down and start again occurred more than a couple of times in my couple of weeks of work.
Final Verdict
So who needs the El Gato HD60? This is not entirely clear. First off, the device is pretty expensive at $179.99 MSRP (this is on the higher end of the available devices) and, so, whatever evidence that one factors in these kinds of decisions have to take that number into consideration. On the other hand, there is no doubt that El Gato is a pretty cool little device and it makes filming and streaming video games as easy as it is possible to make it. The software hiccups are a little annoying but, as they are software issues, they can be fixed with a future update. But if one dreams of YouTube or Twitch stardom then the El Gato HD60 is one of the necessary way stations along that path.
