Streaming your video gameplay on Twitch and other sites is increasingly popular. If you have a Mac, you'll know using a Mac can feel difficult for gaming from time to time. However, streaming doesn't have to be hard with the best capture cards for Mac. With more games to play on ever increasing systems like the MacBook Air (M2), you have plenty of variety on offer.
Capture Cards For Mac
In pretty much any category of capture card greatness, you'll find the Elgato HD60 S+ Capture Card. Luckily, it's also compatible with Mac computers. This card is very simple to set up and is compact, so you don't need a lot of space to have it set up, and you can even bring it along when traveling without it taking up space. Your video can be put directly on YouTube, and Twitch will be 4K/60 FPS.
Although most capture cards require the use of a computer, this card lets you do it with or without. If you choose to go without, it saves your video footage on a microSD card with plug and play support meaning everything takes seconds. It's simple and high-quality. It streams at 4K/60FPS and supports OBS on Mac. You can also add live commentary or capture party chat if you choose to.
While streaming video games is a large reason people are looking for capture cards, there's also the need to transfer old videos to a new system to keep the memories alive. The perfect capture card for photos and videos from NTSC and PAL format and many more is the UCEC Capture Card.
Video or video games, there are many options for your Mac. The most important thing to consider when buying your capture card is making sure it fits your use. To stream gaming on your Mac, the very best option is Elgato HD60 S+ Capture Card. It is compatible with any console, has top-quality video capture just shy of 4K, and you can put your videos on your streaming channel immediately.
Windows may be the king of PC gaming, but Macs can just as easily be an option for playing your favorite titles, especially if your model features the M1 or M2 chip. And what better way to enjoy gaming than with an audience? For the best setup, you'll need a capture card for your Mac.
Instead of putting unnecessary strain on the system running recording software, a capture card is a wonderful middleman that does the brunt of the work. All those resources are better spent running your favorite games, anyway.
While the selection of capture cards for Mac is a bit slimmer, you'll find no shortage of options. If your Mac can handle gaming and you love the idea of streaming, check out seven of the best capture cards for Mac below.
The Elgato HD60 S+ is a small, compact video capture card that's easy to transport and even easier to get started with. This is the ideal place to start for streamers looking to upgrade their bargain bin capture card for something substantial and accommodating.
While the Elgato HD60 S+ is impressive due to its max capture resolution of 2160p at 30fps, it also easily supports resolutions below that. It comes in handy if you like to vary the games you play. For example, the Elgato HD60 S+ can capture 480p, which is perfect for retro games. Of course, it's just as helpful to have a variety of resolutions to choose from that best serve the hardware you own and available bandwidth, in which case 1080p and 720p become equally useful.
Everyone has to start somewhere, right? Though it's unfair to assume that the Genki Shadowcast is a "beginner" capture card. A more apt description of the Genki Shadowcast would be a quick-and-easy solution to capturing video for your streams. It's one of the tiniest capture cards available, yet it still packs a punch.
The AVerMedia GC513 is a portable capture card that allows 1080p streaming at 60fps without needing a computer. When hooked up to your Mac, however, you can unlock its full potential by installing its intuitive software RECentral and gain access to features like overlay text and instant highlights.
The Elgato Cam Link 4K works like this: plug in the device to your Mac using USB 3.0, then run an HDMI cable from the camera to the capture card. It's no slouch in performance either: the Elgato Cam Link 4K can record up to 4K resolution at 30fps or, if you prefer a smoother framerate, 1080p at 60fps. Equally impressive is the ultra-low latency technology, which ensures that what's happening on your stream is happening in real time.
All things considered, the Elgato Cam Link 4K's plug-and-play design can turn your DSLR camera into a high-quality webcam that instantly improves the overall production value of your stream. If you've got one lying around and want to improve the quality of your Facecam, this is one of the best capture cards for Mac.
There's always room for a capture card that does everything it needs to do, with performance being of utmost importance. For those who desire to stream in 4K or lack the hardware to do that in the first place, the AVerMedia Live Gamer Mini offers one of the best experiences for you and your audience.
The AVerMedia Live Gamer Mini is a small, compact capture card that can capture your gameplay in crisp 1080p resolution. It also captures said content at 60fps, which is smoother overall and should be the target framerate for every streamer. Best of all, the AVerMedia Live Gamer Mini ensures your own experience isn't hindered by extra signals thanks to 1080p@60fps passthrough and zero-lag technology.
Finally, the AVerMedia Live Gamer Mini plays well with various software like OBS and Streamlabs. However, its proprietary software, RECentral, shouldn't be ignored, given that it's incredibly user-friendly and supports macOS 12. If 1080p is your target, the AVerMedia Live Gamer Mini is one of the best capture cards for Mac.
For starters, the Extenuating Threads 4K Capture Card has a maximum passthrough resolution of 4K at 60fps, which is quite impressive for such a small device. While capture quality is reduced to 1080p at 60fps, this capture card at least allows you to enjoy the best quality possible without reducing it for the sake of your audience. Best of all, it reaches the 60-frames-per-second target that every streamer should strive for.
The Extenuating Threads 4K Capture Card isn't just good for capturing gameplay footage; if you've got a good DSLR camera, the capture card can instead raise the resolution of your Facecam, ultimately improving the overall production value of the stream. And with the added benefit of solid low-latency technology, the Extenuating Threads 4K Capture Card ensures your stream continues streaming in real time.
With that said, if your Mac is built to game in 4K, and that's what you plan on doing, consider a capture card with a 4K passthrough. This allows you to continue gaming in 4K but reduces the stream's resolution and recorded footage to something easier to manage, like 1080p or 720p. Be mindful that some capture cards are limited to 4K at 30fps, while others can maintain 4K at 60fps.
Without a capture card, you'd have to rely on software to do the recording and streaming; however, that soaks up valuable resources that would otherwise be better spent on a game. Capture cards are built with hardware to handle that strain instead.
Windows can accept a wider variety of external and internal capture cards; Mac is limited to external USB capture cards, even for Macs with available PCIe slots that support UVC protocol. Luckily, almost any external capture card you come across will be small and compact, so it shouldn't be difficult to make space for it.
DeckLink capture and playback cards are used every day on Hollywood feature films, episodic television programs, music videos, commercials and more! Featuring the latest cutting edge technologies such as 12G-SDI and 8K support, DeckLink cards give you the highest quality video and work with more applications and platforms than any other card. Every DeckLink PCI Express card can be installed in Mac, Windows and Linux based workstations and servers, giving you ultimate flexibility!
No other capture and playback cards are supported by more software applications for Mac. Get drivers that work with fantastic editing software such as DaVinci Resolve, Avid Media Composer, Final Cut Pro X, Premiere Pro and News Cutter. For visual effects get full compatibility with Fusion, Nuke, After Effects and Photoshop. For audio, DeckLink cards work with Fairlight audio in DaVinci Resolve, ProTools, Nuendo and Cubase. For streaming, you can use OBS, Wirecast, Livestream Producer.
Whether you want a capture card for streaming, using your external camera as a webcam, or anything else, there are a few extra considerations you need to make to choose your best capture card for a Mac. These considerations are both in regard to technical requirements and what you plan to capture.
First off, even if you have an Intel Mac Pro with PCIe slots, only external USB capture cards are compatible with Mac, and aside from a few exceptions, these capture cards must also follow the UVC (USB Video Class) protocol.
Software and firmware updates may be needed depending on your model, but a UVC capture card will work immediately upon plugging in. Almost all recent USB capture cards from major vendors like Elgato, AVerMedia, and EVGA are UVC (or have specified support for Apple silicon), so chances are your preferred USB capture card will be fine.
The only exception we're aware of is for later Intel Macs with Thunderbolt 3 support. The AVerMedia Live Gamer Bolt, a Thunderbolt 3 capture card, has drivers for Intel Macs but still lack drivers that support Apple silicon, meaning it's completely incompatible if you have an M1 or M2 Mac. Thus, for Apple silicon, you'll want external USB UVC capture cards.
For most cases, aside from capturing your camera as a webcam, you'll want a capture card with passthrough capabilities. In this case, the HDMI signal of your console enters through the capture card's input and the capture card captures it to output to your computer over USB and to your monitor or TV via the HDMI output.
To put it simply, passthrough signals start from your console and become what you see on your monitor or TV while the card captures this video and sends it to your computer. Note that the capture resolution will never exceed that of passthrough. Most USB capture cards (which you'll be using on Mac) pass through higher resolutions or frame rates than they capture, as USB bandwidth is generally lower than that of HDMI. 2ff7e9595c
Comments