Elgato has always boasted an unexceptionable consistency in studying the range of products of its gaming line, each time proposing solutions capable of intercepting with great precision what are the needs of its customers. In the context of the acquisition cards, the company is now a point of reference for anyone who needs to capture or broadcast gameplay live and the fame it has earned over time is also due to the attention paid to updating constantly its catalog to meet the different needs of content creators.
With the arrival of PS5 and Xbox Series S | X, Elgato felt the need to bring an update to the HD60 family on the market and just a few weeks ago presented the brand new HD60 X, an external capture card that boasts specific more advanced than its younger siblings, but with which it shares the same price range.
Proposed at the recommended price of € 199.99, the HD60 X follows in the footsteps of the S + (which had replaced the first HD60) and is positioned on the capture card market as a simple direct upgrade to Elgato’s budget offer, reaching at the same time new technical horizons for the capture and live transmission of gaming content.
The S + had somehow already cleared the 4K acquisition for the HD60 family and the new card proposed by Elgato tries to achieve some further progress in the direction of greater capture and passthrough quality without however affecting the primacy of the 4K60 S + and 4K60 Pro Mk.2, which still represent the top of the range among the capture cards offered by the company.
The HD60 X has as its most advanced capture format the same 4K30 already proposed by the S +, but with the new card it will finally be possible to acquire and transmit your contents in 4K HDR, a significant novelty that allows you to make capture and video more faithful. stream to the original game experience.
Before addressing in detail the question of the specifications of the new Elgato capture card, let’s take a few steps back to focus at first on the design of this upgrade, which has nothing to do with the now classic layout of the HD60 family cards. . In this case, the company has chosen to make a small revolution in product design, a change of course that in our opinion provides only benefits and no drawbacks.
If in the past the HDMI inputs were located on the two opposite sides of the card, in the HD60 X they are placed on the back of the body, next to each other, a choice that considerably facilitates cable management and allows it to be positioned comfortably on the desk in proximity. of your monitor. The card is obviously equipped with a USB-C port for connecting to the PC and the classic 3.5mm input dedicated to the use of the Chat Link Pro, the Elgato adapter with which to record the feed of game chats on consoles.
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Another element of Elgato’s new capture card that was able to surprise us is the specific weight of the product, much lighter than the other items in the HD60 line. This is clearly a secondary element to the role that technical specifications play in the economy of an capture card, but the fact that the company has managed to renew and improve the classic design of the HD60 is certainly noteworthy. , within this review.
Instead, we come now to the heart of the matter, which cannot fail to focus on the different acquisition formats that the new Elgato card makes available to its buyers. The HD60 X, as already mentioned in the previous paragraphs, allows you to capture or transmit in 4K at 30 frames per second with HDR10, in 1080p at 60 fps with HDR10, in 1080p at 120 fps or in 1440p at 60 fps.
The card has excellent scaling properties and accepts a large variety of inputs, which reach the screen almost unchanged thanks to a delay-free Passthrough that goes up to 4K60 with HDR (alternatively, up to 1080p 240 fps and 1440p 120 fps). The HD60 X promises not to compress the incoming video stream from the original source in any way, especially the one offered by the new Microsoft and Sony consoles, and after a few test broadcasts we can confirm that the goal is fully achieved.
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The quality on the screen is in fact not affected in any way, neither in the acquisition phase nor during a transmission, also thanks to the support of the VRR technology, present for the first time ever in an Elgato acquisition card. If the source and panel are equipped with VRR, the screen will remain free from tearing and graphic artifacts, even when the HD60 X is connected.
Although the times would require great flexibility between hardware and software, the new capture card is still inextricably linked to Elgato’s proprietary software, the 4K Capture Utility, required to properly exploit the card and, above all, to record and transmit in HDR. . Of course, the program represents a valid ally during the acquisition, also thanks to features such as the Stream Link that allows you to simultaneously transmit and save the feed for subsequent VODs, but the absence of support for Mac platforms means that it still remains impossible. capture HDR content for those who do not have a Windows system.
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The HD60 X, as we mentioned at the beginning, does not aim in any way to shake the capture card market from its foundations, in which Elgato still holds an enviable record. The new card is proposed as a mere update to the S +, offering some small upgrades as regards the capture formats and some other news such as support for VRR.
It is no coincidence that the recommended price of € 199.99 perfectly overlaps the list price of the other HD60s that preceded it and for this reason we recommend buying it only for those who are ready to endure some compromise, in the acquisition and in the capture of game content. 4K at 60 fps is still a mirage for Elgato’s low-end products, also because this kind of standard is reserved for the company’s top-of-the-range products, which are sold at a completely different price.
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It is equally true, however, that in gameplay streaming 4K is still a chimera due to upload bandwidth limitations reserved for the vast majority of streamers and in this sense this card remains the perfect choice for transmitting in 1080p at 60 fps, even with HDR. There are several other companies, such as Avermedia, that offer the same specifications at a slightly lower price, but this may suggest buying another card from Elgato’s HD60 line, which will now inevitably drop in price.
However, with the arrival of VRR support, and with some innovations in the field of capture formats, this Elgato HD60 X inevitably becomes the new reference point for those looking for an acquisition card for semi-professional purposes. At this price, it is certainly one of the best products currently available on the market.
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