Game Capture Card Recommendations
Online Media reviewed by Official Top 5 Review Team from Germany #1 PENGO 4K HDMI GRABBER CAPTURE CARD The third product that we will be taking a look at is the PENGO 4K HDMI Grabber, Video Game Capture Card. This pass-through grabber is capable up to 4K (pass through). This is a highly demanded modern feature that could potentially change the way that users share their game play to social media platforms. This product is simple to setup and use because it features a convenient plug and play design. It can be used on Xbox, PS4, Switch and other devices. Users can begin using it immediately once it is plugged in correctly and capture high quality gaming clips with ease. Output resolution is up to 3840x2160p and 1080p at 60Hz. Customers love the amazing image quality, immediately set up and the minimized lag. BEST GAME CAPTURE CARD It is now time for customers to begin considering their final purchase decision when it comes to finding the best option for their needs. All of these products are great choices, but it is hard to go wrong with the industry leading standard that is known as the Pengo 4k HDMI Grabber. Game Capture Card Recommendations by Official Top 5 Review Team
Pengo 4K HDMI Grabber Review
Online Media reviewed by Game Revolution from United States Pengo 4K HDMI Grabber Review – Heating Up the Competition MACK ASHWORTHFriday, October 19, 2018 This Pengo 4K HDMI Grabber review process began with me innocently searching Amazon for the latest 4K capture cards, fully expecting to see the listings dominated by Elgato and Avermedia products. While those brands did indeed pop up, so did Pengo with its “4K Grabber.” Curious about the comparatively cheap price tag, I requested a sample for review, ready to “grab” me some 4K footage, whatever that meant! After spending a good few weeks with the device, for PS4 Pro recordings and occasionally using it in place of my usual go-to AVerMedia Live Gamer 4K for livestreams, I’ve now got a good grasp on what the Pengo 4K HDMI Grabber can and can’t do, and what exactly is meant by “Grabber.” Pengo 4K HDMI Grabber Review – What’s in a Name? Firstly, no, this isn’t able to capture 4K gameplay or footage. Despite its “Grabber” name, it can merely pass through that 4K signal to a television or monitor. That is the extent of its 4K capabilities. Capture itself is limited to 1080p 60 FPS, which is great, but it isn’t 4K. While it’s absolutely my fault for not diving deeper into the specs available on both Amazon and on the Pengo website, instead just assuming that “4K Grabber” was synonymous with “4K capture,” I just know there will be others who make the same assumption and end up disappointed. Once you’ve gotten past the odd name choice and understand that this is a 4K pass-through 1080p 60 FPS capture solution, you can start to appreciate what the Pengo 4K HDMI Grabber can do, instead of what it can’t do! Pengo 4K HDMI Grabber Review – Simple and Stealthy The Pengo 4K HDMI Grabber is a surprisingly compact and well-built piece of kit. While its cheap and simple packaging won’t blow you away, the device itself has a solid metal case, which feels plenty capable of withstanding portable use. A big rubber foot helps prevent the Pengo 4K from slipping around on a desk, which is a nice touch. There are two available colors: Titanium Gray and Silver. Both come with the Pengo logo emblazoned atop in a large white font. The rest of the product looks very clean, with HDMI In and Out, the USB 3.0 data transfer and power combo, and the mic in and headphone out, all clearly labeled. It’s a very tidy and non-gamer aesthetic, which I’m sure many will appreciate. Included in the box alongside the Pengo 4K is a manual on how to get it working, as well as a curious USB 3.0 Type A Male to Type A Male cable which, while unusual, still works fine and doesn’t feel overly cheap or likely to break anytime soon. There is no HDMI cable included in the box, which is disappointing, as not everyone has multiple HDMI 2.0 cables lying around for 4K pass-through. The mic in and headphone out are fantastic to see, allowing the user to hear gameplay and add voice or music via the two 3.5 mm ports. This is a very convenient option to have and it really adds to the whole potential portability factor. So the hardware is solid enough, but what about the software? Well, the Pengo 4K HDMI Grabber doesn’t actually come with its own software. You might be used to hearing about Elgato and Avermedia with their own recommended applications that allow for some unique functionality, but the Pengo 4K has nothing. The manual instead recommends users download PotPlayer on Windows, and VLC or Quicktime on Mac. I opted for OBS Studio, as it’s my daily driver for 99% of all streaming and gameplay capture I do. As a UVC plug-in-and-play device, the Pengo 4K was immediately recognized and just worked perfectly from the get-go. I recorded Black Ops 4 gameplay at 1080p 60 FPS with a bitrate of 50 Mbps. You can push that bitrate further, but for 1080p 60 FPS on YouTube, 50 Mbps is already overkill. As you would expect, the unit handled Twitch streaming perfectly fine, easily handling my 2.5 Mbps bitrate (x264 Medium preset). Using my PS4 Pro to output 4K gameplay through the Pengo 4K HDMI Grabber to my 4K HDR monitor, I was as to capture the flawless—before YouTube’s horrible compression—1080p 60 FPS gameplay which you see above. While I was certainly able to take advantage of the 4K pass-through to carry on enjoying the latest Call of Duty release running at 4K with no latency, HDR was automatically disabled. To be expected, perhaps, but still worth noting. The plug-in-and-play feature also adds to the portability, speeding up the process when capturing on the go. While internal capture cards that are plugged into the motherboard can leverage more bandwidth for incredible transfer speeds and 4K HDR capture, they still remain stuck inside the PC. If you’re a gamer who plays in multiple spaces, or want the flexibility of recording to a laptop, then external is the way to go, and Pengo is offering a good option here. The system requirements detailed on the official website aren’t very demanding, with an i3 dual core or higher CPU, 2 GB of RAM, and modern OS listed as recommended. Pengo 4K HDMI Grabber Review – Pick Up a Pengo At $150, the Pengo 4K HDMI Grabber is priced competitively, currently sitting at $30 cheaper than the $180 Avermedia Live Gamer EXTREME 2, which rocks a much more gamer aesthetic. You also shouldn’t forget about the addition of a headphone out and mic in, which really help the Pengo 4K stand out. While Avermedia might seem like the safer bet, due to being a well-known brand and its use of USB 3.1 over 3.0, I still think the Pengo is well worth considering. The cheaper price, and fact that it can be bought through Amazon, gives me confidence with regards to potential returns and good customer service. Buying from Amazon makes taking a risk on a relatively unknown brand like Pengo a lot less worrying. As a 4K pass-through 1080p 60 FPS capture solution, the Pengo 4K HDMI Grabber works great. So long as you’re a creator who is familiar with OBS or other capture software, you should have no problems using this product as a compact capture and streaming device, without sacrificing your own enjoyment of 4K content on your own screen. Good stuff, Pengo!
Pengo 4K HDMI Grabber Review
Online Media reviewed by MSPoweruser from United States Review: Pengo External Game Capture Card — Affordable quality by Xian He Aug 30, 2018 at 5:55 GMT Gaming is becoming more mainstream than ever, and that has led to the rise of a new hobby and profession. Streaming and posting gameplay of upcoming titles or recently-released projects garners a lot of interest on platforms like Mixer and YouTube. In order to become an established name in this field, you have to post high-quality content. Video quality is of paramount importance because the clearer your gameplay is, the more likely that viewers will enjoy it. There are a lot of channels out there that don’t feature any commentary, but provide complete walkthroughs of exciting games. They are some of the most popular. If you’re a gaming journalist or blogger who has to record footage, or someone looking at getting into streaming and uploading footage, then there are a few options out there for you. AVerMedia and Elgato are the leaders in this market, and AVerMedia even provides an option to capture footage at 4K 30 FPS through an external capture device. However, let’s say that you don’t want to spend that much. Are there other manufactures out there which offer comparable experiences and ease of use? One such external capture card maker — which supports both PC and Mac — is Pengo. With the Pengo HDMI Grabber, you can easily record footage from your Xbox One or PlayStation 4 and upload it to YouTube. If you download a few programs, you can even stream with it. Since we rely on recording footage at this outlet, this review will focus on that, but we tested out streaming and it worked without any issues. We’ve spent the past few weeks learning about and using the Pengo Grabber. While it’s not a perfect experience, it’s still comparable to what the market leaders offer. Plus, at just $149 at the moment on Amazon, it’s hard not to recommend it. It’s compatibility with programs like QuickTime and VLC make it a treat to use because it’s just so easy to understand. The first aspect of the Pengo you’ll immediately notice is the sleek design. Instead of using cheap plastic like its competitors, the Pengo features machined aluminum. It also easily fits in the palm of your hand so it’s incredibly portable. Unlike some AVerMedia capture cards, the Pengo is not shaped like a triangle so even carrying it in a pocket is doable. We’ve provided a screenshot so that you can see just how great the image quality from the Pengo is. Using the Pengo is simple as well. You plug in a USB cord from the device to your computer. Then you plug in an “HDMI In” cable from your console to the Pengo. After that, you can plug in another HDMI cable from the Pengo to your television. There is no noticeable lag and we never encountered any issues while playing 30 FPS or 60 FPS games. The passthrough is 4K 60 FPS, so you can keep it connected even if you aren’t recording. It’ll display the same great picture you get when you directly plug in, let’s say an Xbox One X, into your screen. A lot of capture cards out there downgrade the image quality coming out of them to 1080p 60 FPS. It’s great to see that the manufacturer took this into account when designing this device. Unfortunately, the Pengo only records footage at 1080p 60 FPS. We would’ve liked to see it at least capture 4K 30 FPS, but we’re sure future iterations will achieve that. Luckily, the recorded footage is very clear and looks remarkable. The only issue we had was that the Pengo sometimes skipped a few frames. However, we noticed that this was directly correlated with how powerful the computer connected to it was. For example, on a weak laptop, the Pengo skipped a lot of frames. However, when we connected it to a Razer Blade 15, there were no skipped frames. If you want to use this external capture card, make sure that you have beefy hardware that can handle high-quality video. Unfortunately, not everyone has that. As stated earlier, the Pengo doesn’t need proprietary software like AVerMedia or Elgato to work properly. Using an AverMedia or Elgato external capture card is a pain if you only like capturing with QuickTime or VLC. Luckily, the Pengo seems to be optimized for them because you can easily use the two programs to capture footage. If you’re a streamer, the Pengo works astonishingly well with Open Broadcaster Software. It’s as if the team designed the Pengo around this software. We have never used an external capture card that was this easy to install and use. It’s truly remarkable. Let’s say that you’re using a Mac instead of a PC. The process is still just as simple. You just have to open QuickTime and select “New Movie Recording”. In the “Input” menu, just choose the “Pengo HDMI Grabber”. That’s all you have to do! VLC works even better on Apple’s platform. We’ve used some truly finicky capture cards over the years and the Pengo has been by far the easiest to set up. If you’re new to the streaming or recording sphere, then this is probably the device you want to buy. You’ll have the least amount of problems, and it works whether you have a PC or Mac. If you’re in the market for an external capture card, then be sure to give Pengo some consideration. At $149.99, it’s one of the cheapest and best options out there. Grab it before the price shoots back up to $249.99! The aluminum body makes it durable. In our opinion, AVerMedia and Elgato should take notice and start manufacturing their capture cards out of metal too. The Pengo is definitely our external capture card of choice out of them all at the moment. 8.5/10 Pengo HDMI Grabber