Elgato HD 60 vs Hauppauge HD PVR 2

[Caspella]

So I'm looking for some advice on which of these to buy. Probably pretty obvious I'm not exactly a technical person. I'd like to make some videos of my settlements in Fallout 4, etc. I will be using this to record gameplay on my computer, and also off PS4, Xbox 360, and occasionally PS3, retro consoles like Dreamcast and a Retron 5. I'll be uploading it to Youtube, if that matters. I game on my TV, by running the cable to it from the computer. It's a Vizio smart TV and I can run games in 1080p with it (no idea if that matters either).

 

If there are other options you recommend, feel free to suggest them. I've zeroed in these two because they seem to be easy to use for people with no experience. It seems to me that people find the Elgato easier to use, and like the software that comes with it better. But it looks like the Elgato will only record for one hour? Is that right? Will I have to stop and do something every hour? How much trouble is this going to be, like do I have to exit the game and upload the hour of footage right then? Really have no idea how this works, but I do tend to game for long sessions. There also seems to be some debate about which one of these actually records in HD better. Apparently neither of them will record 1080p at 60 fps. I would really like to know if one of them is better in terms of game lag as well, as I would just like to get it set up and leave it.

 

I also see people saying that the Elgato has less wires because it draws power from the computer. I don't care about wires, but I will care if the power drain slows down my pc when I'm trying to use multiple applications at once. I really don't even know if that's how that works though. Is this something to favor the Hauppauge over? If it matters, I tend to play with a ton of mods, and I build large scale structures and fill them with clutter. Eventually, I hope to have large structures or cities with about 50 settlers at each of the settlement locations in the game. I think this will be taxing enough for the computer (esp. while capturing footage) without adding to the strain. I don't use ENB mods right now, but might in the future.

 

Also, I don't know if I need to buy a microphone for audio. I have a Tritton 720 + headset that I assume I can use to capture chat audio. Is that right? If not, does anyone have suggestions for what microphone would be good for this? I'm gaming in a recliner in my living room so the convenience of the headset mic is nice. This is just for fun, so I don't need professional quality sound or anything. Will either of these capture devices record what I hear in my Trittons? The boom from grenades and things sounds really awesome with the Trittons, but I'm unsure if the capture devices will be taking the sound from the TV speakers instead. No surround sound set up on the TV.

 

Another question I had was about this copyright protection on HDMI footage? No idea what this even means. I assume this is about keeping people from recording Movies or TV shows and copying them. I don't understand how it relates to capturing your own gaming footage. Any info on this would be great, along with which one of these devices would be better in this regard.

 

Oh, and it'd be best if it would work on Windows 10 or 7. Have 10 currently on this computer, but I'm not sure if I'm going to be keeping it due to non-stop problems.

 

Any other advice on getting a good set up for this kind of thing would be much appreciated. I've been reading reviews and comments, watching YouTube product reviews and tutorials, etc. If you guys have any other resources, such as websites that specialize in this sort of thing, feel free to point me in that direction. Thanks!

Edited February 27, 2016 by Caspella