Recording Game Video from PC with AverMedia GC513

Task

I wanted to record game video in such a way that I didn’t experience FPS drops while recording. To do this, it is necessary to transfer this load to external devices, for example, to a capture card. I decided to use AverMedia GC513but it took some time and special knowledge to figure it out and properly configure everything in my conditions, so I decided to put everything in one article in case it will be useful to someone or I need to remember all this.

Using a capture card

Photo from the website of the American store AverMedia

When you connect the capture card to the computer for the first time (I connected it in PC mode, because it was installed on the device right away), the driver will be installed. You can check the operation of the equipment using the program RECentral 4 from its manufacturers. For further work with the capture card, the use of this program will not be required anywhere else.

To record video from a PC, you need to connect an HDMI cable to the HDMI input on the capture card, and the other end to the HDMI output of the computer. As for the USB port, it can be used to simply connect the card to a charger (if you only need to record video) or to a second PC (if you need to broadcast in real time).

This capture card can work in 3 modes:

PC – sends video to a PC connected via USB. In this case GC513 V OBS will be detected as a video capture device (just like a regular webcam). This mode must be used when broadcasting in real time, because the capture card itself cannot connect to the Internet and send a video stream to the specified server;
PC-Free – recording video on a microSD card. Recordings are saved as a separate video file every half an hour. With a resolution of 1920×1080, audio sampling rate of 48 KHz and a frame rate of 60 FPS, one half-hour video weighs ~4.23 Gb. Video codec – H.264audio codec – AACcontainer – MOV.
Storage – a mode for accessing the microSD card inserted into the device and the files recorded on it. It must be used when transferring files from a capture card to a PC. USB connection. In general, as in a conventional camera or camcorder.

Since this article will deal exclusively with video recording, and not with real-time broadcasts over the Internet, the first mode will not be considered.

After connecting to a computer via HDMI and setting the capture card to PC-Free mode, you must wait until the indicator light stops flashing red and turns blue. To start and stop video recording, you need to press the big lit button on top (Hot Button). It would seem that everything is simple, but in fact, the most difficult is just beginning.

Dividing sound from sources to receivers

Both sound and video go to the capture card via an HDMI cable. And if everything is clear with the video, because its only source is the video card, and there are only two receivers: a monitor connected to the video card, and a capture card connected to the HDMI output, then everything is more complicated with sound. OS Windows defines the capture card as an audio output device.

Start Menu -> Settings -> System -> Sound -> Sound Control Panel” title=”Start Menu -> Settings -> System -> Sound -> Sound Control Panel” width=”549″ height=”583″/></p><p><figcaption>Start Menu -> Settings -> System -> Sound -> Sound Control Panel</figcaption></p></figure><p><strong>Windows</strong> plays all sounds through only one source – the one that is selected by default. If you select a capture card, the sound will stop going to the headphones. No one is going to be happy with this state of affairs. In addition, it is necessary that the sound from the microphone is also recorded by the capture card. Personally, I also needed everything that my interlocutors said in <strong>Discord</strong>‘e. In total, all my requirements can be summarized as follows:</p><figure class= — The scheme of dilution of sound between sources and receivers

The scheme of dilution of sound between sources and receivers

I don’t know how to do this by standard means Windows, I personally did not succeed. So I downloaded the program VoiceMeeter Banana. It is quite easy to use, but beginners may be put off by its slightly heavy graphical interface and the fact that after installing and restarting the computer, the sound may simply stop working. I’ll just describe how I set everything up myself. First, open the sound control panel again. There, in the “Playback” tab, 2 new receivers will appear: Voice Meeter Input And VoiceMeeter Aux Input. Using the context menu called by right-clicking on each of them, assign them the roles “Default device” and “Default communication device”, respectively.

Next, go to the “Record” section. Device VoiceMeeter Aux Output must be set as the default device (for everything).

IN Discord‘e both devices (input and output) must be switched to Default.

The same procedure needs to be followed in OBS if you still want to be able to use it for video recording.

Now, in order for the sound in the system to start working, you need to run the program itself. VoiceMeeter Banana and arrange devices and programs in columns.

The first 3 columns are the physical inputs. For each of them, you can assign some physical input device, for example, a microphone, as I have in the first column. To do this, left-click on the column heading and select a device from the list of available devices. Then there are 2 columns corresponding to the virtual inputs. The first one is Voice Meeter Inputand second – VoiceMeeter Aux Input. You cannot assign anything else to virtual inputs. If you need to assign some program to a separate input, you will have to do this using the utility Audio Router And virtual cables.

Next come the exits. Similar to inputs, the first 3 of them correspond to physical devices. For the first (A1) I assigned headphones, and on the second (A2) – capture card (recognized as AVT GC513). The last 2 exits are virtual. This Voice Meeter Output (B1) And VoiceMeeter Aux Output (B2). Using the sliders, you can adjust the volume of sources and receivers.

And now carefully. Voice Meeter Input And VoiceMeeter Aux Input are inputs with respect to VoiceMeeter Banana. For programs on Windows (be it games, Discord or OBS, for example) these are all outputs. As for Voice Meeter Output (B1) And VoiceMeeter Aux Output (B2) then for VoiceMeeter Banana these are outputs, but for programs on Windows these are inputs. This remark is important for understanding the interaction of the audio dilution program with the rest of the system components.

By clicking on the boxes with output labels in the input columns, we direct the sound from a certain source to a certain receiver. As you can see from the screenshot above, the sound of the microphone is aimed at A2 (external capture card) and B2 (VoiceMeeter Aux Output). Voice Meeter Input (sounds Windows) And VoiceMeeter Aux Input (sounds Discord‘a) both are connected to A1 (headphones/speakers) and A2. Thus, we have the following breeding scheme:

Source-to-Destination Dilution Diagram with VoiceMeeter Banana

As you can see, this scheme is very similar to the previous one. It differs only in the presence of inputs and outputs provided by the program. VoiceMeeter Banana.

Note: when translating a capture card AverMedia GC513 from one mode to another program VoiceMeeter Banana will lose it, and you will have to assign some output to it again.