AVerMedia Live Gamer Ultra 2.1 vs Magewell USB Capture HDMI Gen 2: Comparison

Which should you buy, AVerMedia Live Gamer Ultra 2.1 or Magewell USB Capture HDMI Gen 2?

Buy the AVerMedia Live Gamer Ultra 2.1 for Single-PC streamers who game and stream from the same machine and anyone standardized on AVerMedia's RECentral software ecosystem. The same goes for streamers capturing HDR console footage who want encoding off their PC's CPU. Avoid it for buyers who already have a spare NVENC-capable GPU and don't need onboard encoding. The Magewell USB Capture HDMI Gen 2 suits multi-camera event, church, and corporate production setups. It also earns its place with anyone who needs a capture device that works identically across many different software platforms without driver installs. It is the wrong buy for solo streamers who want a companion app with overlays and scene switching built in. Our rating of the AVerMedia Live Gamer Ultra 2.1 (8/10): A genuinely useful onboard-encoder pick for single-PC streamers doing HDR console capture, though it costs more than AVerMedia's simpler externals. Our rating of the Magewell USB Capture HDMI Gen 2 (8/10): A production-grade capture box that works identically in every piece of software, with no drivers to chase.