Capturing footage on a gaming PC is pretty easy these days, as you can either use software like OBS Studio or a dedicated capture card. But if you have a handheld gaming device, like the Steam Deck, Nintendo Switch, or even a smartphone, then it gets a tad more tricky. Avermedia reckons it's solved the problem entirely by launching a new dock that captures the device's steam, all with the click of a single button.
Launched at Computex, the X'Tra Go GC515 might not be the greatest name for the 'world's first capture dock for handheld gameplay' but the overall concept is certainly a great one. Essentially the dock plugs into any compatible handheld device (Steam Deck, Switch, smartphone, etc), whack the big button on the base, and it'll start recording the device's video output to an SD card.
With capture rates of 120 Hz for 1080p and 30 Hz for 4K, you'll have no worries about missing any frames from pretty much any handheld gaming PC. Most of these have 1080p or 1600p screens and none of them play games at really high frame rates. If you did want to capture at a higher rate, then you'd need a separate computer with a capture card.
And that's the best aspect of the X'Tra Go—no additional hardware is needed, as the stream is recorded directly to an internal SD card. Obviously, you will need another PC to then transfer the file somewhere else, but SD card readers are much cheaper than capture cards.
On the back of Avermedia's new docking station, there are a total of six ports. The first is for the cable that connects to the handheld device you want to capture. There are two USB-C ports—one to power the dock, and the other to connect it to a suitable laptop or desktop PC—and an HMDI port to display the stream on a monitor. Lastly, there are two more USB Type-A ports, though it's not clear what they're for (perhaps to save on a USB memory stick).
When you're not using the X'Tra Go to capture footage, you can use it to charge your handheld or play games using a wireless controller, like a Switch in docked mode.
Prices, availability, and shipping dates have yet to be confirmed, but I reckon Avermedia could be on to a bit of a winner with the X'Tra Go GC515, as anything that makes video capture as easy as just pressing one button is going to be popular. Whether it sells well, though, will come down to how much it costs.
Avermedia's standalone GC513 Live Gamer Portable 2 Plus for PC capture is around $120/£157, so I suspect that the GC515 won't be significantly cheaper than this. Having said that, it does have a lower capture rate than the GC513, so perhaps it will be. We'll know soon enough and if we get one in for review, we'll let you know what it's really like to use.
