When it comes to PC, it is true that you might not need a video capture card, at least for the same reasons that were mentioned above. These are options that you just often won’t have in the streaming app on your console. For that, you would need your gaming footage to be sent to a PC via a video capture card so that you can customize your stream, reply to chat, set up and customize a webcam, add a higher quality microphone, and a lot more to improve the quality of your stream. If you want to stream professionally, a certain level of quality, care, and character is expected. And that’s about as much control as you have over your stream. You can stream the gameplay, add some commentary and perhaps do the occasional typing if you have the keyboard accessory for your respective controller. The biggest caveat with streaming directly from a console is the lack of control. With Xbox and PlayStation, you can stream directly from the console, whereas on the Nintendo Switch, you need the console to be connected to the dock to be able to stream. First of all, let’s separate console and PC gaming in addressing this issue. This data is then encoded by the computer and turned into a video file that can be saved or streamed in real-time with almost zero latency. This data can be sent either via a USB connection in the case of external capture cards or through a PCI-E connection for internal capture cards. So far, a video capture card seems redundant! But the unique thing that a capture card does is that it converts the video it receives to a format that a PC can read.

Simply put, a video capture card is a device that receives video from one source via HDMI (typically a gaming console or PC) and sends the same video out to a monitor or TV (also via HDMI). We will explain why you probably need a capture card despite your device being already capable of streaming. If you’re a gamer or streamer who has been wondering what a capture card can do for you or why you would purchase one if your Xbox/PlayStation/PC has the ability to stream on its own, keep reading this article.

Nvidia capture card