Elgato is a brand of consumer technology products. The brand was manufactured and designed by Elgato Systems, founded in 1992 by Markus Fest and is headquartered in Munich, Germany, until 2018 when the brand was sold to Corsair Components.
Products[]
Thunderbolt dock[]
Elgato introduced a Thunderbolt docking station in June 2014. A computer is plugged into the dock using a Thunderbolt port in order to gain access to the dock's three USB ports, audio jacks, HDMI and ethernet. It is typically used to plug a Macbook into an office setting (printer, monitor, keyboard) or to provide additional ports not available in the Macbook Air. A review in The Register said it was compact and useful, but Windows users should consider a USB 3.0 dock. The Register and CNET disagreed on whether it was competitively priced. Reviews in TechRadar and Macworld gave it 4 out of 5 stars.
Thunderbolt SSD[]
Elgato introduced two firewire external hard drives in September 2012 called Thunderbolt Drive. Benchmark tests by MacWorld and Tom's Hardware said that the hard drive was slower than other products they tested, despite being connected through a faster Thunderbolt port, rather than Firewire. The following year, in 2013, Elgato replaced them with similar drives identified as "Thunderbolt Drive +", which added USB 3.0 support and was claimed to be faster than the previous iteration. A CNET review of a Thunderbolt Drive+ drive gave it a 4.5 out of 5 star rating. It said the drive was "blazing fast" and "the most portable drive to date" but was also expensive. An article in The Register explained that the original drives introduced in 2012 didn't perform well in benchmark tests, but the newer "plus" version had impressive speed results during testing.
Capture devices[]
In 2010, Elgato released their first video capture device. The product consists of a USB port that connects directly to a PC and A/V inputs in yellow, white, and red along with an S-Video slot.
In late 2012, Elgato introduced the Game Capture HD, which features a USB cable to connect to a PC, two HDMI slots that allow input and output from a TV, and an adapter for a component cable.
In late 2014, Elgato introduced the Game Capture HD60, which records gameplay in a frame rate up to 60 Frames Per Second (FPS).
In early 2016, Elgato released the Game Capture HD60 S along with the Game Capture HD60 Pro. The HD60 S is an updated version of the HD60 which features a USB 3.0 connection. The HD60 Pro is exclusively for a desktop that requires an open PCI-e x1 slot.
In late 2017, Elgato introduced the Game Capture 4K60 Pro, that records gameplay in 4K resolution and in 60FPS. It is exclusively for the desktop and requires an open PCI-e x4 slot. By mid 2019, an updated version of the capture card known as the 4K60 Pro MK.2 was released.
In early 2020, Elgato released the Game Capture 4K60 S+, which features a USB 3.0 port, 2 HDMI slots, an SD card slot, and a recording button. The capture device can use an inserted SD card and record gameplay without use of a PC.