GENKI ShadowCast 2 - 4K USB 3.2 Smallest External Capture and Streaming Card - Record and Stream in 1080P 60Hz with Great Performance for the iPad, PS5, PS4/Pro, Xbox Series X/S, Switch, Mac, Windows

I'm a blind gamer, and I like to stream. So having a means of hooking my switch up to my computer is a must.With having issues with being able to do inputs, lag would also be an issue, but I've not really noticed any. If there is, it's not enough for me to notice, even with playing games that would punish for that sort of thing (Mostly Monster Hunter and Dark Souls.)If you don't have a USB C input on your computer, you'll need an adapter to be able to use it, which could be a concern. But beyond that, it works *perfectly*.The only other thing - I don't know if it's my computer or the product itself, but my laptop is convinced it's a camera and microphone and attempts to use it when I have to do zoom meetings until I change things. Minor annoyance after I realized what was happening (As it can be permanently changed in settings), but it's something you'd have to do everywhere (Like with discord too) if you have it plugged in.Otherwise, it's an amazing product. Easy to use, easy to setup. Even for the quadriplegic blind woman ^^ It's effectively just plug and play.I've never used other streaming products (I can't remember the other one that's commonly used for streaming ^^; ) So I can't really comment on how it compares, but in general, it's worked very well for my needs ^^

Update: Got a second one in and it works perfectly. I feel like I may have been at fault and not the initial product. The light only comes on when you're actively using OBS or some kind of capture software. I thought the power had died on my last one. I feel bad but customer service was great. The product doesn't have pass-through so it's a bit of a niche product but if you know what you're getting, then it's exactly as described. And customer service is amazing!Old: I got this and was super excited because I'll be traveling and wanted to use to for that. I powered it up and made sure it booted up and everything was good then unplugged it and put it away. Just took it out to actually use it and it won't power on. It's dead before I even got to use it for its intended purpose. Didn't last a single use. I'm hoping it was a dud and that customer service will solve the issue but, as of now, I would not recommend. If this is worked out, I will make sure to update the review.

I've been using it to play my Switch through my PC and stream it with no issues. The only hitch I had was that it comes with only a USB-C cable, which my PC does not have any USB-C ports. But I swapped in my own USB 3.0 to USB-C and it works perfectly. Other than that it's just plug-and-play. No latency nor any audio issues so far. I couldn't get the web app to work, but it plays through OBS and that's all I really need it for.

The thing works, but that genki arcade software is kinda trash tbh. Rarely works the first 5 times I use it, but nice when it does. Fortunately you can literally just open up any camera software or obs or whatever and that works too. Oh and I guess I should mention the browser version of arcade does seem to he a bit more reliable.From there though, it's all praise. This is the perfect upgrade from the original. It's not running 4k or anything but honestly, that's not what this thing is made for. It has been a god send as a general tech tool. I use this thing for all sorts of stuff sometimes I just need a quick spare monitor to test a raspberry pi out, or maybe I need to test a console after tinkering with it. I pull out this bad boy and my iPad and I'm set.Also works great to stream my switch gameplay to the boys in discord.Honestly, amazing product all around. I'm satisfied.

Some folks will get more utility out of these than others will -- for me, it's better to have it and not need it, so that I can take a MiniPC with me when i travel and use it as HDMI input to my Mac laptop to get stuff done.It's so little and so clean of a capture that it just lives in my travel bag now, and replaced a 1080p 15" external LCD since I could just run it on the gorgeous IPS display that comes with my Macbook Air, albeit letterboxed a bit.

plug it into my laptop and just shows a black screen

Seriously, if you haven't and need to capture gameplay or whatever, this is probably the best option at this price point by far!The picture quality is great, the input delay is very minimal, great color accuracy. I have used a lot of cheap capture cards and NONE of them have come even close to this one.Obviously if you want to spend a lot more you can get a capture card that has practically no input delay or can do 4k 60 but for this price this is actually really darn good and worth picking up. Definetly recommend to YouTubers or Streamers who are just starting out!

I wanted to play my steam deck off laptop or tablet screens. This allowed me to do that. Very happy with functionality and ease of use. Portability a big plus.