With video game live streaming rapidly growing in popularity, there are a lot of aspiring streamers out there. The problem is that getting a successful and professional looking stream setup can be much more work than it seems. The Razer Ripsaw is a great tool to help you get set up with a very high quality stream with little work. Not only does it streamline the process but it gives you fantastic quality worthy of the top streamers out there.
Design
Immediately upon opening the box you’ll notice how well designed everything is. As usual with Razer, a lot of attention has been paid to giving you a pleasant unboxing experience which starts to give you an idea of how well considered their products are. You know how much they care about this product just by the thought put into the packaging. The unit itself is small, about the size of your hand and has a nice simple and slim rectangular design which you can tuck away anywhere convenient into your existing setup. Aside from the audio-mix ports conveniently on the front, the rest are logically arrayed on the back where it makes sense. The top has a subtle razer logo and the bottom has a great rubberized surface for grip. This may seem trivial but it isn’t particularly common for this sort of hardware and really helps because once you set this up you know it will stay securely in place. I really hate when things slide around (messing up how neatly I like to set things up) so this little touch was very welcome. The front of the unit has a thin LED light strip which changes color to indicate device status. It’s a little bright to be honest, and I’d love to be able to configure this in the Razer Synapse software to change it’s colors or brightness, through that is completely cosmetic and doesn’t effect the device’s functionality at all.
Setup
The setup of this hardware is also incredibly easy. It’s as simple as plugging your game console’s video output to the Ripsaw’s HDMI input or component input port. This device comes with HDMI, Component AV, and Component AV Multi cables so getting any modern console up and running is a breeze. From there, you need to connect the HDMI output to your display so basically this device sits between your console and display. From there, simple connect the USB 3.0 cable between the Ripsaw and your PC, install the drivers with the Razer Synapse software, and boot up your streaming software of choice (OBS or X-split) which are fully compatible. If you want to augment your stream with secondary audio, you can make use of the onboard auxiliary input or 3.5mm microphone jack. Plug in and the Ripsaw will take care of the rest. No need to install any bloated proprietary software if you don’t want to.
Performance
I took this hardware for a spin using a few different consoles. WiiU, PS3, and Xbox One all worked well and had comparably simple setup using the included cables. Since the Ripsaw takes care of a lot of the video processing, my PC didn’t have to work hard to send out the stream and one thing I really liked when testing it out was that when enabling my stream the Ripsaw managed to start up seamlessly without interrupting the picture on my display like some other capture devices I’ve tried in the past. The speed is phenomenal, capturing 60fps 1080p video with no noticeable latency at all. I’ve used a lot of different capture devices over the years and frankly the Ripsaw shocked me. I read the specs and features and knew it was supposed to be a nice piece of hardware but once I saw it in action, I knew that I wasn’t prepared for such top level performance. Every other capture device managed to perform well enough but with caveats, whether its latency, design frustrations, compatibility, or ease of use. The Razer Ripsaw has and does it all, and really shows that Razer has learned from every other capture device over the years, took all those learnings and brought them together in to one beautiful offering.
Sure, this isn’t the least expensive capture card out there. Maybe you don’t think you need to capture 1080p at 60fps since you plan to stream at a lower resolution. Believe me though, once you see this capture card in action you’ll likely change your tune. This is now, without any doubt in my mind, the card to beat. It is the new standard in game capture cards and sets a new bar which every new card will want to beat. If you want to start streaming your games, want professional level results with ease of use great enough for even the most novice users, and one of the most well thought out packages overall then the Razer Ripsaw is what you’re after.
Consider the fact that the closest thing I can come up with to complain about is that I can’t change the color and brightness of the devices status indicator. That’s in. As far as I’m concerned everything else here is perfection. My hat is off to Razer. They knocked it out of the park with the Ripsaw and have delivered what is sure to become the new standard for streamers everywhere.
