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Discussion Katsukity New Nintendo 3DS Capture Card Review

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As some of you may be aware there are many ways to record video game footage now however it has not always been the easiest of tasks if you wanted to record any mobile games, since you would either need a few signal converters for devices like iPads and iPhones or even an elaborate camera setup pointed at your screen in such a way it looks like the footage is being pulled right from the Device.

Thankfully for players or content providers alike a genius innovator by the name of Katsukity has innovated a way for us to record all of our mobile game systems from the Wii U Game-pad and Vita, and including the 3DS system. However unlike last time with the Original 3DS where there where two different providers for this capture kit with the other being Loopy it seems as if Loopy stopped providing units and creating new ones around the time I made my last review with the reassuring response of being back "soon™" after he creates kits for the "new" Nintendo 3DS so that he can provide an all in one service like is competitor, and due to this unfortunately I won't be able to provide an apples to apples review like last time.

Software:

With every purchase you will receive a document in your shipment box that will specify a hidden url that will direct your to the capture software for your system and the drivers for the device. The software it self offers a load of useful features including(but not limited too) Screen separation, inline audio recording(from the micro usb port), 3D Mode for those of you with 3D TV's, a feature for VR Headsets, as well as screen size adjustments. In the end the software is full of almost any feature you could ever want. However it does have one pretty significant drawback, and that is the lack of a built in recorder. With the robust amount of features and the fact that most content creators will be using an external program anyway this may seem like a minuscule issue, however the longer the program goes without this, I won't really see this as the AIO program that it was meant to be.

Another major drawback lies in his drivers that you need to install in order to use this product with your PC. Due to the drivers being unsigned and how they run in order to detect the system you will need to disable signature checks in your copy of Windows if you're using Windows 8 or above. If you remember to do that first then there are no issues and this statement will be false.

However if you go to install the drivers like the instructions state you will quickly find out after they don't work that you forgot to disable signature checking since the instructions did not state to do so. This is where the drawback comes into play since there are two options. Either way for their horrible support, since I added their support line when I purchased the system at the end of March and have yet to receive a reply, or hope you get lucky and they happen to release a driver update so you can install the new drivers afterwords over top of the old after signature checking is disabled. Since you can't uninstall the old ones due to the way they run. If you can't seem to do either of those then unfortunately your only other options are to reinstall windows, rollback to a system backup before the install, or use another PC.

While that may not be a major concern for most it is still a cause for concern since the signature checks where only mentioned in one of Katsukity's blog posts from 2014 and not in his Wiki for the device. Due to this unfortunately I have to give the software a 5/10 due to it taking me almost 12 hours to get up and running due to not being able to remove the multiple drivers it installed.
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Hardware:


Just like before Katsukity did an amazing job of preserving the slim design of the 3DS unity while adding in his own PCB, with the "New" 3DS upgrade he doesn't even need to remove the IR port either do to the larger system. With the larger system he can no fit it comfortably between the charging and IR port. However he does seem to have a recurring theme of a lackluster dremel job due to the port being on a decent angle(shown below) with extra space around it. Due to this the micro usb port still has the infamous fragile touch that all Katsukity products seem to be riddled with if you're not paying attention to the amount of pressure you use to plug your system into your PC.



Katsukity hit the hardware end out of the park in the terms of functionality, with my only gripe being the lack of care/attention put into the micro usb port of the system and how fragile it is. With that being said I have to give him a 8/10 on hardware. If him and his team can fix the fragility of this port and make it look more like it belongs on the system then I would give this a perfect mark.

Quality:



Roundup:

If you're a content creator and are looking for a way to expand your content to something more original then I highly recommend looking into purchasing one of Katsukities products if your pockets are deep enough, get over his lackluster support, and if you have a prestablished fanbase looking for new content. A unit like this goes for a whopping $549.56 due to being one of the few on the market and the complexity.

What are your thoughts on this unit? Personally I don't feel as if it's worth the current price tag until Katsukity fixes both of the software and hardware issues I mentioned due to them being pretty significant unless you have a use for a device like this such as a large Youtube or Twitch channel
 
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