I’m in need for an HDMI capture card that I can use to record video from a camcorder, and use the HDMI out to broadcast the image to two monitors. I’m seeing some on amazon around the 130 range that…are decent maybe? I"m not sure I don’t have much experience with capture cards.
Want to stick aroudn 200 dollars for the card. PCI-E is outta the question since I’m on mini itx.
If you could stomach $300 the Epiphan AVio cards are the most bulletproof USB 3.0 capture cards I’ve ever used. They’re beautifully simple since they don’t require any drivers.
I’ve also had coworkers that used Blackmagic Intensity Shuttles and once we got the drivers (on Windows and Mac, haven’t tried Linux) they seemed to be pretty rock solid. Those are a little more versatile with all their different inputs.
Price is fine. What capture software do you use to record and stream?
Also there appears to be no hdmi passthrough, but I can probably work around that issue with an HDMI switch or something.
I use OBS, its free, common and honestly fine.
Also you don’t need an HDMI switch if a hair of latency is fine on the broadcast screens, just use a preview on the PC’s display out… this will also allow you to set the camera to something other than a format the screens display natively.
Card wise if its only 1080p60 of standard image quality, any of the normal USB3.0 stuff sold for gamers to live-stream or capture console footage will work fine,
Well the more I think about it the better off this would be without the HDMI passthrough. I jist need to figure out how to push that webcam image to the 3 Hdmi outs on the computer easily.
If the 3 screens are set to mirrored in your OS, just right click on the preview in OBS, select “projector” then select the screen, and it will appear on all three.
That’s not an option. I.e. they’ll be extended desktops.
…unless. I have some thinking to do now.
Actually testing now, you can use project to preview to multiple “extend” mode displays, just not the one with the OBS window on it… derp.
Great. I’ll basically just need to play with the software then. But you can have the webcam as the only image on there, right?
Yep, even better you can have multiple “scenes” so you can have the webcam full-screen, and other options like a countdown till live-stream\event starts, a end slide, play adverts from sponsors ect. Or layer any combination of these things any way… want a URL and thank you message on screen while the web cam is still fullscreen? Easy to set up. Want to put the webcam on the lower quarter of the screen, and information on the rest? Once you’ve set it up once you can return to it in 2 clicks.
Just be prepared to do some dry runs and make a lot of stuff ups… live event work has a steep learning curve and even the best screw up.
It’s going to be a non tech user doing the software so…thatll be interesting. What kind of latency are we talking about from camera to screen?
Don’t have numbers, but by eye I’d guess 50-100ms or so… enough that I wouldn’t ever game though it, but not enough to it’d be an issue for like real time sports… think like when configuring a webcam on a PC and looking at yourself.
If you pre-configure the scenes for them it’s easy to swap, start or stop… just getting it set up or troubleshooting issues isn’t really friendly… still like 50% of twitch streamers manage with either OBS or Xsplit (paid but not expensive, and you can get free 12month licenses all over the place, inc some humble hundles) so people do figure it out.
I can clarify my scenario here to maybe you have a better idea what I’m attempting to accomplish.
For our live (church) service we’re attempting to broadcast some internal televisions (nursery/kitchen etc).I have the cabling infrastructure over HDMI ready to go. I’m attempting to identify a camera to use atm, but I’m also wanting to stream this same image to the projectors as a way for people who would otherwise have a hard time seeing, to be able to see.
I’m pumping audio into the other rooms straight from the soundboard so latency is somewhat a concern unless I can sync that audio somehow, that’s a backburner issue atm.
So because we’re displaying this to the same people that’ll get live sound I’m somewhat concerned about latency in that case. Everything will run straight from the PC over HDMI over cat 6a ethernet.
So camera -> capture card -> computer -> 5 external TVs
Depending on how close up the shots of peoples heads are, yes latency may be noticeable, but its not too bad and an audio delay would not be desirable if its near the space the person talking is in, because echo. However for the other rooms HDMI is perfectly capable of carrying the sound, and you can sync better if there is not area overlap.
As for camera, something sold as a video camera is generally easier than a DSLR or similar (but avoid action cams like go pro ect), the small things like video designed autofocus and charging while recording make a big difference. Some can even record to SD card while they output on HDMI, so if thats suitable for your needs you could even in theory avoid having a PC. Otherwise if you have basically no budget even something like the Canon EOSM first generation or simlar age D100\rebel line will do, and the advantage of an older design is you can get 3rd party software like magic lantern to increase your options a lot. Its far more a case of make the best with what you have than needing anything in particular, at least till you can afford a something designed for this (which is likely never for most unmonetized applications).
Also by “over cat 6a Ethernet” do you mean as in on the network, or with a HDMI over Cat6 conversion?
The camera will be about 50 feet away and not zoomed in substantially. I can live with a .25-.5 second delay for the in-room broadcast (where the event is currently live and people are),I’ve got about a 600 dollar budget for a camera. I’ve been eyeballing the Panasonic HC-V770. And you’re right, we don’t really have the desire to spend 5 figures to get this to work, it’s really just a case of giving the best experience to everyone.