Capture card issues Interval frame sync stutter. Please help if you can

[jez_0]

Hi everyone, I'm at my absolute wits end with this and have spent hours and hours over weeks and weeks and I still can't figure it out.

Trying to capture 4K 60FPS HDR content from Xbox or PS5 using an Avermedia Live Gamer Bolt. Tried both OBS and RECentral with similar results. I've tried so many different settings I can't even think straight anymore. Different versions. different drivers, vsync on and off, using the same frame rate for input/output and making sure my refresh rate matches. Tried changing refresh to 120hz with what I thought were better results but it still isn't working right. Tried high settings and the absolute lowest. No matter what I do, almost like clockwork I get a period or sometimes two in a recording where out of nowhere it starts to stutter a little and the fps just tanks for a minute or so and then resolves. It happens every time and more often than not usually starts at the 6-7 minute mark.

Having OBS use a constant fps and RECentral on variable makes no difference to the result. I've tried all the usual like turning game mode on and off, HAGS off and on etc.

Recording to a 980 1TB SSD. 32Gb ram, 3080 (Laptop) i7-11800H.

It feels like it must be something to do with a sync issue but I've got no idea how to resolve it. I really need to get this working somehow and will happily pay someone to look into it. At this point I am way out of my depth.

[Eric-jan]

HDCP…. if you switch this off on the console you can't play the game or app anymore, HDMI passthrough option would solve that, but this is more a "Gamers" subject, the special forum(s) for this subject can help you better, with which devices to use, and their settings.
btw. you are using Thunderbolt 3 on your computer ? (USB-C & lesser won't work)
or use 30FPS….

[jez_0]

I think I have HDCP turned off on both consoles. I definitely turned it off on the PS5 a few days ago to capture a game as the capture card wouldn't even connect to the PS5 while it was turned on. It did give me a warning saying that some games may not work with it turned off but the game in question worked fine. It was still suffering from interval stuttering half way through the clip. The only way I could salvage the clip was to remux it to MKV (as I was adding an LUT) and changing the FPS to 60p from 59.94 using MKVToolNix. Then to had to fix audio drift in premiere pro and export the audio back into the MKV.

Using thunderbolt 3

[jez_0]

Apologies, forgot to say but I am using the passthrough also.

[Eric-jan]

Then it could be that the hardware you are using is not keeping up with the speed you are capturing, (4K needs some power) you can have too slow storage, or the tasks you are using, slow down the capture process, so the capture is disrupted, to what codec are you capturing ?
Also do you know for sure the stutters are from capture, and not during playback ? because you could "salvage" a clip… try different players/playback options.
using other capture codecs can also be a solution !/?
Try to rule out things in your setup, by way of tests, or minimize settings.
Also.. you are capturing video and sound through one connection/source ? audio sample rates are the same ?
There's somewhere a PAL device or setting in your setup ?
HDMI 2.1 specs are good in hardware and cables ?

[jez_0]

I think the laptop met Avermedia's requirements for 4K HDR 60FPS but I may be wrong. Capturing using Nvidia Nvenc MP4 but have tried MKV also. Have tried CBR, VBR and CQP. Low bit rates and high bit rates, stutters are definitely from capture somewhere in the pipeline. Sometimes the clips look fine but there may be a period of very slight stuttering which just looks like dropped frames. When YouTube had finished processing it though the stutters become much much worse and the clip ends up looking awful.

Audio sample rates are at 48kHz. Task manager isn't showing too much else using resources, the CPU and GPU utilisation are pretty reasonable. When using OBS it never reports missed or skipped frames.

The TV that I play on is connected to the capture card and then that is connected to the Xbox or PS5. Video and sound through one source but I am using a soundbar which is connected to the TV. Don't have HDMI 2.1 It's all done using HDMI 2.0. I did wonder if it could be a bandwidth issue but wouldn't that be apparent from the moment I started recording, rather than appearing like it was coming in at a specific interval?

I will say that a year or so ago when I first started using the capture card I didn't have any issues at all, even if I was capturing HDR.

[Eric-jan]

What i know is, that PS5 is HDMI 2.1 (a HDMI 2.1 cable is delivered with it) When i connected my new PS5 to my existing HDMI switch setup i use, things got wrong, and picture got lost randomly, replacing it with a (Startech) HDMI 2.1 switch, solved that for me, i don't know if it's valid for your setup, HDMI is picky, maybe switching off the HDMI CEC function might help, but that is a wild guess from me,
maybe, certain change in settings might help, like YCbCr or RGB colour formats and their different bit rates also, can you check if all Dynamic Ranges are the same ? maybe this slows down the capture process, maybe your Avermedia is not up to it, your other hardware seems reasonable fit, still… you can't say… check all specifications of devices in question, specifications are getting higher and different over each time.
(try to remember at what time you got the troubles you now've got)
Google for use cases like yours on the internet.

[jez_0]

I cant be completely sure this is the only issue but it definitely wont help. I found this on Avermedia's website and although it is not the motherboard I have will definitely still apply to my situation.

"How to fix unstable 60 FPS when capturing at 3840x2160 (4K) using RGB24 or P010 on MSI X570 motherboard?"
"
"Enter BIOS and then to Settings -> Advanced -> Integrated Peripherals, and from there disable both the Onboard LAN Controller and the Onboard Wi-Fi Module Control."

"After disabling both of these, the Live Gamer 4K GC573 will receive a maximum payload size of 256 bytes as opposed 128 bytes it was receiving before."

Upon checking HWInfo for my Live Gamer 4K when connected to Thunderbolt it states that my max payload supported is 512 bytes but my current max payload is 128 bytes which is below the minimum of 256 bytes. My issue is that even though my Laptop has very good hardware, it uses Insyde Bios which is extremely limited and does not in its current form give me access to disable anything like that. It would make sense that this may be the issue as when viewing the frame drops in playback it does seem like a bandwidth issue...

Not sure where I stand now as I can see this being an absolute nightmare to sort out short of opening the laptop up and physically disconnecting something from the PCI lane.

[jez_0]

Actually I'm still not sure if the above would be an issue or not as the HDR that I am capturing is not in full RGB24 so probably doesn't require that kind of bandwidth.

[Eric-jan]

So it's something like interupts handled by the CPU ? (still no more cores needed?) If switching off some of the internal devices helps, it looks that way, i guess a desktop PC would give more options, and being able to upgrade some of the hardware, which may advanced processing and hardware acceleration, maybe even two seperate computers one for encoding/mixing, the other for a live stream to Youtube.
Also, are you mixing live indoor camera sources ? with PC's, consoles and video equipment, it's quiet a mix of sources to work with correctly, in your case a laptop for PC use, gives less options.