4K60 Capture Devices?

[Revan654]

I'm looking for a device that will record at 4k at 60 frames and will accept HDMI as input source. So far the only ones I been able to find is Magewell and Blackmagic Design. Blackmagic is 1500 dollars where Magewell is around 800 dollars.

I have no idea which company has the better product. Which is better BlackMagic or Magewell?

Magewell: http://www.magewell.com/pro-capture-hdmi-4k-plus
Blackmagic: https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/decklink/techspecs/W-DLK-25

or Is their anything else out in the market that's cheaper or is that going to be average price for 4K capture cards?

[ezcapper]

Magewell will be more flexible, for example, you will be able to use hardware encoding. The magewell card allows you to use VCE, NVENC, or QuickSync. I would wait until the xbox scorpio becomes popular and people want to capture 4k video games. At that point something will appear at a lower price point. Thank god for idiots who waste their precious time playing video games, they help make this stuff affordable. I would also watch Epiphan, U8Vision, Unisheen, Foxun, Timeleak and maybe even Atomos over the next couple years.

edit: forgot to mention that Avermedia has a card as well already out a little more expensive than the magewell. They are another one to watch once 4k xbox gets big: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPzLaGYyZ8o

[usually_quiet]

Deleted

[Revan654]

Magewell will be more flexible, for example, you will be able to use hardware encoding. The magewell card allows you to use VCE, NVENC, or QuickSync. I would wait until the xbox scorpio becomes popular and people want to capture 4k video games. At that point something will appear at a lower price point. Thank god for idiots who waste their precious time playing video games, they help make this stuff affordable. I would also watch Epiphan, U8Vision, Unisheen, Foxun, Timeleak and maybe even Atomos over the next couple years.

edit: forgot to mention that Avermedia has a card as well already out a little more expensive than the magewell. They are another one to watch once 4k xbox gets big: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPzLaGYyZ8o

I personally want to get a good capture that will last & work 100% of the time. I have Elgato Pro, every so often I run into some problems.

I had Avermedia USB 3.0 card I had nothing but problems with their software & Hardware.

[usually_quiet]

Magewell will be more flexible, for example, you will be able to use hardware encoding. The magewell card allows you to use VCE, NVENC, or QuickSync. I would wait until the xbox scorpio becomes popular and people want to capture 4k video games. At that point something will appear at a lower price point. Thank god for idiots who waste their precious time playing video games, they help make this stuff affordable. I would also watch Epiphan, U8Vision, Unisheen, Foxun, Timeleak and maybe even Atomos over the next couple years.

edit: forgot to mention that Avermedia has a card as well already out a little more expensive than the magewell. They are another one to watch once 4k xbox gets big: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPzLaGYyZ8o

I personally want to get a good capture that will last & work 100% of the time. I have Elgato Pro, every so often I run into some problems.

I had Avermedia USB 3.0 card I had nothing but problems with their software & Hardware.

Wait to until 4K becomes more mature before buying a 4K capture device. Even so I doubt that finding one with 100% reliable, bug-free operation will be possible. One cannot find such a device even now for 1080p capture.

Take anything ezcapper tells you with a grain of salt. He posts here mainly to promote Chinese electronics and has done so consistently since his very first post. Using either Magewell's device or Blackmagic's device, your choice of capture software is more likely to determine your ability to use VCE, NVENC, or QuickSync than the device itself, assuming you want to use them. Looking at the link for Blackmagic's device in your post, Blackmagic claims their product is compatible with nearly every commercial NLE and paid streaming program. I would be very surprised if there is no capture software available to use with it which supports using VCE, NVENC, or QuickSync to encode captures.

[Cornucopia]

One thing I have to say about Magewell: they're reliable!

Worth every penny. (oh wait, that was 2 things).

Scott

[ezcapper]

One thing I have to say about Magewell: they're reliable!

Worth every penny. (oh wait, that was 2 things).

Scott

yes, this is another good point. Magewell will work 100% of the time. I hate to admit it, but Chinese people are smart. Blackmagic can't always guarantee that. May give you hours and hours of headache, it has for me. My experience, one version of Media Express will work, then the next won't, etc. You can try renting the Blackmagic ultrastudio 4k extreme if you have a thunderbolt port to test it out. That might be good, because it is pretty much a computer in and of itself with hardware encoding, so your computer doesn't have to do anything.

Avermedia's card is good, they have improved. But personally I would not buy a 4k card from them unless they release one that does the encoding itself and sends the file to your computer.

[Revan654]

One thing I have to say about Magewell: they're reliable!

Worth every penny. (oh wait, that was 2 things).

Scott

yes, this is another good point. Magewell will work 100% of the time. I hate to admit it, but Chinese people are smart. Blackmagic can't always guarantee that. May give you hours and hours of headache, it has for me. My experience, one version of Media Express will work, then the next won't, etc. You can try renting the Blackmagic ultrastudio 4k extreme if you have a thunderbolt port to test it out. That might be good, because it is pretty much a computer in and of itself with hardware encoding, so your computer doesn't have to do anything.

Avermedia's card is good, they have improved. But personally I would not buy a 4k card from them unless they release one that does the encoding itself and sends the file to your computer.

Except when you try to response from them, E-Mail Magewell days ago still haven't heard a work back.

Not to mention I have yet to find a site that sells Magewell in the US.

[usually_quiet]

One decent capture product line from one company and suddenly the Chinese are a nation of geniuses. So tell me, how do you explain all the cheap, barely functional capture devices still made by Chinese companies in vast quantities?

The vast majority of the Chinese capture products ezcapper has hawked here in the past are that sort of cheap crap. There are so many problem reports with his namesake easycaps that somebody could have filed a class action lawsuit had an American company made them. Not to mention complaints about the non-functional obsolete software they come with, and the non-existent customer support that forces people to look elsewhere for help finding drivers and working software for them.

[usually_quiet]

Not to mention I have yet to find a site that sells Magewell in the US.

Some of Magewell's products are available at B&H and via third party listings "fullfilled by Amazon", but not all of them.

If they want to be taken seriously they need a better customer support organization and they need to stop promoting their products via shills.

[ezcapper]

I'm looking for a device that will record at 4k at 60 frames and will accept HDMI as input source. So far the only ones I been able to find is Magewell and Blackmagic Design. Blackmagic is 1500 dollars where Magewell is around 800 dollars.

I have no idea which company has the better product. Which is better BlackMagic or Magewell?

Magewell: http://www.magewell.com/pro-capture-hdmi-4k-plus
Blackmagic: https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/decklink/techspecs/W-DLK-25

or Is their anything else out in the market that's cheaper or is that going to be average price for 4K capture cards?

My guess is that the reason we aren't seeing any affordable 4k60 external cards is because usb 3.1 2nd generation hasn't become popular yet. As more of these laptops and desktops are released with usb 3.1 ports with 10 gbps transfer rate, it will allow plug and play devices. It seems like 4k video would need around 6 gbps to get to your computer. Once usb 3.1 becomes more mainstream, I would really expect a very high quality sub $500 card similar epiphan's current 4k usb 3.0 card or magewell's often copied XI100DUSB

[Brad]

Except when you try to response from them, E-Mail Magewell days ago still haven't heard a work back.

Try their long-distance phone number?

[Revan654]

Not to mention I have yet to find a site that sells Magewell in the US.

Some of Magewell's products are available at B&H and via third party listings "fullfilled by Amazon", but not all of them.

If they want to be taken seriously they need a better customer support organization and they need to stop promoting their products via shills.

One reason why I'm leaning toward Black Magic, atlease they get back to you within a few hours. Shame the card I want from them you can't just get the HDMI version of it, It would be so much cheaper then 1500 dollars. I don't need all the extra SDI, Just the HDMI input.

[ezcapper]

Between the two, I would just get the Magewell instead of paying double. Do all your customer service through visiblelight.com, they are not idiots, easily reachable through phone and if they are any problems they will accept returns. It's not worth paying almost double and deal with all the blackmagic headache.
http://www.visiblelight.com/magewell-pro-capture-hdmi-4k-plus-60p.html

the best option is to wait, but if you can't, the magewell product is a secure purchase.

[usually_quiet]

Not to mention I have yet to find a site that sells Magewell in the US.

Some of Magewell's products are available at B&H and via third party listings "fullfilled by Amazon", but not all of them.

If they want to be taken seriously they need a better customer support organization and they need to stop promoting their products via shills.

One reason why I'm leaning toward Black Magic, atlease they get back to you within a few hours. Shame the card I want from them you can't just get the HDMI version of it, It would be so much cheaper then 1500 dollars. I don't need all the extra SDI, Just the HDMI input.

Wait. Sooner or later something similar to the Blackmagic DeckLink Mini Recorder 4K will be available which allows 60fps capture. Also, unless you intend to capture output from a camera or the unprotected output from a game console or PC, you will need an HDMI 2.0a HDCP 2.2 stripper that supports 60fps video as well as a capture device. A good, cheap one that has been reported to work by many buyers has not yet been found.

[Revan654]

Not to mention I have yet to find a site that sells Magewell in the US.

Some of Magewell's products are available at B&H and via third party listings "fullfilled by Amazon", but not all of them.

If they want to be taken seriously they need a better customer support organization and they need to stop promoting their products via shills.

One reason why I'm leaning toward Black Magic, atlease they get back to you within a few hours. Shame the card I want from them you can't just get the HDMI version of it, It would be so much cheaper then 1500 dollars. I don't need all the extra SDI, Just the HDMI input.

Wait. Sooner or later something similar to the Blackmagic DeckLink Mini Recorder 4K will be available which allows 60fps capture. Also, unless you intend to capture output from a camera or the unprotected output from a game console or PC, you will need an HDMI 2.0a HDCP 2.2 stripper that supports 60fps video as well as a capture device. A good, cheap one that has been reported to work by many buyers has not yet been found.

I did send them an E-Mail to see if they can answer my questions. It might be awhile since the hurricane has closed allot of business.

Already have a HDMI 2.0a HDCP stripper.

[usually_quiet]

Already have a HDMI 2.0a HDCP stripper.

Interesting. I didn't think they existed for 60fps.

I read about Pan Long brand splitters able to strip HDCP 2.2, but the chips they contain would only work for UHD video up to about 30fps, not 60fps. (Since the Amazon seller was successfully sued for $5 million and forced to stop selling them, I don't see any harm in mentioning them by name.)

The HDFury Integral (not cheap) supports 60fps UHD output, but doesn't strip HDCP. According to the manufacturer, it only converts HDCP 2.2 to HDCP 1.4.

There is older firmware and a hacked file that supposedly changes it into an HDCP stripper, but LegendSky doesn't provide that, and might have done something to the hardware to prevent it from working. Per their legal settlement, they had to stop making their older products until/unless they could be made "tamper-proof": http://dci-forum.com/donalds-domain/14/hdfury-to-end-sale-of-the-classic-hdmi-to-analo...sg1629#msg1629

[ezcapper]

If you haven't bought your card yet, and are looking for price primarily, timeleak has just released their velocap hd4kpro 4k60 capture card. It's probably similar in style to the Magewell. They are good on customer service response time. Eventually, this will probably be the cheapest card released in the form factor you want. I have their $46 yk918h 1080p card and prefer it to the blackmagic card I had. I'm not sure if it is available on any website, but you can contact the manufacturer to buy one, they're good people. I would still wait to buy though. The price might be around the Magewell now but probably will fall over time. They do business from their website and ebay as well.

[Cornucopia]

Don't pull the bait & switch BS. Magewell is great, if hard to find. Blackmagic is almost as great, but with inconsistencies and gotchas. Timeleak Velocap? Not even on the quality/usability radar.

Scott

[usually_quiet]

Don't pull the bait & switch BS. Magewell is great, if hard to find. Blackmagic is almost as great, but with inconsistencies and gotchas. Timeleak Velocap? Not even on the quality/usability radar.

Scott

He's a shill -- someone who is compensated to promote goods in Internet forums like this one. This thread is a product placement opportunity, so he'll use it for all its worth.

[ezcapper]

ok it's your money, spend it however you want, I just wanted you to know your options. I would guess the magewell device would be better than blackmagic, with timeleak being a good bargain basement choice. It's the competition that brings the prices down.

[ezcapper]

looks like Elgato might jump into the game:

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ah...36593572,d.cGw

[SHS]

Magewell will be more flexible, for example, you will be able to use hardware encoding. The magewell card allows you to use VCE, NVENC, or QuickSync. I would wait until the xbox scorpio becomes popular and people want to capture 4k video games. At that point something will appear at a lower price point. Thank god for idiots who waste their precious time playing video games, they help make this stuff affordable. I would also watch Epiphan, U8Vision, Unisheen, Foxun, Timeleak and maybe even Atomos over the next couple years.

edit: forgot to mention that Avermedia has a card as well already out a little more expensive than the magewell. They are another one to watch once 4k xbox gets big: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPzLaGYyZ8o

I personally want to get a good capture that will last & work 100% of the time. I have Elgato Pro, every so often I run into some problems.

I had Avermedia USB 3.0 card I had nothing but problems with their software & Hardware.

That not surprises after all there not hardware encoder so you need really setup in order to handle the RAW incoming data the same apply the Magewell Capture Device.
Best wait for H265/HEVC hardware encoder.

[Revan654]

What does everyone suggest using when it comes to recording software with Magewell? Software seems very amateur compared to Blackmagic software.

[FLP437]

I do use VirtualDub with good results.

[Revan654]

I do use VirtualDub with good results.

Ok, I know program is very good for uncompressed. What codec would you suggest using when you recording compressed?

[FLP437]

Huufyuv, Lagarith or UTvideo. The results are the same a lossless compressed version of the uncompressed original version however some variables can allow for the best selection, compression ratio, compress/decompress speed , color spaces , Chroma sub sample and bit depth support.

The most versatile and the only one still being developed is UTvideo as it supports the maximum variants and as a good balance speed/compression , lagarith can usually compress a little more and HuffYUV is usually one of the fastest and the oldest of the three.

As the Magewell supports a large assortment of color spaces, Chroma sub sample and bit depths, perhaps UTvideo may be a good choice.

[ezcapper]

What does everyone suggest using when it comes to recording software with Magewell? Software seems very amateur compared to Blackmagic software.

I would suggest OBS with hardware encoding h265 85 mbps. Meaning you might need a workstation like Dell Precision MiniTower if you need to install new modern graphics card as well

[vhelp]

@ FLP437, I was meaning to ask in the other thread of yours.. how are you able to capture using composite (RCA) and/or s-video through that usb3 card? I looked up magwell and there is no dongle for those connections, unless its through the HDMI input. I was not aware of any HDMI-to-composite/svideo, though the specs do say from 480i/p through 1080i/p. What converter connection would I need to get? I have an old elgato capture card that I would like to try that with, even though it does come with a dongle for the comp/svideo, I just want to give that HDMI a try.

[Revan654]

What does everyone suggest using when it comes to recording software with Magewell? Software seems very amateur compared to Blackmagic software.

I would suggest OBS with hardware encoding h265 85 mbps. Meaning you might need a workstation like Dell Precision MiniTower if you need to install new modern graphics card as well

I was thinking OBS (For Compressed) & VirtualDub for Uncompressed.

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I have i7 6950X & a Titan X (Pascal). I think I'm fine with hardware department(All Watercooled). I will be able to push it farther.