Magewell HDMI Capture Devices

[wayner]

There seem to be other form factors for this technologoy, like USB and PCIe. Presumably the same drivers would work for all type of devices, wouldn't they?

[JustFred]

Originally Posted by KryptoNyte

2. I believe this is correct, no h.264 in the hardware, but it does allow you to select other PC hardware that is capable. I selected the Intel-hardware option in their software and am seeing about 10% CPU (2500k at 4.2 ghz) while recording 1 capture device to 1080p 60fps. The device that I purchased is not capable of 4k.

In reading the docs, it isn't clear whether the compression selection is only available when using their own capture software. To confirm, capture using some other application and see how much CPU is used.

One more thing that I would add as a negative is that I have captured some 1080p 30 fps and 60 fps video using Magewell's own capture software, and when playing some of those files back on the HD300, they will occasionally leave the HD300 spinning for a long time at the end of the file.

That might be due to their flaky capture app (as opposed to their device driver). The same issue might not occur if Sage is doing the capture. Try using a different capture app.

Looking at the sage log that was posted, I see some odd stuff. For whatever bizarre reason, the card reports itself as having 2 video capture devices and 2 audio capture devices. Normally Sage expects to see a video capture device with audio capabilities (not separate A & V capture devices).

I should have asked you to post the sage log file that was produced when the Magewell card was **initially** plugged in. If by chance that log file still exists, please post it. It probably contains information that subsequent logs don't have.

Please post the .inf file for the card, too. The exact filename can be found in Device Manager, on the property sheet for the device, somewhere on the Details tab.

[KryptoNyte]

Fred, I don't have the sage log from the first run after installing. I can post the inf file, but I don't believe this is worth pursuing - it could mean a massive amount of work. Additionally, after recording with the various software, primarily Magewell's own, AMCap, and OSB Studio, to get good results, the processor is between 40 and 80% (even on QSV). You were absolutely right, without the onboard h.264/h.265 encoding, this is futile for SageTV use.

I did find a forked OSB by pkviet that allowed for multichannel audio, talked about here;

https://obsproject.com/forum/threads...in-rtmp.68308/

But actual use of it shows that it's just saving each audio channel individually. If this were to be useful for recording 5.1 or 7.1 channel audio, you'd have to read the incoming audio to figure out which channel is which, and then you'd have to re-encode, guiding the channels to the 6 output channels. If this version of OSB would have done what I had hoped, I might consider keeping the device as it provides an option to record anything coming in on HDMI in 1080p 60fps.

When I purchased the device, I didn't realize just how raw this thing is - definitely not end-user friendly. I'll be sending it back.

[JustFred]

Originally Posted by KryptoNyte

without the onboard h.264/h.265 encoding, this is futile for SageTV use.
..
When I purchased the device, I didn't realize just how raw this thing is - definitely not end-user friendly. I'll be sending it back.

Unfortunately, this seems to be true of the majority of non-network capture devices coming from China. Maybe their products are intended for a different market segment (first-generation source capture). It seems to take a company such as Hauppauge to understand what's needed for Sage-like usage.

Sorry to see that this isn't going to work out. At least we were able to determine it quickly enough so a refund is possible.

Just for my amusement, I'm still interested in seeing the .inf file.

[KryptoNyte]

inf attached.