Capture Card or Record to disk - best practice

VDMX
1

Hi all,

Just about to finally buy a video capture card but thought I would ask quickly what others thought about the pros/cons to recording direct to disk vs to video capture card. I.e. Is it realistic to think you can get by recording to disk and then edit later or have most people found that realistically you need to invest in a video capture card eventually due to the demands on your system etc.

I think I know the answer (option 2) but I’d be very interested to hear other people’s experience with this.

Cheers!

Bill

2

I guess it depends on what the capture card is doing.

Some capture cards encode to H.264 (or other codecs) as they capture. This means the work of encoding is taken off the system. So all the system is doing is writing the data to disc.

Others, like the Blackmagic Ultrastudio cards, simple bring in the uncompressed signal for the computer to then do the encoding. The encoding options you choose will directly impact the load on the system. Encoding in ProRes is pretty easy for most systems but other more compressed codecs will put more load on the system.

Recording direct from VDMX’s output means that the system would do all the work. Again the selected codec would directly impact the performance.

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3

What capture cards were you looking at? Will you use another computer to capture you VDMX output?

4

I was looking at the one you had suggested a while ago as it’s finally available in the UK:

ClonerAlliance UHD Pro, Standalone 4K H.265/H.264 HDMI Video & Gaming Recorder, Playback Instantly. Schedule Recording. UVC Standard. Live Commentary.

At present I’m using (or starting to explore) VDMX for production, to be captured and then ‘set’ in a NLE after the fact. Feels closer to my workflow with Ableton. At some point I’ll probably perform live with it but it’s not my immediate focus.

And no - not planning on capturing onto another computer…unless that’s better (but then I’ll have to get another computer).

5

I like that one. They also have a 4K30p recording version now. I’d have to check but i hope it does 1080p60

6

Do you prefer the 1080p60? I’m not longer recording at 4k now (using mostly found footage) so that might not be as important to me as it was before though I am also thinking a bit about future-proofing my setup.

Btw, I’ve been trying to record using syphon again just to see if I can make do with it but getting strange results. Probably user error but even loading up the audio responsive template and playing some beat stuff through it live via my audio card and capturing with Syphon it seems to be recording multiple mono audio files (like 18!). I can’t figure out what is causing it looks like the video capture card is the way to go.

7

I like the option to record at 4K for full screen desktop captures and 1080p60 for video mixes that I might mix into future live events.

1080p30 is fine, but I’ve owned a 1080p30 capture device for 6+ years now. 4k30 is my latest upgrade

8

That makes a lot of sense. I’ll check out that last one you mentioned that’s now available here in the UK. Still lots to learn for me.

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9

Keep in mind that h264 is not a very friendly codec for reusing as source material directly nor for editing later— it has temporal compression so you are losing a lot of data. For the best quality & performance, ProRes is the way to go! If you can afford it, the best solution is an external device, such as an Atomos Ninja or you can use a cheap Black Magic Design Mini recorder connected to a 2nd computer.

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10

Hey there. I got tired of using blackmagic capture devices as they have issues with keeping to 30fps. I read here about ClonerAlliance Pro devices and bought one. It shows up in VDMX as a CA-989UP UVC, but even though the device is enabled in Vid In there is only black coming from the device in the preview output. The video stream does work in OBS. Is there anything special I need to do to see the video in VDMX?

Thanks
Jon

11

I’m not sure what ClonerAlliance device you are using, but to record on those devices, you simply plug in your HDMI output from the computer into the cloner box, then run an HDMI from the cloner box to a TV or projector and it will capture everything that passes through it onto a thumbdrive or SD card.

If you are plugging it in via USB, then you are doing something different.

12

Maybe the device doesn’t support video pass through properly. I am not using the device to record, but to replace the blackmagic ultrastudio recorder 3G I am using as a “digitizer”. Using this device VDMX seems to not be able to keep up with the uncompressed video, or at least that is my guess is. So I had a look at this ClonerAlliance device to replace it, and I might have gotten the wrong impression that it can do it. In VDMX the device shows up in the “Video In” Workspace Inspector as a “AVFoundation-compatible digitizer” called “CA-989UP UVC”, however I am only getting video black from it, not the camera connected to the HDMI input. I can tell that the device is working because I tested using OBS and I can see the video there.

I guess the only thing I am trying to do is replace the blackmagic ultrastudio recorder, and if you know of a usb-c device I can use to connect a live camera to it that works well I’d love to know what you would suggest. I can send the digitizer back and buy what you think will work well.

Thanks for the help!

13

I’m still trying to wrap my head around this, so please correct me if I’m wrong.

Blackmagic makes the Ultra Studio Mini Recorder, and Mini Monitor. The Monitor outputs video from your computer over HDMI or SDI, and the Recorder inputs video over HDMI or SDI.

I’m still not sure which Cloner Alliance device you have, and they have a number of them. Some are capture cards (Similar to the Mini Recorder), and others are standalone recording devices (so you don’t need to waste CPU power to record H.264 or H.265 videos).

Which device do you have?

14

Sorry for the confusion. The device I purchased is called ClonerAlliance UHD Pro. It does support OBS and I have tested it out. It works as expected, but maybe it doesn’t work with VDMX. Is there a ClonerAlliance device or some other product that would support VDMX video input properly?

Thanks again.

Jon

15

Interesting. Maybe email Cloner Alliance and see what they are using to communicate with OBS. It should just show up as another UVC web camera inside VDMX.

16

I am thinking of sending this unit back and getting a flint,

do you know if it will work with VDMX?

thanks

17

I tested a (non-4K) flint before and I was not happy with the “original Flint” capture quality. Once again, the flint is not a pass-thru capture device. Most users want a pass thru device that takes the load of their machine while capturing videos at a high resolution.

A Flint is closer to the BMD mini recorder. Magewell is another notable brand.

I wrote about some of this a while back: Best way to capture and share VJ content? – Projectile Objects

18

Thanks very much for all the suggestions and I will definitely read your article. At this point I am going to return the ClonerAlliance device and use the Black Magic Recorder until I can get past this next gig. Then I’ll read the article and make a more informed decision what to do.

Thanks again!

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