Question / Help 1440p Monitor and Capture Cards

[tramik]

Hey there,

So I currently game on a XB270HU - a 1440p 144Hz monitor. I would like to stream without sacrificing the quality of my gameplay. I already have a secondary PC I will be using for streaming, however, I'm having trouble finding the right capture card that will work for me.

I don't want to stream above 1080p or maybe even 720p, depending upon my viewership. But playing at my capable resolution and fps is a requirement. From what I've read, HDMI 1.3 supports 1440p 60fps, which would work for me, I think.I'll use OBS to then downgrade the stream from there. My secondary monitor on the streaming PC is also 1440p, so I don't think it'll lose any resolution in the capture.

Something I'm not sure of:
-Will I have to reduce the fps on my gaming monitor, to match the 60fps limitation on the second monitor once duplicated?
-What card would best suit my situation?
-Any additional advice some can give me?

Thank you very much for any support.

 

[FerretBomb]

You will need a capture card that supports 1440p, or a video card that allows cloning/duplicating a monitor at a different resolution. These are both generally not super-common. Plus cloning at a different resolution will almost always result in a performance hit on your video card.

As far as capture cards, take a look at the Datapath Vision DVI-DL. Not cheap, but one of the few capture cards on the market that exceeds 1080p capture (even 1080p@60 capture is uncommon).

Easiest way to do it as a livestreamer is to use/game on a 1080p monitor, and repurpose the 1440p as your secondary/chat monitor. 1440p is outside the standard-expected. Failing that, try setting the cloned monitor at 720p to give it a square downscale (theoretically best quality), and use a standard cap card.

 

[tramik]

1440p is outside the standard-expected.

Just to be clear, I'm not looking to stream at 1440p. I just want to game on it.

I'm using a GTX 980 on my gaming rig - it can clone to another monitor of a different resolution, however, it then downscales my current 1440p monitor to 1080p to match it. It's not the worst scenario but I don't really want to do that.

My cloned monitor will be 1440p as well, so I shouldn't have to downscale it's resolution. It'll match fine. I'll have to downscale the OBS broadcasting resolution to 1080/720p, though. It's just that I need a Capture Card that will support these resolutions, which you've provided some insight for... Thank you.

 

[FerretBomb]

Yes. Understood.

Yep, that's the problem. Very few cards can clone a monitor separately at a lower resolution, independently downscaling internally on the second output.

You'll need a capture card which will support 1440p, which are neither cheap or common. You're really looking at a four-figure purchase price for one that will even accept a 1440p input, even if it downscales internally prior to actual capture.

This is why >1080p monitors are not recommended for anyone planning to livestream. They cause a variety of problems, as they're not one of the mainstream default resolutions yet; they're very much a niche thing for the time being (and potentially permanently as it appears they may be skipped over in favor of 4K), so very little addresses them just yet on a hardware front.