Question / Help Any capture device on Mac that does 1080p/60fps AND supports OBS Syphon?

[bowlingotter]

For the life of me I can't find a capture device that will work comfortably and I'm hoping that this forum may have the answer I'm looking for.

I had seen that Blackmagic design devices are supported by OBS so I picked up an UltraStudio Express thunderbolt capture device -- and was surprised to find that it only supports 1080p/30fps, not 60. So that got returned.

So then I went with an AVerMedia Live Gamer Extreme which had the right feature set -- only to find that it doesn't have any Mac drivers at all and there are no plans to add any (according to their technical support). So that got returned, too.

I currently own an Elgato HD60 which captures well, but obviously hasn't provided drivers that allow OBS to integrate Syphon support -- and that's a bummer. At least we can go the Display Capture route, but I was hoping to find a more elegant solution.

Context: I do have a gaming PC but I do my editing in FCPX on a Mac, so I use the HDMI out to an Elgato and capture directly to the Mac. I was hoping I could keep this setup intact and let the Mac do the heavy stream processing to free up resources on the gaming PC, but that's proving trickier than I'd expected.

Am I out of luck for the time being, relegated to Display Capture for streaming? Or does anyone know of any capture device that supports 1080p/60fps AND device support with OBS, or at that least works with Syphon Inject?

 

[Osiris]

Syphon is not for capture cards, you want a card that includes AVCapture drivers for OSX.

 

[dodgepong]

The Magewell XI100USB-HDMI should work. It works on Mac, can capture at 1080p60, and requires a USB 3.0 port. And Osiris is right, you don't need Syphon for it, just add it directly as a video capture device.

 

[bowlingotter]

I certainly would prefer a device that is supported as a video capture device, but I could deal with one where Syphon captured the video capture software window at least.

Thanks for the heads up on the Magewell! This looks like it could do the trick! It would be perfect with an HDMI pass-through, but I can always get a splitter. I appreciate the help!

 

[Herolordman]

I certainly would prefer a device that is supported as a video capture device, but I could deal with one where Syphon captured the video capture software window at least.

Thanks for the heads up on the Magewell! This looks like it could do the trick! It would be perfect with an HDMI pass-through, but I can always get a splitter. I appreciate the help!

the Intensity Pro 4k is a lot cheaper than that card, and it does 1080p60. OBS is slacking on the 1080p60 native support, but they are working on it, and in the meanwhile you can capture the video with syphon, by loading the video in media express and then syphoning it into OBS. It works.

 

[bowlingotter]

I'm fortunate to have a new Mac Pro that's handling this portion of the setup, but that unfortunately means that I can't use any internal cards. Gotta go with an external so it's looking like the overpriced Magewell might be my cheapest option.

 

[Osiris]

the Intensity Pro 4k is a lot cheaper than that card, and it does 1080p60. OBS is slacking on the 1080p60 native support, but they are working on it, and in the meanwhile you can capture the video with syphon, by loading the video in media express and then syphoning it into OBS. It works.

What exactly is the problem with 1080p@60fps support for that card?

 

[bowlingotter]

The Magewell XI100USB-HDMI should work. It works on Mac, can capture at 1080p60, and requires a USB 3.0 port. And Osiris is right, you don't need Syphon for it, just add it directly as a video capture device.

I just received this today and hooked it up, but OBS is only giving me an option to capture at 1280x720 max. I'm running a Mac Pro with four USB 3.0 ports so I should have the bandwidth for it. Is there a setting that I'm missing somewhere?

 

[dodgepong]

Can you post a log?

 

[bowlingotter]

21:49:24.413: OBS 0.11.2 (mac)
21:49:24.413: ---------------------------------
21:49:24.510: CPU Name: Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-1620 v2 @ 3.70GHz
21:49:24.510: CPU Speed: 3700MHz
21:49:24.510: Physical Cores: 4, Logical Cores: 8
21:49:24.510: Physical Memory: 16384MB Total
21:49:24.511: OS Name: Mac OS X (NSMACHOperatingSystem)
21:49:24.511: OS Version: Version 10.10.5 (Build 14F27)
21:49:24.511: Kernel Version: 14.5.0
21:49:24.513: hotkeys-cocoa: Using layout 'com.apple.keylayout.US'
21:49:24.514: ---------------------------------
21:49:24.514: audio settings reset:
21:49:24.514: samples per sec: 44100
21:49:24.514: speakers: 2
21:49:24.514: buffering (ms): 1000
21:49:24.572: ---------------------------------
21:49:24.572: video settings reset:
21:49:24.572: base resolution: 1920x1080
21:49:24.572: output resolution: 1920x1080
21:49:24.572: fps: 60/1
21:49:24.572: format: NV12
21:49:24.574: ---------------------------------
21:49:24.574: Loading module: coreaudio-encoder.so
21:49:24.576: ---------------------------------
21:49:24.576: Loading module: image-source.so
21:49:24.577: ---------------------------------
21:49:24.577: Loading module: mac-avcapture.so
21:49:24.579: ---------------------------------
21:49:24.579: Loading module: mac-capture.so
21:49:24.580: ---------------------------------
21:49:24.580: Loading module: mac-decklink.so
21:49:24.580: No blackmagic support
21:49:24.580: Failed to start search for DeckLink devices
21:49:24.583: ---------------------------------
21:49:24.583: Loading module: mac-syphon.so
21:49:24.585: ---------------------------------
21:49:24.585: Loading module: obs-ffmpeg.so
21:49:24.586: ---------------------------------
21:49:24.586: Loading module: obs-filters.so
21:49:24.587: ---------------------------------
21:49:24.587: Loading module: obs-outputs.so
21:49:24.589: ---------------------------------
21:49:24.589: Loading module: obs-x264.so
21:49:24.590: ---------------------------------
21:49:24.590: Loading module: rtmp-services.so
21:49:24.592: ---------------------------------
21:49:24.592: Loading module: text-freetype2.so
21:49:24.660: =====================================================================
21:49:24.660: output 'simple_stream' (rtmp_output) created
21:49:24.660: output 'simple_file_output' (ffmpeg_muxer) created
21:49:24.660: encoder 'simple_h264' (obs_x264) created
21:49:24.687: AAC encoder bitrate mapping:
21:49:24.687: 20 kbit/s: 'CoreAudio AAC encoder' (CoreAudio_AAC)
21:49:24.687: 24 kbit/s: 'CoreAudio AAC encoder' (CoreAudio_AAC)
21:49:24.687: 28 kbit/s: 'CoreAudio AAC encoder' (CoreAudio_AAC)
21:49:24.687: 32 kbit/s: 'CoreAudio AAC encoder' (CoreAudio_AAC)
21:49:24.687: 40 kbit/s: 'CoreAudio AAC encoder' (CoreAudio_AAC)
21:49:24.687: 48 kbit/s: 'CoreAudio AAC encoder' (CoreAudio_AAC)
21:49:24.687: 56 kbit/s: 'CoreAudio AAC encoder' (CoreAudio_AAC)
21:49:24.687: 64 kbit/s: 'CoreAudio AAC encoder' (CoreAudio_AAC)
21:49:24.687: 72 kbit/s: 'CoreAudio AAC encoder' (CoreAudio_AAC)
21:49:24.687: 80 kbit/s: 'CoreAudio AAC encoder' (CoreAudio_AAC)
21:49:24.687: 96 kbit/s: 'CoreAudio AAC encoder' (CoreAudio_AAC)
21:49:24.687: 112 kbit/s: 'CoreAudio AAC encoder' (CoreAudio_AAC)
21:49:24.687: 128 kbit/s: 'CoreAudio AAC encoder' (CoreAudio_AAC)
21:49:24.687: 144 kbit/s: 'CoreAudio AAC encoder' (CoreAudio_AAC)
21:49:24.687: 160 kbit/s: 'CoreAudio AAC encoder' (CoreAudio_AAC)
21:49:24.687: 192 kbit/s: 'CoreAudio AAC encoder' (CoreAudio_AAC)
21:49:24.687: 224 kbit/s: 'CoreAudio AAC encoder' (CoreAudio_AAC)
21:49:24.687: 256 kbit/s: 'CoreAudio AAC encoder' (CoreAudio_AAC)
21:49:24.687: 288 kbit/s: 'CoreAudio AAC encoder' (CoreAudio_AAC)
21:49:24.687: 320 kbit/s: 'CoreAudio AAC encoder' (CoreAudio_AAC)
21:49:24.687: encoder 'simple_aac' (CoreAudio_AAC) created
21:49:24.688: service 'default_service' (rtmp_common) created
21:49:24.689: All scene data cleared
21:49:24.689: ------------------------------------------------
21:49:24.713: coreaudio: device 'WavTap' initialized
21:49:24.713: source 'Desktop Audio' (coreaudio_output_capture) created
21:49:24.716: coreaudio: device 'Avid Fast Track Duo' initialized
21:49:24.716: source 'Mic/Aux' (coreaudio_input_capture) created
21:49:24.716: source 'Scene' (scene) created
21:49:24.716: source 'Stream' (scene) created
21:49:30.991: Video Capture Device: No device selected
21:49:30.991: source 'Video Capture Device' (av_capture_input) created
21:49:33.239: Video Capture Device: Selected device 'XI100DUSB-HDMI #2'
21:49:33.240: Video Capture Device: Using preset 1280x720

 

[bowlingotter]

I just tried the same device in my PC using OBS and it came up 1080p60fps no problem. As I'm reading about this, it sounds like there are a lot of complaints that the USB 3.0 ports on the Mac Pros have much lower bandwidth than the standard implies. Might be a hardware limitation on my end, then.

A thunderbolt dock with USB 3.0 sounds like the answer according to what I've read, but holy hell that's a lot more money to spend just to get this right.

 

[Rhombus]

i'd love to know this as well. I'm actually using an iMac with windows 8 as well. The PC side can see and capture 1080p/60fps no problem at all. But if i load into OBS on the mac side--on the same computer it doesn't allow me to do anything more than 1280x720. So the card and the computer are both capable of producing what is needed but something In OBS seems to be causing an issue.

 

[dodgepong]

Hmm, can you try adding it to CamTwist and see if you're also limited to 720p there? Trying to determine if this is a driver issue or an OBS issue. I feel like it's unlikely that it's a USB 3.0 issue but I suppose it's possible.

 

[bowlingotter]

Hmm, can you try adding it to CamTwist and see if you're also limited to 720p there? Trying to determine if this is a driver issue or an OBS issue. I feel like it's unlikely that it's a USB 3.0 issue but I suppose it's possible.

CamTwist has it limited to 720p as well, so doesn't sound like an OBS issue. I do have a Thunderbolt dock arriving today that has solved others' issues with USB 3.0 hard drives, so I'll report back if it does anything for this issue as well.

 

[dodgepong]

After talking to the guy who made the plugin, it sounds like it might be an OBS issue after all. AVCapture provides a number of easy "presets", which is what that list is that you see above. However, it's possible that capture cards have more features than what is covered by the AVCapture presets. However, OBS doesn't have an advanced options for setting resolution, frame rate, etc. yet. I wasn't aware that this would be an issue, but apparently there is a branch on development to add those features and it's being worked on now.

 

[bowlingotter]

After talking to the guy who made the plugin, it sounds like it might be an OBS issue after all. AVCapture provides a number of easy "presets", which is what that list is that you see above. However, it's possible that capture cards have more features than what is covered by the AVCapture presets. However, OBS doesn't have an advanced options for setting resolution, frame rate, etc. yet. I wasn't aware that this would be an issue, but apparently there is a branch on development to add those features and it's being worked on now.

Thanks for the info! I would like nothing more than to send the Thunderbolt dock right back. I'll sit tight and wait for a software update then.

 

[dodgepong]

No idea when that will be done, though.

 

[bowlingotter]

No idea when that will be done, though.

Contingency plan it is, then

 

[bowlingotter]

Just following up to confirm, the thunderbolt dock did not fix the problem. I'll just hold on to the Magewell until the software features are implemented.

 

[Rhombus]

let me know if you guys need help trying things out. i've got the Magewell and the mac with both OSs.