Question / Help Cam Link Freezes Randomly

s1esset

New Member
Hi!
I have a new cam link, usb3.0 setup to my sony a6500 (with power adapter) and whenever i try to stream or preview the scene with the cam link on the cam link input window freezes randomly? Sometimes its 30 seconds in or othertimes its 2 hours in?

The cpu is at 9% and i tried all the settings in both camera and obs to reduce resolution and tried change fps but its no diffrent?

So i took my cam link, new hdmi cable and my a6500 to my brothers house, installed obs and same thing happens???

But in elgatos stream program i had it running several times now and nothing froze as far as i could test it the 3-4 times.

I tried to figure out a pattern like if a lot of movment make it freeze or cpu load / applications and so on, nothing changes, according to elgato the cam link supports the a6500.

The log files are at home but i am going to post them as soon as possible,
 

Reddy

New Member
I've got the same problem with my GoPro Hero5 Black - Until Saturday 21st Oct. it were just some freezes (like 1 every couple hours) but since sunday... gosh ... OBS freezes it every 20 seconds. Tried out EVERY Option already
 

s1esset

New Member
yeah, my logs show nothing, the log is exactly the same, my code editor finds nothing new from logs 4 days before the camlink
 

Gradus

Member
Cam Link is absolutely trash product. I returned it to Amazon and got an Elgato HD60 PRO to connect my DSLR instead.
 

Reddy

New Member
Here's the log. in crash at around 17:45:00 May anybody help?
 

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s1esset

New Member
still no progress, got a new cam link sent to me, reinstalled my pc and tried on my laptop aswell... same result! :/
 

sam686

Member
Which USB 3.0 (or better) controller you using? Some USB controller may have problems.
For your existing USB 3.0 cam link, you can try to reduce resolution of your HDMI camera and capture settings to 720p to reduce USB bandwidth. It might stop the random freezing of HDMI capture.

If you have a poor USB 3.0 controller, or exceeded USB 3.0 bandwidth, there is an option.
https://www.amazon.com/Video-Capture-Device-1080P-Grabber/dp/B01N4SM7H6/ref=sr_1_1
I recently got this USB 3.0/2.0 capture device ($79.99 United States Dollers at the time of this reply) and it works mostly fine on windows 10. Perhaps the only HDMI capture device that supports both USB 2.0 in MJPG mode, and USB 3.0 YUY2 or MJPG mode, both up to 1080p 60fps. If you don't mind that in windows 10, losing HDMI signal (PS4 or HDMI camera turn off) might cut out HDMI audio until capture device re-initialized (stop and start device in OBS Studio).
 

DannySan626

New Member
Guys, if you are still having issues, and are using the EXTENDER CORD that came in the box, THROW IT OUT. I did that, used my own extension cord, and poof, my cam link works. Their cords are faulty, at least for me.
 

newbornkilik

New Member
So, weighing in on this. I had issues with it freezing as everyone else is, however, all I had to do was change the USB port. I have a lot of things plugged into my PC but it seems that I found some bandwidth.
Maybe try unplugging some stuff and trying again as troubleshooting? If that is the case, lowering the resolution could also help? Just some things to consider.
 

Ronald Cz

Member
Tried everything mentioned but still my Elgato Cam Link 4k is not recognized. This Omen Laptop with 8th gen processor and 16 GB ram with 6 GB on graphics card used to run the link but no more. I even did a reinstall. Runs fine on my PC with windows 7. Was there an update with windows 10?

I was able to get a splash screen
 

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FrodeK

New Member
Hi! I had the same problem and recently posted a thread about it.


I simly plugged the camlinks (I use 2 of them) directly into the usb without using the extension cable and it worked. I plug one cam in the front usb 3.0 and one in the back usb 3.0. I tested the one in the back usb and it works both with and without the extension.
 

CitizenTechTalk

New Member
I seriously can't believe it! The extender USB 3.0 cable was the issue all along!?

Thank you so much everyone as i just got my new Camlink 4k today and i thought i was losing my mind after watching videos, reading forums and getting literally nowhere and the 4k capture software doesn't even find my device to begin with either!

It clearly says on their website to NOT do that as well as it can actually damage your Camlink and Camlink 4k and to only do it under their direct support supervision while dealing with a rep in real time. So if you've gone and done the firmware update or are about to, get rid of the stupid USB 3.0 extension cable that came in the box and plug your Camlink/ Camlin 4k directly into the USB 3.0 port and or get an add in USB 3.0 (internal PCIE) card and still once again plug it directly into it and all of your freezing issues (especially in OBS) will cease to be a problem ever again!

Disclaimer:
If you still experience problems, please see if your camera is overheating causing the issue instead. All Clean HDMI needs the camera to run cool as you're using the camera for extended periods of time you will need to get a dummy battery (Amazon sell good and cheap ones for almost every camera out there) and run off mains power that way. The Dummy battery power supply will step down the voltage automatically. This will cut down massively on your battery and overheating issues and obviously not having to worry about battery life again is a huge bonus as well!

Use a high quality high speed Micro hdmi to hdmi cable don't cheap out! This is extremely important when using your camera for 4k. I bought a "4k" cable from Amazon and it even says it on the plugs BUT it was cheap as chips and low and behold it only supports up to 1080p which is fine as my Panasonic G7 is running 1080p for my internal capture card which is the Avermedia Gamer Ultra HD 2 which only only supports up to 1080p anyway so i dodged a bullet there. Luckily i already have a true 4k micro hdmi to hdmi cable already which works perfectly for my Fujifilm XT30 with the Camlink 4k capture card. If you're going to do this do it properly and spend the money, especially on quality cables.

Thank you to the rest of the forum for the help in relation to the stupid extension cable issue as well as i hadn't even thought about it being a problem, especially being so short as well! Happy streaming, youtubing, vlogging, virtual classroom and meetings applications!


Kind regards,


Citizen Tech Talk
 
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