Question / Help Does the Elgato game capture HD have a compatible encoder?

  • Thread starter Deleted member 59113
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Deleted member 59113

Hey,
Wanted to know if the Elgato game capture HD is compatible with OBS as an encoder?
I have a dual pc setup, wanted to use a capture card to take some stress off the gaming pc cpu sending data to the streaming pc, so got an Avermedia only to work out afterwards that it's not compatible with OBS as an encoder.

Is the Elgato game capture hd?
If so is the encoder good enough to stream say 720@60 or worst case even 30 on intensive games like battlefield?
 
Harold

Harold

Active Member
Avermedia cards CAN be used as an encoder on the condition that they are not also being used to capture.

elgato cards CANNOT be used as an encoder under any circumstances.
 
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Deleted member 59113

Thanks guys, on the elgato website it mentions H.264 so was not sure.
I really want to get my avermedia lite to work as it's really convenient for travelling, but the encoder just is not very good, may have to get an inbuilt card for home streaming :(
 
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Deleted member 59113

What about the Hauppauge hd pvr 2? Found one cheap online, I'm not really up to speed on encoding , would the hauppauge be able to encode in place of my gaming cpu direct to my streaming pc?
 
Harold

Harold

Active Member
even worse, the hdpvr2 doesn't even have the hardware to be an encoder for its own software, let alone for other software.

Also, ALL of the encoders you've thought of getting offer worse video quality than even the ones built in to video cards.
 
Harold

Harold

Active Member
Additionally: if you're trying to install these capture cards in the same machine you're streaming or recording from, DON'T.

At BEST it offers no benefit, and more commonly it makes system performance worse.
 
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Deleted member 59113

No I have built myself another pc so will get a proper pci capture device like the Elgato hd60 pro or the Avermedia live gamer HD,
Thanks for that Harold.
 
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DoAGoldeneye

Member
I know you got a better pc now Lee, but as a clarification:

The "old" Elgato Gaming HD capture device does have an onboard encoder. But it is only used for squeezing the video data it captures through USB 2.0 (USB 3.0 wasn't common enough back then and USB 2.0 could "only" handle 480Mbps, which is not enough for uncompressed video).

What you COULD do then is:
- Set up your scene in OBS
- Send the preview to an HDMI Monitor
- Have the Elgato capture the HDMI Monitor and compress the video
- In the Elgato Software disable "Stream Command".
- Have the Elgato software directly write the compressed video to disk and/or stream it to your streaming service.
 
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Deleted member 59113

So I've found a great deal on an Avermedia Live Gamer HD C985 Lite, would this be good enough in a streaming pc to encode 1080p 30? or atleast 720p 60 on demanding games like Battlefield, I don't know much about h.264 encoding, I know the LGP Lite (portable) has one but it's pretty bad, will the inbuilt Avermedia Live Gamer HD C985 Lite be better or serve demanding games well?
 
Fenrir

Fenrir

Forum Admin
Lee Knowles said:
So I've found a great deal on an Avermedia Live Gamer HD C985 Lite, would this be good enough in a streaming pc to encode 1080p 30? or atleast 720p 60 on demanding games like Battlefield, I don't know much about h.264 encoding, I know the LGP Lite (portable) has one but it's pretty bad, will the inbuilt Avermedia Live Gamer HD C985 Lite be better or serve demanding games well?
Click to expand...

You don't use capture cards to encode, as we've already said. The capture card you get is largely irrelevant to your abilities to stream at a specific resolution/bitrate. if the card supports the resolution, it's up to the rest of the PC hardware to encode the signal and stream it out. Without knowing what PC you're putting the card in, impossible to say.
 
Mr Flobwhat

Mr Flobwhat

New Member
Fenrir said:
You don't use capture cards to encode, as we've already said. The capture card you get is largely irrelevant to your abilities to stream at a specific resolution/bitrate. if the card supports the resolution, it's up to the rest of the PC hardware to encode the signal and stream it out. Without knowing what PC you're putting the card in, impossible to say.
Click to expand...

What's the point of ever buying a capture card then? I'm not being a smart arse I'm genuinely wondering because I may have made some foolish purchases :p

I bought an Elgato HD pro after being unhappy with my Avermedia Gamer Live HD, so if the Elgato can't encode, and the avermedia can only encode if it's not capturing (As Harold said), could I put my avermedia in my pc as well and use the Elgato to capture and avermedia to encode?
 
Harold

Harold

Active Member
The only time to buy a capture card is when you're capturing a device that is NOT the computer you're streaming from.

If you're capturing the same computer you're installing those cards in, it's a MASSIVE waste of money for ZERO performance or quality gain in the BEST of circumstances. You're more likely going to also have MASSIVE reduced performance in addition to the massive waste of money.
 
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