Question / Help Dual Capture Card Setup

[Keenzor]

Hello,

Stream PC setup:

MB: Gigabyte Z97N-Gaming 5
GPU: nVidia Ge-Force 1060
CPU: Intel Core i5-4590 na 3.30 GHz
RAM: 16 GB
SSD: 500 GB
PSU: Evga 600W Bronze

Capture cards: AverMedia Live Gamer eXtreme

the stream I am currently working on requires simultaneous use of two capture cards. One is used to get the picture from mobile device (iPhone 7) to the streaming PC while the other one is used for the output from camera (Canon Legria HF G30).

On first glance everything seems to be working fine; However there are two issues - with two capture cards connected the video output the cards stops working - the host of the show is sitting in a couch and so that he can look in the direction of the camera instead of having his head bowed to the mobile device, the CC that is connected to the device was outputting the image on a PC monitor next to the camera. This is not the case with only one device connected where the output is displayed properly.

Second issue is with the image that goes directly to the streaming PC through USB 3.0 cable. With two CCs connected the image in OBS Studio randomly freezes on either source and requires deactivating/activating the source to resume.

I have been looking for a solution to this; However it seems that such a setup is not used too often so I have not found any clues to what could be causing this.

As for what is causing the issues, I have two guesses. My first thought was that the USBs on the motherboard do not provide enough juice for two CCs to run at the same time, especially since the microphone (Razer Seiren) is plugged in as well. Worse case scenario would be that the PC has trouble handling two of the same card at the same time.

Anyways, before I orded an externally powered USB Hub or different CC I thought I might as well try asking here in case someone has some experience with this.

Sorry for making this so long and thanks for any suggestions!

With Regards,
Keen

 

[Keenzor]

After further research I have another guess and that is that the freezes are caused by the USBs not having enough bandwidth for two 1080p inputs. Does not explain the lack of output with two CC though.

 

[SCarroll]

Bumping this issue. My twin and I are trying a similar setup. 3 pc setup. Two AVerMedia extremecap u3.

One video source tends to freeze regularly. We have to deactivate the capture card in OBS and then reenable. We need a work around or fix for this issue!!!!

 

[Keenzor]

Hey there SCarroll, in the end the solution for me was to not use two USB powered CCs at the same time. Got an Elgato HD60 Pro for PCIe as my second card instead of the USB powered AverMedia (so now I am running one AverMedia Live Gamer eXtreme for USB and Elgato HD60 Pro for PCIe) and the issues are gone. In the end I assume it was the USBs not having enough bandwidth to power up two Full HD data streams.

When I was fiddling around with it, before getting the other CC, running one of the devices on 720p kinda helped but it still was not 100% stable, but it is still a possible solution if you cannot get another CC.

 

[Boildown]

Thanks for the feedback Keenzor, its good to know that that advice worked. The other solution I see is to try to get the USB devices on separate USB root hubs. That might not even be possible if all the USB ports are on the same root hub, it depends on the PC's motherboard, but it would be worth checking before going out and buying new stuff.