Elgato Aspect Ratio, and resolution

[CloakedYoshi]

Currently Elgato is locked at 1280 x 720 in OBS and Wont let me change the aspect ratio to 4:3, which I use for older games, I don't know if this is something Elgato needs to fix, or if its something that can be changed in OBS.

 

[dodgepong]

OBS can only use resolutions that the Elgato itself provides, though I'm surprised it wouldn't provide 4:3 resolutions.

 

[AndehX]

I think this is because the elgato takes all input resolutions, and automatically upscales them to 720p. I think Elgato would need to provide an option to output the native resolution of the input source, instead of upscaling it.

 

[TWoH]

Actually the Elgato take the good resolution, if you use thier own thing, it's 4:3 good. But when in OBS, the only resolution available is 1280 x 720 :/

 

[Lain]

The 720p thing is somewhat of a bug/design flaw on OBS' part due to the way. You can't use the elgato settings to change the output size right now.

However, this is also partly because OBS relies on filters to be implemented properly, which theirs isn't. They use a half-implemented directshow filter, which it basically a nightmare to code for. I literally want to jump off a bridge when programming so much exception code just to get their device working.

So basically both elgato and OBS have flaws, and I can't fix my flaw right now, and they outright seem to refuse to fix their flaw, so the users are the one to suffer, which sucks. They just would rather blame me for the problem, when both of us have issues.

 

[AndehX]

it's a shame because im still waiting for Elgato to provide some way of disabling the onboard encoding that the Game Capture HD does. The way I see it, there wont be any native OBS deinterlacing of video from this device until it can send the video with the fields intact. I've emailed Elgato today, asking and pleading with them to allow users to disable the onboard encoding for standard definition resolutions at the very least. 720i and 1080i might not be possible due to bandwidth limitations of USB2.0 but other devices like the Dazzle can send untouched 480i video to OBS, so theres no reason why the Game Capture HD shouldn't be able to as well. ugh... first world problems :/

 

[Lain]

Well, to be fair, you really shouldn't be using a USB 2.0 device in the first place for serious capturing.

USB 2.0 has too little bandwidth to do anything relatively useful with. If you are on a laptop and you only have USB 2.0 ports, then you have no choice, but if you're on a desktop PC or a laptop with proper intel USB 3.0 ports, then you should use either an internal card or one of the newer USB 3.0 devices. That way you can get an almost totally uncompressed signal with almost no delay.

The USB 3.0 devices are especially good. The xcapture-1 is so sweet.

 

[AndehX]

never heard of the xcapture-1, but the only other USB3.0 device I know of is the intensity Shuttle, and it has no support for resolutions lower than 480i, so its no good for retro consoles. Honestly though, I have no issues what so ever with the Elgato, except that it processes the video before it sends it to the PC. There's really no need for it on SD resolutions.

 

[Lain]

Pretty sure the shuttle is 2.0. The only other 3.0 device I know of is the avermedia U3, which is also quite good.

 

[AndehX]

shuttle is definitely 3.0 as I used to have one :P its also available as thunderbolt variant too.

the xcapture-1 looks pretty sweet, especially with RGB capture. Never seen that on a capture device before.

 

[dodgepong]

The Shuttle is definitely USB 3.0. There's also a Thunderbolt version. And the Shuttle is pretty garbage, in my opinion, except that it has very nice passthrough. That is its only redeeming feature.

The XCAPTURE-1 is a great device, and supports a ton of resolutions, including 240p60 and 1080p60. Check out this review here: http://www.sixfortyfive.com/streaming/xcapture1.html (toward the bottom there's a list of supported resolutions and comparison to other USB 3.0 capture devices)

 

[AndehX]

I'd sell my elgato and get an Xcapture now, but my laptop is only USB2.0 :(

I might consider selling my laptop first, to get a USB3.0 laptop, then get an Xcapture

 

[Nominative99]

This might seem a bit of a necro but I did manage to somehow get a 4:3 resolution in OBS using an Elgato. The only problem is, any attempt to adjust the size will only reset it to a stretched 16:9 format. Sorry for the links, I don't want to over stretch the page.

These are my current video settings:
http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h89/Veris_Zaos/Elgato/E431.png

Video source is stretched to 16:9:
http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h89/Veris_Zaos/Elgato/E432.png

These are my Elgato settings. Ignore the flip image. I accidentally clicked it. What I found most interesting is that when you change the settings under "Custom Resolution" then uncheck it, the picture will change to those settings without any issues. As long as the resolution is under 1280x720. Anything higher than that will result in it crashing.
http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h89/Veris_Zaos/Elgato/E433.png

Game Capture Settings:
http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h89/Veris_Zaos/Elgato/E434.png

The image comes out fine at 4:3.
http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h89/Veris_Zaos/Elgato/E435.png

Any attempt to resize it will result in it resetting.
http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h89/Veris_Zaos/Elgato/E436.png

I would leave the custom resolution checked, but it creates a distorted image.

 

[dav3yb]

I've recently run into this issue as well. I was hoping to be able to capture the 4:3 gameplay and have other info/chat on the side of a stream.

One thing i tired as a work-around was to load up the elgato software, and have it display in that application at 4:3 resolution, and use obs and screen region the screen there. That didn't work however. Is there any other application that can capture the elgato's info and THEN be captured in OBS?

 

[narshe]

I'm having this issue also. Is there any progress being made on this issue?

 

[Lain]

I'm working on capture device stuff soon - and I plan on fixing the elgato issues. Though again, this is primarily in the rewrite. I'll let you guys know what happens with it as I test the device myself. I'll make copies of it available when I've made progress on the capture device issues.

As a workaround, I would recommend resizing the source manually, and hold shift while dragging the edges to turn off aspect ratio locking -- not the most ideal solution because you basically have to do it by hand, but it should be 'a' workaround for the time being.