Question / Help Elgato Game Capture 4K60 Pro MK.2

[Devgroup]

Hello,
I purchased the Elgato Game Capture 4K60 Pro MK.2 and installed it on my Windows PC. I am attempting to game on my Windows PC and stream through my Macbook Pro. I've tried various ways to set things up, as I understand it I need the OBS Link on my macbook in order to detect the capture device. However, I can still not detect it. I've even tried through Windows using Bootcamp. I cannot detect the capturing device with OBS or OBS Link.

It's horrible that I cannot set this up after purchasing the most high-end capture card from Elgato.
Am I doing something wrong or does the 4K60 Pro MK2 not support OS X? I upgraded to Catalina to see if it would help, but no difference.

 

[Narcogen]

The 4K60 Pro MK2 doesn't even PRETEND to be compatible with MacOS, and with regards to Elgato's history of support for devices with OBS running on MacOS, that's an improvement.

System requirements on Elgato's page clearly indicate Windows 10. I don't think it'll work in MacOS, even with OBS Link.

https://www.elgato.com/en/gaming/game-capture-4k60pro

 

[Devgroup]

The 4K60 Pro MK2 doesn't even PRETEND to be compatible with MacOS, and with regards to Elgato's history of support for devices with OBS running on MacOS, that's an improvement.

System requirements on Elgato's page clearly indicate Windows 10. I don't think it'll work in MacOS, even with OBS Link.

https://www.elgato.com/en/gaming/game-capture-4k60pro

I find it so weird, why would it not support it?
If I had some pointers on what to do, maybe I could implement my own driver for it.

 

[Narcogen]

Elgato doesn't write their own drivers. They bundle components made from vendors and include those drivers.

The HD60S for years they advertised as "compatible with MacOS" and "compatible with OBS" without letting buyers know that you had to use their app on MacOS and not OBS because the SOC they build the device around did not have a MacOS video class device driver. Rather than make one, they made a custom app that worked directly with it, and eventually released OBS Link.

Capture hardware vendors that provide good MacOS support include BlackMagic, Magewell, and AJA.

 

[Devgroup]

Elgato doesn't write their own drivers. They bundle components made from vendors and include those drivers.

The HD60S for years they advertised as "compatible with MacOS" and "compatible with OBS" without letting buyers know that you had to use their app on MacOS and not OBS because the SOC they build the device around did not have a MacOS video class device driver. Rather than make one, they made a custom app that worked directly with it, and eventually released OBS Link.

Capture hardware vendors that provide good MacOS support include BlackMagic, Magewell, and AJA.

Also, it doesn't specify I need both my machines on Windows. The machine with the Elgato device installed is a Windows machine, that makes sense. But the receiving end shouldn't have to be. The interface should be the same as for the normal Elgato HD60 imo.

I'm thinking of buying a Magewell USB Capture HDMI Gen2 as an adapter. But I'm not sure if it would work, that's why I'm hestitating.
But it would be nice with a cheaper solution other than buying a whole new streaming rig.

Also as said ..
I have Windows Bootcamp, that's Windows, it should work. But it doesn't either.

 

[Narcogen]

Also, it doesn't specify I need both my machines on Windows. The machine with the Elgato device installed is a Windows machine, that makes sense. But the receiving end shouldn't have to be. The interface should be the same as for the normal Elgato HD60 imo..

Let me make sure I understand your setup.

If you have a 2 PC setup and are using this device as the capture device between them, then the Elgato should be installed in the Windows PC. It is the "receiving" end as it receives a video signal from your other machine, which I presume from this is your Mac, connected to the Elgato by an HDMI cable.

If that's the case, then compatibility between MacOS and the Elgato is not the issue-- the issue most likely is that the Mac, unlike the PC, has HDCP turned on all the time, meaning the Elgato is probably ignoring it.

If that's the case, try getting an HDMI signal splitter that the Mac will recognize as a non-HDCP compliant display:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004F9LVXC/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

That means you won't be able to play HDCP flagged content through it, but it should prevent the Elgato from ignoring your Mac's video signal if the problem is, in fact, HDCP. I use one of these in my own setup.

 

[TylerDurd0n]

I am attempting to game on my Windows PC and stream through my Macbook Pro.

This sounds like you want to use your MacBook Pro as your "streaming machine". I get Narcogen's confusion, because the capture card allows your Windows PC to capture HDMI output from another device (e.g. a console or said Macbook) to encode/composit on your Windows PC.

If you want your Macbook to capture/encode your Windows PC output, you'd either need the NDI plugin to send the output to your Mac via Ethernet or something like the Elgato HD60S+ (the "+" one is a more recent update that supposedly makes the HD60 work as an universal USB device on Windows and macOS without custom drivers) connected to your MacBook Pro via USB.

 

[Devgroup]

After reading your both replies that got me thinking and I had to do further research before writing my reply. I believe I've misunderstood how this whole crap works. According to a Reddit link, they mention "First and foremost, install the 4K60 Pro into the PC you will be using for recording/streaming. ", I thought I should install the 4K60 Pro to the PC I am GAMING on.

I don't get why they mention you should add a HDMI cable between the capture card and a monitor, in my eyes that's totally retarded. I cannot understand why it would be relevant to anyone. The capture card is used for streaming and recording no?

So if I cannot get myself another Windows PC, then this card will be useless to me?
On top of that, the Streaming PC needs a good GPU for some odd reason?


What should I do/get if I just want to capture my game from my Gaming rig, and send it to a 2nd PC/laptop/macbook for streaming?
My ideal setup:
- Gaming Windows PC
- Macbook Pro handling the processing & encoding & streaming

 

[Narcogen]

A capture card makes little sense for the vast majority of single machine setups.

OBS functions best as an encoder when used in Windows, not MacOS.

This particular Elgato device *only* works when installed in a Windows machine.

The problem is that currently, machines running MacOS are neither particularly well suited to either playing games, nor streaming or recording them. (Particularly streaming because of the absence of NVENC support.)

If one of your two machines are Macs, that vastly reduces the value of any capture device. Unless you're capturing from a device like a console, that you'd prefer not to stream directly from.

Using OBS means both streaming and gaming PCs should have good GPUs, but that streaming/recording one should be the one with the best encoder, whether or not it has the most VRAM, whereas the gaming GPU should be the best all-rounder whether or not it has the latest encoder, and should definitely have as much VRAM as you can justify.

 

[TylerDurd0n]

After reading your both replies that got me thinking and I had to do further research before writing my reply. I believe I've misunderstood how this whole crap works. According to a Reddit link, they mention "First and foremost, install the 4K60 Pro into the PC you will be using for recording/streaming. ", I thought I should install the 4K60 Pro to the PC I am GAMING on.

I don't get why they mention you should add a HDMI cable between the capture card and a monitor, in my eyes that's totally retarded. I cannot understand why it would be relevant to anyone. The capture card is used for streaming and recording no?

So if I cannot get myself another Windows PC, then this card will be useless to me?
On top of that, the Streaming PC needs a good GPU for some odd reason?


What should I do/get if I just want to capture my game from my Gaming rig, and send it to a 2nd PC/laptop/macbook for streaming?
My ideal setup:
- Gaming Windows PC
- Macbook Pro handling the processing & encoding & streaming

The way this works is that you connect e.g. your Playstation's HDMI output to the capture card in your PC and your TV to the capture card's output HDMI port.

The capture card will splice up the signal and passthrough the original signal to the output HDMI port (so you don't have additional latency on the TV displaying your PS4's output), while decoding it and sending the input to your PC via USB (with some latency added).

So the PC takes encoding/compositing/recording/streaming duties, while the console renders the game. That's what these capture cards are for.

Or you have 2 PCs, one running the game, the other running OBS and the capture card and then you connect your gaming PCs output to the elgato input. That might require "cloning" your screens on the gaming PC so that the Elgato card receives the same image as your main display.

As for using a Macbook for encoding, an iMac can handle x264 encoding at 720p60 with the "faster" preset at Twitch-compatible bitrates (~6mbit) but will run into a few missed frames with browser overlays that contain animations (due to lack of browser source hardware acceleration on macOS). Recording is much less of an issue as the hardware encoder can be used, but that requires somewhat higher bitrates to achieve comparable quality to x264. Also the hardware encoder uses Average Bit Rate (not Constant Bit Rate), so streaming to Twitch is a no-go with that setup.

I make it work with a 2015 iMac, but given the choice I'd rather throw my Gaming PC's i7 onto an ITX board and have it run as a headless streaming/encoding PC instead of the iMac. Pains me to say that and it's not the OBS' team fault, they try to make do with what Apple gives them.

 

[Narcogen]

After reading your both replies that got me thinking and I had to do further research before writing my reply. I believe I've misunderstood how this whole crap works. According to a Reddit link, they mention "First and foremost, install the 4K60 Pro into the PC you will be using for recording/streaming. ", I thought I should install the 4K60 Pro to the PC I am GAMING on.

Yes, you've misunderstood. A capture card is for capturing video content from an *external* device. There is NO point whatsoever to installing it on the machine you are playing the game on. It's for installation in a 2nd machine, preferably one that has the best available encoder chip you have.

I don't get why they mention you should add a HDMI cable between the capture card and a monitor, in my eyes that's totally retarded. I cannot understand why it would be relevant to anyone. The capture card is used for streaming and recording no?

You still need to see the game, don't you? You want to see the game you're playing AND capture it, no? Are you planning on trying to play a game that perhaps requires fast reflexes by monitoring the delayed preview display of OBS? Because I really don't think you want to do that.

Of course, you can plug in a display and a capture card to two ports on your GPU and mirror them, but you may want that 2nd port to connect to a display so you can control/monitor OBS, or chat, or do something else. Splitters and cables are cheap and this is a good way to be able to simultaneously view and capture without added latency.

So if I cannot get myself another Windows PC, then this card will be useless to me?
On top of that, the Streaming PC needs a good GPU for some odd reason?

1) Yes, because game/display/window capture are much better and more efficient methods of capturing a game in a single PC configuration; a single PC setup with capture device is more expensive and less efficient without offering better quality.

2) Streaming PC would *be the one running OBS* and that's why it needs a good GPU. OBS is a video compositor and switcher. That is its function, and that function absolutely requires a GPU, and the weaker that GPU is, the worse a job OBS will do. It will also be encoding, which means it should have a GPU in it that supports that feature (hardware encoding, or else you need a strong CPU as well!)

What should I do/get if I just want to capture my game from my Gaming rig, and send it to a 2nd PC/laptop/macbook for streaming?
My ideal setup:
- Gaming Windows PC
- Macbook Pro handling the processing & encoding & streaming

Don't use an MBP for encoding. It's literally the worst choice for that job. No modern Mac includes a GPU that does a good job at hardware encoding, and OBS on MacOS is feature and performance limited in a way that is not true on Windows. And even in Boot Camp, it lacks the good Nvidia hardware encoder because Apple doesn't ship any Nvidia hardware.

Unless you have no other choice, don't use a laptop as an encoder. That is not going to be better than just OBS doing game capture on your gaming PC.

 

[10N3]

you need the hd60 s+ that is compatible with mac or the 4k60 s+ , the s+ line is compatible with macs and works flawlessly