Question / Help Elgato HD60 PRO - 32 or 64 bit?

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Lain

Forum Admin
Lain
Forum Moderator
Developer
I'm pretty sure it still requires the 32bit version due to their driver design, though I could be mistaken. I didn't actually check that last time.
 
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DoAGoldeneye

Member
Pretty sweet card.. Cheaper than the Micomsoft (which also never seems to be in stock). The Master Copy feature seems nice if it uses the builtin hardware encoder..
 
FerretBomb

FerretBomb

Active Member
I've been working with the HD60 Pro for a few months now as a preview user. It's a solid card.
At present there's only 32-bit support, but a 64-bit driver should be coming soon.

Direct 'Video Capture Device' cap in OBS has a bit more delay than using their software and capping that.
Best-possible, use AmaRec 2.20c (not 2.31) and monitor or DWM capture that in fullscreen.
Via Amarec, it's on even footing with the SC512 and even a Datapath Vision E2 as far as latency goes; I'm planning to put together a new capture card shootout video soon demonstrating the differences.

OBS Capture- ~150-200ms (Not sure what OBS does differently, but it causes a LARGE spread in capture rates, and a major capture delay increase)
GameCapture HD - ~50-150ms
Amarec - ~20-100ms

That said, I still consider the SC512 to be the best cap card on the market, for 'serious' livestreamers. The ability to grab component/composite/s-video/VGA as well as HDMI pushes it over the top for functionality, especially with SabrePC selling a version without the passthrough daughtercard for $200 as the Yuan SC512 (though you'll have to buy a DVI->HDMI adapter for $7, and deal with using splitters before the card instead of having a passthrough port; otherwise it's literally the same card, down to the silkscreening and headers).

The HD60 Pro has other things going for it though, that serve to balance out the functionality.
Availability is a big one. No mucking about waiting for new stock to come in. You want one, plunk down 200 bones and it's on its way.
English support is huge... with the SC512 if something goes wrong, you've only got the community to fall back on unless you speak Japanese or Mandarin. Elgato is right there and on top of things, and super-responsive to the community. They constantly are updating their software and stomp bugs fast.
Ease of use is a lot higher. Their Game Capture HD lets you just grab and go, with editing and recording right there.
I haven't had a chance to use the local-recording on-card hardware encoders, but that's going to be a massive help for anyone looking to preserve full-quality game video for later editing, like with highlight reels.
 
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Achilles

Member
FerretBomb said:
I've been working with the HD60 Pro for a few months now as a preview user. It's a solid card.
At present there's only 32-bit support, but a 64-bit driver should be coming soon.
Click to expand...

Where would you place this card in comparison to something like the BlackMagic Intensity Pro?

I love the simplicity of Elgato but if I'm not mistaken, BMI captures with better colour sampling (4:2:2 over 4:2:0). I could be wrong on that so please correct me if that is the case.
 
FerretBomb

FerretBomb

Active Member
The BMIP was a good card for its day, but technology has progressed. BMIPs are notoriously finicky and fragile... really the only reason to buy one at this point is if you've bought into their other hardware like a DeckLink or similar. Otherwise, there are much better options.

Yes, according to Elgato the HD60 Pro captures using YV12. Realistically for livestreaming purposes though, the color capture difference is going to be fairly minor. I'm not sure if it would be possible, but Elgato can do firmware updates... might be possible to work in 4:2:2 capture later.

The SC512 can capture in RGB24 or 32, so that might be a better option if you plan to locally record for higher quality edits, or want full colorspace on a more robust, flexible and functional card.

If you meant the BMIP 4K, I haven't worked with one of those yet. I'm considering contacting them, as it looks like the 4K actually handles 4:4:4 at 1080p@60, and 4:2:2 at 4K. No idea as far as the capture delay on it, and the powered fan on-card makes me a bit hesitant; most companies would just ship a larger aluminum heat spreader.
 
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wdapunisher

Member
The specs for it state 2nd gen i7 as a CPU recommendation, but mentions nothing of AMD. Would the bulldozer based FX 6 core or 8 cores do ok with this?
 
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Achilles

Member
FerretBomb said:
If you meant the BMIP 4K, I haven't worked with one of those yet. I'm considering contacting them, as it looks like the 4K actually handles 4:4:4 at 1080p@60, and 4:2:2 at 4K. No idea as far as the capture delay on it, and the powered fan on-card makes me a bit hesitant; most companies would just ship a larger aluminum heat spreader.
Click to expand...


I meant the original BMI but I do have a BMI 4K, just waiting on OBS to push out the update to support it. BMI 4K launched with a boat load of issues. I know it works with Xsplit etc but I'd rather wait and use OBS, just a matter of Jim wanting to go through the stress of working with it.

As for the fan, it was very loud when I first installed and for the initial months until they pushed out updates. After installing the drivers etc the fan is mute.
 
FerretBomb

FerretBomb

Active Member
Far as I know, any cap card compatibility changes will be MP-only, like with the HDPVR stuff.
Development on Classic is all but halted, aside from in-program bug fixes. Fingers crossed MP gets the full features of Classic up and running soon, and sorts out some of the worse UI problems and design bits that have made it in somehow.

Have to say that I'm rather surprised that BM didn't keep DirectShow compliance on the new card... doubly-so hearing that bit about the fan. I was more thinking about eventual dust-failure and the cost of adding moving parts rather than just tossing on a bigger slab of cast or extruded and chopped metal fins to do the job passively. Especially with it being aimed at video capture in a production environment, noise had to be a consideration. Have to wonder if they offer (or planned to) an 'upgrade' model for passive cooling.
Likewise a bit unexpected that 1440p isn't on the supported resolution list, while component video is (but no mention of composite in the docs I've looked through).
 
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Arran

New Member
Hey guys i know this is probably irrelevant but i got a quick question. I just purchased one of these Elgato HD 60 Pro and i'm just about to send it back tomorrow i dont know if my pc cant run this or i am doing something wrong ive watched tutorials and read up for hours and i cant find a reason to why im having this problem.

Here is my Specs before we start.
vmu6wh.png



My problem is everytime i open the elgato program my quality drops quite a bit that's before i even open a game and attempt to record it but as soon as i close the program it goes back to normal.

Is there something im missing or something i need to download or is my pc just not able to handle this.
 
FerretBomb

FerretBomb

Active Member
If you're using OBS to record a game you're playing on the same system, there's no reason to use a capture card at all.
Not sure what you mean as far as your 'quality drops'.

If you're using the Elgato software, might be better to ask on their forums? If you're using OBS, why use their software?

Your system has the specs to use that hardware just fine. It's something with how you have it set up, almost definitely.

Probably should have opened a new thread as well instead of threadjacking, as this has nothing to do with 32 vs 64-bit OBS.
 
Harold

Harold

Active Member
Except it doesn't actually drop stress on the cpu.

In fact, with the elgato USB 2.0 devices especially, it actually INCREASES stress on the cpu.
 
FerretBomb

FerretBomb

Active Member
No capture card will lower CPU stress while using OBS. Game and Window Capture are both much, much more efficient and lower-overhead than a capture card. The 'offloading CPU/GPU' is only true if you use their software, which can use the on-card hardware encoders. Which produce trash quality video at realistic streaming bitrates.

A capture card will RAISE system overhead in all cases compared to Game/Window capture, and should only be used in a 2PC setup or when streaming console gameplay.
 
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