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How to fix Capture Card Quality?
- Thread starter JerryAbi
- Start date
Is it a ~$20 USB thing? Those are deceptively designed and deceptively marketed garbage. Can't really support them beyond, "get a better one."
A common problem is that they have a cheap USB 2 chip behind a USB 3 connector. So it's limited to USB 2 despite all the hype about how much better 3 is than 2. You can't get HD video through USB 2, so it has to compress it *in the card*, just to squeeze it through there. The most common type of compression is MJPEG, which is simply a JPG still image of each frame, with no knowledge of the other frames so as to take advantage of that similarity. So if you've seen the "JPG fuzzies" on a photograph, that's what a cheap capture card is doing to your video, *in the card*, before the computer even has a chance at it. And you can't undo that.
Another common problem is random latency. Don't know why that is, but I had a set of 4 cheap USB captures on a rig before I realized how bad they were, and they were always out of sync *with each other* by different amounts, every time I turned it on. A single 4-input PCIe card fixed both that and the picture quality.
Expect to spend about $100 per channel for name-brand USB, or use an internal PCIe card.
If you go with USB, also keep in mind that each USB controller is only good for one HD video stream. A lot of machines have a single controller and an internal hub to connect all the ports, so you're still limited to one HD video stream across all of those ports, because they all go back to the same one controller.
A common problem is that they have a cheap USB 2 chip behind a USB 3 connector. So it's limited to USB 2 despite all the hype about how much better 3 is than 2. You can't get HD video through USB 2, so it has to compress it *in the card*, just to squeeze it through there. The most common type of compression is MJPEG, which is simply a JPG still image of each frame, with no knowledge of the other frames so as to take advantage of that similarity. So if you've seen the "JPG fuzzies" on a photograph, that's what a cheap capture card is doing to your video, *in the card*, before the computer even has a chance at it. And you can't undo that.
Another common problem is random latency. Don't know why that is, but I had a set of 4 cheap USB captures on a rig before I realized how bad they were, and they were always out of sync *with each other* by different amounts, every time I turned it on. A single 4-input PCIe card fixed both that and the picture quality.
Expect to spend about $100 per channel for name-brand USB, or use an internal PCIe card.
If you go with USB, also keep in mind that each USB controller is only good for one HD video stream. A lot of machines have a single controller and an internal hub to connect all the ports, so you're still limited to one HD video stream across all of those ports, because they all go back to the same one controller.
I have the Same Capture Card as my Friend and he has a great quality and i dont want to stream only playIs it a ~$20 USB thing? Those are deceptively designed and deceptively marketed garbage. Can't really support them beyond, "get a better one."
A common problem is that they have a cheap USB 2 chip behind a USB 3 connector. So it's limited to USB 2 despite all the hype about how much better 3 is than 2. You can't get HD video through USB 2, so it has to compress it *in the card*, just to squeeze it through there. The most common type of compression is MJPEG, which is simply a JPG still image of each frame, with no knowledge of the other frames so as to take advantage of that similarity. So if you've seen the "JPG fuzzies" on a photograph, that's what a cheap capture card is doing to your video, *in the card*, before the computer even has a chance at it. And you can't undo that.
Another common problem is random latency. Don't know why that is, but I had a set of 4 cheap USB captures on a rig before I realized how bad they were, and they were always out of sync *with each other* by different amounts, every time I turned it on. A single 4-input PCIe card fixed both that and the picture quality.
Expect to spend about $100 per channel for name-brand USB, or use an internal PCIe card.
If you go with USB, also keep in mind that each USB controller is only good for one HD video stream. A lot of machines have a single controller and an internal hub to connect all the ports, so you're still limited to one HD video stream across all of those ports, because they all go back to the same one controller.
yeah i know but my capture card has a USB 3 ConnectorIf you only want to play, then a TV might work better for you than a capture card and a computer. Probably cheaper too.