[unsupported] Datapath Vision Capture

[unsupported] Datapath Vision Capture 20130903

David K

New Member
Personally, I'm a big fan of 8.1 Pro - supposedly you get better performance with screen capture and window capture in both 8.1 and 10 over 7. The only real benefit of going Win10 is the Media Foundation support. I guess it's up to you whether or not you want to go for it, but I'm extremely happy with 8.1 Pro x64 on my rig.

As for 32bit OBS classic with plugin, according to Boildown, it doesn't crash with NVEnc, but I doubt you'll be using NVEnc with a dual xeon setup... You can always test it out and see if you don't get the crashes like we do, but it seems likely that it will crash on you.

The audio desync isn't THAT bad. Most viewers wouldn't even notice it, but it is definitely there. I say give OBS Studio a try and add the Datapath card as a regular video source. Do a few test recordings and see if you're satisfied with it or not. I find that PS3 games (so 720p input) have less of a delay while 1080p inputs always have a bit more of a delay.

Thanks very much, pretty comfortable with 8.1, so will give it a shot with OBS Studio. Streaming from the PC with 2 monitor setup - sounds like I need to clone the gaming monitor to the DVI output of the 970 connected to the Datapath card.

We have limited technical skills so simpler the better for us.
 
Thanks very much, pretty comfortable with 8.1, so will give it a shot with OBS Studio. Streaming from the PC with 2 monitor setup - sounds like I need to clone the gaming monitor to the DVI output of the 970 connected to the Datapath card.

We have limited technical skills so simpler the better for us.
You might want to look into investing on a small HDMI splitter. I use a cheapo that I bought years ago for about 20 euros. Works perfectly. That way you don't get any screen tear that you would get on a dual monitor setup.

(PC HDMI output) <- HDMI cable -> (Splitter input)


<- "HDMI to DVI" cable -> (Datapath input)
(Splitter Output)
<
<- HDMI cable -> (Monitor input)

You could also get a DVI splitter, but those are ridiculously expensive, for some reason.
 
MSPaint to the rescue!!
Untitled_zpspiptrao1.png
 

David K

New Member
You might want to look into investing on a small HDMI splitter. I use a cheapo that I bought years ago for about 20 euros. Works perfectly. That way you don't get any screen tear that you would get on a dual monitor setup.

(PC HDMI output) <- HDMI cable -> (Splitter input)


<- "HDMI to DVI" cable -> (Datapath input)
(Splitter Output)
<
<- HDMI cable -> (Monitor input)

You could also get a DVI splitter, but those are ridiculously expensive, for some reason.


Thought about a splitter (which I've had in the past) but currently using the Displayport with G-sync from the 970 for the monitor. Any way to preserve the monitor output?
 

Boildown

Active Member
I simply clone my display instead of using a splitter. If you read the thread, I posted pretty much everything. Here's a good place to start, then read the next couple of pages: [unsupported] Datapath Vision Capture

Well, I've never used an e1, so I don't really know... I remember hearing that supposedly there's no way of telling. You might be able to give Datapath a call and ask them which model you have, based on the serial number on the device.

The E1 says "DGC-139A" on the circuit board, according to the pdf datasheet. The E1S says "DGC-139C", as that's what's on mine.

I still do NVEnc for local recordings and simultaneously do x264 for streaming to Twitch on the dual xeon beastie. Still tweaking it, but not sure I'll ever get to Slower preset. It does Slow super easily, hardly any duplicated frames at all (less than 1/10th of 1%, probably all of which are generated at startup). Anyways, the NVEnc recordings just leave me that much more CPU for the x264 bit, and never crashing is an added benefit. I see no reason not to.

I don't think either monitor nor window capture performance applies when doing a capture card capture. Its a pear to your apples and oranges.
 
Interesting, I always remembered cloning the display would induce tearing on one of the outputs. It's been a long time since I tried, though, so I guess things have changed. Isn't there a slight performance hit for being cloned, though? I should seriously test this out... Perhaps even do away with the splitter.

As for Display Port, I don't really have any experience with it. :(
 
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David K

New Member
I simply clone my display instead of using a splitter. If you read the thread, I posted pretty much everything. Here's a good place to start, then read the next couple of pages: [unsupported] Datapath Vision Capture



The E1 says "DGC-139A" on the circuit board, according to the pdf datasheet. The E1S says "DGC-139C", as that's what's on mine.

I still do NVEnc for local recordings and simultaneously do x264 for streaming to Twitch on the dual xeon beastie. Still tweaking it, but not sure I'll ever get to Slower preset. It does Slow super easily, hardly any duplicated frames at all (less than 1/10th of 1%, probably all of which are generated at startup). Anyways, the NVEnc recordings just leave me that much more CPU for the x264 bit, and never crashing is an added benefit. I see no reason not to.

I don't think either monitor nor window capture performance applies when doing a capture card capture. Its a pear to your apples and oranges.

Thanks, I see the DGC-139C on my card. If the the MB arrives today will install with with 8.1. Thanks.
 

Boildown

Active Member
Classic. Don't think Studio has the Datapath plugin available so I haven't messed with it yet.

I think the tearing is created when you don't precisely match the cloned screens, including framerate. Lately I've been using the Custom Resolution Utility (CRU) to precisely match the Datapath's input to whatever I'm sending the monitor. Just setting the resolution and framerate usually leaves some minor differences. Haven't extensively tested it though.

Not sure about performance hit. If its there its minor. I actually assumed the splitter would introduce a frame or two of latency itself.
 

Boildown

Active Member
The E1 says "DGC-139A" on the circuit board, according to the pdf datasheet. The E1S says "DGC-139C", as that's what's on mine.

Not sure this is accurate anymore. This auction for an "E1": http://www.ebay.com/itm/Datapath-Vi...-Capture-Card-PCIe-PC-APPLE-NEW-/201548255770 has some nice images that clearly show the part being "DGC-139C". So that looks like it might not be a good indicator of which model it is. Or he's selling an E1S as an E1. But both the box and the manual clearly indicate E1 as well, so I doubt it.
 

David K

New Member
Classic. Don't think Studio has the Datapath plugin available so I haven't messed with it yet.

I think the tearing is created when you don't precisely match the cloned screens, including framerate. Lately I've been using the Custom Resolution Utility (CRU) to precisely match the Datapath's input to whatever I'm sending the monitor. Just setting the resolution and framerate usually leaves some minor differences. Haven't extensively tested it though.

Not sure about performance hit. If its there its minor. I actually assumed the splitter would introduce a frame or two of latency itself.

Thanks
 

cruzlink2

New Member
Having Aero enabled in windowed mode does help with the tearing. I have a 2pc setup that suffered from the same issue of tearing in windowed mode, is my enough it was fixed by enabling aero. Something to do with dwm service having vsync and buffering built in to the aero theme.
 
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David K

New Member
I downloaded the driver installer VisionInstall_v7120.exe. Device manager now lists the card as E1 not E1S.
Now I'm not sure which card I got.... Anyway to check further?
 

David K

New Member
Displayport G-sync monitor output is 1920 x1080 at 144 hz. if cloned to HDMI with CRU and Pixel clock patcher and sent to DVI port on the capture card, is there enough bandwidth?!?

If not what's the best choice?
 

Boildown

Active Member
I downloaded the driver installer VisionInstall_v7120.exe. Device manager now lists the card as E1 not E1S.
Now I'm not sure which card I got.... Anyway to check further?

Call Datapath? Otherwise I'd believe the drivers that its an E1.

Displayport G-sync monitor output is 1920 x1080 at 144 hz. if cloned to HDMI with CRU and Pixel clock patcher and sent to DVI port on the capture card, is there enough bandwidth?!?

If not what's the best choice?

On my E1S I would push it to about 115Hz, but past that, it wouldn't work. An E1 may or may not be even slower, depending on which bottleneck I was hitting. I doubt you could hit 144Hz. One of the major bottlenecks is that it only supports a single-link DVI link, and it may be the DVI signalling itself that is breaking down at that refresh rate.

Other people have had problems getting it to work with G-Sync. It would be interesting to hear if you got it to work or not. If I were you I'd see how far you can push it in normal mode before turning on G-Sync. Also, read my posts about my experience pushing my E1S to high refresh rates. If you have to cap your monitor at 100Hz instead of 144Hz, that's still pretty good IMO.
 

David K

New Member
Due to limitations in OBS1, my plugin only captures in RGB32. This means for 1920x1080@60fps, you're trying to push 475MB/sec through the card. The E2s has a bandwidth limit of 650MB/s so that leaves plenty of headroom, but the 480MB/s bandwidth limit of the E2 might be too tight when you factor in possible unknown bus overhead. DirectShow capture doesn't have the same problem because it can capture RGB24 (356MB/sec) and YUY2 (238MB/s). However, as the buffer gets converted to RGB32 on the CPU, and then uploaded to the GPU from system memory, the total PCI-e bus load is higher, as well as CPU load.

The OBS2 (also known as "the redux" or "obs-studio") version of the plugin will support the full range of colour spaces supported by the cards, with full hardware acceleration (DMA) and colour space conversion done on the GPU.

I'll look into the missing string soon. I should probably make the UI properly translatable again, as it's all hardcoded even though the plugin contains the borrowed localisation code from the DirectShow plugin. I'm also getting a refurbished VisionRGB-PRO2 so I'll be able to make sure it works properly with the older generation of Datapath cards as well as with multiple cards present in the system.


Wonder if YUY2 would allow capture at 144hz?
 

David K

New Member
This is a lower level issue than that.
Are you currently using DVI-DL card Boildown ?

OK. Planning to set both the gaming monitor and cloned output to the E1S at 100 hz and see how the quality of the gaming monitor is affected by the reduction from 144 hz (which is pretty deluxe).

Plan to stream at 720p at 60 hz - just looking for a system to generate a reliable decent stream (like everyone else I guess).

The rest of the ECC RAM will be here the rest of the week
 
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