Is there a list of game capture hardware devices which *actually* reduce CPU usage while streaming PC gameplay?
I just bought an Avermedia Live Gamer Portable (LGP). This is a USB 2.0 device. I bought it because Avermedia advertises it as being supported by the popular streaming software (OBS, Xs*it, FME, etc.). The reality though, is that I get better performance using OBS's game source. The only option using the LGP, as I've discovered, is having OBS grab the video through a "mediator" (sure, I'll call it a mediator) called the "Live Gamer Portable Stream Engine". Avermedia's claim is not only useless and deceptive, but I just wasted money buying this device.
I have found, that when trying to stream in OBS using the Stream Engine, that it actually costs additional CPU usage than if I stream using OBS software alone. The entire reason I bought a hardware device, is because I wanted to offload encoding from my CPU, as *ALL* the devices claim to do, not just the LGP. Now, I do realize that recording gameplay (not streaming) performs very well.
Are there any of these "game capture hardware devices" which I can use with OBS, which actually won't reduce my in-game FPS, and won't increase my CPU usage when streaming? I will note that the RECentral software included with the LGP does indeed send the "hardware-encoded" video to Twitch without dropping my game's FPS and without increasing my CPU usage. So it appears very possible. Unfortunately, there are hardly any options to controlling your upstream in RECentral, the stream quality is just complete junk, and a billion other issues. I know it's not OBS (the best software), but OMG I can't believe that it is so terrible.
If wondering why I bought the USB Avermedia LGP, here's some information about my system:
MOBO: ASUS Sabertooth FX990 R2.0
CPU: AMD FX-8350 Eight-Core (turbo @4.34GHz)
COOLER: Coolermaster Seidon 120M (closed water cooler)
GPUS: 2 ea. (SLI) ASUS GTX 660 2GB
RAM: 16GB (2x8GB) G.Skill 1866 F3-1866C9-8GSR
Monitor: ASUS VG248 144Hz monitor (can game at 144Hz and clone via HDMI to the LGP)
I considered buying the Avermedia Live Gamer HD instead of the LGP. But because ASUS is such a genius, my only PCI Express slot is blocked by the primary GPU slot. So if you buy anything other than a double-width, non-mainstream/crap video card and want to put it in this non-mainstream/crap motherboard, then you MIGHT be able to plug something into the PCI Express slot. But even then, I doubt it. The placement of the slot is completely useless and un-usable. However, even if I could plug in the Live Gamer HD card, I would still have the same issues I have with the LGP right? In other words, no matter which streaming software I use, the streaming software would still be using my CPU to encode the game display anyway, right? This completely defeats the purpose of using hardware game capture devices? I realize I might be completely misunderstanding some of this, so please correct me as needed.
Another solution I've seen people use, is having a 2nd PC to do the streaming, while you play your game on your gaming PC. I even tried this, plugging in my LGP to my other computer and running OBS there. While this solution "indirectly" solved the CPU usage on my GAMING PC (and this is besides the point... it still costs CPU on the 2nd computer, rendering the "I'm a hardware device so I won't use your CPU" useless, still), I had issues with getting the game sound over to the 2nd PC. I know there are many articles about this. I even used (and bought, foolishly) a Virtual Audio Cable license. It's just a crappy solution any way you try to send your audio/mic to a 2nd PC, which doesn't really work, and I won't go into the details of what all I experienced there (but feel free to msg and ask me if you are curious; I will be more than happy to explain... it's just that this is a long-ass post already!!!).
I see people streaming awesome 720p/60, so I know it's possible. And, I do get great results now, using OBS with CBR at 3400 bit rate, 720p/40fps... hardly any pixelation. But it does cost me fluidity in my game, and it does reduce my in-game FPS. So, can anyone advise how the heck I can achieve using a hardware game capture, for the benefits it is supposed to provide? Or, is my entire problem based on the fact that I can't plug a PCI Express card into my gaming PC?
Can anyone explain how they are doing some of the things I mentioned here, whether using single-pc or two-pc gaming/streaming? I just can't stand that I bought a hardware device for the sole purpose of taking the processing off the CPU and on to the hardware device, only to find out that it is costing even MORE CPU processing, on all the streaming software I've tried. Not that any of those others are better than OBS; OBS is far superior. But I'm getting the feeling that hardware capturing/streaming is useless, since OBS game capture via it's own software is such better quality.
Sorry for the extremely long post. I'm a programmer so I'm very thorough in trying to explain the situation. Hmm... actually, I've worked with many programmers who aren't like this, so nevermind! Most of them just do the minimum of whatever it is they need to accomplish, so they can call it "done" and move to the next item.
Thanks for your input!
I just bought an Avermedia Live Gamer Portable (LGP). This is a USB 2.0 device. I bought it because Avermedia advertises it as being supported by the popular streaming software (OBS, Xs*it, FME, etc.). The reality though, is that I get better performance using OBS's game source. The only option using the LGP, as I've discovered, is having OBS grab the video through a "mediator" (sure, I'll call it a mediator) called the "Live Gamer Portable Stream Engine". Avermedia's claim is not only useless and deceptive, but I just wasted money buying this device.
I have found, that when trying to stream in OBS using the Stream Engine, that it actually costs additional CPU usage than if I stream using OBS software alone. The entire reason I bought a hardware device, is because I wanted to offload encoding from my CPU, as *ALL* the devices claim to do, not just the LGP. Now, I do realize that recording gameplay (not streaming) performs very well.
Are there any of these "game capture hardware devices" which I can use with OBS, which actually won't reduce my in-game FPS, and won't increase my CPU usage when streaming? I will note that the RECentral software included with the LGP does indeed send the "hardware-encoded" video to Twitch without dropping my game's FPS and without increasing my CPU usage. So it appears very possible. Unfortunately, there are hardly any options to controlling your upstream in RECentral, the stream quality is just complete junk, and a billion other issues. I know it's not OBS (the best software), but OMG I can't believe that it is so terrible.
If wondering why I bought the USB Avermedia LGP, here's some information about my system:
MOBO: ASUS Sabertooth FX990 R2.0
CPU: AMD FX-8350 Eight-Core (turbo @4.34GHz)
COOLER: Coolermaster Seidon 120M (closed water cooler)
GPUS: 2 ea. (SLI) ASUS GTX 660 2GB
RAM: 16GB (2x8GB) G.Skill 1866 F3-1866C9-8GSR
Monitor: ASUS VG248 144Hz monitor (can game at 144Hz and clone via HDMI to the LGP)
I considered buying the Avermedia Live Gamer HD instead of the LGP. But because ASUS is such a genius, my only PCI Express slot is blocked by the primary GPU slot. So if you buy anything other than a double-width, non-mainstream/crap video card and want to put it in this non-mainstream/crap motherboard, then you MIGHT be able to plug something into the PCI Express slot. But even then, I doubt it. The placement of the slot is completely useless and un-usable. However, even if I could plug in the Live Gamer HD card, I would still have the same issues I have with the LGP right? In other words, no matter which streaming software I use, the streaming software would still be using my CPU to encode the game display anyway, right? This completely defeats the purpose of using hardware game capture devices? I realize I might be completely misunderstanding some of this, so please correct me as needed.
Another solution I've seen people use, is having a 2nd PC to do the streaming, while you play your game on your gaming PC. I even tried this, plugging in my LGP to my other computer and running OBS there. While this solution "indirectly" solved the CPU usage on my GAMING PC (and this is besides the point... it still costs CPU on the 2nd computer, rendering the "I'm a hardware device so I won't use your CPU" useless, still), I had issues with getting the game sound over to the 2nd PC. I know there are many articles about this. I even used (and bought, foolishly) a Virtual Audio Cable license. It's just a crappy solution any way you try to send your audio/mic to a 2nd PC, which doesn't really work, and I won't go into the details of what all I experienced there (but feel free to msg and ask me if you are curious; I will be more than happy to explain... it's just that this is a long-ass post already!!!).
I see people streaming awesome 720p/60, so I know it's possible. And, I do get great results now, using OBS with CBR at 3400 bit rate, 720p/40fps... hardly any pixelation. But it does cost me fluidity in my game, and it does reduce my in-game FPS. So, can anyone advise how the heck I can achieve using a hardware game capture, for the benefits it is supposed to provide? Or, is my entire problem based on the fact that I can't plug a PCI Express card into my gaming PC?
Can anyone explain how they are doing some of the things I mentioned here, whether using single-pc or two-pc gaming/streaming? I just can't stand that I bought a hardware device for the sole purpose of taking the processing off the CPU and on to the hardware device, only to find out that it is costing even MORE CPU processing, on all the streaming software I've tried. Not that any of those others are better than OBS; OBS is far superior. But I'm getting the feeling that hardware capturing/streaming is useless, since OBS game capture via it's own software is such better quality.
Sorry for the extremely long post. I'm a programmer so I'm very thorough in trying to explain the situation. Hmm... actually, I've worked with many programmers who aren't like this, so nevermind! Most of them just do the minimum of whatever it is they need to accomplish, so they can call it "done" and move to the next item.
Thanks for your input!
