Live data from Hacker News

Cheap HDMI capture for Linux

blog.benjojo.co.uk

41–50 of 78 posts

Re: Cheap HDMI capture for Linux

#41
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could you link to examples of this? I am still looking for sane HDMI capture devices for the project that spawned this, I just could not find any decent proof that these drivers existed.

I coded the Blackmagic support for OBS Studio. It was only slightly nightmarish. https://github.com/jp9000/obs-studio/tree/master/plugins/dec...

Thanks for creating that. I use OBS so this sounds perfect.

Could you recommend a Blackmagic product supported by your plugin that can capture from HDMI (cheaper the better, I plan to use it for hobbist-level capture of desktop/games)?

Re: Cheap HDMI capture for Linux

#44

You can also use devices that are USB Video Class (UVC) compliant, thus which don't require any drivers. libuvc can be used to capture from these devices: https://github.com/ktossell/libuvc You can get cheap off-brand UVC USB grabbers, or you can get higher quality gear, like the AJA U-TAP: https://www.aja.com/en/products/u-tap Admittedly though I haven't seen anything that comes close to £45 :-)

there's a reason the Starts with "cheap".

all solutions so far cost well over what most people paid for their computers or TVs.

there was pro composite capture under 200 for a long time. and cobsumer ones for 30ish. and thats dealing with analog. hdmi without DRM should produce even cheapers devices, but yeah, everyone has to embrace DRM to name it hdmi

Re: Cheap HDMI capture for Linux

#45
post #29

I wish there was something that worked on Android for HDMI input. Would be great to be able to repurpose tablets as external/field monitors. Some UVC dongles work, but I haven't seen any low cost 1080p ones

theres a whole lot of camera monitors for pro video that would die that day.

Re: Cheap HDMI capture for Linux

#47
post #41
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I coded the Blackmagic support for OBS Studio. It was only slightly nightmarish. https://github.com/jp9000/obs-studio/tree/master/plugins/dec...

Thanks for creating that. I use OBS so this sounds perfect. Could you recommend a Blackmagic product supported by your plugin that can capture from HDMI (cheaper the better, I plan to use it for hobbist-level capture of desktop/games)?

I'm not who you responded to, but the DeckLink Mini Recorder (towards the bottom of https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/decklink/models) is a very capable PCI-e HDMI and SDI capture card for around £100/$140.

Apart from possibly needing an update to the kernel package, all of the DeckLink devices are supported by the same SDK, with only some small variations (like giving the user the choice of selecting which input connector to use or similar).

Re: Cheap HDMI capture for Linux

#49

You can also use devices that are USB Video Class (UVC) compliant, thus which don't require any drivers. libuvc can be used to capture from these devices: https://github.com/ktossell/libuvc You can get cheap off-brand UVC USB grabbers, or you can get higher quality gear, like the AJA U-TAP: https://www.aja.com/en/products/u-tap Admittedly though I haven't seen anything that comes close to £45 :-)

I've personally had a great experience with the Magewell USB3 HDMI capture device, which I believe is also UVC - requires no drivers on Windows/Mac and claims to be Linux compatible. Slightly cheaper than the u-tap. https://www.amazon.com/Magewell-HDMI-USB-Capture-Dongle/dp/B... Can do lossless capture with extremely low latency, which is pretty nice - it's good enough that I've been able to play console video games…

I use the Magewell too and wrote a blog about my search https://natalian.org/2015/03/13/HDMI_in/

Re: Cheap HDMI capture for Linux

#50
"These units are not perfect for quality, however they are not bad at all, Here is a screenshot taken on my laptop..."

I am confused by this ... HDMI is a digital interconnect and deals in digital I/O ... in my mind, if you succeed in capturing that HDMI, the resulting stream should be identical ... why would there be a quality (or any other) difference ?

Post reply on HN