2014/03/09

[Review] Review of capture cards

List of capture cards  I had experienced

Avermedia Game Broadcaster HD (C127)
iEi HDC-302E (302E)
Micomsoft SC-500N1/DVI (SC500)
Micomsoft SC-512N1-L/DVI (SC512)
Skydigital HD6 express X (HD6EX)
Skydigital SKYHD Capture X (CX)
Skydigital SKYTV HD RED (RED)
Timeleak HD72B (HD72B)

Test PC spec.
CPU : Intel Xeon E3-1230 V2 / Core i3 3230
MB : Asrock Z77 Pro4
RAM : Samsung PC3-12800U 8GB x2
GPU : Asus Geforce GTX 650 Ti
PSU : Antec VP650P 650W
SSD : Samsung 840 Pro 128GB for Operaing System
HDD : Seagate ST2000DM001-1CH164 for H.264 compressed realtime video capture
RAID : LSI 9650SE-16MIL SATA 16ch for uncompressed realtime video capture
---- RAID level 0 : WD5000AAKS x4, R/W Seq. from 495MB/sec to 240MB/sec at 80%

OS : Each cards were tested under below operating systems.
Windows XP Professional x86 for HD6EX, RED,SC500
Windows XP Professional x64 for HD6EX, HDC-302E,SC500
Windows 7 Professional x64  for SC5XX, C127, HD72B, CaptureX, HDC-302E
Windows 8/8.1 Pro x64 for SC500,SC512, C127, HD72B
Ubuntu 12.04 LTS for HDC-302E
Software : Virtualdub, Open Broadcaster Software, Amarec TV, Daum Potplayer


CPU consumption data
In cases of realtime H.264 software compressed encoding capture... (preset : very fast)
240p/480p, Intel Core2duo E6xxx Series, 40~80% depended on frame rate, motions.
720p : Intel i5 2500 (non-activated intel QSV), 10~30% used.
         Intel i3 550 (no-supported QSV), 20~50% used.
1080p60 : Intel i5 2500 (no-used intel QSV), 50~90% used.
               Intel i5 2500 (used intel QSV), 10~30% used.
               intel i3 3230 (no-used intel QSV), 100% used, it cannot be record smoothly.
               intel i3 3230 (used intel QSV), 10~30% used.
               Intel Xeon E3-1230V2 (no-supported intel QSV) 30~70% used.
               Intel i7 series above 3.3GHz, maybe same as Xeon E3-1230 V2
               Intel i3 4130 (no-used intel QSV), 40-60% used.
               Intel i3 4130 (used intel QSV), 10-20% used.

In cases of realtime uncompressed capture ... (YUV422 16bit)

- 240p/480p, bandwidth < 30MB/sec
Intel Core2duo E6xxx Series, less than 5%.

- 720p, bandwidth = 105.5MB/sec, Recommend 2 HDD of RAID0 system.
Intel i5 2500, less than 5%.
Intel i3 550, less than 10%.

1080p60, bandwidth = 238MB/sec
It MUST needed 3+ HDD of RAID0 or 2nd gen. or later of 1 SSD system.
intel i3 3230  less than 10% used.

In case of iEi HDC-302E for hardware realtime H.264 encoding
No needed for high spec. It can be recorded under core 2 duo E6700 system as 1080p60 dual stream simultaneously. However, the bundle software has no-support for hardware-decorded playing. If you want to playing recorded video, use the high spec. CPU or GPU-assisted environment.


Spec. Table

C127 HDC302E SC500 SC512 HD6EX CaptureX RED HD72B
PCI express
Interface
PCIe1 x1 PCIe1 x1 PCIe1 x1 PCIe2 x1 PCIe1 x1 PCIe1 x1 PCIe1 x1 PCIe1 x1
Chroma YUV422 YUV420 YUV422
Pseudo-RGB24
YUV422
Pseudo-RGB24
YUV422 YUV422 YUV422 YUV422
x64
Min. Res.
Chrominance
480i 480i 240p 240p 480i 480i 480i 480i
Max. Res.
Chrominance
1080p60 1080p60 1080i 1080p60 1080i 1080i
1080p24
480i 1080i
1080p24
Min. Res.
RGB
480p 480i 240p 240p - 480p - 480p
Max. Res.
RGB
1080p60 1080p60 1080i
1080p24
1080p60 - 1080i - 1080i
Max. Res.
Record
1080p30 1080p60 1080p60 1080i 1080p60 1080i 1080i
1080p24
480i 1080i
1080p24
Composite × × × ×
S-video × × × ×
Component × × ×
DSUB × (DVI-I) (DVI-I) × × × ×
DVI (HDMI) (HDMI)
x2
× (HDMI) × (HDMI)
HDMI ○ (x2) (DVI-I) × ×
HDCP × × × - -
Audio ch. 2ch 2ch (x2) 2ch 2ch 2ch 2ch 2ch 2ch
RCA input × × ×
SPDIF input × × × × × × ×
HDMI audio (DVI) - -
Compression SW HW SW SW SW SW SW SW
Pass Thru. × ○ (x2) × × × ×
Rec. Stability
(0.0~5.0)
4.0 4.5 5.0 5.0 1.0 3.0 3.0 3.5
Total
Comment
Nice! Double-
-record
Awesome Ultimate Sucks HDCP.
Not bad.
ATSC-
-HDTV
HDCP.
Cheap.



Input resolution
Note that this result is not meaning acceptable entirely both RGB and Chroma color.
For example, There are only acceptable for 480i resolution as RGB signal by SC-5xx series. Others cannot be acceptable for 480i as RGB, only for chroma color by chroma signal such as composite/S-video/component.

C127 HDC302E SC500 SC512 HD6EX CaptureX RED HD72B
240p/288p







480i/576i







480p/576p







720p







1080i@60f/50f







1080p@24f

※2




1080p@30f







1080p@60f/50f ※1






640x400@56Hz







640x480@60Hz







720x480@60Hz







800x600@60Hz







1024x768@60Hz







1280x720@60Hz







1280x768@60Hz







1280x1024@60Hz







1360x768@60Hz







1440x900@60Hz







1920x1080@60Hz ※1







※1 : Although 1080p60 preview is acceptable, actual record frame is 30fps.
※2 : Preview only. It cannot be record.

Comment

Avermedia Game Broadcaster HD (C127)
- Excellent solution for RGB capture via DSUB. However it is not possible to get the 240p/480i RGB signal screen into the DSUB.
- Perfect for HDMI capture below 1080p30/1080i, I'd recommend to use with HDCP stripper.
- Low input delay.
- Reasonable price.
- Wide-spread-used for arcade game live-broadcasting in game-center Korea


iEi HDC-302E (302E)
- Actually, this is for professional capture card.
- It can be only capable for AV standard resolution.
NTSC 480i/720p/1080i/1080p24/1080p30/1080p60
PAL 576i/720p/1080i/1080p25/1080p30/1080p50
- Output port can be usable for both real-time decode monitoring or just pass-thru.
- Output port can be usable for from 1 input to 2 output simillar as HDMI 1:2 splitter.
- It can be record 2 signal of 1080p60 simultaneously. The recording for individual resolution (i.e. input 1 720p, input 2 1080p60) are also possible.
- Directshow is not available.
- Linux SDK available.
- Automatically HDCP stripped, when the HDCP signal was into the input, the pass-through signal from output has been also stripped.


Micomsoft SC-500N1/DVI (SC500)
- Perfect solution for retro console, arcade PCB, NEC PC-9801
- Support non-standard resolution for arcade JAMMA PCB (XSYNC-1 or Syncstrike needed).
- Officially, the maximum input resolution is 1440x900p.
- According to Q/A by micomsoft, 1080p30 is only for XBOX360 via DSUB.
- HDCP stripper needed.
- Same as Startech PEXHDCAP.
- less than 1fps ~ 2fps input delay.


Micomsoft SC-512N1-L/DVI (SC512)
SHUT UP AND BUY THIS.
It support most of resolutions rather than others (from 240p to 1080p60, include non-standard of arcade JAMMA PCB).
- Completely same functional as SC-500N1/DVI, but this card is just extended for Full HD 1080p60.
- Pass-through port is available.
- Disadvantage : Expensive


Skydigital HD6 express X (HD6EX)
- Sucks.
- 2~4fps input delay.
- Good for HDTV(ATSC) capturing.
- Sometimes unstable.
- Don't buy this.


Skydigital SKYHD Capture X (CaptureX)
- Not bad.
- 2~3fps input delay.
- Ordinary for standard.
- HDCP can be stripped by trick.
- Wide support of input (composite, S-video, component, DVI/HDMI)
- SPDIF input


Skydigital SKYTV HD RED (RED)
- Good for HDTV(ATSC) capturing.
- Simply capture for retro game, VCR
- HD capturing for AUX input is not possible (480i only)
- Cheap.
- Well captured for arcade PCB "Ketsui(ケツイ) by CAVE" via composite/S-video with XAV-2s.

Timeleak HD72B (HD72B)
- Not good. Some pixels (approximately 4~6px) where the edge of the left/right screen has been force-cropped. This is only affect for preview/capture, NOT affected through pass-through output port.
- Automatically HDCP stripped, when the HDCP signal was into the input, the pass-through signal from output has been also stripped like HDC-302E mentioned above.
- When the pass-thru HDMI signal has displayed other devices (monitor, capture device), the force-cropped screen which is mentioned above has been recovered that checked by SC-512N1-L/DVI.
- Pass-through port is available.
- 2~3fps input delay.
- Cheap.
- Available resolution
NTSC 480i/480p/720p/1080i/1080p24
PAL 576i/576p/720p/1080i/1080p25


*** Example about "force-cropped" issue
 Unfortunately, I lost raw screenshot file by HD72B instead I attached resized screenshot.
Found original 1280x720 image, reuploaded.
Source : Playstation 3 dashboard, 1280x720p 60fps
Capture : Timeleak HD72B, 1280x720p 60fps with passthrough to Micomsoft SC-512N1-L/DVI that checking for cropped area.
 Figure 1. Bypassed signal has perfectly captured by SC-512N1-L/DVI, HDCP stripped by HD72B.
Figure 2. The screenshot image of Playstation 3 dashboard captured by Timeleak HD72B as HDMI signal without HDCP-stripper. The screen of left and right side has cropped approximately 4~6px from original screen, confirmed by bypass and used other card. Bypassed signal has perfectly captured by another capture card (SC-512N1-L/DVI). In addition, the screen has shifted about 2px to left from rather than perfectly-captured image. Note that image has resized from 1280x720 to 1024x576. Reupload 1280x720 original size image.


Some of peoples came from thread which is talking about capture card, thank you for visit. Many people want to use the internal capture devices, which is using PCI-E slot, that are relativily stable than external USB devices. I know about micomsoft XCAPTURE-1, blackmagic Intensity Extream, avermedia extreamcap U3. Especially both XCAPTURE-1 and extreamcap U3 are using USB 3.0 port that are unstable when it connect into USB port, which is controlled by low quality cheap. If you use these ones, you should to check your USB controller in motherboard, the capture device vendors recommended "Intel" and "Renesas" USB 3.0 controller.


One more thing, I have no experience about new 1080p60f internal capture card, skydigital supercast X6, which is using PCI-E 4x(actually 2x bandwidth) from Korea. This one unofficially support HDCP-stripping function as once skydigital did :). To striping HDCP, find 3 keys of "HDCP" keyword in registry editor then modify the value from 0 to 1. But I don't recommend of this one,  it's very unstable in certain system and has many of bugs in firmware/driver, still has many problems. (checked 2014/08/08) Some few reviewer saying "normally functional", but many people saying "have some compatibility problem in my PC". I have experience of some devices by this vendor, always feel fucking unstable.

(2015/6/12 added)
Found from other review, when the card is in 4x slot, it should be checked first motherboard has included PLX switch for pci express slot. If so then fine or unstable.

For 16x slot, it seems like fine in this state (using lastest driver).

Conclusion
Please don't buy skydigital devices. It's sucks.