I’m trying to do some virtual production and mixed reality stuff in Unreal using live cameras and I’m having a LOT of problems with capture cards…Any help would be appreciated. I’ve tried all of these using Sony A7R DSLR, Sony FDR-x1000v action cam and gopro hero 4. I’m trying to bring in 1920x1080p60 (59.94) video by HDMI
Blackmagic Intensity Pro 4k – This card seems buggy. Even with their own capture software I either get no video or video with dropouts (horizontal black bars)
Magewell Capture Pro (4 input PCI card) – When I open up the media object in unreal I see 2 tracks and over 300 formats, but nothing seems to have any video. Card works fine outside unreal.
Avermedia Live Gamer 4k GC573 – Open fails in unreal, works ok in other programs.
Logitec c920 webcam – only one that works, but I need a 60hz camera and this is 30 only.
Has anyone had any luck with any of these cards and GoPro cameras? Are the Aja cards any better?
Honestly I’m getting to the hair-tearing point with this.
I have an Elgato CamLink 4k coming tomorrow.
Any ideas on how to get the Magewell or Avermedia cards I have to work with unreal?
You’re probably being caught by hardware DRM - the problem may well be that you’re using HDMI or Displayport which is usually protected by HDCP. I can’t suggest a workaround directly since I’m unfamiliar with the hardware you’re using, but it should be possible to get around it;
ambershee–thanks for the suggestion, but I don’t think hardware DRM is the issue here.
None of the cameras I’m using have any DRM, and I’ve been able to capture video using the app supplied by each manufacturer. So the video is there and getting in to the computer, I just can’t get to it in Unreal for some reason.
Sorry I missed this. Since my last post I have an AJA Kona HDMI card which works fine. The unreal plugin for it currently has some bugs with more than one 4k stream (it should do 2) but they are looking at that problem.
The problem here is simply drivers. It appears that anything that shows up on your PC as a webcam (ie: in the “camera” app) should work with Unreal. If your card does NOT show up like a webcam (AJA and BlackMagic cards) then you need an unreal plugin that supports it. If you have an AJA or Blackmagic card, check the compatibility list for the plugin on the unreal marketplace. If your card is not listed it might still work but probably not.
One other trick which is ugly, if there is an OBS plugin for your card I think OBS can make it’s output appear like a webcam which Unreal should be able to see.
I haven’t been able to find anything else as cheap as the Elgato Camlink 4k. I think that any USB capture device that says it lets you use your DSLR with “video conference” applications or “as a webcam” will probably work. There are a fair number of these out there but most are in the $300 price range. The Elgato was $99 but since Coronavirus hit the price has jumped to $130-150 and they are pretty much out of stock everywhere.
Also fairly recently Canon and Fuji have released software for their DSLRs that let you use them as webcams.
