How The Verge’s Live broadcast resident reporter, I do a lot of broadcasts on my own time, both because it’s fun and because I want to know a little bit about what it’s like for the people I cover. That means I have gained a healthy appreciation for the various pieces of equipment that make transmission possible, because transmission is the opposite of effortless. Things are constantly breaking, and most of the time for no obvious reason. (There, except for the grace of God, come on, etc.) All that said, I discovered that updating my streaming settings is one of the few true pleasures I have left; There’s nothing quite as satisfying as adding a new camera or microphone or chat command that can elevate the viewer’s experience.
It is in that spirit, the spirit of perpetual touch-ups and perpetual updates, that I bring you the best and cheapest equipment I own. It’s an unbranded camera link that sells for between $ 11 (eBay, but be careful with shipping times) and $ 26.99 (Amazon). This device is one of those magical things that is made possible by the confluence of online retail, established manufacturing in China, and a global postal service. It simply could not have existed before.
As a clone of the popular Elgato Cam Link 4K (retailing for $ 129.99), all the device does is convert HDMI to USB, which is conceptually simple but technically more complex. The best of these devices does this conversion very quickly and with high fidelity; The Elgato version even handles 4K resolution. However, due to the pandemic and the legions of people who have joined Twitch and YouTube, branded models have become hard to find, which is where this little knockoff model comes in. My colleague Grayson, a motion designer at The edgeHe warned me one day in early June, after he saw an excellent video review of the device from YouTuber EposVox.
I thought the review was compelling, so I thought I’d give it a try for myself. My friend and fellow streamer MikeAM launched with me; We decided that we would try to update our video streams cheaply, why not? We each buy a GoPro Hero 2018, some micro HDMI to HDMI cables, a non-HDCP HDMI splitter, and of course one of these cards. The difference was instantly apparent. I had been switching between my Logitech C922 and a Panasonic Lumix GH5 (which they lent me to record an evening show on Twitch), and I could immediately see how much clearer the GoPro video was than the C922. (With a splitter, the HDMI converter works like an extremely cheap capture card for a console, although I would personally recommend out-of-pocket for the more complete Elgato HD60 S.) The experiment worked.
Naturally, the star of the show was the capture card. It has many limitations: it can only support 1080p / 60fps input, and its output is maximum at 1080p / 30fps or 720p / 60fps. It also converts the image to MJPEG, which means that colors are sometimes a bit shaky. (I used a filter in OBS to desaturate the image). Sometimes it is delayed too, which is a problem because you can’t really Google how to fix the problem; Actually, there is no manual, and troubleshooting is non-existent. The other thing to remember is that not all of these cheap cards are created equal; If you choose one that’s billed as USB 3.0, or one that looks a little different, that’s a completely different device.
But if you can work within those limitations, the device is a dream. It’s plug ‘n’ play: The card appears on your computer as “USB Video”, and it works anywhere you put a webcam, including Zoom, Discord, OBS, and more. The price is also unbeatable. Lately I’ve been using it with Lumix. It is always a pleasure to plug it in because I know it will work. If you want to see how it looks in action, feel free to follow me on Twitch.
Otherwise, if you have a camera that outputs HDMI and you don’t want (or can’t) afford an Elgato, I’d say pick this little one. It’s a cheap upgrade that has been worth it to me. Go see for yourself.
