For years, I dreamed of the ultimate streaming setup...
Many cameras, all the angles I could need… Close-up shots, wide shots… overhead shots,
birds eye shots… Multiple cameras, multiple game sources, screen capture… I wanted it ALL.
And now, at long last… it’s finally possible! IT’S ALIVE!
The Elgato Cam Link Pro. Affordable 4-camera 1080p60 or 4k30 multicam
capture and streaming. Is it the solution we’ve been waiting for,
or is it just 4 Cam Links glued together? Find out in this video, stick with me.
I’m EposVox, the stream professor, and I’ve reviewed more capture cards than I can
count on this channel (I gave up counting) - but up until now, I’ve only reviewed one multi-input
capture card. Not because there haven’t been other multiple input capture cards, or even that
I haven’t owned them - but there just haven’t been any that actually do what I need it to.
For a bit of context, there’s currently two other 4 input capture cards on the
market (at least reasonable ones): The BlackMagic Decklink Quad HDMI
and the Magewell Quad Pro Capture HDMI. There’s also the ATEM Mini line of video switchers, but
those do not send all 4 inputs to your computer. The Magewell card is great for retro captures
and specific, full-control scenarios, but only supports up to 1080p and is 900 dollars. The
Decklink Quad capture card SEEMS perfect on the surface - 4 4K60 uncompressed 10-bit inputs ready
to capture in full quality for under $600. At the time it was the most affordable option.
But it requires 8 PCIe lanes, and seems to have frame drop quirks with Threadripper 3000
that they’ve known about since July 2020. I own two, but they haven’t quite done
what I needed without causing frustration. So here enters Elgato with the Cam Link Pro:
4 HDMI inputs that can do up to 4k30 - including 1080p60 and 1440p60 - using only a PCIe x4 slot -
for cheaper than the single input 4k60 Pro originally cost at just $350?! Sign me up.
You can, obviously, use multiple capture cards in a system - though if you go USB you quickly
run into USB chipset limitations, bandwidth issues, and so on - but having a bunch of
inputs running through a single card definitely lends itself to more stability and reliability.
Especially given the USB Cam Link’s proclivity towards showing a black screen all the time,
something still plaguing the ones I have, PCIe capture cards are just… better.
The Cam Link Pro answers your multi-input needs as well as stability desires,
assuming you’re on a desktop. Plus, it’s great for video calling too - as I’ll cover in a bit.
It supports 720p, 1080i, 1440p and 1080p up to 60fps, and then 4K at 30fps. Unfortunately,
that’s not just capturing 30hz, it only supports a 30hz input signal at all at 4K,
so even splitting off 4k60 inputs won’t work unless you have something like a HDMI Matrix with
a scaler in it or the HDFury DIVA to downconver to 1080p60 from 4k60 for the capture card input.
YUY2 4:2:2 chroma subsampling at 1080p is great, but I am disappointed that 4K
is only captured at 4:2:0 chroma subsampling via NV12. This is due to bandwidth limitations
which as me asking the question I’ve seen in countless comments on my videos at this point:
Why are we still using PCIe 2.0 in 2021? PCIe 3.0 x4 would theoretically
be enough bandwidth for 4k30 across 4 inputs at 4:2:2. Maybe even 4:4:4.
Had they made 4:4:4 RGB work at 1080p and lower, this would have been a killer alternative to
the Magewell Quad Capture HDMI for some of my retro capture work, as well.
While this is obviously catered toward camera capture - it is called the CAM Link Pro - it can
be used for other captures, too! So if you’re splitting off a bunch of computers, tablets,
or game consoles at 1440p60 or lower, this would be an incredibly valuable tool to get everything
mixed and captured properly. Or even one PC or console input with other cameras, multiple PC
inputs for various presentations and graphics - the possibilities are fairly endless here.
For me, I immediately knew what I wanted to do, and went to work connecting more cameras to
my main desk setup. I’m starting to run out of cameras, but I have more angles I want to use.
My primary desk setup now consists of my a-cam, the Sony A7c on a teleprompter setup which I
will cover more in a later video and a Panasonic G7 mounted overhead from a shelf via an Impact
super clamp and magic arm. This gives me a great talking head angle along with an overhead shot
for the various macro pads and control surfaces I plan to connect to my editing rig. I’m adding
a second overhead cam for my gaming PC side and Elgato’s green screen mouse mat soon,
as well as a second facecam for that side - I’m just waiting on the mounting hardware to arrive.
Meanwhile over in the gaming corner, things get wild.
On top of the USB cameras I have connected, I have a 4-camera multicam setup with two A6400s - one as
my primary face angle, one over on the far right which gives a nicer view into the rest of the
game room for when I’m organizing, picking games from the shelf, or bringing in a large package.
Then I’ve got a Panasonic G7 with a wide-angle view over on the left
side for another up-close face option that puts the rest of the studio in the backdrop.
Finally overhead I have another Panasonic G7 mounted zoomed in at the desk top for
unboxings and my Pokemon TCG opening streams I do on Twitch and my Holo Quest YouTube channel.
The cool thing is, that for OBS at least, you can mix in USB webcams and phones connected
via NDI or EpocCam or your preferred app, for additional angles to your stream easy!
The game corner rig runs these cameras from the BlackMagic DeckLink Quad HDMI capture
card - but I’m switching this to another Cam Link Pro as soon as they go on sale (which
should be when this video goes live). Firstly, for the weird frame drop issues I mentioned
already with this card. Viewers don’t seem to say anything about it, but it drives me NUTS!
But there’s a second reason I want to utilize the Cam Link Pro here, and that’s
for its video switching capabilities. These enhance your streams and even
your Zoom calls or other video calls way more than just having different inputs.
Combine that with the new transition capabilities
of OBS Studio v27 and you can have an incredibly powerful stream pretty easily.
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You see, Elgato also released a Stream Deck plugin with this card allowing you
to switch between the 4 HDMI inputs or switch to a variety of multi-view configurations on the fly
with the press of a button! The first input device also acts as the “Multiview” device,
so by adding this to OBS or your video calling or streaming app of choice,
you can now change what it displays through the Stream Deck controls.
So I can switch between inputs 1-4, set up a quad view of all 4 inputs at once, a triple view,
side-by side, or even build picture-in-picture layouts to show. You can customize how these split
views are shown in the Stream Deck software with little previews of what is shown, too!
Unfortunately these live previews are not shown on the Stream Deck buttons on the device itself.
The Cam Link Pro doesn’t aim to just be a multi-input capture card, consolidating what is
likely a string of USB devices (for many) into a single card - but it also serves as a rudimentary
replacement for hardware video switchers, too! For most streamers or home presenters, this
probably does a suitable job of replacing video switchers with something far more affordable,
quiet, flexible, etc. But for those hoping it would truly replace one,
you might be left a tad disappointed. Switching inputs, while intuitive,
is a bit clunky in the presentation. Sometimes it will show a quick frame or two of another setup
as it seems to switch to the fullscreen view of the input before going to the next selected
view. So sometimes if you’re switching inputs around you’ll see them bounce around as they get
everything swapped into place. This seems to just be a delay in the actions rather than a bigger
problem - which is something many have taken issue with Elgato’s multi-action macros compared
to doing them in AutoHotKey or similar as well. I guess you could say Elgato software is a bit slow.
You’re also missing additional features from these devices such as a DownStream Keyer for graphics,
chroma keying, and full control over your split layouts. This face and top-down split
I use for Pokemon isn’t possible through the native supported split views, unfortunately.
But that’s fine, because I can still do that in OBS by adding the individual inputs, too!
If this is the kind of thing you need, the BlackMagic ATEM Mini line of devices
is probably more your speed - but they cost a lot more, as well.
I did want to note that the input switching works with basically any app you add the 1st input to.
So even in Zoom calls you can switch angles, show all 4 inputs at once, picture in picture,
etc. to your heart’s content. Go impress your students or podcast guests or something.
While the input switching via Stream Deck may sound self-explanatory
to many, there’s a big reason I want it in my game corner streaming rig:
The ability to switch camera angles without switching scenes in OBS.
I have a lovely multicam layout with a ton of scenes and etc. set up in OBS for my streams,
but sometimes I just want to flip the camera angle while keeping everything else the same. And
really, it’s pretty jarring or immersion-breaking to have to completely switch scenes - transitions
and all - just to change angles. Even if you leave it on cut, your browser sources could reload or
something, it’s just not a smooth experience. With the StreamDeck multi-view, I can just add
one device listing to OBS and sneakily switch angles without changing my scene,
allowing for a much smoother experience overall. Plus, I can still add each input as an
individual device to have my custom split overhead views and etc. It’s just a lot more powerful.
I wanted to note that the multi-view can operate at 4K 60FPS so if you have 4 1080p60 inputs,
you can record all 4 at the same time in full resolution, for splitting up later.
Really, if you want something easy, the corner Picture-in-Picture mode could work great as
a teaching or tutorial setup with screen capture
or powerpoint slides and you have full control to switch between that view, full facecam view,
or full presentation view without any editing. That’s a huge efficiency bonus.
The Cam Link Pro also supports “Multi-App” meaning you can access the capture card’s
video feed in multiple apps at one time. You can record your multi-view in OBS
while streaming a specific angle in Zoom, or record the multi-view in 4K
Capture Utility while streaming with the separate input devices in OBS.
This is becoming a standard feature for capture cards and I absolutely love to see it.
My dream ultimate multi-cam streaming setup is nearly complete. I’m making it a goal to
utilize every webcam, extra phone, and camera inputting to a capture card that I have available,
to capture anything I could possibly imagine. My game
streaming corner will have more than 10 HDMI inputs by time this is done,
not including my main PC and other capture rigs. Things are getting wild.
Product links to the Elgato Cam Link Pro will be in the description. Hit
the like button and subscribe for more tech education and join us on Discord for more
stream guide goodness. I’m EposVox, the stream professor, and I’ll catch you in the next one.