- An HDMI capture card can be one of the most useful tools
to have as part of your setup,
but there are so many different options
that it can be kind of confusing
to decide which one to choose.
Two of the most popular ones
being the Blackmagic ATEM Mini and the Elgato Cam Link.
So today I'll ATEMpt to see
if I "cam link" their features together
in a way that helps you decide
which one's the best for you.
(that joke was terrible)
At their core, both of these options are HDMI capture cards
and what that means is they're going to take an HDMI source
and let you capture it and put it into your computer.
So that way you could use it for recording or streaming,
you can put it into a program like Ecamm Live or OBS
or any number of other things.
Both of these are also full-sized HDMI,
so that means whether it's a camera, a console, a computer,
you can have a full-sized HDMI input.
If the source that you're using
does not have a full-size HDMI output
like some cameras have micro HDMI or mini HDMI,
you can always use an adapter or a specialty cable
to convert from that HDMI source to a full-size HDMI.
The biggest difference in terms of image quality
is that all of the ATEMs
no matter which model you choose are limited to 1080P,
whereas the Cam Link 4K,
believe it or not...is 4K. 🤯 (or up to 4K)
You can use a 1080 or even less signal with it,
but it can go all the way up to 4K
and the other big difference
is that you plug your HDMI input to the Cam Link
and then you connect it to the USB port on your computer.
It's a USB type-A connector,
but if your computer has a USB-C port,
you can just use it with an adaptor or a hub
and it works great.
The ATEM Mini on the other hand
does require an external power source
and then its biggest benefit or advantage over the Cam Link
is that not only does it take four inputs,
but then it's a physical switcher
to let you switch between them.
I've done reviews on both of these
and in my review of the ATEM Mini,
I talked about what a big deal it is
to have a four-source switcher at this price
and if you don't know the whole history on that,
definitely check out that video
because it maybe gives you some perspective
on why these are absolutely amazing. (I worked really hard on that video...)
The base model ATEM Mini
has a manufacturer's suggested retail price of $295,
whereas the Cam Link
has a manufacturer's suggested retail price, MSRP, of $130.
So there is a bit of a price difference,
but both of them are relatively affordable.
Now, there are a whole bunch of different flavors of ATEMs
that you can choose from.
There's the ATEM Mini,
the absolute base model which is what this is.
This one just lets you switch video sources.
You can do some transitions and some picture-in-picture,
but nothing too advanced.
It doesn't have multi-view output or anything like that.
That's the $295 version.
The ATEM Mini Pro, which looks just like this,
but also gives you multi-view output
is probably the best bang for your buck
because they recently reduced the price
and now the MSRP on that is $495.
I bought this one personally
because I didn't need multi-view output.
I just needed to switch between sources
for some online classes that I was teaching,
but if you want to be able to see everything all at once,
all of the inputs running into your ATEM,
then getting the pro or above will be really helpful.
There's also the ISO models
and then the ATEM Extreme models
which add eight inputs instead of four
and I have the ATM Extreme ISO right here.
That's what I usually run things into.
The ISO models will not only give you multi-view output
and have the ability to stream
directly from the device itself,
but they also have the ability to record
independent tracks to a hard drive
and output a DaVinci Resolve file.
So after you've done everything
and you've done all your switching,
you already have a project file
that you can open up in DaVinci Resolve
and then continue to edit or adjust if you need to
and the ATEM Mini Extreme ISO has an MSRP of $1,499.
So all the way from basically $300 to $1500, 💸
that is a wide gap, but at their core,
all of them will take multiple HDMI inputs
and all of them will let you physically switch
between those inputs.
But the Cam Link basically just lets you
put your signal into your computer
and then you do what you will with it when it's in there.
If you want more than one source,
there is a "Cam Link Pro" which has four inputs,
but it is like a capture card
that needs to be installed in your computer.
It'll work great with a PC.
If you're on a Mac, then you would need to build
some sort of little external enclosure
which isn't super difficult,
but you would have to run power into it,
have an external enclosure
that would then connect to your computer
so that way you can run all four inputs,
but then you would have four 4K inputs,
which does not actually add up to 16K, it's still 4K,
but that's oh-k.
And while the basic Cam Link has an MSRP of $130,
the Cam Link Pro has an MSRP of, I wrote it down, $359.
So that is more expensive than the basic ATEM Mini
and it's coming up kind of close-ish
to the price of the ATEM Mini Pro.
So a lot of the decision
comes down to whether or not you have more than one source
because if you have one source,
then the Cam Link really just makes sense.
It's the easiest simplest way to go.
If you have more than one source
then that's where the ATEM Mini
starts to make a lot more sense,
but then of course, you're limited to 1080
which is fine for me.
When I'm doing streaming and stuff like that,
I don't mind being limited to 1080,
but if you want to stream in 4K
or if you want to record directly to your computer,
like connect something to Ecamm Live
and recorded directly in there
with no record limits or anything
and you want it to be in 4K,
then that's where you're going to need a Cam Link
and not an ATEM.
But it's not too difficult
to work with multiple sources using a Cam Link.
You can actually connect multiple Cam Links to your computer
if you have enough USB ports for it.
So if you want two or three sources,
you could get two or three Cam Links and connect them
and then those will show up in each Ecamm Live, OBS
or whatever software you're using as individual sources.
You could program hotkeys on your keyboard
to switch between the sources
or you could set up something like the Stream Deck
to switch between your sources
and then you would still have the physical buttons.
Personally, I find the physical buttons
to be incredibly helpful.
One of my favorite things about the ATEM Mini
is that you've just got these big buttons here.
The active one is bright red
and you can see it out of the corner of your vision
and if you just need to switch stuff,
you don't even need to take your eyes the screen
to just sort of feel what you're switching to
and switch between angles if you wanted to.
So the Stream Deck would let you do a version of that
using the Cam Link which is pretty neat
and then having each of your sources
show up as a separate source in your software
is also pretty cool too
because even though you have four sources
or possibly eight sources going into an ATEM Mini,
it will show up only as one device
because this connects via USB-C to your computer
and your computer sees the entire ATEM.
No matter how much you have connected to it,
even if you have one ATEM
connected into another, into another,
your computer's going to see the whole thing
as one webcam video source.
The ATEM also does come with some pretty cool software
that lets you adjust some of the features and settings,
but also is basically a virtual ATEM
and then you can even expand on some features
and create some macro automations.
So if there's certain sequences
that you want to run all the time,
you can just program those in using the software
which is really neat.
You can add in an audio delay because a lot of times
when you connect a video capture card
and you have an audio source,
the two go out of sync during your stream and that's normal.
So sometimes you need to add an audio delay
which will then let them catch up and then match
and you can do that in OBS,
you can do that in Ecamm Live,
but if you're not using any of those programs,
you can also do it directly from the Blackmagic software.
The Cam Link doesn't really come with anything like that.
You just use it with whatever application
that you're using for your streaming and your recording.
Now, there are a couple of other key differences too.
One, the Cam Link is silent.
It is basically just like a USB flash drive.
It doesn't make any sounds.
It doesn't have a fan in it.
The ATEM Mini does have a fan in it
which tends to be pretty quiet,
but every once in a while,
especially on my ATEM Mini Extreme,
the fan will just kick in and it is super loud. (I'm not a fan of it)
The smaller ATEM has not really been an issue
with fan noise.
The fan hasn't gotten loud right now in the big ATEM,
but if it happens too while I'm recording,
you'll definitely hear it.
UPDATE: The fans in the ATEM extreme
came on while I was filming B-roll
so maybe you can hear it.
(fan humming annoyingly but it doesn't care)
It's pretty loud. And another big difference,
which could be a deal breaker
is actually what kind of frame rates
work best with each of these.
The ATEM works with anything,
but it really seems to prefer a 30fps.
So when you're doing your recording or your stream,
if you keep your camera at 30fps,
it's going to look it's smoothest.
If you put it at like 24 or 60 or something,
sometimes you get a little bit of stuttering and weirdness.
The Cam Link, in addition to being 4K,
seems to really just accept
whatever frame rate you throw at it.
I think technically it's rated for 60 frames per second,
but if you throw in 24 frames, 30 frames, 60, whatever,
it handles it just fine
and it looks really smooth.
There are a lot of advantages to the more affordable
and simpler Cam Link, that's also a higher resolution
and more compatible with other frame rates.
However, if you need multiple sources
and simple hardware switching,
no matter how great this is,
it just doesn't give you those features.
And for me and my workflow,
being able to this has been kind of magical
because I don't want to have multiple Cam Link connected.
Now, you probably will find other capture cards
that look a lot like the Cam Link
and they are a lot cheaper,
but you get what you pay for.
If you save money, you will pay for it in frustration.
So if you want something like this,
just get the actual Cam Link
that's going to work really, really well.
There are also other HDMI switchers out there
and some of them seem to get decent reviews
and some of them don't.
However, if you want 4K, then the Cam Link is the way to go
and if you want multiple 4K sources,
you'll just need more than one Cam Link
or you'll need to figure out a way to use the Cam Link Pro.
If you don't need 4K and you want multiple sources
and easy physical hardware switching,
that's when the ATEM Mini comes into play.
But you can't go wrong with either of these
and if you're someone who streams a lot
or captures a video a lot,
having at least one Cam Link
kind of floating around in your setup is really helpful
or keeping it in your bag or something.
These can be total life savers.
So while there are quite a few differences
between these two,
which one is better is really going to come down
to your individual workflow.
I can say after having used both of them
for a long time now that I really like them both.
They both offer some super cool functionality
and it just depends on what you need.
Speaking of things that I really like,
thank you to everyone who helps support my channel
through Patreon and YouTube Channel Memberships.
I appreciate you very much!
And if you want know more about either of these things,
be sure to check out my Cam Link review and my ATEM review
and I'll see you over in one of those videos.
(Buck out.)