Finally an affordable USB webcam to HDMI converter.
Hi, I'm Aaron Parecki.
I've been looking for a good way to get USB webcams to work with the ATEM Mini and other video switchers for quite a while.
Earlier in January this year, I made a video about one box that can do this, but at $360, it's not exactly an affordable option since you're likely going to be using this with
webcams that cost less than that.
But part of the reason that device is so expensive is that it can actually do a bunch of other things, too.
And that also made it kind of complicated to set up.
It was actually basically a whole tiny Linux computer with special software in it for video processing.
But ever since I made that video, I've been hoping that somebody will make a dedicated device just for converting USB webcams to HDMI without any of the other features and
without any options to configure.
I just want to be able to plug in a webcam in one side and get HDMI video out the other.
Well, I'm happy to say that the day has finally come.
This little box is the OBSBOT UVC to HDMI adapter.
Before we get any further, I do have to mention that I didn't actually buy this myself.
I sent this to me to share with you on this channel.
However, they don't get any input into the video and they don't get to review it before I post it.
If you would like to know more about how I work with brands, you can read my ethics statement at aaronpk.tv/ethics.
And if you're thinking about buying one of these yourself, please use my affiliate link in the description below.
It's an easy way to help support this channel and it doesn't cost you any extra.
So back to this, this is the OBSBOT UVC to HDMI converter.
On this side it has a USB-C port for power, a USB-A port and second USB-C port for webcams.
On the other side is the HDMI out that you connect to the ATEM Mini or other video switcher.
On the bottom, it says "powered by RGBlink" and that's because RGBlink is the actual manufacturer of this and OBSBOT just sells it under their brand.
You can actually also find the RGBlink version under the name TAO 1tiny or on the threesheep store on Amazon.
The devices look physically identical, but I don't know if there's any customization OBSBOT has done to their version of it.
I will of course leave links to all of these in the description below.
So let's give this a try.
This works pretty much exactly like you would expect.
Connect the HDMI to the ATEM Mini, connect a USB webcam to either the USB-A or USB-C, power it up, and within a few seconds you will see the picture on the
ATEM. It really doesn't get any simpler than that.
There is no setup, there's no buttons, there's no switches, you just power it on and it works.
But there were a couple of things I noticed that are worth pointing out.
When you first power it on.
It takes a couple of seconds to boot up and it shows the OBSBOT logo while it's starting up.
After that, when you connect a USB webcam, it will actually show up quicker since the device is already powered on.
One other quick note about power.
It appears you need to power it with 5 volts USB-C, and it doesn't work with USB power delivery chargers that you would use with a laptop.
And one other thing to note is that sometimes it doesn't like it if you change USB cameras while it's powered on.
If you plug in a camera and don't see a picture, try just turning off the whole thing, plug in the power after the camera is already connected.
But let's take a look at how this works with a few different webcams.
You might also be familiar with OBSBOT for their AI PTZ cameras.
I've shown how you can use the OBSBOT camera with a YoloBox before, and they now also have a new 4K version too, so it makes sense that they would want to sell a USB webcam to
HDMI converter. That way you can use these cameras with HDMI video gear too.
But one really neat thing about the PTZ cameras is that they also sell a wireless remote that can then also control them.
Normally you would have to install the special software on your computer to use the remote, but you can actually just plug this little dongle that comes with the remote into
the USB-A port of the converter.
And now the remote can also control the camera.
So that makes it pretty much the easiest tiny remote control PTZ camera.
And now you can use it with HDMI switchers too.
I also wanted to test this with a few other USB webcams to see how it works.
The good news is that it works with nearly every webcam I tried.
There were only a couple it didn't work with.
Of course, there's the classic Logitech c920 or c930, a decent quality webcam, although it doesn't really have any special features.
Weirdly, this one didn't work, but that's fine because there's basically no point in using it with a HDMI switcher anyway.
But onto the fun stuff, there's also the Insta360 Link, that's Insta360's PTZ camera, which is clearly going for a similar feature set as the OBSBOT PTZ camera, but the
Insta360 one doesn't have a remote control.
You can also use the Insta360 One x2 connected with a USB-C cable.
You don't get a 360 picture of course, but you do get this kind of split mode which could be useful as a camera for a meeting room, I guess.
There's also this much cheaper j5create 360 webcam, which has a few different modes.
It has a full width skinny 360 view, the split 360 like we saw earlier, It also has what they call "host view" where it puts the full 360 on top, but then a close up
cropped in on just one person.
Then of course, there's other totally different kinds of USB webcams too, like this little foldable document camera for sharing your handwritten notes or whiteboard drawings
on a livestream. You can use this USB microscope to zoom in and show a nice close up of your electronics projects.
All of these work great with the OBSBOT converter.
There is nothing to install, there is no setup and the ATEM Mini just sees a regular HDMI feed.
If you're interested in picking up one of these yourself, please do use my affiliate link in the description below.
That is an easy way to help support this channel at no additional cost to you.
As always, thank you so much for watching and I will see you in the next one.