Hi all ,
i'm totally new to Vmix , and even new to pc world .
that's why i'm quite unsure , if the PC (and its pcie/usb3 cards) i'm going to build , should be ok .
thanks in advance for your help .

We 're a small team (2 guies) , trying to get a solid set-up , that would run 3 days on a big event (retro-gaming oriented) .
No fails allowed , we'll be streaming on the web , displaying on a 10mx6m big screen on stage , and provide content to some other streamers ,
all at the same time , from the same PC .
(well , streaming will be achieved on an other PC , that will also record in local)


We want to get rid of hiring Blackmagic ATEM , converters , ... to produce our content ,
and buy a replacement system .
We , sure , will save money , doing so .


The PC would consist in :
#MotherBoard : Gigabyte GA-Z97X-GAMING GT (+ SSD + 32Gb Ram )
#processor : Intel Core i7-4790K (4.0 GHz)
#GPU : MSI GeForce GTX 980 TI GAMING 6G
#video capture :
☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠ EDIT : DON'T BUY OR USE THE XCAPTURE FROM MICOMSOFT ITS DRIVER WILL MESS YOUR CPU !!!!!!!! ☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠
----Micomsoft xcapture USB3
( http://sixfortyfive.com/streaming/xcapture1.html )
this capture card is perfect for retrogaming (arcade , old consoles , ...) already tested , i know it works very good .
it will be tested this week-end with Vmix (on an older pc on which we were using Xsplit , flawlessly working ...)
☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠ EDIT : DON'T BUY OR USE THE XCAPTURE FROM MICOMSOFT ITS DRIVER WILL MESS YOUR CPU !!!!!!!! ☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠
---Micomsoft xcapture PCIE
( just the same as the USB3 , but on internal pcie slot )
☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠ EDIT : DON'T BUY OR USE THE XCAPTURE FROM MICOMSOFT ITS DRIVER WILL MESS YOUR CPU !!!!!!!! ☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠
----BlackMagic Declink quad 2
it will capture the 4 cameras , and it would have 4 outputs available ( as "external " in Vmix , so 2 outs maximum , that's right ? )
We would like it to be configured as a 5 inputs , 3 outputs capture card .


So , we would like to capture videogames on the Xcapture cards (have you seen the red advices ?) .
One of the 2 would have to always capture a videostream that we would need to be output on one of the decklink quad's outputs .
This would have to be permanent (this stream comes from arcades , we have to rescale it to standard 1080p/24,97fps , and send it to other streamers , next to us ,
but who can't get the raw signal of these arcades in their laptops ( we experienced this several times , always ended using an expensive scaler just for them ) .


We would , at the same time , have to mix the 4 cameras (decklink inputs) , with the other Xcapture card 's input (consoles,computers,...)
in order to produce our main content , the one we will be streaming .

We want to use 4 monitors ( 1 preview of all the inputs , 1 program view , 1 desktop view(Vmix software) , 1 spare monitor for various desktop tasks )
these monitors would come out from the GTX980 .

eventually , we would use 1 other output from the decklink 's available outputs ,
to output one of the inputs , straight .



I hope i' m quite clear on our intentions .

What do you think ?
Does all this seem to be possible ?

one other PC newbie question .
Do you think we also could use (if needed) , the video outputs of the motherboard ,
or will it be unavailable , as we'll be using the GTX980 ?


So ,
hi everybody , thanks for your remarks .

Matthieu

Hello,

Quite a good plan.

I would use Magewell Capture devices rather than BM, because I love Magewell, trust them and they have inbuilt scaling so can pretty much handle most oddball video resolutions I've encountered (never captured games) and make them conform to what you want :)

If you must use a BM Card for a "straight" out, I guess that has merit. I never send "out" anything but video cards in my adventures so far.

The XCapture might be great never used one looks to be pretty good at game capture from the info you posted.

CPU is good, Motherboard is nice, but I would see if you could get one with thunderbolt 2 ports as well. You may not need them today. Tomorrow you want to move a large file REALLY fast, or get some 4K external capture device into your computer you might well use them for further expansion.

Not a fan of MSI video cards, but hey it's a GTX 980 and that's the main thing. I tend to use a Gigabyte Card with a Gigabyte motherboard "if not too difficult". Using the assumption that it would be better tested. I also try and use Asus Nvidia Cards with Asus motherboards. So call me crazy, but seems to work out for me in the long run. Price is usually not much different. I don't like MSI because I've had bad experiences with them be it 10 years ago so maybe they are better now.

Most of the above are just my opinions take them or leave them. I have reasons, but reasons I have based on my experiences and needs. Plus good luck with hardware x over y can also be a factor :)

I use 3 hdmi to sdi and one sdi to hdmi
Like this one http://www.amazon.fr/Por...-3&keywords=Sdi+hdmi
No problems. All are working fine.
My colleague bought 5 of them and 1 broke after 3 weeks. But it's so cheap you can buy 1 or 2 more then you need :)

Hi Jhebbel ,

i really think that the eyefinity seems to be a really good option .
so we wouldn't need SDI/HDMI converters , as all our cameras will output SDI .
and as , out of the PC , we only have to provide HDMI based streams .

I think you're wrong about the CAT5 extenders .
I have been using a lot of them (Krammer , Geffen ,Atlona , cheap ones , over 2 CAT5 cables , or just one )
they are not simple connector adapters (that's why at least one ot them , receiver or sender , always need a power supply , when not both ) .
if it was the case , we could use cheap hdmi cables , along , let's say , 20 or 30 meters .
it's not the case , it has to be strong , expensive , cables , in order to go these distances (and i definitely prefer this solution , we rent them ) .
i have opened several extenders , they always have chipsets , some electronics inside .

our video gear provider (big beamer , led walls , ...) is loaded with a big amount of BM converters ,
i think the solution will be to rent them if needed , that cost will be drowned in the rest of the bill .
As we can't really risk anything , i think i will rely on "professional" ones , as you suggest .

but i sure will give a try , in other situations , to the cheaper ones .


Thanks again , everybody ,

Matthieu

Another technology for sending HDMI over Distance, which I found to be completely reliable is HDBaseT. It's different for a normal extender and yes a little more expensive for sure.

I have 4 sets of these:

https://www.adigitalife....ry=hdbaset&results=4

Was lucky enough because the company is local, he said if I was not 100% satisfied he would take them back. I wouldn't give them back and bought 3 more :) So these are my go to long distance HDMI to HDMI device.

I first saw HDBaseT on the back of a huge Hitachi Projector we use. Wanted to try it and when I saw them yes indeed I just needed the sender Unit and the projector would "receive" no problem.

This was on a 80m cable run, not new cable or special just cat5e and no issues for about 1-2 years now.

Long distances SDI is great, you can also find boosters and amplifiers for over 100m runs on SDI without too much issue. Look for security stuff, it's cheaper and well works just fine. If it says it does 1080p60 (3GSDI) on the specs that is a great place to start. I don't trust anything until I have tested it. I test them for days in my office between events with a large roll of cable and putting joiners and things in the middle to try and stuff it up so I see what it can REALLY do.

I've been buying SDI Cameras and SDI Capture devices recently, then no need for a converter and the best way to do. The converters however really helped in the transition to SDI and still help because although I much prefer SDI sources it's not always an option.

I have tight budgets and well SDI was beyond the budget, but since security industry have really been using 3G SDI more often, there have been more products available at reasonable prices.

Now when I say "reliable" I stream 8+ hours per day for 2-3 weeks. I don't like sparkles, frame drops and headaches where it worked yesterday and then stopped overnight. I have another 8+ hours of work so REALLY hate stuffing around with cables because something is not quite right :)

My environment has a lot of dust from the stables, isn't indoor, but is undercover and is also surrounded by salt water. So pretty harsh really :) I'm not a guru, just someone who has spent numerous hours finding what worked for me. Maybe in a nicer environment the results would be different.

When using Cat5e on long runs exposed to the elements (and pests), try and go for the more expensive flooded shielded cat5e also called gel filled or direct burial. If indoors and not a harsh environment most normal cat5e is ok. For SDI, mostly using RG 59 Quad-Shielded Cable or RG6 have not seen much difference between the two, but heaps of debate on the internet which is better.

The SDI cable is really tough already :) Guess that is why security camera industry uses it.

I have a older BM card that has monitor out functionality, and the output never shows in windows as an actual display, it only shows in software specifically designed to work with the BM card like Adobe Premiere Pro and Sony Vegas Pro, again I had an older card though so not sure if this still holds true. Encoding on the same PC as you are using to run vMix from shouldnt be an issue with any modern computer, especially one with an i7. True you wouldn't be able to dump it off on the GPU if you got an AMD/ATI card (for now, this may change as the feature is still beta), but with an i7 it's not that big of an issue anyway. I have a quad core early version i5 and I can encode 1080p youtube, 720p ustream, and record 1080p local with no issues without offloading encoding to the GPU. Also if you want a rock solid setup i'd hold off on enabling the GPU encoding anyway, my understanding is it is still early in its development phase and not 100% reliable yet.

USB webcams are usually CPU hungry.

At 1080p/60 absolutely! If you really need 60fps I would look into using a separate h.264 encoder or go with all HDMI/HD-SDI video sources. I think 920 webcams support onboard h.264, try using that in the video source when adding the webcam input.

1080p/60 is completely logical for capturing game streams, but why do you need your webcams to run at 1080p/60? also did you try using the h.264 format for the webcams?

Why does it have to be SDI? Would HDMI not suit your needs? And PCI is a fairly old interface, not much bandwidth to work with there which may be why its hard to find such a card.