I have a Lenovo Y510p Ideapad with 2 GEforce 750 cards 8GB Ram and a 1TB 7200rpm harddrive. I am capturing video with 2 Magewell USB HDMI boxes.
Watching the video on the screen even in lower resolutions shows a delay and not real time movement. The captured video on playback is better, but I was wondering if there are settings that would allow me hi res real-time previews and playback.

I thought the Laptop would have enough power to do 3 HDMI cameras at good resolution.
Do I need faster cards, HD, more ram?

Hi Martin,
Yes the video does not appear smooth.
I downloaded the Cineform codec to see if that would help, but you are saying I cannot get 3 cameras to record HD in real time?

The application I am using VMix for is to create videos of workshops and lectures to market via DVD and also post online for download.

Given what you know of my equipment what would be the best settings for me to capture the best quality possible without overtaxing the software and the system?

Again, I have 2 Magewell USB boxes, and an audio capture box with the third USB port on the laptop with 2 mics going in directly via a USB audio interface all going into a Lenovo Y510p laptop with 2 fast video cards.

Thanks for the quick reply.
Best
Gary

Hi Gary,

USB 3.0 has a limited amount of bandwidth that varies depending on the laptop.
On most laptops you may be able to plug in only one smoothly, on others two or three.

This is why recommend using thunderbolt for multiple camera inputs on a laptop.
This is usually done by installing Windows on something like a MacBook and using an external thunderbolt case
with a quad SDI capture card. There are some details on our Supported Hardware page.

Regards,

Martin
vMix

I contacted the support for Magewell and their response regarding the slowness of the USB 3.0 boxes is to see if there is a way to open up the buffer in VMix

he writes "Ask VMix if they can open up the buffer in their software, I have seen this with other softwares and once the buffer is opened up things hummm smoothly."

I'm using the CineForm codec and have tweaked the GEForce cards tying them together and accelerating them as much as I can.
It's better, smooth image, but a very slight delay still.

Thanks again for bearing with me on this.
I look forward to seeing if the above is possible.

Gary

Thanks Stefan,
The Lenovo has 2 separate USB 3.0 ports plus one USB 2.0 port I am using for audio so as not to tax the Magewell USB HDMI box.
I feel confident, the Lenovo y510p meets the requirements for a recommended system other than an SSD drive.

I've done a test with one camera on one port and same result. Other than the very slight slowness, the picture and sound are great.
This leads me to believe it is either some setting issue or the limitation of the USB 3.0. Agreed Thunderbolt is slightly better at it than USB 3.0, but from what I've read, USB 3.0 is supposed to able to handle HDMI.

Before I go back to Magewell and find out if those boxes are capable of working with VMix I would like to try working with the settings such as buffer, codecs and settings in VMix and on the GEForce video cards.

My problem is I am not very knowledgeable about video and the settings and terminology. I am a lay person working to get a system working. I am reading what I can about it in the Help file, but was hoping someone else has a similar problem. Or there is someone who would know what to do in terms of tweaking the software.

Admittedly, I don't have expertise in what all the settings mean, so I hope to learn from this forum.
Thank you and Martin for all your help so far.

Gary

Thanks Martin,
If there is a slight delay onscreen but movement is smooth and natural, then maybe I am OK.
I will do another test and post a test to show. I am recording 3 cameras at 1240 x 720 which is fine for my purposes.

I will check the frame rates and make sure they are the same. What is the default for a Panasonic little HD camcorder? 29.5?
I am setting the bit rate to 25 and opening the recording buffer as much as I can.
I will also save to MPEG2 also. AVI is overkill for what I need.

I may have been told by the computer salesman that there were 2 separate USB 3.0 ports on the Lenovo Y510p. It appears that both ports record well and exactly the same. I think Magewell made their product for such a configuration. They are great boxes. Small and so convenient.

Regarding Cineform codec. It looks like I must purchase a GoVideo Premire editor to get the HD license. I am able to test it for 15 days to make sure.
If that is the recommended codec, then I will get it. Any other suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Also Microsoft media player hates files made in Vmix. It often crashes. I am having much more success playing back with VLC player.
It may have been something in Media Player that distorted playback too. I don't know. Have you had any experience with MS Media Player?

In any event, I will do a test and send a link and live with the slight onscreen delay if all else is well.

Thanks,
Here's to a successful test...

I'm glad your issue is solved and your setup sounds great.

Could you, please, share with us your Lenovo y510p specification? What's the CPU, RAM, HDD (SSD?) and Graphic Card there?

Confirm also what Magewells you are using:
- XI104XUSB - http://www.magewell.com/...sb_features.html?lang=en
- XI200XUSB - http://www.magewell.com/...sb_features.html?lang=en

Thanks for sharing. Impressive, powerfull unit.