This was exactly the video I needed to find. Thank you! Also I absolutely love your color grading and synthwave theme! A friendly correction at 2:53, 1080 60 was definitely not the standard in the early Xbox 360 days. I believe the first 1080 60 capture card was the Elgato HD60 and that thing released nearly a year after the Xbox One/ PS4 (I remember being so jealous of my friends as I was stuck with my 720p HD PVR lol). In the 360's early days, around 2006, we were all stuck using those big ass funny looking 480p CRT TVs and monitors xD. Ohh what a time it was!
I said 1080p60 was all you needed for those consoles, I also listed the PS4 with that :P I’ve been covering capture cards since the beginning, trust me I know lol
@@EposVox I agree with you, but I think you misunderstood my comment. This has nothing to do with 1080p60 being all you needed for PS4, Xbox 360, Wii, etc. I was simply confused when at 2:53 you said that 1080p60 was standard capture during the Xbox 360's early days when we didn't even have 1080p60 capture cards let alone 1080p TVs at home during that time. That's all. I'm not doubting your expertise or anything, just a little confused.
@ “early days” refers to the early days of capture hardware (when those consoles were mainstream) when 1080p60 coming out was impressive, whereas it’s not now Notice I grouped the Xbox 360, PS4, and Switch together, as they are all 1080p outputting hardware, not specifically ever referring to just like… 2006-2009 lol
The themes, coloring, editing... Fantastic job. I totally cow farm mushroomed right back to my 80's teenage years and had to stop the video just to get a better look at the ambiance. Lots of effort and it shows. 👍☕🐢
I know it ain’t much, but it’s honest work LOL. This was so well explained and well made, thank you so much! I have a question, I have an M3 MacBook Pro, and would like to use it as a display for my Xbox Series X/PS5. Will the Elgato 4K X work and display the full resolution at the MacBook’s screen?
Thank you so much for the tip! Yes, you can fullscreen the preview in OBS or maybe Quicktime, though there is added latency compared to a native input on a TV/monitor.
Yes. NV12 would be WAY too much bandwidth for USB lol. That being said, I showed comparisons; I'm not seeing ANY compression artifacts in it, and it's full range 4:4:4 so it's a compelling option
@@EposVox Yes! It's way too much for USB bandwidth that's why this should have been the PCIe version! I'm not a streamer I usually record my gameplay and edit it later, so were you able to import your recordings in Premiere Pro? Is there any issues with this format in editing? I was going to buy it, now I'm re-thinking about it 😅 especially that YT still does not support 120Hz!
The recordings work as any other OBS recording, nothing about this card changes its compatibility. There is no "maximum bitrate" on any modern capture card. They send uncompressed images, so there's no quality to improve in that regard
@@EposVox I usually use Elgato 4K Software, I can adjust the bitrate to 140 mb/s using 4K Pro Mk.2. So I'm not familiar with OBS Studio. So what's the major downside in the different format if it's compatible? Is it color degrading?
Omg I should have watched this video first. I just upgraded to the 240hz monitor and just bought the 4kpro when I should have got the 4kX nooooo. Dnt know what I was thinking as I always come to your page for information for my tech. Great video love the editing and information you give, thanks
I don't know if you made the wrong decision. I have a 240hz monitor and if I want passthrough I need the 4K Pro. It sucks that it records at 1080p 240hz when it is passthrough 4k240hz but I can just upscale it to 4K60
You have done a tremendous amount of work that will benefit many people. It is wonderful! Thanks! Unfortunately, I was not able to find out the latency of the ASUS TUF FHD120 I own, but let's hope someone else can find out.
The 5.1 audio capture is the more interesting news to me. I know it adds more bandwidth, but I really hope they can get that working with the 4K X at a lower resolution.
I love that you always give a review that is in depth, simple, and to the point to help assist with any purchases or thoughts of purchases, keep it up my man!!
Genuine question out of curiosity - why do you want to record in 120? As far as I’m aware, there isn’t any video platform that supports 120hz videos yet… so the only “benefit” I can see (at this current point in time) is to be able to watch your gameplay back in 120hz. But you can’t share it in 120hz anywhere, right?
@@Vaguenificent that’s true! I like that point!! Though that is a very niche use of the 120hz capability. I wish TH-cam would hurry up (we all know they will one day) & add 120hz support. Phones can do 120hz, gaming consoles, tv’s, computers/laptops… we’re all just waiting to be able to watch AND share 120hz content. One day… one day. 🥲
Great review as always. Thanks. And I think AVerMedia lost me... Elgato brought exactly what I wanted for an external card, even with the limitations that a USB capture card has. I just got frustrated with the internal card. Really, they could have gone further. But I've already decided which one I'm going to use now in my setup.
I got the Elgato 4k X and have a had a lot of issues with it because my signal was technically "above" what the capture card could handle (it could still handle it with just a few hiccups here and there tho). Never before this video did I actually even think of just getting a splitter that simply downscales the signal in resolution! That's exactly what I needed to fix all my problems with this capture card! Since I don't stream in 4k 120 and just wanted to play in 4k 120 while capturing it.
Thank you for including the latency to preview and to keep a historic data of it, many outright skip that part. For more casual games I use my HD 60 Pro without passthrough and play it on the 4K Capture Utility instead, couple more generations and we might have a capture card where you might be able to play without noticeable input lag on the Preview.
First off, amazing color grade, colors looking sweet!! Question….What encoder option settings did you use on your Mac ultra? For my M1 Pro Mac, it only plays back smoothly when using ProRes encoder, but then a 1 min clip is 7GB! All other Mac encoders give me overload error, & laggy playback. What gives?
@@EposVox yup, I’ve completed my testing today. 4K60 “streaming”: Only works with x264 with ‘extremely fast’ preset (anything slower leads to overload). For 4k60 “recording”: Only works with ProRes. This combo also works at same time, surprisingly. (ProRes Proxy has smallest file size @ about 8gb per every 3min.) official current OBS.
@@AJCoReTV I feel like there has to be something else funky here; I was able to do 4K60 HEVC recording on my base 8GB M1 Mac Mini I used to have. I was able to hit encoder lag sometimes (still can on the M2 Ultra) but I was still able to do it o_O I can't remember if I tested it w/ gameplay (since we didn't have 4K60 USB cards then) but I recorded a year's worth of tutorials etc., even higher than 4K since I was doing 4K30 cam and 3440x1440p60 screen at the same time.
I was so excited when these were announced, but to learn I'm not able to capture 4K60 HDR whilst playing at 4k120/144 HDR is mind-boggling. In my case, it can't do anything more than what I currently can, so I guess I'll stick with my 4K60S+ for now.
3:45 it makes no sense to me why the hardware for the PCIe card wasn't upgraded, so with the 4K Pro i can passthrough 1440p240 HDR VRR but cannot record 1440p120 4:4:4 HDR VRR? but i can record 1440p120 4:4:4 HDR VRR with the lower priced USB version???? what is this nonsense??? I hate this :/
Scaling the HDMI 2.1 full-spec signals is a complete mess. I bought a $500 HDMI matrix/scaler that was supposed to do this kinda stuff too and wound up being unable to.
@justpetettv DP is currently limited to PCs only so i get why nobody bothers to make a DP capture card, unless made to be sold at stupid prices there is no point in considering making them
Interesting how the 4K Pro didn't receive any upgrades to the capture hardware over the 4k60 pro m2 but the latency was nearly halved, any thoughts on why that is?
Just Ordered the 4K X..Im coming from the HD 60 S+ AND im pretty sure this thing is gonna run way smoother and my streams are gonna run way better.Hopefully it ship fast
Hello man, thanks for the great job you do, im a streamer and i stream with dual PC, been watching the video but i still dont know if is worth to get one of the new cards, i always want to improve my stream as much as possible, so would love to know if it would improve my stream the 4k Pro, when i already have the 4k60 PRO, when my main monitor is 1440p 144hz, thanks in advance for your answer. Keep going strong.
Wonderful video! Excellent advice. I do have a question though. I’m getting the 4K Pro because I think HDR will be more important and prevalent as ours TVs and monitors continue to improve. How do I ensure my PS5 and LG G2 are limited to 4K60 so I can do full resolution HDR recording? I’m fine streaming 1080p, because 4K streaming is still…impractical, at best. But I want to ensure I can make full quality VODs.
If you wanted, could you use the 4k x to record on a single pc. I want to buy it for my current xbox series x but plan to get a pc in the future. Would I be able to use it for that pc instead of needing to buy a recording software?
You dont need to buy recording software. OBS is free. You COULD use it to record your PC, but it would provide you nothing of value over using OBS and would be a waste of money
upgrading from an elgato hd60s+ that has up until restricted passthrough to 4k60. the elgato 4K X will allow me to have 4k120 hdr passthrough and capture in 1440p60 hdr @£230 i think
These send uncompressed video to your PC, there is no maximum bitrate. AV1 encoding requires support from your PC - RTX 40 series or newer Nvidia, Intel Arc, or AMD RX 7000 series GPUs. Which capture card you use does not affect which encoder you choose in OBS.
Great video! Quick question - for the 4K X, do I need to use the USB 3.2 C-to-C cable or can I use a USB C-to-A cable similar to the HD60 X? Just asking as I have limited USB C inputs on my motherboard.
Yeah USB A isn't inherently limited to 5, I even showed 10gbps A ports in the video. Just need to get a 10gbps capable cable and make sure you have a 10gbps type A port.
I wanted to buy it though the affiliate link but unfortunately Elgato does not ship anywhere else the USA. I'll have to buy it through Amazon when it becomes available.
You always surprise me with different editing styles and presentation when it comes down to these. Well, what feel like "Passion Projects" as such. P.S You always the first person I know is going to make the most informative and educational video and about capture cards and encoding. Rock on and solid work.
At 2:31 you say don’t buy a capture card for a single pc capture or streaming set up. I currently am trying to start up my streaming at content an thought about buying the elgato 4K x so why would I not need the capture device if I’m using a single computer? I’m confused
You’d just use OBS to capture the computer you’re recording/streaming from. It has the tools to capture your screen without needing a device. Capture cards are only warranted for capturing secondary PCs or game consoles
@ I’m currently trying to capture ps5 gameplay so I was thinking about the 4K x or hd 60x but this video was definitely helpful and now I know you need it for a single pc set up. Remote play just isn’t useable for me personally the latency throws me way off
@@EposVox Thanks for the reply dude! If you have a moment, one other question: Will the A750 or higher do OK with a situation where I'm streaming and recording at the same time? btw, really appreciate all the time you put into this information.
Great quality video as always Adam! Is there any information about the experience on having the new 4K 240hz monitors that have DSC compression... how well that will work together with the passthrough and capturing?
@@EposVox in that video you said that some capture cards can handle full color range, with chroma subsampling 4:4:4, and that was not the case of Elgato 4K60 Pro..
Thanks for the review. Updating my PC soon and only ‘view’ the content on pass through rather than in OBS and I think I’m gonna see if the price drops on the 4k60 pro mk2
Does this mean that I can capture 4k30p 10-bit 422, slog 3 footage from my Sony cameras into OBS onto the capture card, and color grade it in premiere? I've wanted to consider 10 bit capture recording from the 4k hdmi capture card from blackmagic because it does 10-bit, but was waiting to see if competitors would do something about it. Curious what this new gen of elgatos can do.
Not exactly. 4K30 can do 4:2:2 YUY2, 4:2:0 NV12, or 4:2:0 P010 (10-bit) So you can do 10-bit OR 4:2:2 OBS doesn't even have a 4:2:2 10-bit format it supports anyway
Is the future 5.1 audio update truly limited to the 4k Pro? Other outlets are simply saying it's coming with no mention of model restrictions. I suppose it could be somewhat assumed due to usb bandwidth, but between video compression (which you've noted), resolution/framerate downscaling, and potential audio compressions it doesn't seem like an impossibility for the 4K X to me.
Great review, picked it up today. Do you happen to notice posterization/color banding in passthrough when using 4k 120hz HDR? It seems to happen with a 422 chroma signal, which the PS5 outputs with that combo. I don't get the posterization with a direct connection.
Excuse me for mentioning that you prefer to use magewell with RT4K? I am considering buying the 4K X for RT4K, PS5 and maybe PC but your comment caught my attention, greetings
@@EposVox I have noticed that in the RT4K there are some problems with the RGB masks, it is completely impossible to capture them with my current 4K60 Pro, nor can I capture them with the same ElGato software and I am interested in a solution and I thought that is why you liked your Magewell capturer better
Well it’s one step closer. But please just gimmie a 4k pcie card that can do 144hz pass through and have multiple input ports. I wanna be able to have signal from another pc and then a switch and ps5 without having to constantly swap cables.
I know this isn't the focus of this review, but how is the audio delay on either product? I ask that because I need to extract the audio without using these cheapo Amazon HDMI 2.1 Audio Extraction devices that never seem to last. It would be great to monitor that input in real time and ditch the cheap hardware. Maybe there is better purpose-driven hardware I'm missing. Using VRR on consoles with a PC monitor that has no dedicated audio out is a mess!
Ok, so it seemed glorious at the beginning, but I can't capture 1440p 60 if I passthrough 1440p 240 Hz makes it pointless since I already have the 4K60 Pro MkII and capture at 1440p60/120.
5:52 the fact that it cannot record in 4k60 from a 4k120hz feed makes the avermedia the clear winner. I was worried for a sec I got the GC553g2 over this lol. (EDIT: lol nvm saw your comment) But I am still having handshake issues with the PS5 to the OLED :( (Edit 2: I just saw the end of the video where you talk about ALLM, is that really not supported on the GC553G2?!, could that be the reason why I am having handshake issues since that is enabled??) Where does it say that this capture card supports that feature while the Avermedia one doesn't ?? I feel scammed knowing that wow... Thanks in advance & awesome editing in this video. THUMBS UP!
AVerMedia is not "the clear winner" wut? Their PCIe card is literally their USB card on a PCIe carrier card. If you're going to get a USB card anyway, get the 4K X which can do more capture specs than the AVerMedia, at HALF the latency....
Yes I edited my comment because I saw your pinned comment. Could you please clear up my other question in regards to how you know that ALLM is not supported on the Avermedia 4k120hz card ? Could that be the reason that I am having those "Invalid signal & random drop outs on this card?! I would be so upset if thats the case.. I didn't even think that it would be a drawback since it seems like such a basic feature that OLED owners take advantage of...@@EposVox
thanks, it seems clear now that i may go for the "4K X" since im mostly worried for having that good quality on videos, as for streaming on twitch, i can just use my old HD60 PRO i guess (which is not important atm) im mostly focusing on youtube and i want those 4k playthrus to be good, what ya think?
What reason do you have to believe that the Avermedia HDMI 2.1 card doesn't suppory ALLM while this one does? In the PS5 settings it says that if VRR is on, then ALLM is automatically turned on as well?
I haven't used a capture card since the Elgato HD 60 came out so I decided to get the 4k X. I'm using it for my ultrawide Samsung Neo G9 so we'll see how that goes. I also have my gaming laptop so I can use it for that whenever I'm traveling.
Thanks for the review. I"m looking to record at 1080p 240Hz, not for streaming, but just to record. The PC is a prebuilt HP Pavillion with a Ryzen 1700 cpu and an RX 550 and a 240 Hz 1080p monitor, ports are USB 3.1. We are simply recording the windows desktop which is showing some lab software and a video stream from a USB camera. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Awesome review, benchmarking latency is great! but it would be nice to know what settings you benched, if you do mjpg on the 4kx the latency skyrockets for obvious reasons. Now for a rant, its really disappointing neither card can do 4k120 capture without chroma subsampling, and the 4kx cant even do 4k60 without dropping to 4:2:0, they should have gone 20gbit usb as the hardware can clearly handle it and its just a bandwidth issue. we had 4k60 since 2017 with the magewell cards. I was hoping for something more in 2024, yes the passthrough stuff is neat but not a fan of the mjpg encoding for professional use. now we have 2 semi budget cards, both good but not great. will we see an actual upgrade capture pcie card soon? 4k pro super? in the meanwhile stuck with the aging magewell 4k plus
@@CetraAudio The table I show in the video (which is also on their support page, annoyingly not on the normal product page - help.elgato.com/hc/en-us/articles/23479165158029-Elgato-Game-Capture-4K-Pro-Supported-Resolutions-and-Frame-Rates ) makes it pretty clear
Great video. Took a couple years but it finally seems to be happening. Proper 4K high fps capture on the one side, AV1 support on the platforms ... maybe another year or two and it might become the new normal. On the other hand one has to ask if all of it is even necessary. 8-10Mbit AV1 at 1080p in HDR would tick every box for me as a viewer and not blow up my connection. And I think that is true for at least everyone who is watching on a mobile device as well.
Totally valid. I just think that higher resolution (especially at high fps) doesn't really make a big difference on the viewer side. I watch 960p and sometimes 720p streams on twitch that are easily good enough for a second screen today. A bump to 1080 AV1 at anything over 8bit colors (fuck those muddy shadows) is gonna be enough for almost anyone. So I expect that to be the sweetspot for a long time. @@EposVox
Can't it help single stream computers if I need to connect a camera with HDMI out? Even cameras that support webcam mode usually only does that in 1080p.
I have some Windows BSOD issues with the current Elgato 4K60 Pro Mk.II. Seemingly it'll happen at random. With the new PCI-E card, did it use a new driver package or the same ones? I'm almost tempted to upgrade to fix these random system crashes, and yes I've worked with Elgato's support for over a month, and still getting the crashes after driver upgrades, downgrades, you name it.
By any chance your 4K60 Pro MK2 is experiencing BSOD due to: DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL error: SYMBOL_NAME: SC0710_X64+264ec6 MODULE_NAME: SC0710_X64 IMAGE_NAME: SC0710.X64.SYS STACK_COMMAND: .cxr; .ecxr ; kb BUCKET_ID_FUNC_OFFSET: 264ec6 FAILURE_BUCKET_ID: AV_SC0710_X64!unknown_function OSPLATFORM_TYPE: x64 OSNAME: Windows 10 FAILURE_ID_HASH: {8c8cdb1b-a17d-eadd-623d-c40d05e49c5d}
@@sagi9407yes, that’s exactly what happens. The older driver they had me downgrade to has made the BSOD less frequent, but it will still happen on occasion.
So I received my 4K Pro and installed it about an hour ago. I can confirm that it does use a different driver package. Latest as of 2/4/2024 is version: 1.1.0.202 from 12/8/2023. So far no SC0710_X64 BSOD's, but I'll monitor it over the next month and will respond if I get one.
Wouldnt capturing with the 4k pro in ultrawide still give you that letterbox effect anyways? Thats mainly the reason why I've stayed away from ultrawide for some time
I mean, it captures the native ultrawide resolution without letterboxing. So you could make native ultrawide content, integrate it into a layout, or crop the sides off if you have a centered HUD (that Splitgate footage crops perfectly to 16:9 w/ the HUD centered), however you want. But no, the card doesn't magically make the footage not ultrawide lol
These products take me back to the ps3 and xbox 360 days. Are these products really needed when the consoles themselves stream themselves? Interesting.
Apologies for the follow-up question (and I appreciate it may be difficult to say), but is the 4K X currently THE external capture device to get for retro and modern captures? I know there's been recent competitors from Genki and AverMedia. Not sure if it's in the video, but the weird refresh rates of certain retro consoles... does the 4K X deal with these? I haven't a RetroTink 4K yet, but I know there was a triple-buffering mode in the 5X to help with this. The original OSSC would potentially present it with more problems in how it line-doubles.
oh right, thanks so much clarifying that! I thought because the capture hardware was the same no more could be done. I will soon up upgrading my 100hz ultrawide to one of the new 240hz ones so I can't wait for a product that can handle with it! Tired of using geforce experience!
What's most disgrunteling me is the fact that Linux is not always fully supported. Especially from the PCIe cards :/ Would wish that companies would at least open their drivers or work better together with OBS so that Linux users can at least run them to their full potential without too much headaches :/
NOTE: Elgato Capture JUST updated the day this review goes live to support direct 4K60 capture from 4K X and Facecam Pro. W00T!
🙌
But still in SDR for 4k60 capture via 4KX?
SDR, yes
No, as explained in the video, 4K 240FPS gets recorded in 1080p 240FPS @@ajaysourav
@@ajaysourav I mean, the Mk2 won't let you pass through 4K240 at all, so
dude the production in the editing of this video alone is amazing.
Thank you :)
This was exactly the video I needed to find. Thank you!
Also I absolutely love your color grading and synthwave theme!
A friendly correction at 2:53, 1080 60 was definitely not the standard in the early Xbox 360 days. I believe the first 1080 60 capture card was the Elgato HD60 and that thing released nearly a year after the Xbox One/ PS4 (I remember being so jealous of my friends as I was stuck with my 720p HD PVR lol). In the 360's early days, around 2006, we were all stuck using those big ass funny looking 480p CRT TVs and monitors xD. Ohh what a time it was!
I said 1080p60 was all you needed for those consoles, I also listed the PS4 with that :P
I’ve been covering capture cards since the beginning, trust me I know lol
@@EposVox I agree with you, but I think you misunderstood my comment. This has nothing to do with 1080p60 being all you needed for PS4, Xbox 360, Wii, etc. I was simply confused when at 2:53 you said that 1080p60 was standard capture during the Xbox 360's early days when we didn't even have 1080p60 capture cards let alone 1080p TVs at home during that time. That's all. I'm not doubting your expertise or anything, just a little confused.
@ “early days” refers to the early days of capture hardware (when those consoles were mainstream) when 1080p60 coming out was impressive, whereas it’s not now
Notice I grouped the Xbox 360, PS4, and Switch together, as they are all 1080p outputting hardware, not specifically ever referring to just like… 2006-2009 lol
@@EposVox I see. I see. I appreciate the clarification my dude!
The themes, coloring, editing... Fantastic job. I totally cow farm mushroomed right back to my 80's teenage years and had to stop the video just to get a better look at the ambiance. Lots of effort and it shows. 👍☕🐢
Thank you :)
Patiently waiting for what seemed like an eternity for something like the 4K X. Ordered mine as soon as it went live. Can't wait to try it out.
I know it ain’t much, but it’s honest work LOL. This was so well explained and well made, thank you so much!
I have a question, I have an M3 MacBook Pro, and would like to use it as a display for my Xbox Series X/PS5. Will the Elgato 4K X work and display the full resolution at the MacBook’s screen?
Thank you so much for the tip!
Yes, you can fullscreen the preview in OBS or maybe Quicktime, though there is added latency compared to a native input on a TV/monitor.
Hold on.. 16:18 so it records 4K at 120Hz at MJPEG format only? Not NV12!
Yes. NV12 would be WAY too much bandwidth for USB lol. That being said, I showed comparisons; I'm not seeing ANY compression artifacts in it, and it's full range 4:4:4 so it's a compelling option
@@EposVox Yes! It's way too much for USB bandwidth that's why this should have been the PCIe version! I'm not a streamer I usually record my gameplay and edit it later, so were you able to import your recordings in Premiere Pro? Is there any issues with this format in editing? I was going to buy it, now I'm re-thinking about it 😅 especially that YT still does not support 120Hz!
@@EposVox also, what's the maximum bitrate that the Elgato 4K X can capture? Is there any picture improvement compared to Elgato 4K Pro Mk.2?
The recordings work as any other OBS recording, nothing about this card changes its compatibility.
There is no "maximum bitrate" on any modern capture card. They send uncompressed images, so there's no quality to improve in that regard
@@EposVox I usually use Elgato 4K Software, I can adjust the bitrate to 140 mb/s using 4K Pro Mk.2. So I'm not familiar with OBS Studio. So what's the major downside in the different format if it's compatible? Is it color degrading?
Omg I should have watched this video first. I just upgraded to the 240hz monitor and just bought the 4kpro when I should have got the 4kX nooooo. Dnt know what I was thinking as I always come to your page for information for my tech. Great video love the editing and information you give, thanks
I don't know if you made the wrong decision. I have a 240hz monitor and if I want passthrough I need the 4K Pro. It sucks that it records at 1080p 240hz when it is passthrough 4k240hz but I can just upscale it to 4K60
Amazing coverage and excited to have a decent USB 4 capture device finally!
This isn't even USB 4. Once USB 4 capture cards come out, we'll probably be looking at capturing 4K240 HDR 😁
You have done a tremendous amount of work that will benefit many people. It is wonderful! Thanks!
Unfortunately, I was not able to find out the latency of the ASUS TUF FHD120 I own, but let's hope someone else can find out.
The 5.1 audio capture is the more interesting news to me. I know it adds more bandwidth, but I really hope they can get that working with the 4K X at a lower resolution.
love the review!
I love that you always give a review that is in depth, simple, and to the point to help assist with any purchases or thoughts of purchases, keep it up my man!!
I have the 4k pro mk2 pci capture card and 2 cam links but just ordered the 4K X to go along with it, thanks for the video
Great and helpful in depth video!!! Appreciate the video!
Nice video man. I was waiting for this video
It sucks the PCIE card doesn't capture 4K120, but at leas we now have something reasonably priced that does it in the 4K X.
Genuine question out of curiosity - why do you want to record in 120? As far as I’m aware, there isn’t any video platform that supports 120hz videos yet… so the only “benefit” I can see (at this current point in time) is to be able to watch your gameplay back in 120hz. But you can’t share it in 120hz anywhere, right?
@@JonesTheLadremember also that the higher the fps the more buttery smooth the slo mo on clips gets
@@Vaguenificent that’s true! I like that point!!
Though that is a very niche use of the 120hz capability. I wish TH-cam would hurry up (we all know they will one day) & add 120hz support.
Phones can do 120hz, gaming consoles, tv’s, computers/laptops… we’re all just waiting to be able to watch AND share 120hz content. One day… one day. 🥲
Great review as always. Thanks.
And I think AVerMedia lost me...
Elgato brought exactly what I wanted for an external card, even with the limitations that a USB capture card has.
I just got frustrated with the internal card. Really, they could have gone further.
But I've already decided which one I'm going to use now in my setup.
Great video! Did you try it with Vertical plugin? Going on TikTok or another stream? For some reason it creates an encoding overload
Great review, love the new transitions!
I got the Elgato 4k X and have a had a lot of issues with it because my signal was technically "above" what the capture card could handle (it could still handle it with just a few hiccups here and there tho).
Never before this video did I actually even think of just getting a splitter that simply downscales the signal in resolution! That's exactly what I needed to fix all my problems with this capture card! Since I don't stream in 4k 120 and just wanted to play in 4k 120 while capturing it.
Thank you for including the latency to preview and to keep a historic data of it, many outright skip that part.
For more casual games I use my HD 60 Pro without passthrough and play it on the 4K Capture Utility instead, couple more generations and we might have a capture card where you might be able to play without noticeable input lag on the Preview.
First off, amazing color grade, colors looking sweet!! Question….What encoder option settings did you use on your Mac ultra? For my M1 Pro Mac, it only plays back smoothly when using ProRes encoder, but then a 1 min clip is 7GB! All other Mac encoders give me overload error, & laggy playback. What gives?
HEVC and ProRes!
@@EposVoxthx! HEVC def doesn’t work on slower M1Pro Macs. Looks like M1 Max/ultra chips & up can handle it. Thx for confirming 🎉
Super odd since iPhone/iPad can do it
@@EposVox yup, I’ve completed my testing today. 4K60 “streaming”: Only works with x264 with ‘extremely fast’ preset (anything slower leads to overload). For 4k60 “recording”: Only works with ProRes. This combo also works at same time, surprisingly. (ProRes Proxy has smallest file size @ about 8gb per every 3min.) official current OBS.
@@AJCoReTV I feel like there has to be something else funky here; I was able to do 4K60 HEVC recording on my base 8GB M1 Mac Mini I used to have. I was able to hit encoder lag sometimes (still can on the M2 Ultra) but I was still able to do it o_O
I can't remember if I tested it w/ gameplay (since we didn't have 4K60 USB cards then) but I recorded a year's worth of tutorials etc., even higher than 4K since I was doing 4K30 cam and 3440x1440p60 screen at the same time.
Love the editing
Can I use the 4k pro as a substitute of a camlink for a 4k 60fps webcam?
Damn was hoping the 4k pro would allow 4k60 while passthrough 4k 240.
Also the only reason I don't want the 4k x is because I do use two instances of OBS.
I was so excited when these were announced, but to learn I'm not able to capture 4K60 HDR whilst playing at 4k120/144 HDR is mind-boggling. In my case, it can't do anything more than what I currently can, so I guess I'll stick with my 4K60S+ for now.
I applaud the effort you put into these videos, thanks for all the info!
3:45 it makes no sense to me why the hardware for the PCIe card wasn't upgraded, so with the 4K Pro i can passthrough 1440p240 HDR VRR but cannot record 1440p120 4:4:4 HDR VRR? but i can record 1440p120 4:4:4 HDR VRR with the lower priced USB version???? what is this nonsense???
I hate this :/
Scaling the HDMI 2.1 full-spec signals is a complete mess. I bought a $500 HDMI matrix/scaler that was supposed to do this kinda stuff too and wound up being unable to.
@justpetettv DP is currently limited to PCs only so i get why nobody bothers to make a DP capture card, unless made to be sold at stupid prices there is no point in considering making them
@justpetettv higher manufacturing costs for drastically smaller market
So no multi-app with the USB 4k X only 4K Pro? It's not easy living for new tech.. Great video as usual!
Nice review!
Interesting how the 4K Pro didn't receive any upgrades to the capture hardware over the 4k60 pro m2 but the latency was nearly halved, any thoughts on why that is?
perhaps they could update the MK2 drivers, but won't, to sell new product
Just Ordered the 4K X..Im coming from the HD 60 S+ AND im pretty sure this thing is gonna run way smoother and my streams are gonna run way better.Hopefully it ship fast
Love how detailed this is.
Hello man, thanks for the great job you do, im a streamer and i stream with dual PC, been watching the video but i still dont know if is worth to get one of the new cards, i always want to improve my stream as much as possible, so would love to know if it would improve my stream the 4k Pro, when i already have the 4k60 PRO, when my main monitor is 1440p 144hz, thanks in advance for your answer. Keep going strong.
Wonderful video! Excellent advice. I do have a question though.
I’m getting the 4K Pro because I think HDR will be more important and prevalent as ours TVs and monitors continue to improve.
How do I ensure my PS5 and LG G2 are limited to 4K60 so I can do full resolution HDR recording? I’m fine streaming 1080p, because 4K streaming is still…impractical, at best. But I want to ensure I can make full quality VODs.
PS5 settings - Screen - 120hz, just set it to off
@@EposVox thank you!
11:12 You forgot to put your NZXT latency specs in the list, as they should be up around the 34-36 ms range, right?
You deserve more recognition man, keep doing your thing
If you wanted, could you use the 4k x to record on a single pc. I want to buy it for my current xbox series x but plan to get a pc in the future. Would I be able to use it for that pc instead of needing to buy a recording software?
You dont need to buy recording software. OBS is free. You COULD use it to record your PC, but it would provide you nothing of value over using OBS and would be a waste of money
@@EposVox Oh okay, thank you!
upgrading from an elgato hd60s+ that has up until restricted passthrough to 4k60. the elgato 4K X will allow me to have 4k120 hdr passthrough and capture in 1440p60 hdr @£230 i think
It will!
thank you for addressing my comment love your videos. have a great Feb😎
i bought both, needed newer hdmi spec devices. great review/info!
Good video ! Is the codec AV1 compatible with this card ? And what the maximum bitrate recording ?
These send uncompressed video to your PC, there is no maximum bitrate.
AV1 encoding requires support from your PC - RTX 40 series or newer Nvidia, Intel Arc, or AMD RX 7000 series GPUs. Which capture card you use does not affect which encoder you choose in OBS.
Great editing, love the VHS/crt vibe. What plugin did you use? It doesn’t look like red giant at all
I *plugged in* a composite video cable into a CRT TV
Great video! Quick question - for the 4K X, do I need to use the USB 3.2 C-to-C cable or can I use a USB C-to-A cable similar to the HD60 X? Just asking as I have limited USB C inputs on my motherboard.
USB-A will limit you to 5Gbps. Your motherboard port must be 10Gbps and up.
thank you!!@@vincentvega3093
The port on your motherboard needs to support 10Gbps. So USB 3.2 Gen 2. It can be A or C.
Yeah USB A isn't inherently limited to 5, I even showed 10gbps A ports in the video. Just need to get a 10gbps capable cable and make sure you have a 10gbps type A port.
Is the definitive guide updated as newer OBS versions come out or its not necessary for a long time?
I swap out videos as needed for updates, otherwise adding a new chapter for broad OBS updates that don't change the core content
Damn wish I knew you had an affiliate link sooner! I would have bought it through there instead.
DURN IT haha
I wanted to buy it though the affiliate link but unfortunately Elgato does not ship anywhere else the USA. I'll have to buy it through Amazon when it becomes available.
YeH gutted to. I'm guessing Amazon goes live tomorrow?
just wondering if you have any thoughts about the ShadowCast 2 Pro, cant seem to find many videos about that card
You always surprise me with different editing styles and presentation when it comes down to these. Well, what feel like "Passion Projects" as such. P.S You always the first person I know is going to make the most informative and educational video and about capture cards and encoding. Rock on and solid work.
At 2:31 you say don’t buy a capture card for a single pc capture or streaming set up. I currently am trying to start up my streaming at content an thought about buying the elgato 4K x so why would I not need the capture device if I’m using a single computer? I’m confused
You’d just use OBS to capture the computer you’re recording/streaming from. It has the tools to capture your screen without needing a device. Capture cards are only warranted for capturing secondary PCs or game consoles
@ I’m currently trying to capture ps5 gameplay so I was thinking about the 4K x or hd 60x but this video was definitely helpful and now I know you need it for a single pc set up. Remote play just isn’t useable for me personally the latency throws me way off
@ yeah “single PC” means you’re playing and capturing PC games on the PC itself. If you have a console, you want/need a capture card
Thanks for the review! Is 4k limited to 4:2:0 on the 4k X?
For someone who lives in Canada thank you for adding the Canadian price. got a follow from me!
The question is... Do I need a 4000 series GPU or is an Intel Arc good enough for a dedicated stream PC??
A750 or higher good for stream pc
@@EposVox Thanks for the reply dude! If you have a moment, one other question: Will the A750 or higher do OK with a situation where I'm streaming and recording at the same time?
btw, really appreciate all the time you put into this information.
Yep! It would do great
Great quality video as always Adam! Is there any information about the experience on having the new 4K 240hz monitors that have DSC compression... how well that will work together with the passthrough and capturing?
Covered in 4K Pro specs section. Won't work with 4K X. Can't really tell you "how well" it will work until I have one
@@EposVox Apologies, missed that! thanks for info!
Any news about color range on these new cards or its the same as before? Just watched your video about full vs partial color range..
I’m not sure I understand the question. The video about full vs partial is a static concept, there’s not going to be any news about it.
@@EposVox in that video you said that some capture cards can handle full color range, with chroma subsampling 4:4:4, and that was not the case of Elgato 4K60 Pro..
@@meugameplay4k all cards can handle limited/full color ranges. For chroma subsampling, yes, I discuss that in the specs section of this video lol
Why does HDMI suck so badly? And why oh why isn't there any DisplayPort Capture Card?
Thanks for the review. Updating my PC soon and only ‘view’ the content on pass through rather than in OBS and I think I’m gonna see if the price drops on the 4k60 pro mk2
absolutely brilliant! straight gas
Does this mean that I can capture 4k30p 10-bit 422, slog 3 footage from my Sony cameras into OBS onto the capture card, and color grade it in premiere? I've wanted to consider 10 bit capture recording from the 4k hdmi capture card from blackmagic because it does 10-bit, but was waiting to see if competitors would do something about it. Curious what this new gen of elgatos can do.
Not exactly. 4K30 can do 4:2:2 YUY2, 4:2:0 NV12, or 4:2:0 P010 (10-bit)
So you can do 10-bit OR 4:2:2
OBS doesn't even have a 4:2:2 10-bit format it supports anyway
Is the future 5.1 audio update truly limited to the 4k Pro? Other outlets are simply saying it's coming with no mention of model restrictions. I suppose it could be somewhat assumed due to usb bandwidth, but between video compression (which you've noted), resolution/framerate downscaling, and potential audio compressions it doesn't seem like an impossibility for the 4K X to me.
They are only looking into it for 4K Pro AFAIK yes. Likely a bandwidth issue.
Great review, picked it up today. Do you happen to notice posterization/color banding in passthrough when using 4k 120hz HDR? It seems to happen with a 422 chroma signal, which the PS5 outputs with that combo. I don't get the posterization with a direct connection.
Great review. Can you confirm whether or not HDR capture is possible on macOS?
Amazing explanation but I think my streamer x fits my needs as of now. just one question tho, what mic did you use while recording this video?
On-camera bits with MKH-416 (other than the iPad section), voiceover with Lewitt LCT 1040
@@EposVox thank you so much. Going to look into the 416, Tom buck says he uses the mkh 50 and his voice sounds good as well. Decisions decisions.
The 50 is good
Are the latency test results of obs for 1080p?
Excuse me for mentioning that you prefer to use magewell with RT4K? I am considering buying the 4K X for RT4K, PS5 and maybe PC but your comment caught my attention, greetings
It was $1800 and I don't want that to go to waste, and it's the best result you can get for HDMI 2.0 4k60 haha
@@EposVox I have noticed that in the RT4K there are some problems with the RGB masks, it is completely impossible to capture them with my current 4K60 Pro, nor can I capture them with the same ElGato software and I am interested in a solution and I thought that is why you liked your Magewell capturer better
Well you CAN capture them, they just aren’t going to look right unless the video is played back at native 4K. Magewell doesn’t fix this lol
@@EposVox ohh thanks👍
Well it’s one step closer. But please just gimmie a 4k pcie card that can do 144hz pass through and have multiple input ports. I wanna be able to have signal from another pc and then a switch and ps5 without having to constantly swap cables.
I know this isn't the focus of this review, but how is the audio delay on either product? I ask that because I need to extract the audio without using these cheapo Amazon HDMI 2.1 Audio Extraction devices that never seem to last. It would be great to monitor that input in real time and ditch the cheap hardware. Maybe there is better purpose-driven hardware I'm missing. Using VRR on consoles with a PC monitor that has no dedicated audio out is a mess!
Covered in the latency section; though you want to use Windows listen as (in my experience) OBS audio monitoring adds even more delay
Great review. I can't wait to order a 4K X.
Do they support Gsync?
Ok, so it seemed glorious at the beginning, but I can't capture 1440p 60 if I passthrough 1440p 240 Hz makes it pointless since I already have the 4K60 Pro MkII and capture at 1440p60/120.
They can probably change this with a few software updates over time
@@JonesTheLad I doubt it, since the 4K X can do it already.
I wonder when the creator of the Retrotink 4K decides to make a PCI-E capture card?
One can dream
Eh
Which capture card would you recommend for a dual pc setup?
Either can work for dual PC. Gotta decide based on what you want your passthrough/capture specs to support lol
5:52 the fact that it cannot record in 4k60 from a 4k120hz feed makes the avermedia the clear winner. I was worried for a sec I got the GC553g2 over this lol. (EDIT: lol nvm saw your comment)
But I am still having handshake issues with the PS5 to the OLED :( (Edit 2: I just saw the end of the video where you talk about ALLM, is that really not supported on the GC553G2?!, could that be the reason why I am having handshake issues since that is enabled??) Where does it say that this capture card supports that feature while the Avermedia one doesn't ?? I feel scammed knowing that wow...
Thanks in advance & awesome editing in this video.
THUMBS UP!
AVerMedia is not "the clear winner" wut?
Their PCIe card is literally their USB card on a PCIe carrier card. If you're going to get a USB card anyway, get the 4K X which can do more capture specs than the AVerMedia, at HALF the latency....
Yes I edited my comment because I saw your pinned comment.
Could you please clear up my other question in regards to how you know that ALLM is not supported on the Avermedia 4k120hz card ? Could that be the reason that I am having those "Invalid signal & random drop outs on this card?! I would be so upset if thats the case.. I didn't even think that it would be a drawback since it seems like such a basic feature that OLED owners take advantage of...@@EposVox
thanks, it seems clear now that i may go for the "4K X" since im mostly worried for having that good quality on videos, as for streaming on twitch, i can just use my old HD60 PRO i guess (which is not important atm) im mostly focusing on youtube and i want those 4k playthrus to be good, what ya think?
If you use passthrough, is there ANY added latency to the gaming PC?
No
What reason do you have to believe that the Avermedia HDMI 2.1 card doesn't suppory ALLM while this one does? In the PS5 settings it says that if VRR is on, then ALLM is automatically turned on as well?
I haven't used a capture card since the Elgato HD 60 came out so I decided to get the 4k X. I'm using it for my ultrawide Samsung Neo G9 so we'll see how that goes. I also have my gaming laptop so I can use it for that whenever I'm traveling.
Thanks for the review. I"m looking to record at 1080p 240Hz, not for streaming, but just to record. The PC is a prebuilt HP Pavillion with a Ryzen 1700 cpu and an RX 550 and a 240 Hz 1080p monitor, ports are USB 3.1. We are simply recording the windows desktop which is showing some lab software and a video stream from a USB camera. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Is this just a single PC setup? If so, a capture card does not help you
Awesome review, benchmarking latency is great! but it would be nice to know what settings you benched, if you do mjpg on the 4kx the latency skyrockets for obvious reasons.
Now for a rant, its really disappointing neither card can do 4k120 capture without chroma subsampling, and the 4kx cant even do 4k60 without dropping to 4:2:0, they should have gone 20gbit usb as the hardware can clearly handle it and its just a bandwidth issue.
we had 4k60 since 2017 with the magewell cards. I was hoping for something more in 2024, yes the passthrough stuff is neat but not a fan of the mjpg encoding for professional use.
now we have 2 semi budget cards, both good but not great. will we see an actual upgrade capture pcie card soon? 4k pro super? in the meanwhile stuck with the aging magewell 4k plus
Says on the Elgato Website that you can do 4k240 Passthrough with 4k60 Capture on the 4K Pro, this get updated since the video or something?
That’s just saying 60fps is the max it can capture in 4k, not that you can capture 4k60 from 4k240, that hasn’t changed
@@EposVox Jesus christ why is it so confusing.
@@CetraAudio The table I show in the video (which is also on their support page, annoyingly not on the normal product page - help.elgato.com/hc/en-us/articles/23479165158029-Elgato-Game-Capture-4K-Pro-Supported-Resolutions-and-Frame-Rates ) makes it pretty clear
U should review the genki shadow cast pro 2 its really good from what ive heard
It’s on my list!
@@EposVox nice looking Foward to it
Hey great video! Quick question, will the 4k x work on Mac m2 chips? Thanks
Yep
Are we losing accurate color information with the mjpeg on the 4kx? It looked like in the comparison that it was darker. Can this be helped? 16:53
What is the benefit of 10gbps USB over my current HD60S+? Improved latency and stability? Thanks.
And all the new specs it can pass through and capture… lol
Great video. Took a couple years but it finally seems to be happening. Proper 4K high fps capture on the one side, AV1 support on the platforms ... maybe another year or two and it might become the new normal. On the other hand one has to ask if all of it is even necessary. 8-10Mbit AV1 at 1080p in HDR would tick every box for me as a viewer and not blow up my connection. And I think that is true for at least everyone who is watching on a mobile device as well.
Well remember, just because you're streaming in 1080p doesn't mean you want to be limited to only playing in 1080p lol
Totally valid. I just think that higher resolution (especially at high fps) doesn't really make a big difference on the viewer side. I watch 960p and sometimes 720p streams on twitch that are easily good enough for a second screen today. A bump to 1080 AV1 at anything over 8bit colors (fuck those muddy shadows) is gonna be enough for almost anyone. So I expect that to be the sweetspot for a long time. @@EposVox
Can't it help single stream computers if I need to connect a camera with HDMI out? Even cameras that support webcam mode usually only does that in 1080p.
Well yes, but that’s for *outside sources*. A camera is still an outside source lol
how would any of you capture a 1080p 360hz monitor for a 1080p60 livestream?
Can the Elgato 4K X capture 4K30 at 4:4:4 RGB?
Sorry if I missed it!
4K30 can do 4:2:2 YUY2, 4:2:0 NV12, or 4:2:0 P010 (10-bit)
I have some Windows BSOD issues with the current Elgato 4K60 Pro Mk.II. Seemingly it'll happen at random. With the new PCI-E card, did it use a new driver package or the same ones? I'm almost tempted to upgrade to fix these random system crashes, and yes I've worked with Elgato's support for over a month, and still getting the crashes after driver upgrades, downgrades, you name it.
By any chance your 4K60 Pro MK2 is experiencing BSOD due to:
DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL error:
SYMBOL_NAME: SC0710_X64+264ec6
MODULE_NAME: SC0710_X64
IMAGE_NAME: SC0710.X64.SYS
STACK_COMMAND: .cxr; .ecxr ; kb
BUCKET_ID_FUNC_OFFSET: 264ec6
FAILURE_BUCKET_ID: AV_SC0710_X64!unknown_function
OSPLATFORM_TYPE: x64
OSNAME: Windows 10
FAILURE_ID_HASH: {8c8cdb1b-a17d-eadd-623d-c40d05e49c5d}
I've tried current, older, beta drivers suggested by Elgato tech support for over 2 months. Nothing has helped. The SC0710.X64.SYS error is asinine.
@@sagi9407yes, that’s exactly what happens. The older driver they had me downgrade to has made the BSOD less frequent, but it will still happen on occasion.
So I received my 4K Pro and installed it about an hour ago. I can confirm that it does use a different driver package. Latest as of 2/4/2024 is version: 1.1.0.202 from 12/8/2023. So far no SC0710_X64 BSOD's, but I'll monitor it over the next month and will respond if I get one.
👍 nice, keep us posted!
This card capture card will be good with the Nintendo switch?
Hey man, can we change sharpness settings in video config ,4k x ?
Wouldnt capturing with the 4k pro in ultrawide still give you that letterbox effect anyways? Thats mainly the reason why I've stayed away from ultrawide for some time
I mean, it captures the native ultrawide resolution without letterboxing. So you could make native ultrawide content, integrate it into a layout, or crop the sides off if you have a centered HUD (that Splitgate footage crops perfectly to 16:9 w/ the HUD centered), however you want.
But no, the card doesn't magically make the footage not ultrawide lol
@@EposVox Very useful info. Thanks. I might do some more research on ultrawide streaming first before getting one
Thanks for the overview! Do you know if a 165hz monitor would work through passthrough 1440p or does the card lock at 144hz or 240hz?
These products take me back to the ps3 and xbox 360 days. Are these products really needed when the consoles themselves stream themselves? Interesting.
Yes. Streaming is a competitive market.
I mean, yes. The consoles don’t do it in particularly high quality nor with any of the production value expected for streams
You also need these if you want anything better than webcam quality (well some cameras support usb) for the streamers image
wait so will the 4kpro be able to pass through the party chat audio from my xbox to the stream?
Apologies for the follow-up question (and I appreciate it may be difficult to say), but is the 4K X currently THE external capture device to get for retro and modern captures? I know there's been recent competitors from Genki and AverMedia.
Not sure if it's in the video, but the weird refresh rates of certain retro consoles... does the 4K X deal with these? I haven't a RetroTink 4K yet, but I know there was a triple-buffering mode in the 5X to help with this. The original OSSC would potentially present it with more problems in how it line-doubles.
looks like we are gonna have to wait for another generation to be able to stream proper ultrawide. Thanks for the review!
I don’t think so, just gotta wait in Elgato to get the EDIDs sorted and driver updated
oh right, thanks so much clarifying that! I thought because the capture hardware was the same no more could be done. I will soon up upgrading my 100hz ultrawide to one of the new 240hz ones so I can't wait for a product that can handle with it! Tired of using geforce experience!
Can this capture cards support wierd 16:10 rsolutions, like for example 2880x1800 - pass trought ?
What's most disgrunteling me is the fact that Linux is not always fully supported. Especially from the PCIe cards :/
Would wish that companies would at least open their drivers or work better together with OBS so that Linux users can at least run them to their full potential without too much headaches :/
I have a Linux box I'll be using for capture. Any updates in Linux performance 5 months later? Still weird USB issues/odd formats or all sorted out?
Getting a 4K X. I've been waiting for a decent USB capture card for 4K, let alone 4K at 60 FPS. Used the link, I support supporting good creators.
Thank you!!