(Topic ID: 282282)

Direct Video Capture Tutorial on Spike2 Systems

By HurryUpPinball

3 years ago


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  • 15 posts
  • 5 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 1 year ago by Mando
  • Topic is favorited by 4 Pinsiders

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    #1 3 years ago

    I just wrapped up a tutorial outlining how to direct capture video from Stern’s Spike2 system. Thanks to Buffalo Pinball for the great article on how to do this and the time and effort it took to figure this out. I hope this helps anyone who is looking to improve the quality of the stream. Stay safe and play more pinball!

    1 month later
    #2 3 years ago

    HurryUpPinball - thank you for posting this. I followed the Buffalo Pinball article a few weeks ago to set this up for myself and it's nice to see it taken to a step-by-step video format.

    I'm having some capture card compatibility issues - thought I'd document them in this thread since it seems relevant. I have the AliExpress LVDS to HDMI converter board installed in my Stern Black Knight Sword of Rage and jumpered correctly. Here are my results so far:

    I had these two capture cards in my AV collection already:

    **Elgato CamLink 4K (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07K3FN5MR)**
    Thought I had a winner right out of the gate. Got the video feed into OBS straight away, and it looked great. During my test recording, I noticed, however, that the video would blank out for 1 to 2 seconds every once in a while (in a couple of 10 minute test videos, each one had a dozen or so instances of the 1 to 2 second blank out). This is only on the video feed to the PC - no blanking at all on the pinball panel. I played with OBS buffering settings and different resolutions, no improvement. Tried a few different HDMI cables, no improvement. On to the next card.

    **SunWSTD (https://www.newegg.com/p/30U-00ES-00001?Item=9SIAN03B7U8525)**
    This one has no signal at all. None. Blank screen in OBS. Switched out the AliExpress HDMI connection for the one attached to the playfield Sony Handycam CX440 and boom, signal clear as day. I got this capture card on clearance a year or two ago for less than $20 - looks like it's relegated to playfield cam duty.

    Now for the new ones....

    **AVerMedia Game GC311 (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07R6P2JJR)**
    I bought this one over the weekend and it arrived today. The AVerMedia device listed in the Buffalo Pinball article is no longer available and this is the replacement according to Amazon. Like the SunWSTD....this one comes up blank in OBS with one added difference - the message "No Signal" is displayed from the AVerMedia device. Also like the SunWSTD - my playfield Sony Handycam CX440 works fine. Just for kicks, I tried using the AVerMedia recording and streaming software that was bundled with the device and I got the same results (eliminating any issues with OBS). I had a glimmer of hope when I noticed on AVerMedia's website that there was a FW update for the device - I updated it, but got the same results with AliExpress board. I'm boxing this back up to return to Amazon.

    Here's hoping one of these will work - just ordered them this afternoon, should get here in a couple of days:
    **LeadNovo 4K Capture (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08Q86C71C)**
    **Rybozen 4K CamLink (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08DQWXV52)**

    The Elgato 4K CamLink does "work" but my OCD can't deal with the screen blanking every once in a while. I'm really hoping this is indeed a compatibility issue that'll be resolved by finding the right capture card that'll work properly with it. I hate to think that I've got a defective LVDS to HDMI converter. It took 6 weeks to get here from Hong Kong!

    #3 3 years ago

    Gotta love Amazon - got the two new capture devices today after ordering them yesterday. Only neither fared much better:

    **LeadNovo 4K Capture (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08Q86C71C)**
    While this one did better than the SunWSTD and AVerMedia in that a signal came through, it was an unusable signal with the video repeated >3 times. See screenshot below (and it's going back to Amazon).

    **Rybozen 4K CamLink (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08DQWXV52)**
    This low cost $14 device performed on par with the $124 Elgato CamLink in that the signal came thru just fine (tho the colors are a bit darker and could likely be tweaked in OBS). However, like the Elgato, the signal blanks out for a second or two at a similar, annoying frequency.

    I'm beginning to think I may have a marginal LVDS to HDMI convertor board. I'm pondering next steps.

    bksor (resized).jpgbksor (resized).jpgbksor2 (resized).jpgbksor2 (resized).jpg
    #4 3 years ago

    Well, this got nowhere fast. Tech Support in Hong Kong for the LVDS board is very quick, but their answer doesn't leave much hope in resolving this:

    "That blank out is because the LVDS output signal of the motherboard is unstable and the frequency is not fixed, so please close the LVDS signal spreading function and turn on the FREERUN fixed frequency function on your motherboard."

    Yep. OK. I'll get right on that with Stern.

    Looks like I'm living with the occasional blanking or giving up trying to output the screen directly into OBS.

    1 month later
    #5 3 years ago

    Is the issue having the signal “split” seems the Buffalo pinball article mentioned you can’t watch it on your display which is kinda lame .

    #6 3 years ago
    Quoted from Mando:

    Is the issue having the signal “split” seems the Buffalo pinball article mentioned you can’t watch it on your display which is kinda lame .

    I had tried it direct to the PC (no split) as well, same issue. Despite what the Buffalo article says, I know of several people splitting without blanking or other issues, so I know it can be done. Luck of the draw with DIY, I guess. I kinda gave up on it to focus on a pin restore, but will be getting back to trying to figure this out at some point.

    #7 3 years ago

    I’m gonna be trying something .. I do want to set up a streaming rig just for fun but I also have a mod idea.

    9 months later
    #8 2 years ago

    HurryUpPinball or anyone else. I am curious, I have found the Ali Express cable going into the main board is a pretty looks fit. Anyone done anything addtiinal to secure it from coming loose or falling out?

    3 weeks later
    #9 2 years ago

    I’m using the v2 card (per Buffalo Pinball) and a cam link usb capture adapter. Getting a signal to the adapter on my MacBook, just no image in orb regardless of the selected resolution. Any advice? While the adapter works perfectly for my playfield camcorder I’m happy to purchase a different USB adapter if that’s the issue? Thanks.

    2 months later
    #10 2 years ago

    Curious if anyone ever solved the blanking out mystery ? I suspect it's from the cable not fitting well may look into a custom one . For now I wrap it in a little electric tape ☺️.

    #11 2 years ago

    I'm looking into a custom cable maybe that will help

    1 month later
    #12 1 year ago

    Hi, I just started streaming and trying to solve exactly the same issues mathazar described .. here is my experience so far - capture card #1 from amazon - I have good display video, but I also have the occasional signal cut-offs for a second. every few minutes - really annoying. I first thought that the connection in backbox is loose or something, but reading this post makes me believe it is different issue. card #2 - normally for playfield, dont show the direct capture at all,
    not sure why as it was a lot more expensive than the #1. with card #1 connected, sometimes instead of nice capture, I get weird colors in obs(seems random, sometimes its blue, sometimes red, sometimes green) - tried without split as buffalo pointed out, but still having weird colors in obs. sometimes restart of pin helps, sometimes reseating cable in backbox helps, but even with good colors, I still get the occasional signal cutoffs .. Im not able to see any patterns, issues seems kinda random. what year your game was manufactured? or why some games are fine and some dont work? I would be willing to stream with direct capture in obs and no display, but the damn color issues ! I dont want to randomly buy capture cards and hope.. we should get some help from stern since we are promoting their games, right? especially when jjp and others work flawlessly without any issues ..

    cam#1: https://m.aliexpress.com/item/1005001880861192.html?gatewayAdapt=Pc2Msite&spm=a2g0s.12269583.0.0.55f873f7LBPl0t

    cam#2: avermedia live gamer extreme
    https://www.avermedia.com/cz/product-detail/GC551

    #13 1 year ago

    So I did a little bit more testing today .. Im getting the same results with splitting the signal and without split .. it seems like for me it helps to restart the game few times until I have the colors correct. every time it boots, I have different color issues, third or fourth boot usually gives me good colors and occasional cut-off of signal. I will stream with occasional cutoffs for now and see how bad it is on some longer stream.

    Mando Mathazar - do you guys have any news regarding this?

    btw you can check my stream if you see me online, usually fridays/saturdays

    https://www.twitch.tv/all_play_no_work

    #14 1 year ago

    Did some more testing, you can see the video(please, excuse the shitty sound, I forgot to unplug headphones and it causes this issue for some reason).

    I added "chapters" so you can see the signal cutoffs without going through this boring test. to me it seems like it happens when there is a lot of things happening at once, but I may be completely wrong. At the end, I tried to cycle through coils in test mode to see, if some triggers that. it did not.

    Im out of ideas for now.

    #15 1 year ago

    p0mazanka

    I am still trying to figure this out as well , I'm have done several different things . I am wondering if either heat or porcessing power is a factor because as you point out it's only during gameplay and it my case seems to happen after the machine has been running for a little bit .

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