4 ms·

I have an Elgato Cam Link 4K and it's a pain to use with my Sony camera and M1 MacBook (webcam scenario). I find that the card needs an entire USB _bus_ (not p

I have an Elgato Cam Link 4K and it's a pain to use with my Sony camera and M1 MacBook (webcam scenario). I find that the card needs an entire USB _bus_ (not port) to itself to function without the stream freezing regularly - even on 1080p. This means I can't connect it via my thunderbolt dock (CalDigit Element Hub). Does anyone know if this open implementation would have the same issue?

GiorgioG 4y ago
Must be a Mac only issue (or maybe your dock?) because I have no such problems on my desktop PC (similar setup: camlink4k, Sony a6000).
Teledhil 4y ago
I have no issues with the Elgato Cam Link 4K on my setup: M1 Pro <-> Dell WD19TB <-> Cam Link <-> Sony camera. The dock is also connected to a 1440p@240 monitor and a 1080p@60 monitor, so the capture card is not the only device taking bandwith from the USB bus. EDIT: Now that I remember, sometimes the cam link gets very hot and freezes, not only with my M1 but also with a Dell laptop running linux. Maybe your problem is related to running the capture card at high temperatures.
scyzoryk_xyz 4y ago
I too had issues with the Elgato on a MacBook. But it’s a piece of shit and a pain in the ass on the PC as well for me. Hate that thing with a passion. We also bought several cheaper generic ones and they work/don’t work just as often as the Elgato. That being said, we switch around our setup a lot, and we juggle multi-can streams. ¯\_(ಠ_ಠ)_/¯
- iwillbenice 4y ago
  Me and two of my friends have been using the Elgato 4K cam link for a year every day for streaming. Not a single issue reported. Perhaps you have a faulty unit.
veidr 4y ago
I've found this to be an issue with Thunderbolt docks generally. I've tried Cam Link 4K with the Caldigit TB3 dock (TS3?) and the OWC Thunderbolt Dock (the big ass one with the power adapter the size of a Volkswagen bus) and some Anker TB3 dock. All of them glitched, compared to plugging it straight into the Mac (albeit via a dongle since it was always MacBook Pro models which lack the regular USB port and only have the Apple fantasy-world ports). This kind of soured me on Thunderbolt docks. The other problematic device was ATEM Mini (which is like a Cam Link except it has 4 HDMI inputs instead of 1) so perhaps it is some kind of HDMI → Thunderbolt → USB fuckery?
- Bud 4y ago
  I love how when there's no USB-C on the iPhone, it's a world-historical tragedy. But somehow having FOUR USB-C ports (which, yes, also support Thunderbolt, but are also fully-legit USB-C ports) on the Mac means they are now "Apple fantasy-world ports". Apple can't win, it seems.
radicality 4y ago
I’ve had a similar issue and it was/is driving me crazy. Plugging into a SonnetTech TB4 Echo5 dock ocassionaly makes the stream freeze. I actually wrote to them a support message and they were detailed in the response, but we didn’t manage to resolve it. If it’s of any help here’s their response. https://pastebin.com/qbmZH65n https://pastebin.com/qbmZH65n Plugging into MacBook using the official “AV display adapter” (as a USB to USB-C adapter) works steady, both at 1080p 60fps and 4k30fps. But shockingly - I plugged the AV display adapter with the cam link dongle into the back of my Pro Display XDR, and it’s also working fine at 1080p60fps. That’s surprising since that thing is a usb hub, but also afaik it’s a USB 2.0 hub! I imagine it’s due to the XDR display being 6k and needing lots of TB bandwidth, so I’m still surprised it works steady via the USB-C Usb 2.0 hub in the back of my Pro Display XDR.
Hackbraten 4y ago
Thunderbolt 3 docks usually bring their own USB host controller to the table. That host controller connects to the rest of your system over PCIe. So the dock has its own private USB, so to speak. If you have a second Thunderbolt dock, you should be able to daisy-chain both docks, totally isolating your card from all your other USB devices while still maintaining that one-single-cable neatness.

GiorgioG 4y ago

Must be a Mac only issue (or maybe your dock?) because I have no such problems on my desktop PC (similar setup: camlink4k, Sony a6000).

Teledhil 4y ago

I have no issues with the Elgato Cam Link 4K on my setup: M1 Pro <-> Dell WD19TB <-> Cam Link <-> Sony camera. The dock is also connected to a 1440p@240 monitor and a 1080p@60 monitor, so the capture card is not the only device taking bandwith from the USB bus. EDIT: Now that I remember, sometimes the cam link gets very hot and freezes, not only with my M1 but also with a Dell laptop running linux. Maybe your problem is related to running the capture card at high temperatures.

scyzoryk_xyz 4y ago

I too had issues with the Elgato on a MacBook. But it’s a piece of shit and a pain in the ass on the PC as well for me. Hate that thing with a passion. We also bought several cheaper generic ones and they work/don’t work just as often as the Elgato. That being said, we switch around our setup a lot, and we juggle multi-can streams. ¯\_(ಠ_ಠ)_/¯

iwillbenice 4y ago
Me and two of my friends have been using the Elgato 4K cam link for a year every day for streaming. Not a single issue reported. Perhaps you have a faulty unit.

veidr 4y ago

I've found this to be an issue with Thunderbolt docks generally. I've tried Cam Link 4K with the Caldigit TB3 dock (TS3?) and the OWC Thunderbolt Dock (the big ass one with the power adapter the size of a Volkswagen bus) and some Anker TB3 dock. All of them glitched, compared to plugging it straight into the Mac (albeit via a dongle since it was always MacBook Pro models which lack the regular USB port and only have the Apple fantasy-world ports). This kind of soured me on Thunderbolt docks. The other problematic device was ATEM Mini (which is like a Cam Link except it has 4 HDMI inputs instead of 1) so perhaps it is some kind of HDMI → Thunderbolt → USB fuckery?

Bud 4y ago
I love how when there's no USB-C on the iPhone, it's a world-historical tragedy. But somehow having FOUR USB-C ports (which, yes, also support Thunderbolt, but are also fully-legit USB-C ports) on the Mac means they are now "Apple fantasy-world ports". Apple can't win, it seems.

radicality 4y ago

I’ve had a similar issue and it was/is driving me crazy. Plugging into a SonnetTech TB4 Echo5 dock ocassionaly makes the stream freeze. I actually wrote to them a support message and they were detailed in the response, but we didn’t manage to resolve it. If it’s of any help here’s their response. https://pastebin.com/qbmZH65n https://pastebin.com/qbmZH65n Plugging into MacBook using the official “AV display adapter” (as a USB to USB-C adapter) works steady, both at 1080p 60fps and 4k30fps. But shockingly - I plugged the AV display adapter with the cam link dongle into the back of my Pro Display XDR, and it’s also working fine at 1080p60fps. That’s surprising since that thing is a usb hub, but also afaik it’s a USB 2.0 hub! I imagine it’s due to the XDR display being 6k and needing lots of TB bandwidth, so I’m still surprised it works steady via the USB-C Usb 2.0 hub in the back of my Pro Display XDR.

Hackbraten 4y ago

Thunderbolt 3 docks usually bring their own USB host controller to the table. That host controller connects to the rest of your system over PCIe. So the dock has its own private USB, so to speak. If you have a second Thunderbolt dock, you should be able to daisy-chain both docks, totally isolating your card from all your other USB devices while still maintaining that one-single-cable neatness.