Magewell USB Capture HDMI Review

 

The Magewell USB Capture HDMI can present the desktop/video output from one PC (or other HDMI output) to another PC as a USB Web camera (H264 UVC). You provide HDMI output to the Magewell HDMI input and it will send it to a PC as a USB webcam.

The device is truly plug and play. There is no drivers to install since the device uses standard H264 UVC webcam drivers.

Some things you will need for a typical Scenario

If you want to provide a Surface Pro 3 desktop/video to another PC as a USB webcam:

• Surface Video Out/Mini DisplayPort to HDMI Adapter
• HDMI cable

Surface video out/Mini DisplayPort to HDMI (F)

HDMI Cable (M)

Magewell HDMI IN

USB 3.0 to PC

Surface Pro 3 “Projecting” it’s desktop <-- MiniDisplayPort to HDMI –> <-- HDMI Cable --> Magewell USB Capture <—> USB Port on PC

Now in Skype for Business client select the Magewell device as the default video device. From here away the Magewell USB Capture HDMI can be used as any standard USB webcam. This includes presenting a PC Desktop to a Skype for Business Broadcast Meeting.

Some Skype for Business Meeting Video Quality Samples

1920x1200 On Project Device; Remote Skype for Business Meeting Participants view of Screen

2160x1440 On Project Device; Remote Skype for Business Meeting Participants view of Screen. (frankly I can’t see much difference in the quality from the lower resolution)

Skype for Business Meeting Screen Share Quality

IP Cam View Software Rendering: Quality

I tested directly displaying the USB input from the Magewell using IP Camera View software  from DeskShare (click here) and this software rendered the “projecting” PC’s desktop very clear. One caveat with the IP Camera View software is that I needed to manually set the Video Properties | Output Size to match the projecting PC as closely as possible. So this proves the Magewell is doing a good job, apparently Skype for Business is compressing or resizing the video a bit.

Here is a Video Capture Demo

(sorry for 360 video, youtube resizes it. but I think you can still get some idea of clearness)

In my testing I saw up to 108 degrees F.

Several things I noticed:

Cons

• The device gets quite warm to the touch when receiving input
• The display was unreadably fuzzy for first few seconds the PC was plugged in, then it got sharper.
• Even at the sharpest PC video image is a bit fuzzy/unclear (see screen shots above) at least as compared to Skype for Business screen sharing. (see samples below)
• This is likely a Skype for Business issue, but the video (PC screen) is reversed on the PC that has the device plugged in as a USB webcam
• Highest natively support resolution is 1920x1200@60 (Surface Pro 3’s 2160 x 1440 is higher than that but did display)
• Devices that did not work at all with the Magewell device (but did work fine with our large screen) as HDMI inputs
• Microsoft Miracast HDMI adapter
• Logitech ConferenceCam miracast HDMI output
• Thinkpad T440S w/Windows 8.1 minidisplay port did not work
• Devices that partially worked
• Surface Pro 3/Windows 10: no audio, slow, jerky video
• Devices that entirely worked
• Surface 3/Windows 10

Pros

• The device is another way to get smooth video AND audio into a Skype for Business meeting

The devices is ~$300 street price.

 

http://www.magewell.com/usb-capture-hdmi/support

An alternative device option:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/search?N=11073122&InitialSearch=yes&sts=pit