Hardware encoder question
 

I want to do a live broadcast. My source will be a video switcher that has USB out connected to my laptop. Obviously there is a load on the laptop cpu to do the encoding.

If I were to buy a hardware encoder such as Blackmagic h264 pro would there be a much lighter load placed on the laptop cpu?

I am assuming that the blackmagic box would be doing the encoding instead of the laptop.

Thanks!

msmuit,

The Black Magic H.264 Pro Recorder is actually pretty hardware intensive. I suggest at least an i5 CPU (i7 is recommended) with 8GB of RAM if you decide to go that route.

Thank you for the response!

Would I gain anything by purchasing the H.264 Pro Recorder if I already have a video switcher that plugs into my laptop by usb?

msmuit,

The H.264 Pro Recorder is certified to work with our Procaster software for quick and easy set up and streaming. Procaster may not detect uncertified devices, and we may have a harder time troubleshooting if you run into any issues using an uncertified device.

Only saw this thread now, I actually bought a H264 box assuming since it's certified for Livestream and it generates H264, no re-encoding would be needed.

Streamed an event in December and my small AMD laptop was not able to keep up processor wise - had to attach a Macbook since re-encoding was needed.

So the way I see it there is no specific advantage for Livestream to this box encoding H264 although the resulting image is quite good.

thisisafrica,

The advantage of using the H.264 Pro Recorder is that you can broadcast in high quality over USB 2.0. The Pro Recorder decodes the video before it is re-encoded by Procaster. As you've noticed, this process is extremely CPU intensive and requires a higher end CPU such as an QuadCore i7 to keep pace.