M1 chip compatibility with Elgato

Big Sur has thrown a big stumbling block in font of a LOT of developer's packages and drivers, and needs to be looked at very closely before buying.

Every well-behaved App that runs under Big Sur will run with Rosetta-2 emulation on Apple-Silicon M1, with the exception of Virtualization software like WMWare or Android emulation.

Apple-Silicon M1 processor appears to be compatible beyond our wildest dreams. (i.e., does not crash). Some packages may be faster, other may be slower. Graphics-intensive Apps seem to be the slowest.

Developers who need the speed can adapt their code for Apple-Silicon and re-issue as a "universal binary" with code for BOTH processors inside, and MacOS selects the appropriate one at run-time.

The Apple-Silicon M1 is plenty fast. You need to apply pressure on the vendor for the updated driver support you need.

Unless/Until the Vendor re-issues their Drivers in Apple-Silicon code, they are using Intel-emulation using Rosetta.

*edit Magwell USB Capture HDMI 4K Plus has 4k30 4:2:0 (NV12) and only supports input of a 4k60 4:4:4

So to sum up on Mac compatible 4K cards:

AverMedia - ULTRA GC553 = 4K30 4:2:0 (YUV)

AverMedia - BOLT GC555 = 4k60 4:2:0 (YUV)

Magewell - USB Capture HDMI 4K Plus = 4k30 4:2:0 (NV12)

Epiphan - AV.io 4K = 4K30 4:2:0 (NV12)

Elgato - CamLink 4K = 4k30 4:2:0 (NV12)

note:

ClonerAlliance Flint4KP Plus is a 1080p card

Elgato 4K60 S+ is not compatible with Mac

On page one of this thread...

"Mac mini (M1) -> USB-A -> Elgato Game Capture HD60+ -> HDMI -> Panasonic GH5

Unfortunately when recording video in Quicktime it's kind of choppy."

Another thread about problems here

https://obsproject.com/forum/threads/elgato-hd60s-freeze-macbook-pro-m1.136130/

So I am not hopeful that it will work at 4k. Again please report back here.

I am uploading a test file to YouTube right know. Still takes a little time to process but you can check the results of my chain [Panasonic GH5 -> HDMI -> GameCaptureHD60+ -> TB3 -> Mac mini M1] over here on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Dn7Y6AMx3UE

Please let me know about dropped frames if you find some :)

https://youtu.be/Zwfx123M0gw

Made a short video about the problems of the CamLink 4K which I personally experienced on my MBP 16GB

Recorded in ScreenFlow, but OBS gives me the same results.

I ordered the AverMedia GC553 which has a USB-C 3.1 input, will see if connecting directly to the MBP without a doc makes a difference and report back here when I get results.

Another update from Elgato... "We are aware about issues with the M1 chip and our developers are still testing different scenarios. To answer your question, our developers did not experience any frame drops when using 4K30 in OBS Studio on a Apple Mac Mini (M1). An exchange will most likely not help, since the Elgato Cam Link 4K is working another computer as you said at the very beginning of this case.  I wanted also to inform you that there was a macOS system update recently that you may try to see if it helps. "

I updated to 11.2.3 but still have the dropped frame issue at 4k 30 apparently Elgato do not see the dropped frames. I am curious if anyone is capturing successfully at 4k 30 to OBS using Camlink 4k.

phil

Elgato can not help at this point. Seems they are still searching...

"Thank you very much for your feedback and for all your efforts in this case. 

Unfortunately, there is nothing else that our Support Team could suggest since our developers are trying to find out the real cause of the issue with the M1 systems. "

Sadly no. But you have reminded me to poke them again for an answer. It works fine at 1920 but choppy at 4k what ever I have tried.

I will report back. Let us know what you find.

phil

I have been trying to find work a work around for the Elgato software, but OBS Link will not work with the M1 chip as of right now.

I have not used OBS Link but my Elgato Camlink 4k works with OBS directly (at 1920)

Camlink 4k works at 1080

Luckily I found a compatible capture card with mac M1: https://youtu.be/KpF7DTr8xKU

1080 should be no problem. The dropped frames are only at 4k

Thanks for that. No mention of M1 on their site from what I can see. I am still in discussion with elgato about Cam link on the M1 mini there is no data rate limit that should be getting in the way no CPU's are being stressed but obviously it is not working as expected right now.

I will report back if Elgato find anything

Phil