The Best Mini Capture Card Just Got Better* (Genki Shadowcast 2 Review)
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- Опубликовано: 15 июл 2024
- Human Things just released a sequel to one of my favorite gadgets of the past few years, the #Shadowcast. At just over the size of two #NintendoSwitch cartridges, it's amazing how capable and versatile such a tiny capture card turned out to be. Does the Shadowcast 2 improve on that at all? Well, yes...and no....
Links
- Patreon recording comparisons: / shadowcast-2-95131039
- Shadowcast 2: www.genkithings.com/products/...
- Shadowcast 1: www.genkithings.com/products/...
- Shadowcast 1 video: • Genki Shadowcast: My M...
- More info on the confusing nature of USB-C: www.theverge.com/24012468/ver...
Recording notes
Unless labeled otherwise, all gameplay footage included in this video was recorded using a Shadowcast 2 connected to a Windows 11 PC via the USB-C cable provided by Human Things. Where able, I set the output for each recorded console to 1080p/60Hz and recorded in Streamlabs at an upscaled 1440p/60fps for the purpose of this video.
For additional settings, recording nuances, and Shadowcast 2 gameplay, check out the recording comparisons post on Patreon.
Chapters
00:00 Intro
01:00 What is a Shadowcast?
01:58 Upgrades
03:29 Recording Quality
04:29 Downsides to Shadowcast 2
09:11 Final Thoughts 
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I always like to have options, great video!
Excellent video. Didn't know about these...
Great informative video! I was a backer for both the original Shadowcast and the Shadowcast 2. The original solved an issue of mine I'd had for years which was an inexpensive/portable solution to play games on a laptop screen with my Switch and PS4 slim.
I had 2 main issues with the original, the 1st was it being limited to 1080p30 or 720p60. The 2nd was that it could only output mono audio by default but there was a program I ran on Windows that got it to separate the audio into stereo channels correctly. The Shadowcast 2 fixed both of those issues for me and so far I haven't really had any complaints.
I didn't realize the original could bypass HDCP and that the 2 no longer can which is a shame. It's not something I would need to do often but still keeping the original around has its use case now. Going forward I plan to use the Shadowcast 2 with my ipad air to display my switch, and eventually a steam deck or rog ally
I'm about to buy one and trying to find some info of the differences between the two versions... As I have little understanding of technicalities, your video helps a lot! I think I'm going to buy shadowcast 1 to use it mainly with my macbook air m1. Thanks for the video!!
Glad I could help!
Just a reminder that the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max have USB 3 for 10gbps data transfer rate. It's the non pro devices that use usb 2.0 .
Nice video!
I have to say I’m missing one important thing doe;
What can you tell us about the input delay from pressing the a button on your controller upto seeing movement on the screen?
How delayed is the signal?
Is there any way you could compare performance side by side (with and without
the shadowcast and between the shadowcast 1 and 2) ?
Greetings from Austria ✌🏽🇦🇹
Whatever input latency exists is not really noticeable during actual gameplay. The only time I've noticed output delay is when connecting it to my camera to use as a field monitor. However, in that case, I'm forcing it to playback a 4K video stream, which the Shadowcast 2 wasn't designed to handle. If you used a Shadowcast 2 for solely 1080p gaming (or lower), you're going to be fine.
In general, I'm wary of providing any detailed analysis of input latency for any product for which delay isn't noticeable during normal gameplay. Human perception (on-average) isn't great at differentiating time delays below maybe a couple tenths of a second, and I get the sense that many folks aren't too confident about how long 1 ms actually is. If I created a video saying that testing described the Shadowcast as adding 10 ms to input latency (which I'm making up for this example), I think a lot of folks would hear "it increased latency" instead of "it added virtually no latency" and walk away misled about the device's capabilities.
Does the shadowcast 2 have the same issue where it combines the stereo output into mono? Cause with the SC1 you had to use a command prompt app to split the mono back into stereo.
It looks like they fixed that issue. I just tested it by connecting my Macbook to my Surface Duo (using this video: ruclips.net/video/6TWJaFD6R2s/видео.html ) and the stereo separation appears to be coming through as intended.
extremely helpful video thank you for sharing so much helpful info !
I understand this captor cards allows devices such as ipads to be used as monitors, but can it allow me to capture gameplay from an ipad and share it on my computer?
sorry if this is a silly question im very new to learning about captor cards.
This is actually a great question, and the answer is: Yes, but with some potential caveats. Any iPad with display out functionality should be able to be used with a capture card as long as you have an appropriate adapter for the iPad's port. If you're unsure whether yours has display out functionality, I'd recommend buying the adapter first and try plugging it into a TV or monitor. If it shows an image on the screen, you're good to go!
The one caveat I'd provide would center on the awkward resolution limits of the Shadowcast 2 that I describe in the video. If the iPad tries to output video at an awkward resolution, a Shadowcast 2 may not show work. Unfortunately, the only way to know for sure would be to try it for yourself.
@@GameXData Thank you so much you've been incredibly helpful ! ☺
I want to play on my switch but stream on my phone, is there a way to do this? Wondering if i can use both hdmis from my tv to stream my switch to the tv and stream the tv into my phone.
If you want to connect a Switch to your phone, you should do so directly. Standard TVs do not offer video passthrough.
i saw you used the shadow cast on your mac did you use obs to play the game or does the shadow cast have its own software
I'm using OBS because it's more flexible. However, Human Things did create a web app (Genki Arcade) to allow folks to play from a browser if they'd rather not use OBS. They've also packaged the app for MacOS and Windows for use outside the browser and as Genki Studio on iPadOS.
Interesting device, did your duo need any additional software to run the video?
Yes, I'm using an app called USB Camera Pro. Though, any app that can display a UVC camera feed will work.
can you use seperate monitors (record console gameplay with obs on pc monitor, but then also play on console monitor so theres not latency when gaming)??
You can create a projector in OBS to move gameplay to a second display, if that's what you're looking for. Otherwise, if your console only has one HDMI output, you can output to a single display without splitting the connection.
@@GameXData i would like to use it as a capture card like an elgato, where i can have two monitors one tht is console to monitor and one tht is console to pc so i can record on obs on my computer but also not play from computer but on a seperate monitor just for console. is that possible? to just use it as a capture card and not to play on pc?
Elgato cards have two HDMI outputs. Shadowcasts are a single HDMI connector.
@@GameXData so is it possible 2 use hdmi splitter?
PLEASE HELP! For some reason, when i start up the Genki Arcade app, it plays my mic instead of game audio. Does anyone know what to do?
I've seen a few posts a while back about similar issues with the standalone app. From what I understand, it turned out to be a bug in the app itself. If you can, you might want to try it through the browser instead to see if the issue persists.
You mentioned quirks with how the Shadowcast 2 handles output of the Steam Deck, which will require changing the video settings to presumably 16:9 to get detected.
Would it be possible for human things to software patch this functionality in the future (accepting other aspect ratios but with black bars) or is the functionality limiting it to 16:9 really baked in the hardware?
That's a good question, and I'm not entirely sure. In my years using the original Shadowcast, I've never come across a firmware update. So, I wouldn't assume one would be coming for the Shadowcast 2 any time soon (if ever).
As for whether this is a hardware issue, it's honestly hard to tell. It could be a quirk of the hardware or something in their processing pipeline that could be patched out in some way. I know my Elgato cards have the same problem, and I've just had to learn to work around it. If you plan to try a Shadowcast 2 out, it'd probably be worthwhile to assume that it's going to always have that issue baked in.
Any update on using this with a PSTV?
Not that I know of. There's no way to update firmware on the device. (What I demonstrated in the video is how mine will always behave.) It's always possible they'd update something with later batches (as I saw them do on the original Shadowcast), but it's not something I'll find out until I need to replace mine. For now, you'd probably be stuck using it with an HDCP-compliant HDMI splitter.
@@GameXData Thanks for the response.
Does it output pc video?
I don’t see why not. Just have a laptop or another device that’s ready to take a signal.
I think I want to buy it just for the quality instead of the cheap Chinese options put there