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Can I use a spare laptop as secondary screen with an Elgato/HDMI USB capture card? (self.pcmasterrace)

submitted 1 year ago by coolfission to c/pcmasterrace

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I know laptops don't have HDMI In ports but I was thinking I can buy an Elgato USB adapter or some HDMI capture card to act as a monitor with OBS.

I've seen videos of ppl recording gameplay using the capture card but is it possible to extend my laptop display as well with the adapter?

Right now I'm using the Windows wireless display feature and it works well but there's still a bit too much latency and it times out whenever I alt+tab windows so I'd prefer a wired solution.

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[–] Dettweiler42 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I can see how this could technically be possible, but at that point it may be more cost effective to just buy a cheap monitor. You can buy a 24", 1080p, 60 Hz monitor for the same price as a decent capture card.

Also, I tried the ~$60 EVGA capture card, and it died after about a month of use. Do not recommend.

[–] coolfission 1 points 1 year ago

I bought the Elgato Cam Link 4k for $80 and it's been working ok so far. While getting an external monitor is more cost effective, I care more about portability since I travel often and so it's well worth it in my case. Also the delay is only a couple of ms so it's perfectly acceptable for office work or just having Discord up or something.

[–] scutiger 1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

It's technically possible, but there's significant latency when using a capture card. I'm talking like 2-3 seconds. It's a real struggle to use a mouse with that kind of latency.

[–] coolfission 2 points 1 year ago

Update: I bought the Elgato Cam Link 4k because I also needed it for recording my old VHS tapes and honestly it's not that bad as you say. I'm able to confirm that I can extend the display and use it as a second monitor with OBS. I just use the "Video Capture Device" setting and set the input to the Cam Link 4k and change the display to 1080p 60hz from Windows Setting.

The delay is only a couple of milliseconds so it's perfectly acceptable for office work. It's well worth it for me for the portability since now I can just take my two laptops and use my personal laptop for other purposes. And I was able to get the adapter for only $80 so it's not that expensive.

[–] coolfission 1 points 1 year ago

Oh didn't realize it would be that much latency. In that case I'll just stick with my current "projecting to this PC" method where it's a couple milliseconds of latency.

I thought it'd be less latency with the adapter since it's wired but I guess it needs to process the video which adds the latency.

[–] fodder69 1 points 1 year ago

Poratble monitor. maybe $100usd.

[–] rImITywR 1 points 1 year ago

I'm sure a capture card would add latency as well. I don't know how much, I don't use them. But looking at amazon, the cheapest Elgado capture card is over $100. You could get a 24inch, 75hz,1080p display for the same price.