Ugreen HDMI to USB capture card

<-- Splitting a set top box HDMI output

To convert my HDMI output to USB, I am using a Ugreen HDMI to USB capture card.

This little device will allow me to connect the output from the Sky Stream box to my laptop.

The Ugreen version I have is the 4k to 1080p@60 FPS on a USB-C with a USB-A converter.

This device on its own does not bypass HDCP; that is the job of the EZCOO splitter which sits between the Ugreen capture card and the Sky Stream box.

Once connected up, I installed OBS Studio to take it for a test run. In OBS, I turned on the preview and was greeted by a feed with the word “UGREEN” in yellow. Good, I have a signal.

It took a few attempts to get the actual video stream from the set top box to come through. I restarted the box, then the splitter. I removed and reconnected the UBS connector, and even rebooted my laptop. Nothing seemed to work until I switched the EZCOO to “copy”, and then everything sprang into life.

This only happened the first time. Because I do not leave my laptop permanently connected to the Ugreen, I have to occasionally do a dance in OBS Studio itself, switching the input back and forth from my laptop’s webcam to Ugreen before I get the stream image. The audio almost always seems to pass through instantly, and so the issue is only with the video.

I’ve experimented with recording using both OBS Studio and ffmpeg directly, and the results are… let’s just say: mixed. But that’s a story for another time.