Amscope USB cameras as OBS video source  - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: madengr
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: August 22, 2020, 05:08:08 pm
content: Anyone know if the Amscope USB 3.0 microscope cameras work as a video source in Open Broadcaster Software (OBS), similar to a webcam or document camera?I have an Amscope stereo inspection scope that I'm happy with, and their USB cameras should fit in-place of one eyepiece. I'm looking to do video documentation (not soldering) with this, so the 15 FPS rate should be fine, but want ~4k resolution. I don't want to mess around editing voice-overs on separately recorded videos, hence the OBS compatibility.I did contact Amscope tech support chat, but they were worthless. They don't actually have any hardware on hand to try. They did say I can return it if it does not work, but that's a lot of fuss just to check compatibility with free software.Thanks,Lou

author: Acecool
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 22, 2020, 06:40:04 pm
content: I don't know your specific camera, but the microscope camera should show up as a video source in OBS. In some cases you may need software or a plugin to help it along. Another instance if it has an HDMI or DP connection, then you can use an Elgato, or other type, of capture device ( internal card or external device ) and you only need to use the video in part, and it doesn't need to be in-line unless you also want it to show up on a screen instead of just in OBS.. Not a bad idea to have it on a screen too.If you can view the camera on your computer, then you can dedicate a 4k monitor to the output of your camera and use the display source in OBS. You can also use a window source ( or game source ) if you do not want to keep the webcam software on screen while recording.There are many different ways to do it.Hopefully someone with the specific camera in question can give you a definitive answer on how it shows up, and which source mechanism to use, but I am confident it will work...If I can get my Tobii 4C Eye Tracker to be displayed on my computer as an actual webcam ( black and white if I recall correctly ), and then have that output shown in OBS... then this should be much easier as it is designed to work as a camera instead of a camera which captures data and outputs eye motion information based on what is seen.

author: cdev
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 28, 2020, 05:18:38 pm
content: If you have any camera that outputs HDMI like a DSLR, (you usually need a mini-HDMI to HDMI cable) - you can now use a $12 "HDMI Video Capture" dongle to turn it into a webcam. This is a USB2 device, not USB3, but the quality is incredible for the price, and the latency is quite low relative to other devices Ive tried to use for HDMI capture. It supports 60 fps at 720p and 30 FPS at 1080p, and the quility is really good considering how cheap it is.It doesnt have a brand name (or any name visible on the device) but it enumerates as 534d:2109It comes with a nice little instruction book in Chinese and English - no brand name at all..In terms of performance it outperforms many expensive capture devices.This device really deserves its own thread, its that good. The quality of a DSLR captured image far exceeds any webcam.