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Minimum bandwidth requirements for multi-channel video capture

Article ID: 000020025 Pro Capture Family , USB Capture Gen 1 Family , USB Capture Gen 2 Family , USB Capture Plus Family

When multiple channels of video are being captured with Magewell capture device, it is necessary to ensure that the transmission bandwidths of the capture devices and the computer's bus (PCIe or USB bus) are sufficient for the total data of multi-channel video streams; otherwise, frame drop will occur.

The maximum transmission bandwidths of PCIe interface and USB interface are:

  • PCIe x1 Gen 2: ~400MB/s
  • PCIe x4 Gen 2: ~1600MB/s

    Note: Although Pro Capture HDMI 4K, Pro Capture AIO 4K, and Pro Capture DVI 4K Capture cards use the PCIe x4 Gen 2 interfaces, their actual transmission bandwidths are only ~1200MB/s.

  • USB 3.0 bus: ~400MB/s
  • USB 2.0 bus: ~50MB/s

When capturing multi-channel video streams, you can refer to the following table to select the video capture format.

Resolution-frame rate-bandwidth relationship for RGB color format

Resolution-frame rate-bandwidth relationship for YUY2, UYVY, YVYU color formats

Resolution-frame rate-bandwidth relationship for NV12, I420 color formats

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