evga xr1 lite setup/configuration guide
there's a really decent name brand capture card that often goes for sub-$30. it provides 1080p60 capture while providing lagless 40k60 passthrough. i struggle to recommend it despite all this, and it's for a very simple reason: it's really annoying to setup, use, and maintain. the capture card in question is the evga xr1 lite.
now, i can't guarantee that everyone who buys this capture card will have the same issues to deal with as i did. there could be hardware reasons for some of it. there has also been a newer firmware released than i last checked. however, this firmware version doesn't seem to change anything related to issues i experienced. whatever the reasons are, the most charitable way to describe my experience with the device is "finicky."
despite all that though, i think it is worth taking a look at it. most of my frustrations with the machine stem from the fact that it was really hard to figure out how to deal with it's quirks, since there wasn't much documented about the device. i have thankfully figured out all the issues as i can tell it. i think, if i were to know upfront what i'd have to put up with for the xr1 lite, i think i would still buy it at the price i paid, which was $50. if you can get it at or below that price, i think it's highly worth considering.
so, in order to make sure anyone else who might be interested in a quality capture card, here is my best summation of what you need to know about how to properly configure the evga xr1 lite.
out of the box
the physical layout of the device is quite simple. on one end, you have the hdmi video input, which is connected to whatever device you're trying to capture. in this case it's my mister pi fpga console. on the other end is the hdmi video output, which is connected to my tv. next to the output is a usb-c port, which is connected to your computer. important to note is that on top of the device there's a small led on the video input side. this will be important later.
firmware
the first thing you're going to want to do once you have the card put together is update the firmware for the device. this isn't super easy to find on evga's website. you're going to need to go to evga's download page. you're going to need to click on 1. other devices and then 2. select capture device>all>firmware for xr1 lite. if you have hdcp issues, this is also where you can find the hdcp control app. just select "hdcp control for xr1 lite" instead of the firmware.
capture software
as is mentioned on all the marketing materials, packaging, and even the device itself, the xr1 lite is designed to work with obs studio. this has it's pluses and minuses. the pluses are obvious: obs is free and open source software, it works on any modern operating system, it's reliable, and any issues you might have are well documented due to it's popularity. the downside of course is that it isn't exactly one click like say an elgato is. obs is also a bit of a hassle to get working in discord video streams, which is frustrating because that's the majority of the reason why i want a capture card. this is due to audio.
audio
now, how you want your obs configured is entirely up to you and your use case. however, if there's an achilles heel with the xr1 lite in my experience, it's in the audio department. the biggest issue is drifting audio latency. in my experience, if using the card as a simple video device will have the audio getting progressively out of sync with the video output. this will infuriate you, as this will ruin recordings. thankfully, there is a way around this.
i'm going to assume you have set up whatever video settings you intend to use. you should have the card added as a "video capture device" in the sources tab. however, you're going to keep the audio channel it produces muted, since we're not going to be using it.
now, what you're going to want to do is create a seperate audio source for the capture cards audio. add a "audio input capture" source.
from here you can rename the source if you wish (i label "mine xr1 audio"), but otherwise just hit okay. you should then see a device selector dropdown menu. what you are looking to select is a device named "hdmi (evga xr1 lite capture box audio)" and then hit okay. for whatever reason, splitting the audio out into it's own source fixes the audio latency. if you're planning on just using your output device for audio and only care about recording and/or streaming on twitch or youtube or whatever, this should be all you need to know about configuration.
however, if you intend to play stream to discord or play on your computer, read on into the next section. otherwise skip to the section after.
discord and playing with the preview window
for my purposes, the majority of my usage of the xr1 lite is for discord streams. figuring out how to get a proper video stream in discord with audio was the second biggest hassle for me to overcome. this is thankfully not as much of a worry, as discord now supports display capture with audio. i'm not fond of this solution though, as you have no control over what audio makes it to your stream. as far as i'm concerned, it's a last resort.
so, here's how to get your stream into discord.
- right-click on the preview window in obs and select either fullscreen or windowed projector preview. my personal preference is windowed preview. if you go with fullscreen it will dominate whatever monitor you send it to and can't be minimized. if you select windowed preview, you'll get a small window that you can resize to whatever size you need.
- next we need to enable audio monitoring. this is needed both so discord can catch the audio and so you can hear it. go to the setting menu, click on the audio tab, scroll to the advanced settings, and select your chosen monitoring device. as far as discord is concerned, it doesn't matter which device you pick, but if you want to hear the audio through your headphones or computer speakers, set that as the output.
- next, you need to configure the audio source to be monitored. click on the audio mixer settings icon, and then change the audio monitoring setting for your audio input capture source. you either want monitor only or monitor and output, just depends on if you're doing a proper stream.
- finally, stream it in discord. just select the preview window you selected as your capture source. if you did everything right, you should have audio and video in sync.
final frustrations
now that it's configured and set up, you might think you're done, but unfortunately that isn't the case. sometimes, the capture card just won't work. either there won't be any video making it's way to obs, or the audio is broken. if you're not getting video, it's a simple fix. look at the capture card led. if it's blue or purple, it should be working properly. sometimes, for whatever reason, it'll be red. simply unplug the usb-c cable, close obs, replug, and re-open obs. 9/10 times this fixes it.
sometimes though, you'll get video but no audio. audio will work on your output device but not in obs, with the volume meters in the audio mixer dead. gonna be honest, i don't know an easy non-tedious fix for this. the only way i've found to consistently mitigate this issue is to delete the audio source and make it again. this will require enabling audio monitoring for the device again as well.
conclusions
now i fully admit: this is a lot of tedium. for many, this won't be worth the hassle. if you are planning on using this for any sort of serious video capture or streaming, it probably isn't worth the effort. if you can comfortably afford a nicer card, you should get that instead. if, however, you just want something good enough for a hobby or hanging out with friends, this is not the worst option you can get.
as a capture card, it does everything i need it to do. the capture is clean. the passthrough is lagless. the audio latency is low enough that it's fine playing even a fast action game with the preview window. and most importantly: it's cheap. if you read this and still plan on getting it, i'd appreciate letting me know on my bluesky.