HDMI Capture Card that can successfully record Dolby Digital audio?

ArianK

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Just like the title says, is there an HDMI card on the market right now (or even discontinued) that at the very least can record in 1080p, 30fps, and accept the raw feed of Dolby Digital audio? I’m at my wit’s end here.

First I was using an Inogeni 4K2USB3 card, but that apparently was upsampling the audio feed, and therefore rendering it unusable.

Then I went back to my old AVerMedia Extremecap U3 from back in the day, but that was only a patchwork fix and not a permanent solution as eventually the drivers’ HDCP detector went haywire and all I get now is a black screen, no matter what I try to record with that.

So I said, okay. This time, I’m going to take a chance on the Elgato HD60 S unit, since it allows for 3rd-party support on recording software, you’re not obliged to use their 1st-party application and hardware encode what you’re recording. Then I learn, after the fact, of course, that it doesn’t record Dolby Digital audio at all. You try and all you get is silence as opposed to the white noise you’d normally get. Why they enabled a capture device to so specifically inconvenience their paying customers, I’ll never understand.

So, I come to you with a simple question. Are there any capture cards that are not Inogeni, AVerMedia, or Elgato that can simply record in 1080p with DD audio at the helm? I’ve seen those non-brand name ones on Amazon, but I hear you run a risk of the signal just being really bad SD disguised as HD.

Thank you kindly.
 
First question is what are you trying to record? If it has Dolby Digital, it sounds like commercial content that is not intended to be recorded.

I think the problem you have is around licencing and copy restrictions. It may be better to decode the DD at source to PCM and work from there, rather than trying to continue with your uphill battle!!
 
I think the problem you have is around licencing and copy restrictions. It may be better to decode the DD at source to PCM and work from there, rather than trying to continue with your uphill battle!!

Yes, that's exactly what I'm trying to do - To decode the DD audio in PCM format.

The problem that lies, as I explained in the OP, is that 3 capture cards have failed to record the DD audio in PCM format even, particularly the Elgato device which was the most disappointing.

So, if you know of any devices that will definitely work with my plan, let me know.
 
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Can you not just turn off the dolby digital encoding on the game or system?

Game audio is generated in response to what the player is doing, it's not like a film where the audio is pre-recorded.

So compression to other formats is done by the game or system on the fly and can often be toggled on or off - especially for lossy formats like the original Dolby Digital (AC-3) that degrade quality.
 
Yes, that's exactly what I'm trying to do - To decode the DD audio in PCM format.

The problem that lies, as I explained in the OP, is that 3 capture cards have failed to record the DD audio in PCM format even, particularly the Elgato device which was the most disappointing.

So, if you know of any devices that will definitely work with my plan, let me know.
The Hauppauge Colossus 2 card, should record Dolby Digital stream and Full HD video without problem.
 

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