BlackMagic, Nexus Devices, MHL, SlimPort & Elgato Game Capture HD

Upon reading my prior post about my effort to capture the output of one of my Android devices fellow VUC alumni Andreas Dorfer suggested that I try the Elgato Game Capture HD. At first I was reluctant to make yet another purchase in pursuit of this goal, but I eventually caved in ordering one from Amazon for $179.

It arrived today. It took only a few minutes to come to the conclusion that it was not a solution to my problem. While I opened a trouble ticket with the company to pursue the matter, I discovered a FAQ entry claiming that the Nexus 4 always sets the HDCP copy protection flag in the video stream. Thus no downstream device will be able to record the output of the Nexus 4.

What’s unclear to me is whether control of that HDCP flag is done by the Nexus 4 or the SlimPort® SP1002 adapter.

Whatever the case, the Elgato device is being returned. This little pursuit has tried my patience enough for one week.