Camlink 4K issues through Apple Studio Display over USB

[CubeApril]

Really love my Apple Studio Display, but it has been giving me a heck of a time with my Elgato Camlink 4K, receiving 4K video from my Sony ZV-1. As long as the USB traverses through the ASD, I will get random glitches in my video feed. It happens regardless of whether my setup is this, without the USB hub in the way:

Camlink 4k <--> ASD <--> M1 MBP

Or this:

Camlink 4k <--> USB Hub (5Gbps) <--> ASD <--> M1 MBP

But if I hook it into the USB hub and then run the USB hub directly into the Macbook like so:

Camlink 4K <--> USB Hub (5Gbps) <--> M1 MBP

All of my issues seem to go away. It can't be a power issue, because the USB hub is powered in both scenarios. Anyone else had this issue at all?

 

[CubeApril]

Figured I would give this one bump in case someone out there has run into this problem. Otherwise I guess I'll wait for some ASD firmware updates. 😅

 

[xraydoc]

I think for best performance, you're better off running most high-speed devices directly off the Mac or an attached Thunderbolt 4 hub instead of through the monitor. I could be wrong, but I don't think the Studio Display's USB-C ports are full 10Gbs.

 

[CubeApril]

According to Apple's documentation they are 10Gbps, but who knows what is going on to muck things up.

In theory, 5K @ 60Hz is 27Gbps, so there should be 13Gbps of bandwidth available to make things work. But who knows what is going on with Apple's weird USB implementation and what not.

I have recently discovered that it _does_ work great if I run the Camlink 4K through the 5K UltraFine, but not if I run it through the ASD.

 

[CubeApril]

After realizing that the Camlink 4K worked perfectly fine through my LG UltraFine 5K -- essentially the exact same display as the ASD -- I tried switching to an Avermedia Live Streamer CAP 4K (BU113) and that works just fine.

So there's definitely something weird going on with either the Camlink 4K or the Apple Studio Display USB implementation. Either way, it's super annoying that I would have this problem and I'm glad I gave up and found an alternative that works fine.

 

[xraydoc]

essentially the exact same display as the ASD

Except that it's not quite true. The ASD is controlled by an Apple A13 processor, which means that the USB ports are controlled by the A13 and iOS. Who knows what's happening in there.

Even though I have two Apple Studio Displays, I still wouldn't advise running high-performance or mission critical devices through its USB ports. Only things attached to mine are a wired keyboard, an RF mouse dongle and an old Apple SuperDrive.

 

[CubeApril]

To be clear, it’s the exact same display PANEL, having the same bandwidth consumption. Obviously the USB system is different or I wouldn’t be having these problems.

 

[xraydoc]

To be clear, it’s the exact same display PANEL, having the same bandwidth consumption. Obviously the USB system is different or I wouldn’t be having these problems.

Yes. Agreed.

The ASD definitely has some weird USB issues -- there's several threads about slower ethernet performance depending on the USB-ethernet chipset being used when attached to the ASD.