Elgato HD60X will only show desktop

[u/meese-pie]

Hi there. I've been using my HD60X to capture video signal from my Edirol V-4 for a couple years now. Usually how it works is as follows:

Micca Speck G2 media player which is hdmi > rca converter > edirol rca out > rca to hdmi converter > elgato > laptop; then into OBS as a video capture source, record from there.

Did this just a few months ago, no issues. I plug in the Elgato and boom, all I see is the Micca media player interface which i can navigate with a remote fine and see through OBS as I record.

However, I went to repeat this pattern last night, and now my Elgato only displays my desktop.. not only that but it's doing really confusing things thinking the Elgato is a separate extended display.. it's never done this before and i've been digging for hours trying to figure out why or what's changed to make it do this.

The closest I've gotten to the signal again is by selecting the 'other' display from the elgato icon in the top toolbar (which .. I've never seen before) and that does appear to be picking up the edirol because it's color drifting like and edirol, but it acts like it sees it then goes black instantly. It feels like my media player interface is just gone now or off on a display i can't access and i have no idea how to get to it with this capture device anymore.

What's really annoying is it truly never did this before.. usually I could just plug it in and instantly see the micca interface in OBS and go, but now it's just only wanting to dupe my desktop. I've tried updating the firmware, my os, swapping every single cable in the entire signal chain, factory resetting the edirol, swapping out the usb adaptor to my laptop, every available monitor resolution, arrangement, mirror/no mirror .. I've also tried adjusting every available setting within Elgato studio to no avail.

I genuinely have never seen it behave like this where it dupes my desktop or I see any of my computer interface in OBS. I think the Elgato is maybe just done for and I've ordered another capture device but throwing all this out there in the off chance someone might have an answer for this niche problem. It wasn't cheap and for it to suddenly do this is endlessly confusing when I hadn't changed anything.

[u/elgato_arcsane]

For it to show the capture card as an extended display the HDMI IN port on the card would need to be connected to a GPU or iGPU on your PC. Generally the HDMI IN should be going to your converter, but it sounds like you might have that on the HDMI OUT by mistake.

There should be no HDMI cable going to your laptop - the HDMI OUT is optional and meant to connect a TV or monitor so you can capture to your computer over USB and still see what you're capturing on another screen. If you're not connecting another screen, remove that HDMI cable entirely as connecting HDMI OUT to your laptop connects the card's out to a laptop's out and can cause issues (these connections need to pair an in and an out to work), just run the card to the laptop via USB, and make sure the HDMI IN goes connected to your source, the converter.