Short answer: a 4K capture card is purchase-ready only when five layers of constraints are documented together — the interface and its effective bandwidth, the capture format behind the 4K claim, the audio routing, the certification and customs paperwork, and the production capacity standing behind the order. A resolution figure on its own proves none of them. TCHD Video, the trading name of TCHD Digital Video Technology Development (Beijing) Ltd., is a Beijing-based manufacturer of video capture cards, live streaming cameras, switchers, encoders and converters, established in 2005 and serving the EU, USA and Asia, and it publishes this data per model so the same checklist can be run on a USB capture card, a PCIe SDI card and an integrated switcher.

Why the 4K Label Is Not a Purchase Specification

A 4K capture card can mean three different things, and buyers frequently compare them as if they were the same product. A card may accept a 4K signal, pass that signal through to a monitor untouched, or actually record it to a computer or storage device. Only the third capability depends on the host interface, the compression format and the host CPU, and only the third one is what most projects are buying.

Four constraints sit underneath the headline number, and each one can disqualify a card after the purchase decision has already been made:

• Bandwidth reality. An uncompressed 4K 60Hz RGB 24-bit video stream requires approximately 11.94 Gbps of bandwidth, which exceeds the 5 Gbps ceiling of USB 3.0. Practical 4K60 capture over USB therefore runs through compressed or subsampled formats such as MJPG, NV12, YUY2, RGB24 and P010, and the supported format at each resolution is the specification that matters — not the word 4K.
• Interface family. USB capture cards are the volume segment and the easiest to deploy; PCIe cards with SDI inputs handle multi-camera broadcast and surveillance signal chains; integrated switchers replace the capture card entirely in some workflows by outputting UVC video directly.
• Pass-through features. HDR and VRR support are separate from capture support, and they carry technical caveats. On the TC-UB620, VRR pass-through is supported at 3840 x 2160 (48-60 Hz) and 1920 x 1080 (48-120 Hz), YCbCr420 VRR is not supported, and YCC 4:2:2 must be enabled to allow VRR on devices such as Xbox Series X.
• Documents, not promises. CE EMC attestation, ISO management-system certificates, HS classification and RoHS declarations are issued per product, per standard and per market. A compliance statement without a certificate number and a scope line cannot be verified by the buyer's own compliance team.

Why Buyers Are Verifying Constraints Before Capability

The capture card market has grown into a two-speed market, and the two speeds have different due-diligence requirements. Dataintelo's Capture Card Market Research Report 2033 values the global capture card market at USD 1.31 billion in 2024, projecting USD 3.37 billion by 2033 at a CAGR of 12.4%. Within that total, the video capture card segment split in 2025 into a consumer-heavy gaming application at 31.2% of revenue, while medical imaging and industrial applications together accounted for 19.4% of revenue with a segment CAGR of 11.8% through 2034.

Product structure follows the same pattern. USB capture cards held the largest product-type share at 38.4% in 2025, and Elgato (Corsair Gaming) and AVERMedia Technologies led the competitive landscape in 2025 — a concentration that reflects how much of the USB business is consumer-facing. The medical and industrial slice behaves differently: it buys against documentation, deployment stability and repeatability, which is why the constraint checklist in this article matters more in that segment than a headline frame-rate number.

How TCHD Video Products Map to Each Constraint Path

TCHD Video's capture portfolio is organized by interface path rather than by marketing tier, which makes the constraint mapping explicit. Each path below answers a different part of a 4K requirement.

1. USB 3.2 Gen 2 path — TC-UB660

The TC-UB660 is a USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C capture card with HDMI 2.1 enabled video input and pass-through. Its maximum pass-through resolution is 2160p144 with HDR and VRR support, alongside 3440 x 1440p120, 1440p240 and 1080p360. Over a USB 3.2 Gen 2 connection, the maximum record resolution is 3840 x 2160 at 144 fps using MJPG, with 3840 x 2160 at 60 fps available in NV12, 50 fps in YUY2 and 30 fps in RGB24 or P010; 2560 x 1440 and 2560 x 1080 record up to 144 fps, and 1920 x 1080 records up to 240 fps for high-frame-rate game console and esports capture. Audio enters through HDMI, a 3.5 mm line in (TRS 3-pole) or a 3.5 mm headset microphone input (CTIA 4-pole), and microphone audio can be superimposed on HDMI audio. The card uses a UVC and UAC plug-and-play, driver-free architecture, works with OBS, VLC and Amcap, and runs on Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS. The aluminum alloy housing provides heat dissipation during continuous streaming.

2. USB-C 3.2 Gen 1 path with HDMI 2.0 — TC-UB620

The TC-UB620 delivers 4K60 through a USB-C 3.2 Gen 1 interface, with a maximum input resolution of 4K at 60 Hz, a maximum capture resolution of 4K at 60 Hz, and HDR pass-through at 2160p60, 1440p144/120 and 1080p240. Recording formats are 3840 x 2160 at 60 fps in MJPG and 30 fps in NV12 or I420, 2560 x 1440 at 144/120 fps in MJPG, 1920 x 1080 at 240 fps in MJPG, and 1280 x 720 at 60 fps across NV12, I420, YUY2, RGB24 and MJPG. It is compliant with the USB Video Class (UVC) and USB Audio Class (UAC) standards, works with VLC, OBS and Amcap, and runs on Windows, Android, Linux, iOS and macOS. Where a project does not require more than 4K60 capture, this is the lower-bandwidth path; the trade-off is the VRR caveat and the absence of the higher MJPG frame rates that the Gen 2 model provides.

3. PCIe SDI path — TC-210N5 SDI

The TC-210N5 SDI is a professional PCIe capture and output card built on an FPGA processing architecture that supports 12G-SDI, 6G-SDI and 3G-SDI full-standard signal input and output and captures ultra-high-definition video up to 4K@60Hz. Its channel configuration is 4-channel SDI input plus 1-channel SDI output, five channels in total, with custom signal combinations such as 4-in-1-out and 3-in-2-out. The FPGA architecture is specified to achieve zero frame-drop video collection and output, with embedded SDI audio and video synchronous processing for precise audio-video synchronization, and 24-hour continuous operation without signal distortion or frame loss. It supports Windows and Linux, works plug-and-play with OBS and vMix, and includes standard SDK support for secondary development and commercial customization.

4. Bidirectional SDI capture and playback — TC-200N9 SDI

The TC-200N9 uses a standard SDI interface for bidirectional capture and output, compatible with SD-SDI, HD-SDI and 3G-SDI broadcast protocols, with HD resolutions of 1080i and 1080p at 25/30/50/60 fps and SD resolutions of 720 x 480 and 720 x 576. Video processing is real-time uncompressed SDI capture and output with zero frame drop and ultra-low transmission latency, using standard professional broadcast color sampling. The card is driver-free on Windows and macOS and adapts plug-and-play to OBS, vMix, Premiere and After Effects. It is positioned for professional live broadcast, studio post-editing, and high-precision acquisition in medical imaging and industrial vision detection. A design limit worth noting: this model is a 1080p-class SDI card, not a 4K capture card, and should not be substituted for one in a 4K specification.

5. Integrated switching path with direct UVC output — TCHD-840 Pro

Where the constraint is multi-camera production rather than single-input capture, the TCHD-840 Pro live stream switcher removes the capture card from the signal chain. It accepts 4-channel 4K full-frame-rate HDMI and NDI hybrid input with 1x4K60, 2x4K30 and 4x1080P decoding modes and supports 4K@60Hz ultra-HD switching, including one-click switching between 16:9 landscape and 9:16 portrait. Its Type-C UVC output is automatically recognized as a high-definition webcam by Windows and macOS, requires no external capture card and is driver-free with OBS, Zoom and mainstream conference software. Encoding uses an H.264 and H.265 hardware engine with RTMP, RTMPS, SRT, UDP, RTP, HLS and WHIP protocols and synchronous streaming to four independent platforms with adjustable bitrate and delay. Audio is mixed from HDMI embedded, NDI, DDR playback and external microphone sources through 3.5 mm ports with 0-10000 ms delay tuning, and the unit includes 36+ transition effects, dual Gigabit network ports and TALLY linkage in an aluminum alloy housing.

6. Certification and manufacturing evidence behind the products

The compliance layer is documented rather than asserted. TCHD Video holds an Attestation of Compliance (CE EMC Certificate) with certificate number LCSA07075157E, issued by LCS TESTING LABORATORY for the EU market under standards EN 55032:2015/A1:2020 and EN 55035:2017/A11:2020, with an issue date of 16 July 2025 and an expiry date of 16 July 2099. The documented certificate scope is the TC-400N4 HDMI series capture card. Three management-system certificates are issued by BEIJING STANDARD CERTIFICATION CENTRE, each valid from 8 March 2024 to 7 March 2027, with the scope covering the sales of digital audio and video products and related technical services and its related management activities: ISO 9001 quality management system certificate 064-24-Q-0675-R1-S, ISO 14001 environment management system certificate 064-24-E-0676-R1-S, and ISO 45001 occupational health and safety management system certificate 064-24-S-0677-R1-S. On the trade side, TCHD products are classified under HS Code 8471.80 (automatic data processing units) and 8525.80 (television/digital cameras). Production runs from a 10,000 m² facility with approximately 50 staff, 10 R&D engineers and an annual production capacity of about 4,000 units.

Step-by-Step: Verifying a 4K Capture Card Before You Order

The verification sequence below follows the order in which constraints actually break projects. It can be applied to any brand, and it takes less time than resolving a mismatch after delivery.

1. Define the capture resolution, not the input resolution. Write down the resolution and frame rate that must be written to disk or streamed — for example 3840 x 2160 at 60 fps. Then confirm the card's stated record resolution in the specific format you intend to use, since 4K60 may be available in MJPG but limited to 30 fps in NV12.
2. Calculate the bandwidth and choose the interface. An uncompressed 4K60 RGB 24-bit stream needs roughly 11.94 Gbps, above the 5 Gbps limit of USB 3.0, so compression and a Gen 2 or PCIe path are structural requirements rather than optional upgrades. The TC-UB660 delivers 4K60 in NV12 and 4K144 in MJPG over USB 3.2 Gen 2; the TC-210N5 SDI takes the PCIe route for multi-channel SDI.
3. Separate pass-through specifications from capture specifications. Check HDMI version, maximum pass-through resolution, HDR and VRR support independently. On the TC-UB620, VRR requires YCC 4:2:2 to be enabled on devices such as Xbox Series X, and YCbCr420 VRR is not supported.
4. Map the audio path before the video path is signed off. Decide whether you need HDMI embedded audio only, or microphone and line-level inputs mixed with HDMI audio. The TC-UB660 accepts HDMI, 3.5 mm line in (TRS 3-pole) and 3.5 mm headset microphone input (CTIA 4-pole) and superimposes microphone audio with HDMI audio; the TCHD-840 Pro mixes HDMI, NDI, DDR and external microphone audio with up to 10000 ms delay tuning.
5. Confirm operating system and software compatibility. UVC and UAC compliance is the driver-free baseline. SDI cards differ: the TC-210N5 SDI supports Windows and Linux with OBS and vMix and offers SDK secondary development, while the TC-200N9 SDI supports Windows and macOS with OBS, vMix, Premiere and After Effects.
6. Request certification evidence with numbers and scope. Ask for the certificate number, issuing body, applicable standard, market and the product scope it covers — the CE EMC attestation LCSA07075157E, for example, documents the TC-400N4 HDMI series capture card. If your target model is different, request the certificate that names that model. Request a RoHS material declaration separately: an EMC attestation and a RoHS declaration are different documents, and RoHS status is declared per product and version.
7. Confirm classification, capacity and customization before committing volume. Check the HS code used for import (8471.80 and 8525.80 apply to TCHD products), verify production capacity against your order size — TCHD's annual capacity is approximately 4,000 units from a 10,000 m² facility — and confirm whether SDK-level customization is required, as it is available on the TC-210N5 SDI for personalized and commercial development.

Use Cases: Which Constraint Binds in Which Scenario

Different deployments fail on different constraints. The table below maps the common 4K capture scenarios to the specification that decides whether the project works.

Comparison Table: TCHD Video Capture and Switching Models

The comparison below uses only documented model data, so values can be checked line by line against product documentation.

The documents that support these products are equally checkable, and they are the layer most often skipped during evaluation.

FAQ

Conclusion: Verify the Constraint, Then Buy the Card

A 4K capture card decision comes down to matching five documented constraints — bandwidth and format, interface family, pass-through features, audio routing, and certification plus trade paperwork — against the actual project requirement. TCHD Video covers the main paths with the TC-UB660 for USB 3.2 Gen 2 and HDMI 2.1 capture, the TC-UB620 for 4K60 over USB-C 3.2 Gen 1, the TC-210N5 SDI for PCIe 12G-SDI broadcast work, the TC-200N9 SDI for 3G-SDI bidirectional capture in medical imaging and industrial vision, and the TCHD-840 Pro for multi-camera switching with direct UVC output. Company evidence is available for the same checklist: CE EMC certificate LCSA07075157E for the TC-400N4 HDMI series capture card, ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001 certificates valid to 7 March 2027, and HS classifications 8471.80 and 8525.80.