Why can’t you buy a good webcam?
I&#x27;ve also investigated this quite deeply. As I&#x27;m sure most of us know, the main problems with &#x27;webcams&#x27;, either the built-in ones or USB ones that you perch on top of your monitor, are the lens size, and the CCD&#x2F;CMOS image sensor size. Manufacturers spouting specs like &#x27;4k&#x27; are deliberately misleading the public if the sensor and&#x2F;or the lens aren&#x27;t also upgraded.<p>The only cost-viable methods to get &#x27;broadcast quality&#x27; imagery for streaming&#x2F;recording right now is to buy a second hand DLSR or mirrorless camera that has &#x27;clean&#x27; HDMI out that works without the camera auto-shutting down after X amount of time. There are a few sites out there that list the preferable models[1]. I&#x27;ve got a couple of old Canon DSLRs (That don&#x27;t do clean HDMI) and a load of lenses, so I&#x27;ve been watching Ebay for a newer model Canon DSLR that I can afford. The lowest cost Canon DSLR body I&#x27;ve seen with unrestricted clean HDMI or that can take the Magic Lantern[2] firmware is about £150.<p>However... You also need a HDMI-to-USB dongle. This converts the cameras HDMI output into a standard USB Webcam input. I&#x27;ve already got an Elgato CamLink[3] (bought for a different reason a couple of years ago), but you can get cheap China knockoffs for about £15, I don&#x27;t know how good they are though. My Camlink cost WAY more than that, so I have my doubts about the knockoff quality.<p>Finally, you need good audio capture that importantly is in sync with the picture. The HDMI to USB conversion adds a tiny delay to the image which can put your audio out of sync if you are using a standard USB microphone.  Good software like OBS[4] can correct for this though.<p>---<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.elgato.com&#x2F;en&#x2F;gaming&#x2F;cam-link&#x2F;camera-check" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.elgato.com&#x2F;en&#x2F;gaming&#x2F;cam-link&#x2F;camera-check</a><p>[2] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;magiclantern.fm&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;magiclantern.fm&#x2F;</a><p>[3] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.elgato.com&#x2F;en&#x2F;gaming&#x2F;cam-link-4k" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.elgato.com&#x2F;en&#x2F;gaming&#x2F;cam-link-4k</a><p>[4] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;obsproject.com&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;obsproject.com&#x2F;</a>