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[Keith Purtell]

Our church tech team has been tasked with getting ready to live stream later this month. We prepared by learning how to record video to removable media. That has been a good learning experience. We have uploaded about six videos to YouTube, with the most recent ones via Adobe Flash Live Media Encoder software set to write to a file.

But Sunday morning, we noticed there was a black rectangle where our video normally displays in the software. Unplugging, re-plugging and rebooting did not solve the problem. We recorded the service to a memory card. I later pulled the Canon G20 camcorder off the ceiling mount and successfully got its HDMI output to talk to an office PC and my laptop. I returned the camera to its mount, then powered up the dedicated PC. It showed a normal video display.

Canon tech support said the most likely culprit is our 50-foot HDMI cable. Although it was sold to us as having some type of passive inline amplification, the Canon guy said we need to look closely at that cable. He added that most folks running long lengths of HDMI have a powered amp at about 40 feet before continuing. We are already somewhat over budget. I have wondered if we could put a little amp just outside the camera before the 'big' HDMI cable begins.

Tips?

[Jean-Pierre Coetzee]

HDbaseT, why would you pay for a 50' HDMI cable?

[Jean-Pierre Coetzee]

Oh and also you need to tell us how your are going into your 'dedicated PC' and also what you software you are planning to use to stream.

There is lots of helpful things we can tell you if we only know more.

[Ryan C. Davis]

I would avoid an amplifier. If your cable has the Redmere Chipset, these have actually been really reliable for us but we only use Redmere on lengths greater than 50'. Resolution will also play a role in what kind of length you can get away with. As a rule, for us, anything over 50' we use a balun (over Cat6 STP) There are some pretty affordable models out right now and our go-to on the cheaper side of things is around $250 sell price. If you need full 4k (18 GB/s), which is doubtful at this point of the game, your options are more limited and you'll pay substantially more for them.

If your cable is 50' or less and you're running 1080p/60 or lower I'd just swap the cable out for a passive "no frills" cable.

That being said, if you unplugged the camera, plugged it into something else (and it worked), then plugged it back into your recorder (and it worked) theres a possibility you have an EDID issue. That information gets exchanged every time a new device is plugged in.

[Don T. Williams]

Some HDMI cables are directional, especially those with internal amplification.  There is a correct "send" and "receive" end and they wont work well (or at all) reversed.

[Keith Purtell]

We bought a 50-foot cable because the distance from the camcorder to the dedicated PC is about 48 feet.

Here is the video "chain": Camcorder, miniHDMI-to-fullHDMI adapter, HDMI cable, Magewell USB 3 video capture dongle, and a short USB cable into the PC.

We are planning to use the same FLME software, which is approved by dacast.com, a streaming host were are interested in trying out.

Ryan, I don't recognize the EDID acronym. I'm a front-end web developer, so video is a new area of technology for me.

Our cable is definitely directional, something we discovered when we first put everything together!

[Keith Purtell]

... don't recognize the EDID acronym.

Just found this interesting article on EDID ... http://aldoussystems.blogspot.com/2010/07/why-edid-management-in-hdmi-is-so.html

[Keith Purtell]

I identified our cable, and it has a pretty good rep ...
https://www.amazon.com/HDMI-Cable-1080p-Speed-Ethernet/dp/B000EPOPQG/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8&th=1

[John Rutirasiri]

Here is the video "chain": Camcorder, miniHDMI-to-fullHDMI adapter, HDMI cable, Magewell USB 3 video capture dongle, and a short USB cable into the PC.

With a regular passive (non-active, unequalized) 50ft HDMI cable like the one your bought, anything else in between (e.g. coupler, miniHDMI to HDMI adaptor) can cause problems.  If  you can try shorter length cable and it works, there's your culprit.  In that case you should consider an active HDMI cable or a HDMI extender.

We are planning to use the same FLME software, which is approved by dacast.com, a streaming host were are interested in trying out.

AFME has been a mixed bag for me.  I tend not to trust software-based encoder.  I've had good results with a Matrox Monarch HDX with a couple of customers.  Expensive, yes, but it has been reliable for both RTMP and RTSP.

Ryan, I don't recognize the EDID acronym. I'm a front-end web developer, so video is a new area of technology for me.

EDID is a block of data sent serially from a display or sink device to the source, telling the source what resolution and video timing it can support. 
It is the source of a lot of headaches with hooking HDMI devices to projectors and video capture devices.

Our cable is definitely directional, something we discovered when we first put everything together!

Are you sure?  It looks like a passive cable.  Of course if you bought the extension (male to female), then sure, it's "directional."  Not electrically, but connector-wise.

John R.

[ProSoundWeb Community]