Canon T6 dSLR HDMI direct capture

[dalekphalm]

Hey guys,

 

We are looking at doing internal live streams at work (Typically it'll be panel or conference style content). I have the stream side of thing working fine (Using OBS to broadcast to an RTMP server which rebroadcasts to anyone who tunes into the IP Address using VLC Network Stream).

 

We started testing with a Microsoft LifeCam HD3000 webcam. But it's terrible (720P, and even at 720P it sucks ass).

 

We were looking at improving the video quality - the good news is that we have an existing Canon T6 dSLR.

 

So I started to look into using that Canon T6 as an input camera for OBS. I found out that I can use the EOS Utility over a USB connection to display a live view from the sensor - and this works, but it's not ideal. I have to use Window Capture in OBS to capture the EOS Utility window, and then crop the window to only capture the video feed itself. This is fine for me - but this is getting a bit too complicated for actual regular staff to do.

 

So we decided to buy a capture card and try that out - I chose the Elgato HD60S - I wanted something that ran over USB 3.0, to ensure I wouldn't be bandwidth limited, etc - and I also needed it to be USB (we will be using these on laptops mostly).

 

Great, so the HD60S arrived, and I hooked up a Mini-HDMI to HDMI cable from the T6 into the HD60S - and ran into a hard wall. No matter what I do, I cannot seem to disable certain on-screen display elements over the HDMI output on the T6. Specifically, the Focus Box (the white rectangle that shows you the central focus point or whatever).

 

I can disable that box using the EOS Utility, but not through the HD60S. In theory, the HD60S is giving me higher resolution and better quality, since it's a direct capture of the HDMI output - whereas the EOS Utility is a window capture (that isn't even full screen) that's additionally cropped even smaller.

 

I will admit that the EOS Utility end result looks decent, so it's usable. It's just not ideal.

 

Conclusion: Is there a way to disable all on-screen display elements on the T6, over the HDMI output? Or am I stuck using the EOS Utility method over USB?

[YiorgosT]

You can get clean hdmi without any overlays but it will not be full screen.

It'll have a thin black bar at the top of the frame, a thick black bar at the bottom
and white border around the image.

[dalekphalm]

2 hours ago, YiorgosT said:

You can get clean hdmi without any overlays but it will not be full screen.

It'll have a thin black bar at the top of the frame, a thick black bar at the bottom
and white border around the image.

How’d you do that? I haven’t been able to replicate what you did. 

 

Also I can use OBS to crop the unused space so no big deal. 

[YiorgosT]

I just used the top dial to put it into video mode and then pressed the DISP button to clear the overlay.

 

[dalekphalm]

3 hours ago, YiorgosT said:

I just used the top dial to put it into video mode and then pressed the DISP button to clear the overlay.

 

I'll have to test that out - did you run into issues with the camera going into some kind of eco-saver mode? What was the longest time period you captured HDMI input? (eg: 15 minutes, 90 minutes, 3 hours, etc)

 

Also what specific model of camera were you using?

[YiorgosT]

It's a Canon 1300D, exactly the same as the T6.
I haven't tested it much, just wanted to see if it's possible to get clean hdmi output.
I'll test it more when I receive a mini hdmi cable I ordered.