DSLR as webcam for OBS: image looks compressed?

[ClimbersOfIce]

I have a Canon rebel T6i that I hook up via HDMI to my USB capture card, which is connected to my PC for OBS.

I'm getting an image, but it looks jagged. I made sure the "Video capture device" resolution was 1080p as well as the camera output. It still looks jagged and somewhat blurry. It does not look like a clean image at all.

When I plug in my Logitech c922 webcam in the same way, the 1080p image is much better.

I've heard talk about cameras supporting something called "clean HDMI out" , not sure if that has anything to do with it, but it shouldn't given that my webcam looks better.

Thanks in advance..

 

[carlmmii]

Are you outputting 1920x1080 from your Canon itself? Setting the capture resolution is an independent setting from the camera's.

 

[Pandalorian]

I've recently hooked up a Sony DSC-HX90 (Bridge) using this capture device. OBS is running on an old i3-2120 with 4 GB of RAM, so processing is somewhat limited. I switched to CBR with 4000 Kbps, ultrafast and 30 fps. Output is a bit grainy/noisy.

Have a look at my livestream here for comparsion. My upload runs at ~10 Mb/s for now. If stream is black, it's night. Or overheated due to direct sunlight (for 3 hours in the morning).

My project is a work in progress so I didn't play with the settings that much yet. The PC will be upgraded to a Intel NUC in the near future. My goal is a 1080@60 livestream with vivid and true colors.

a) The capture device I use is processing the signal from the HDMI port on it's own.
b) I've compared direct output and the source signal from the capture device. It renders the image slightly blurry.
c) I've tried to compensate with a slight sharpening filter in OBS.

Maybe you should hook up your camera directly to a display and compare it that way.

My camera only got some settings for HDMI control and the infographics (enable/disable).

 

[ClimbersOfIce]

Are you outputting 1920x1080 from your Canon itself? Setting the capture resolution is an independent setting from the camera's.

Hi. Yes, both are set to 1080p. I was reading on Canons website the list of cameras that support "clean HDMI out" and my camera is not on the list. I'm suspecting that may be it, but I quite frankly don't understand why it can't just produce a clean image.

 

[carlmmii]

Can you post a log file, as well as a screenshot of your preview window? Also, I'd follow @Pandalorian's suggestion and verify what your camera is outputting by connecting it directly to a monitor.

 

[Sukiyucky]

Clean HDMI out means that there is no information like buttons, status values, indicators, etc. appearing in the signal.
The problem could be the HDMI/USB device you are using.

Go out and buy an Elgato Camlink 4K adapter. It supports your Canon T6i

 

[carlmmii]

Have you checked the prices on the camlink lately? It's good, but not $300 good. Let's figure out whether his capture device is actually the issue first.

 

[Sukiyucky]

Using Camlink 4K is a solution to his problem and one for him to consider if HE chooses to do so. What he pays for it is his decision, not mine. If he is patient, he can get the product when it hits the Elgato online store at regular manufacturer price. Just call up Elgato sales and get a time estimate.

"Lets figure out"
Nope. Not going down the road of troubleshooting 3rd party hardware.

This poster got a solution to his problem. I'll leave it at that.

 

[Pandalorian]

Either Bridge or DSLR cameras output HDMI as is. No corrections nor conversions.

If you're using a capture dongle like this one, go get a "better" one. I've ordered it directly in China and the image quality is... well... let's say "mushy". :)

Cabling might be a problem too. If you got some spare ones for HDMI/USB, test them out. Anyways, a screenshot would be helpful.

 

[ClimbersOfIce]

Clean HDMI out means that there is no information like buttons, status values, indicators, etc. appearing in the signal.
The problem could be the HDMI/USB device you are using.

Go out and buy an Elgato Camlink 4K adapter. It supports your Canon T6i

I also read somewhere that clean HDMI has better picture quality but maybe that's misinformation? In any case, the capture card I'm using is one from BLUEAVS, got it on Amazon because it had great reviews and many people were making videos about how great it was.

I will say I do run a 50 feet USB extension cable from my computer to the front of the church, and connect the capture card there on the opposite end of the computer (50 feet away). I then connect the camera via HDMI to the capture card on the front end of the church, and the signal gets carried all the way to the back.

Now, it may seem that this may have been the issue, but I use that same 50ft extension cable with my Logitech c922 and the picture quality is still much better than the canon regardless so I'm doubting it might be that. The USB extension cable is 2.0, and so is the webcam.

Maybe the camera doesn't receive a great signal using USB 2.0 though. It's just puzzling as to why my webcam looks better under the same circumstances.

I don't have access to the log file at the moment, but I can share this screenshot of a supposed 1080p image.

 

[Pandalorian]

I won't judge your capture device, but you should keep it in mind as a source of problems. The bigger issue is the length of your USB cable. Did you connect several cables to get to that length? Max. length of a single cable according to USB specification is < 16 ft 5 in. You can connect up to 5 cables using a hub (or active cables which have a repeater embedded).

It also heavily depends on the connected devices and the cable quality. The signal on the USB data lines degrades over length due to electromagnetic fields. See also: https://www.diffen.com/difference/USB_2.0_vs_USB_3.0

Just test it by yourself and connect the capture device with your camera attached using a shorter USB cable. Good luck!

 

[Tangential]

I would not run the long USB cable. I normally buy inexpensive HDMI over cat5 adapters for long distance HDMI runs. They regenerate the signal so you have a clear, strong signal at the far end where the encoder is. I use something like this. You could easily test the impact of the usb cable by just moving the camera to your OBS system and testing it with a regular length USB cable. The fact that you are using USB2 also is an issue. I would not try to capture 1080P with USB2. I don't think it is fast enough to get a good picture.

If you cannot get clean output from your DSLR, that means you will be seeing all of the same stuff that you see in your viewfinder on the source in OBS.