Extreme ISO Not Picking Up Video from Field Monitor?

I just upgraded from the Mini Pro ISO to the Extreme ISO switcher. I am having an issue that I did not have on my Mini Pro, hopefully, someone here can help!

I have my Sony a6600 DSLR HDMI out port going to the HDMI in on a field monitor so I can view myself to ensure I am in the frame. From the field monitor HDMI out port, I am running that into one of the HDMI ports on the extreme. I can see the camera image on the field monitor but it does not show up inside the ATEM control software. The camera shows up "black". No image is making its way into the Extreme.

I used to have this same setup on my mini pro and it all worked just fine. If I run straight from the camera into the Extreme, all works perfectly as it should. I tried using a couple of HDMI cables and they run less than 15ft long.

Any idea why this is occurring? I tried using three different ports on the extreme to see if one of the ports is faulty but none seem to work. My guess is that there is a simple answer I am just missing.

Any help is greatly appreciated

You can use the Multiview to ensure proper framing, thus bypassing the field monitor.

Thanks for the replay. not sure I understand. If I am sitting in front of the camera and the ATEM is across the room so I can't see myself unless I use a monitor on the camera. Hope I am making sense. Not sure why the HDMI out on the monitor going to the Atem is not showing on the Extreme as it did when I was using the mini Pro Iso

Input 1+2 on the Extreme ISO are slightly more tolerant than 3-8 when using long cables.

Try a shorter cable between the monitor and the ATEM - if it works then you may need to find a better cable - fiber optic cables work really well.

It's also worth looking at what the camera is sending.

1080 30p needs less bandwidth than 1080p60/50.

If you're streaming/recording 1080 30p or 25p then match the camera settings accordingly. You might find the lower bandwidth will be supported over your current HDMI cable.

Thanks for the response. The cable is less than 10 feet long and it is a fiber hdmi cable, so I am out of ideas. This worked perfectly on the mini pro iso with the same cables, so it must be an extreme issue. I am pretty disappointed as I just spent more money and cant use this simple, but necessary feature

There were similar problems reported when connecting Sony a6nnn cameras to the mini.

Some things to check;
Do you get input when bypassing the monitor?
What resolution is the VA reporting?
Fiber hdmi is directional, is the cable oriented correctly?

Good Luck

thanks for the response.

1. Yes if I go straight from the camera into the Extreme, all works perfectly.
2. Yes, the fiber cable is in the correct direction. I have been using these cables for a while so I understand that need to be checked.

As I mentioned, this exact setup with the same cameras and cables works just fine with the mini pro iso so there is def a design issue with the extreme which makes me really wonder about Black Magic products as I am new to their echo system. I am already looking for other options to replace the Extreme at this point.

The fact that they know about this design issue and it has not been addressed is pathetic. Using a field monitor with a DSLR is what most people do these days. How can this work with the mini pro and not the Extreme? Some others said that out of the HDMI ports, 1-2 is less prone to issues than 3-8? What? Are you kidding me? Is this that much of a crap product?

Hey, Black Magic engineers, please fix this issue. Most filmmakers / content creators use an external monitor with their cameras and we should be able to pass the HDMI signal into the Extreme. Again, this worked with no problems with the mini pro, so what is different internally about the extreme where this does not work?

How about connecting the camera directly to the ATEM and one of the the ATEM's HDMI outs back to the monitor?

HDMI is not really designed to transfer signal over long distances. What brand/type of field monitor do you use? It could also be the case that it's output is defective or just doesn't have the power to drive a long cable.

Thank you for the response.

As I said in my earlier responses in the thread, the cable is less than 10 feet long. The same exact cable and field monitor worked with the mini pro iso. nothing has changed, not a single thing EXPECT I swapped out the pro for the extreme for the additional HDMI inputs.

Having said all of that, then the HDMI output on the field monitor is not an issue unless it mysteriously died when I hooked up the extreme to it. The brand is FREEWORLD 5.5". Not a super expensive unit but it works on the mini pro so why would it not work on the extreme? I suppose I can try purchasing a different brand and see if that works and if it does not then return it.

Do you still have the Mini Pro ISO to test if the camera is still working into that switcher?

Does your field monitor display the resolution the camera is outputting in anyway - can you confirm that it is in an output format the Atem Mini range will accept?

Does anything work into your new switcher?

If I am sitting in front of the camera and the ATEM is across the room

Then you can't do the switching, and whoever is can frame the camera.

Someone else is doing the switching.....do I really need to explain that? That has nothing to do with the issue of the extreme

... if I go straight from the camera into the Extreme, all works perfectly....

So, since we know the camera directly into the Extreme works (with the same cable) we need to test the signal coming out of the Feelworld Monitor.

We need another field monitor (like a Video Assist or a Digital Forecast) something that can analyze the signal output and see what's up.

When an HDMI source device (such as a camera) is connected to an HDMI sink device (such as a monitor or video switcher) a signal format negotiation happens known as EDID. The HDMI sink device tells the source device what video signal formats it supports, and the source device checks what formats it is capable of generating and tries to output the highest signal format that is still compatible with the sink device.

Typically when you get different results when connecting the same HDMI source device to two different HDMI sink devices, the problem is related to this EDID negotiation. Because the same HDMI source can output different video formats depending on what sink device is at the other end of the cable.

For example, a lot of cameras these days are capable of outputting 4K video over HDMI and a lot of LCD monitors accept 4K video signals on input. But a video switcher like the ATEM Mini is only capable of accepting HD video signals (up to 1080p60). So if you were to connect a 4K capable camera directly to the ATEM Mini, the EDID negotiation would result in the camera outputting a 1080p video signal in that case. But when the camera is connected to a 4K capable monitor, the camera might output a 4K video signal. And if you were then to take a loop through output from the monitor into the ATEM Mini, the video signal would not be recognized (because loop through outputs do not generally change the signal format and the ATEM Mini does not accept 4K input signals).

Note that resolution is just one aspect of the video signal format involved in the EDID negotiation (although it is definitely worth checking to make sure that your camera is set to record/output an 1080p HD video signal over HDMI).

In addition to resolution, the video frame rate, color space (RGB vs. YUV), bit depth, sub-sampling, etc. are also involved in EDID. So if the problem is not related to resolution, it is most likely one of these other aspects of the signal format that is causing the problem. And unfortunately other aspects of the signal format tend to be more difficult to troubleshoot, because most devices do not report much information about the color space, bit depth, or subsampling of the video input signal.

If you can't get the camera to output a compatible signal using it's HDMI output options, you might need to use something like an inline EDID reader/emulator to determine the exact signal format being used or to force output of a particular signal format by cloning an EDID table from a particular sink device.

Another option is to use an HDMI splitter between the camera and the monitor/ATEM Mini, rather than relying on the monitor's loop through output. Since HDMI splitters are effectively pass-through devices, many of these will use the EDID from the actual sink device connected to one (or more) of the splitter's HDMI outputs. Some HDMI splitters will use HDMI output 1 as the source of the EDID table to use and some more HDMI splitters have more advanced EDID management options.

Hello David,

did you try with a shorter cable as Gavin already suggested? HDMI-Splitter is a good suggestion from Dave.

Best regards
Floh