I'm not sure how useful this video's gonna be
now that I've finished my preparation for it.
After testing the HDMI functionality of several
different brands, including the Fuji X-T3, the Canon EOS R,
the Sony A7 III, and the Panasonic GH5,
I've decided that there's no clear way to make a general
HDMI settings guide for the camera based on
how different and strange their implementations
and shortcomings are... but hey, I'll give it a try.
Let's get Undone.
[offbeat music] ♪ Gerald Undone ♪
♪ He's crazy ♪
What is happenin', everybody? I'm Gerald Undone,
and today's video is the sequel and hopefully the conclusion
to the HDMI project I started earlier in the week.
The last video was on cables,
connectors, and versions of HDMI
to help you successfully connect your camera to things,
so if you haven't checked that video out,
I highly recommend it. I'll put some links
in the description and probably the comments below.
But hopefully, and especially after the previous video,
you now have your camera successfully connected
to something, so let's go over some of the settings
you'll find in your camera regarding HDMI, what they mean,
and some potential obstacles you might encounter.
And to do this, we're gonna be using the Sony A7 III.
Now while I adore this camera from a value standpoint,
and I love the images it produces, I chose it
as a demonstration because it probably has the most
convoluted HDMI issues of any brand,
and probably the most limitations as well.
So my thinking to address the issue
I brought up in the intro is that
if we can solve the HDMI on the Sony,
we can probably handle the other brands as well.
All right, so let's go through the process of setting
this camera up for external monitoring and recording.
We're gonna be using the Atomos Ninja V for this
test and setup, but I've also got the signal from the Atomos
being sent out to the capture card
in my computer so we can capture the entire process,
even when the Atomos is not recording.
To connect the Sony to the Atomos, we're gonna be
using that same AmazonBasics cable I recommended in
the previous video, which is the Type A standard HDMI
to the Type D Micro HDMI. I'll put the same links
that I used in the previous video in the description
of this one as well, so you can check them out if you wanna
get one of these cables. We're just gonna pop it in
here to the side of the Sony. So once you're connected
and ready to go, the first thing you're gonna wanna do
is set up your resolutions and recording modes and codecs.
There are in a little different place in every camera,
but you probably know how to do this already. So you go ahead
and set that up, and for me, for this specific exercise,
I'm using the 1080p codec because--
I'll get into that later, but I need to in order to
be able to capture the menus like this-- and I'll just
leave it on 24p because that's normally what I record on,
but set it to however you wanna capture your video.
And if you're using a Fuji or a Panasonic
or something like that, this is also when you'd want
to set your colour depth, like 8-bit or 10-bit.
Now at this point, you should be outputting
your signal using the frame rate and resolution
that you chose to your external device.
If not, or if you want to customize that,
this is when we go into the HDMI settings,
which pretty much all the cameras have.
They may be in a different place, and on the Sony,
it's located in the yellow “Setup” icon
under page three.
So if we go down there and then go to “HDMI settings,”
I'll walk you through what each one of these settings are,
'cause they're pretty common among most of the cameras.
So the first one is “HDMI Resolution.”
These will normally have options like “Auto”
and then a set, and then different set options.
Now, “Auto,” what it'll do is it'll usually just choose
the highest compatibility that's available.
So if the camera is capable of 4K and outputting 4K,
and the device that's receiving it
is capable of 4K, it'll probably choose 4K.
If not, if only one of the devices
is 1080, then it'll drop down to 1080.
But you might have to force it
to a specific resolution, like, say, maybe 1080,
if it's using an older device that doesn't have that type
of recognition, or if there's some kind of problem going on
with the output, you might have to force 1080 for it to work.
So we'll jump on down here to “TC Output,”
which is for “timecode.” So if you wanna be able to
start and stop the recording on your external recorder,
you're gonna need to turn on the TC Output.
Because as you can see, if we turn it off,
then the “REC Control” gets grayed out, so we need to turn
that on in order to be able to turn on the REC Control
option, which is gonna give us that start/stop recording.
The TC Output, the timecode thing, this also allows you
to sync the timecode between your camera
and the external device, or display the timecode
if you wanted to be able to see it on a monitor,
for instance, you're gonna need to turn that on.
And there's usually a separate settings for timecode.
Most of the cameras that have timecode will have a separate
window somewhere where you can customize
the type of timecode and how you want it to be displayed.
So once you have TC Output and REC Control turned on,
now, if I press the Record/Start/Stop button
on the Sony, you can see that it sends the “record” command
to the Atomos, and now the Atomos is recording as well.
So like I was saying, all these settings are pretty common
among most of the higher-end hybrid cameras,
it's just the naming that might be slightly different,
and that's pretty much all you need to set up
in order to get your camera, you know, displaying
externally and potentially probably recording.
I think that's pretty much it in a normal working situation.
But beyond that now, like I said, there's a plethora
of obstacles you can encounter when it comes to HDMI.
So let's get into the first one of those now,
which is the HDMI display info.
So right now I have it on
so that I can display the info to you, the menu.
Basically, HDMI display info shows the menus,
and it also shows the focus modes,
and where your focus point is,
and the audio levels, and all that stuff.
That's all covered by the HDMI info display.
And you may want this when you--
I use it a lot when I'm doing streams
or videos like this where I'm trying
to demonstrate how I'm setting the focus
or what the menu options are like. It's crucial to me.
But one of the problems that I've encountered with
pretty much all of the brands is that weird things happen.
So right now when I'm displaying
the HDMI display info,
if I turn the camera here, you'll be able to see...
that the monitor on the Sony is black.
It's turned off. So whenever you turn on
HDMI display info-- and like I said, this is common,
I found this on the Canon, and I'm pretty sure
on the Fuji as well-- the back screen turns off.
But if we turn the HDMI display info off--
now, you're not gonna be able to see the menu
as soon as I press this button-- but it goes off.
Now we just see a normal, clean--
this is what they call a “clean” HDMI output,
as in there's nothing on the screen, and you could
record that and actually use it as your finished video,
obviously, because in your finished video
you wouldn't want all that junk on the screen.
But now our menu comes back to being back on the Sony here.
And again, as soon as we switch it back,
on the screen turns off and it goes up here.
But it gets worse for me, because I've had instances
where I'm trying to capture something on the back wall
and show you something over there,
and I'm using a long cable in order to record that.
And as soon as I try to set it up to show HDMI display info
so that I can say “hey, here's where my focus point is,”
I can no longer actually look at the screen on the camera,
so I found myself looking across the room--
‘cause this is where my computer is, and my monitor
is right here, my capture card is over here.
So when I was on that back wall, I was trying
to, like, focus on something here, but I had to keep looking
over my shoulder in order to actually point the camera
at what I wanted to point at because it wouldn't display
anything on the camera. So, this is an instance
where the-- an external monitor or recorder, like the Atomos,
is really handy because you can just use it as your relay.
So I can actually have the monitor facing me
and then use it as my menu control
while also sending it to my capture card.
So at least I can still have a usable display near me
at the camera while also streaming.
Now, while I will say that that's probably
an expensive product just for that one purpose,
it does go to support and add to the fact that
external monitors really do unlock all of the potential
and generally fix a lot of the issues that
come with these hybrid cameras.
Now, another issue with the HDMI info display
that is still not limited to Sony but is less common
in the other brands, is that it doesn't work in 4K.
Remember how I said I have to set this up
in 1080p in order for me to show you the menus.
If we change the recording mode that I was talking about
earlier into the 4K recording mode, and I choose that...
as you can see, now when I go into the menu...
it doesn't show up,
neither does the focus point or anything else.
It stays down here now,
and when I press “menu,” I see it on this screen.
So now we're getting a clean HDMI out to the monitor,
and the menu is here, but what if I wanted
to show you the focusing points of the menu or whatever in 4K?
Because the rest of my video is in 4K, that way I wouldn't
have to upscale the menu and make it a little bit
more distorted. Well, you just don't have that option.
And this is pretty annoying, and I want to say unnecessary,
because the GH5, for instance, doesn't have this problem.
You can use HDMI info display in 4K,
in 1080, on the main screen, on the external monitor,
on both, pretty much any combination you want.
It's not until I connect to the GH5 using the external app
that then the on-camera screen would turn off.
You would still get the external monitor,
you would still get the app, but then you wouldn't get
the camera screen. So it's like, any two windows
can show whatever you want, just not three,
and I think that's a reasonable limitation.
But one max is not a reasonable limitation,
in my opinion, and it's pretty frustrating
that you just can't capture important details at 4K.
The only 4K thing you can do is a clean output, which sure,
that's probably predominantly what people want to do,
but I feel like I should be able to record anything I want
in 4K since the option is clearly there,
and since other camera companies can do it.
Now, I'm not-- and never am-- trying to start some
brand-based loyalty fanboy feud here between the brands,
because I realize that each brand has its own weaknesses
and also brings its own unique strengths to the table.
I just think that in this specific case, I wish
that the other brands would do what Panasonic is doing
when it comes to HDMI. Because this kind of thing
extends beyond the HDMI info display.
But if I enter into “playback mode,”
again, this screen turns black
and then the playback mode starts up here,
which is that little video clip that we recorded a minute ago.
Now, this has the same problems I was saying before,
where what if I'm doing a situation like this
and I can't actually see the monitor?
Well, now, once again, I'm not able to control it,
and I have to flip over, and it's jarring
because, you know, you're using the controls on one thing
and then all of a sudden it's up on a different screen,
and then you have to-- it's actually-- it might be
difficult to show, but it's kind of difficult to actually
press the buttons here while looking this way
because left is right, and right is left now
based on my orientation. So it's frustrating,
and it would be so much-- I don't see why we couldn't
have a duplication. Why can't I see it here?
If I was doing a presentation or something, to try to show
my photos, I could see it on the back screen, I could say,
“and then here's the next one, here's the next one,”
or play a video clip, and then wherever the HDMI
was going-- whether it's to a projector,
whether it's to an external recorder, or to the stream,
to anything-- they'd be able to see the one and I'd be able
to see the other, and control it more logically,
and quicker, and with fewer mistakes. But again,
inexplicably, it turns off when you enter playback mode.
Now, there's two more things I wanna show you that happen,
but for this one we're gonna have to enter into 4K mode,
which means that the HDMI display info is no longer
gonna be an option, so I'm gonna have limited
ability to show you certain menu options now.
So right now you can see there's a display here,
and there's a display here. And on this one,
I can see all my settings and everything else.
But as soon as I press “record,”
this screen goes black, and this one keep showing.
So now your output is on this monitor,
and your control-- like, your info display
is on this monitor, but not both.
The screen doesn't turn off,
‘cause there's still details on it, but it just goes black.
The other thing that happens during that process--
and not just when you press “record,” but just all the time
that you're in 4K-- is the face detection autofocus.
And to show this, if we go into where the face detection
autofocus is in the menu, which is in the first tab--
the first “Camera” tab, the red one--
and we go to page-- I think it's page six?
Yeah. There's “Set Face Priority in AF,”
and when we click on that, the first option,
which is “Face Priority in AF On or Off,”
that's grayed out. We can't turn that on or off.
But there is a workaround to both of these issues
that I explained, and it's gonna be my final tip
about HDMI settings in your camera,
and it has to do with turning off internal recording.
So all of these things that we talked about so far
have internal recording going on inside of the camera,
and that's where the limitations come from,
because it takes a lot more processing capabilities
to compress and record the video in the camera
while simultaneously doing things.
Now, do I think that's a valid excuse? Not really.
I kind of wish that, you know, we'd be able to
work around that, but I have found that in many
of the models and many brands, and very likely
in the one that you're using, it has the same issues.
For example, on the GH5, which is a camera
that I think is incredibly feature-rich,
it still benefits from disabling internal recording.
For instance, if you shoot 4K60 on the GH5
both internally and externally simultaneously,
you can only do 8-bit at 4K60 colour depth.
But, if you disable the internal recording
and you only use HDMI, you can do 4K60
at 10-bit 4:2:2. So you get a significant bump
in colours and information there.
But the Sony has some of the more peculiar ones,
where it just seems like features are just turning off
when you use internal recording.
So let's first of all show you how to...
disable internal recording.
So, on the Sony, if you jump back up here
to where the HDMI settings were, which was on page three
of the setup, and you go one further, to page four,
at the top it says “4K Output Select.”
On this one it's showing you “Memory Card + HDMI,”
or these other two options, “HDMI Only.”
Now, you should be aware that these two options
are 4K exclusive. They're not for 1080,
which is why they're capped out at 30p,
because 4K30 is as high as the Sony can go.
So if we choose 30p... couple guesses of what's gonna happen?
As soon as we choose that, you can no longer see
the menu on the capture here, because, again,
info display does not work on 4K no matter what.
I thought that would fix it when I first found that option,
but no. Still no info display no matter what.
And then it becomes a more sort of logical,
just sort of straight recording thing. The menu is here,
and this is where you, you know, do all that.
You can actually still see objects on the screen here,
and you do have your control, but you can't record anything.
So clearly now that option where
your screen goes black is no longer a thing.
If I press “record,” as you can see,
you can still see my hand.
But up here, on this one, it's recording
and you just get a clean output.
So for most purposes, if your only goal was to just record
only on your external recorder, this is the best way to do it.
If we go into the menu when this option is selected,
and we go over to where the face detection
was when we had that issue...
hopefully we'll be able to see, but “Set Face Priority AF,”
the first option is not grayed out anymore.
So by disabling the internal recording,
the face detection in 4K comes back, and the screen
no longer turns off when you press “record.”
So that's the way to fix those, is by disabling
internal recording, and I think you'll find--
depending on the camera model that you use-- that
bypassing internal recording will also improve some features
and make the camera a little more usable.
And beyond that, there's a couple other considerations
to make by disabling internal recording as well.
First of all, it bypasses any recording limit
that your camera might have, because a 30-minute
record limit like you'll find on the Sony only applies to
internal recording, not to, you know, broadcasting over HDMI,
so that's no longer an issue. And then the second thing
is, cameras that have overheating issues
generally don't when you disable internal recording.
But in order to capitalize on those,
again, you kind of need an external monitor/recorder
like the Atomos Ninja V. These are pretty much necessary
these days to fully unlock your hybrid cameras.
And I'm not trying to hate on hybrid cameras.
I think that they're fantastic. I think that all
of the modern ones are excellent.
The Sony, the Fuji, the Panasonic, they're all so good.
It's just that they do have minor limitations and quirks
that you might not even realize until you've used
an external monitor/recorder. But like I said,
you get maybe 90 to 95% of your camera's functionality,
but if you want that extra 5 or 10%, you do need to attach
a monitor/recorder to get rid of those quirks
and add a little extra utility back in.
And that's pretty much it. Like I said,
there's an endless combination of settings and quirks
that you might encounter depending on the camera brand
that you use, but I hope that this video was useful
by at least defining some common HDMI terms
and giving you some potential workarounds
to some problems that you might encounter.
And I think, hopefully, that it provided the most help
and the most use to the brand that needed it the most,
which is Sony. As a final thought,
I think what we need here is more options and flexibility.
I think if anything, I've shown how frustrating
an amazing camera can become if you just disable things
without giving the user a menu option.
I love the Sony A7 III, but I can honestly say that
it would become noticeably better if we were given
more control over these quirks. Don't just gray things out
or inexplicably disable a useful feature.
It's not like we're talking about big, intensive
things here, either. Just little touches,
like info display and face detection,
features that already exist inside the camera.
And it's also not like we're worried about making the menu
too long or complicated, because it already is that.
So just give us the option to enable or disable
these minor features as we please when it comes to HDMI
so that we have the flexibility to create
the best configuration for our needs.
But that's gonna be it for me. I hope you found this video
helpful, or at least entertaining. And if you did,
make sure you leave it the old thumbs-up
and consider subscribing if you haven't already.
But if you did not find this video helpful or entertaining,
feel free to hit the dislike button twice.
Alright! I'm done.