5D Mark II HDMI Output Problem

[dustinstone]

I purchased a mini HDMI to HDMI cable a while back in preparation for this awesome camera (although not the HTC-100 that canon officially recommends in the manual). I've hooked it up and set the camera to live view, but my television is not displaying anything at all. I've tried live view and playback mode, and nothing even flickers on the tv. The camera recognizes when i am selecting that feed on my tele, because the LCD screen shuts off until i either switch the feed on my TV or unplug the HDMI cable, at which point it comes right back on. So, I know they are talking to each other, but could there be any reason other than a faulty cable that would cause this?

Is the canon HDMI cable a proprietary cable with different wiring?

I appreciate the feedback.

 

[EricDP]

I have no idea if the Canon cable is proprietary, but it could be your cable is faulty? Any friends from whom you could borrow one?

 

[dustinstone]

It could very well be a faulty cable. Unfortunately, I don't have any way to verify it at the moment (no friends with similar cables).

 

[lukenlogs]

Aren't there a few different types of HDMI cable? Version number, I believe. Does the camera require the latest/greatest version?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDMI

A. Lucas
--
'When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro', H.S.T, Dr. of Gonzo Journalism

 

[Dr Frank]

I already made some experience with HDTV.

I connected my notebook with DVI cable and an HDTV adapter to a 1920x1080 HDTV television set.

As HDTV is critical in timing requirements, only one of the 3 HDTV inputs accepted the input, and it was a pain to find a working setup for the "elderly" graphic card.

I learnt from that, that either a good quality, well shielded HDTV cable is necessary, and that the TV set and the grapics source have to work properly.

I doubt, that HDTV implementation on devices is already sophisticated as DVI.

My bet is, that you need a "better" cable only, but please don't ask, which one.

I think, someone here in this forum has bought a good one (double shileded) for around 17$ or so. Should be a standard type, nothing proprietary, as you can find the type description of both connectors everywhere.

Btw.: Canon already uses a standard USB cable, not a proprietary one!

--
Frank

 

[Vlad K]

HDMI is very tricky standard with many incompatibilities possible. The one I already got used to is between my HDTV (Sharp Aquos 52") and DVD player (Samsung DVD-HD960). To have it working, I have to:
1) turn TV on;
2) switch TV input selector to the proper HDMI port;
3) only after that turn on the DVD player.

If I do step 3 earlier, I get either black screen or absurd color patterns on the screen.

This is somehow related to HDMI copy protection algorithms implemented in incompatible manner.
--
Vlad

 

[morpheus_23]

HDMI is HDMI is HDMI.

The incompatibilies are usually in the TV's. Example..before the Playstation 3 came out, I purchased a 42" Westinghouse LCD. As soon as I got the PS3, I hooked it up to the tv and had all kinds of problems. Westinghouse had to replace the first generation of these sets as it could not be fixed with firmware.

Now the HDMI works fine.

My laptop puts out HDMI and works on the westinghouse, but not my other Polaroid 42".

Good luck.

 

[Vlad K]

HDMI is HDMI is HDMI.

The incompatibilies are usually in the TV's. Example..before the

This is true in your experience. In my experience, TV works flawlessly with PS3, HV10, HV30, Toshiba Qosmio laptop, cable box, but needs a special treatment with Samsung DVD player. Verdict: TV flawless, DVD player not.
--
Vlad

 

[EOS Paul]

Like you I bought a mini HDMI -> HDMI cable before I even had the 5DII. It was just the first one I found on Amazon.

I have no problems in connecting the the EOS to my Samsung 50" TV via the HDMI. It does take a second or two before I get a picture once I have selected the correct input on the TV.

The image on the TV is not wide screen though. The live preview is almost square but some of the data that is displayed on top of the image covers the blank part on the the side and does seem to use up most of the TV's display area.

 

[dustinstone]

The image on the TV is not wide screen though. The live preview is
almost square but some of the data that is displayed on top of the
image covers the blank part on the the side and does seem to use up
most of the TV's display area.

So are you saying that it never takes up the full screen? What about during 1080 movie playback? I went ahead and ordered a new cable and an adapter to convert my existing (working) hdmi cable to a mini size in case the new one doesn't work either. Replacing the tv is obviously not an option, although this camera cost more than the plasma did. Shoot, once I rwplace the computer for processing hd movies an replace my tv for hdmi compatibility, this 5dm2 will end up costing about 10 grand! But it will be the most fun 10 g's I've ever spent!

 

[bhockensmith]

I'm having the same problems with the HDMI port on mine.

I bought a no name brand HDMI mini to HDMI cable tried it on my two 5 year old Sony TVs- no dice. The image on the camera's LCD goes away showing there's a signal, but no signal appears on the TV.

Then I tried it at work today on 3 different Samsung TVs and a Dell computer monitor. Same thing. No picture/no signal on TV.

After work I went to the electronics store where I bought the cable. Tried a different cable. Nothing. Tried three different brands of cables. Nothing. Took a 50D they had at the store ... amazingly.. same thing...no picture. Had about 7 people from the store all trying different cables on different TVs using both my 5DmkII and the store's 50D.

Finally for a brief second while wiggling the cable on my 5DmkII, the image displayed on one of the TVs, but then it was lost.

Called Canon asking and assuming their cable to be special, but they said it wasn't and that any standard cable would work. I told him my story of the electronics store and he assumed both my camera and the store's 50D should be serviced.

Anyone have any suggestions for me? Or a brand of cable available in a Best Buy or Radio Shack or other common local store I could try?

 

[FullRez]

During playback of a video I get full screen. During recording it's windowed.

--
'You can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.'

-Mark Twain

 

[j0hnny]

i know some think the cable doenst matter but the manual does recommend using a canon htc-100 cable. probably nothing special about it but who knows. i always use original canon accessories tho

 

[Robert101]

It worked for me, but I was not impressed by the display quality. The cable I use is also one of those cheap one (

Thanks!

Robert

 

[bionet]

I found that the picture quality displayed on my HDTV via
the camera is not as good as that via my PS3. I am also wondering if
this has something to do with the quality of the cable.

No, a DVI/HDMI connection either works or it doesn't (easily visible artefacts or no image at all). There is nothing in between.

 

[Rahul Singh]

on my pioneer I had to enable the hdmi inputs on the tv before it would recognise any external source, perhaps you have to do the same on your tv

 

[a2user]

I've also bought a cheap cable from ebay. Reading this thread I thought with a shock that it might not work (it wasn't a great priority testing it out). I plugged the cable into my amp, configured the amp to use the HDMI on that input, plugged in the camera, pressed playback... and it came up on the LCD.

OK, well, I've had "finnicky" HDMI support in the past. I changed the amp to another input, then back to the camera. Blue HDMI light for a moment, then "No data" and poof.

Now I was starting to worry about the cable. I unplugged it from the amp, plugged it directly into the TV and it worked.

I don't know what the television is doing differently to the amp, but there is one less HDCP negotiation which could be it.

So, it could be a problem with the amp, or something non-standard the camera is doing. The problems here suggest the latter.

Faye

 

[Dom Avery]

On my panny42" I have HDMI 1 and HDMI 2 Only HDMI1 will auto select, have you more than one slot?

 

[bhockensmith]

Okay so I finally got my HDMI working. It was the cable, believe it or not (as I know HDMI is HDMI and it's digitally all or nothing). Managed to go to Best Buy and buy an overpriced $69 cable and it works! I have two brand new cables from another no-name brand that don't work. Amazing. I'm going to have to compare the mechanical connection of the cables, as our canon port seems to be a little finicky.

 

[wavelengths]

Consider them in the future, I use them for all my cabling and absolutely love the results.