Vixia HF M31 HDMI output

[poit57]

I have a 4K HDMI to USB 3.0 capture card that I got with the intention of using with my camcorder for live streaming or as a webcam.. The capture card is supposed to be capable of capturing 4K@60 fps and downscaling to 1080p.  This works as advertised when I connect a PlayStation or computer graphics card to the capture card. If I set the computer output resolution to 1920x1080, it passes the video through at the same resolution.

The problem I'm having is that when I connect the HDMI out from my camcorder to the capture device, it is capturing at 540p resolution (960x540). That is downscaling to 25% of the original resolution which is the same rate as going from 4K to 1080p. 

I don't have another Full HD camera to test. When connected to my TV, it detects that the camera is sending 1080p as 60 fps. Can anyone suggest any settings I can change to get the capture card to recognize the 1080p signal from the camcorder, or is this just a glitch in the HDMI handshaking between this capture card and my camcorder?

[Nick2020]

Hi poit57,

Thanks for checking in with us.

The Vixia HF M31 HDMI is not designed to output 4K via HDMI, and we aren't able to test every accessory on the market. You could try doing tests with various resolutions on the camcorder to see if that makes a difference.

It might also help to go into the menu and make sure that Control for HDMI is disabled. If you enable HDMI Status, you can get some on screen details about the HDMI output.

[poit57]

I wasn't clear in my original post.  I'm not attempting to output 4K from my camera.  I'm attempting to output 1920x1080 using a capture card that can take 4K and downscale to 1080p.

My understanding from the capture card's documentation is that resolutions at 1080 and lower should pass through with no additional downscaling.  That seems to be true for a computer graphics card connected to the capture card and set to 1920x1080, but it is downscaling the video signal out of my camera from 1920x1080 down to 960x540.

I have turned off the Control for HDMI and checked the HDMI status while connected to the capture card. The camera shows it is outputting 1920x1080i, but that resolution is not reaching the computer.

[poit57]

I was able to test the capture card with a Sony 1080 camcorder with the same mini HDMI output.  It is also downscaling the 1920x1080 image to 960x540, so it appears to be an issue with the capture card rather than the cameras.  Unfortunately, it is from a generic Chinese brand with no support available.