AV.io HD capturing HDMI with a HDMI distributor or scaler and a Mac

AV.io family General
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Hi,

I’m trying to setup an HDMI screencast recording with AV.io-HD and a HDMI distributor.

When I connect the HDMI output of a MacBook directly to the AVio-hd HD all is well, I get a picture.
When I add a HDMI distributor (Kramer VM-2HXL) to send signal both to a data projector and the AVio-hd simultaneously, I capture an image for 2 seconds, then a black screen.
I got the same problem with a scaler from Atlona.

I don’t have the same problem to capture Older Macs (with DVI-D output). Any idea?
Is this a HDCP problem? I’m not trying to capture protected movies just powerpoint presentations…

Thanks,

Michel

1 Like
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Michel,
The symptoms sound like an HDCP issue to me. Most DA’s will enable their own HDCP if a display connected is also HDCP compliant. MacOS is then told by the DA to turn it on.
The fact that it works directly without the DA supports this theory.
If the DA has any management/control options, it may have a setting for HDCP on/off, not all do but it is worth checking.

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I agree it’s most likely HDCP.
Doesn’t look like that Kramer has the option to turn it off.
The 1:4 model might offer it but you’d have to contact Kramer to confirm.
I know for sure the Extron HDMI DA4 offers it.
https://www.extron.com/product/product.aspx?id=dahd4kseries&s=4

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Hi dpoole and George,

Thanks for both your responses. Damn HDCP! I’ll look for another distributor then.

Michel

5

Hi Michel,

Because your name sounds Dutch/Belgium I assume that you bought the framegrabber at Intronics, Epiphans Benelux distributor?

Please contact me at b.franken@intronics.nl if you need any advice regarding your issue.

Regards, Ben

6

Since I recently had to fight with a similar problem while doing live recordings of events, I fond following solutions:

  • Use a Extron splitter (like mentioned above) where you can deactivate HDCP-conformity. This way the MacBooks won’t send HDCP over the HDMI signal (o.c. then you won’t be able to send copy protected material, like BluRays, etc…)
  • use a analog-out from your MacBook pro, convert it to HDMI and off it goes into your setup… For sure not the best solution quality-wise, but affordable and alas working. (depending on what content you want to show it’s quite ok so - imho there’s no quality loss when showing Keynote or Powerpoint presentations via this solution.

Stefan.

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Going through VGA is indeed a solution we are currently using. But it is only fine if you record manually, because sometimes you get a picture shifted to the right (missing 20% of the image). Then you have to reconnect the cable in order to fix the problem.
I’ve also tested putting a switcher&scaler in front where you can disable HDCP support and this works too.

Michel

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If you see an image shift, depending on the software you are using, you can use the Webcam adjustments for Pan/Tilt to correct. Forcing a re-detection, as you are doing now, is also an option.

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I have the same problem, very annoying for years. The solution I found in my Kramer system simple cable HDMI (from MAC) to DVI (Kramer SID-X1N). Of course VGA works too, but the quality is lower and audio needs to be sent separately.