What changed with the latest Zoom Mac update regarding connecting Camcorders?

[Ridhwanian]

Hi All,

First off, I don't find a post "Location" that makes sense for this post out of the choices available.  I think there's an assumption that everyone is familiar with the myriad services Zoom provides, and I just use Zoom for meetings, thus the location choice, "Meetings".  That's the most general choice, as the others are so specific yet unrelated to my post.  I don't see any location regarding hardware issues or webcam issues.  If someone can tell me where to better post this, I'd appreciate it.

Now, the reason I'm posting.  A few weeks ago and for months before that, I was able to successfully connect my camcorder to my MacBook Air via an HDMI cable from the camera into a small, cheap HDMI-to-USB adaptor, which was then plugged into the USB port on the MacBook.  I could choose "USB Video" or something like that as the camera on Zoom, and the video from the camcorder became my webcam for Zoom calls.

However, since installing the latest Zoom updates, I can no longer get video signal in the above set up to work on Zoom.  All I see is color bars when I choose "USB video" or "USB Camera" as Camera on Zoom Video Settings.  Frustrating.

Was this intentional on Zoom's part to disable USB connectivity with HDMI camcorders?  If not, will this be fixed?  If not, what is required with the new update to use a camcorder as a USB connected webcam, please?

Many thanks,

Tim

[cliftonlabrum]

I ran into this exact same issue! I started Googling for answers and found this post. I am using an HDMI video capture card and running into this. Did you ever figure out a solution? Seems like a bug in Zoom.

The only workaround I have found is to:

1. Install OBS Studio: https://obsproject.com
2. Start a Virtual Camera in OBS
3. In Zoom, select OBS Virtual Camera as the video source instead of USB Video

[TimG66]

Hi,

I don't use OBS Studio, and don't want to.  Zoom support suggested I uninstall the latest update to go back to the previous version.  I'm going to try that.

[Ridhwanian]

Well, the problem disappeared.  I have no idea why.  Maybe I just needed to reboot my laptop.  Can't delete post, so I'm adding this resolution addendum.  Cheers

[cliftonlabrum]

I just updated to the latest Mac version of Zoom and the problem is still there for me. 😕

[wavefield]

Zoom version 5.16.2 introduced the video capture bug as described on Reddit, https://www.reddit.com/r/VIDEOENGINEERING/comments/17cdi95/issue_connecting_aja_utap_as_video_source...  We tested with various USB capture cards (AJA, Epiphan etc.. )  on both intel and M1 / M2 macs. The USB video capture in Zoom is definitely broken. Zoom just released version 5.16.5 but this recent release does not fix the bug. - Zoom Support has no documented knowledge of the problem when we call for support.