Can I Stream With My dSLR?

In the past few years, dSLR cameras have become popular cameras for video, since all have added HDMI output capabilities.  You can certainly stream with your dSLR camera but there are a few important items to note with these cameras compared to others.  

Make Sure the HDMI Output Can Be Clean

First and foremost, some cameras intend the HDMI output to be a second viewfinder, and not a video output.  This means that on-screen displays are shown and cannot be removed.  Make sure the camera has an option for "clean" or "bare" output on the HDMI connector, so that its really video!

Make Sure The Camera Can Output 30 or 60 FPS

Second, some of these cameras "max out" at 24 fps, a "film look" frame rate.  For online streaming, you will want 30 or 60 fps (or 29.97 or 59.94, which is a bit of a long story).  Any of those four frame rates are fine, but 24 fps is not accepted on many sites on the web.

Make Sure the Camera Outputs Audio

This is probably the trickiest of the possible issues to overcome, if the camera doesn't already have good options for how it outputs audio.  You will want audio present on the HDMI output at all times. Silence is fine, but an audio stream has to be present - if that bit stream is missing, Solo won't be able to encode your signal.  

Some cameras will only output audio when an external mic is plugged in, and some don't output audio at all.  More subtle to understand, some cameras output audio but stop outputting it altogether when you switch the camera to certain modes or open a menu.  If the LiveU Solo is actively encoding, the loss of audio will stop it, even if you quickly get back to the mode that does output audio.  

Conclusion

It adds a few extra specifications to research but many dSLR cameras can work with you on these three limitations - outputting 30 fps on a clean signal (no menus), with audio always present.

Please feel free to share makes and models you know work or don't work in the comment's section!