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Time to upgrade from Intenisty Pro to ?
I’m looking to upgrade to another I/O device. We’re starting to get into more higher end work and I’m not quite sure where to go next. I’ve looked at the AJA Kona cards (LHi & LHe, no need for Kona 3 yet) and the BM Deck link studio and Deck link HD extreme. I guess my question is, what would the next natural progression be?
I’m mainly using for monitoring purposes, in all formats such as component, HDMI and even SD/HD-SDI. But there are also times where I have to capture from various decks. The Deck link studio looks very appealing but what does the HD extreme have that it doesn’t. I think AJA is just a bit out of our price range although the hardware acceleration could be nice from the LHi.
Any suggestions?
I have a RAID O, mackie 1202 and am currently looking to upgrade to a good monitor.
OS 10.5.5, Mac Pro 2 x 3 ghz quad-core intel xenon, 9 gb ram, with BM Intensity Pro card
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10 Replies
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[Matt Campbell] “I think AJA is just a bit out of our price range although the hardware acceleration could be nice from the LHi. “
There is no hardware acceleration on this card. NO capture card offers hardware acceleration…other than the ability to take the scaling of anamorphic footage off of the processors to allow them a tad more real time performance. But then ALL capture cards offer this.
The AJA line is expensive for a reason. Great tech support and a very solid reputation in the industry. I am a huge fan of their products. Owned them and use them daily. I am also a fan of the Matrox MXO2 and MXO2 LE. Inexpensive but very reliable. Decklink cards work fine, but the interface options are a but more complex than AJA or Matrox, and they do not offer any hardware up/cross conver capabilites. Software only. AJA and Matrox have hardware up and cross convert.
MXO2 has the benefit of working on both laptops (with Express34 slots) and Towers.
Shane
GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def -
Thanks Shane…again for your expertise. Thats exactly the kind of info I was looking for and don’t pick up on when reading about the cards on their sites. Its good to hear from the everyday users.
OS 10.5.5, Mac Pro 2 x 3 ghz quad-core intel xenon, 9 gb ram, with BM Intensity Pro card
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Sorry Shane, quick question. You mentioned about up/down & cross conversion on in the software for the BM stuff. So for AJA being hardware, is that just upon output to tape or would you get the hardware conversion upon output like using the export quicktime function from the File menu and selecting another AJA codec (say going from 720 to 1080)?
Also, I’m assuming that the hardware conversions are of the highest quality as opposed to software, like say using Compressor?
OS 10.5.5, Mac Pro 2 x 3 ghz quad-core intel xenon, 9 gb ram, with BM Intensity Pro card
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[Matt Campbell] ” is that just upon output to tape or would you get the hardware conversion upon output like using the export quicktime function from the File menu and selecting another AJA codec (say going from 720 to 1080)? “
Upon input and output only. These capture cards are IO devices, the up/cross/down conversions only happen via their hardware when you capture or output.
[Matt Campbell] “Also, I’m assuming that the hardware conversions are of the highest quality as opposed to software, like say using Compressor? “
Correct. Much better, and better yet, much FASTER. Realtime conversion, where compressor might take a long time.
The MXO2 line can have something called MAX installed, which is a hardware H.264 encoding engine. It will speed up the process of encoding files to H.264. But ONLY to H.264. Not from DV to ProRes, for example.
Shane
GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def -
Great thanks for the details. So just to be clear, I would be accurate in saying that using the Export to QT from the file menu and selecting another codec is a software based conversion, just Compressor right? I/O devices are for capture and output like you said, so output to a monitor or to tape would be the hardware conversion. Or even cross-converting 720 to 1080 on capture, right. (Although you’d probably do that after the edit and on output though, rather than on ingest. just saying though.)
OS 10.5.5, Mac Pro 2 x 3 ghz quad-core intel xenon, 9 gb ram, with BM Intensity Pro card
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[Matt Campbell] “So just to be clear, I would be accurate in saying that using the Export to QT from the file menu and selecting another codec is a software based conversion, just Compressor right?”
Correct. Because FCP is doing the conversion…or Compressor. Hardware conversion means that the signal is being run through a piece of hardware, and the signal is being converted, and a new signal comes out the other end.
[Matt Campbell] “I/O devices are for capture and output like you said, so output to a monitor or to tape would be the hardware conversion.”
Correct.
[Matt Campbell] ” Or even cross-converting 720 to 1080 on capture, right. “
Correct.
Shane
GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def -
Great. I think I’m getting it. Appreciate the help. I tend to drag this questions on and on and on and…
well, just like i’m going know. Thanks again.
OS 10.5.5, Mac Pro 2 x 3 ghz quad-core intel xenon, 9 gb ram, with BM Intensity Pro card
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Black Magic does have cards that do up conversions and limited cross conversions. It all depends on the model.
Matt,
A big difference between many of the cards is the number, and type, of I/Os that you get. For example, a card that is SDI only will be cheaper than a card that has SDI, component, and 12 channels of analog audio. If you mainly deal w/digital signals you might just want to go w/a digital only card and pick up a converter box if you ever need to input or output to analog.-A
3.2GHz 8-core, FCP 6.0.4, 10.5.5
Blackmagic Multibridge Eclipse (6.8.1) -
[Andrew Kimery] “Black Magic does have cards that do up conversions and limited cross conversions. It all depends on the model.
“I have the Decklink HD Extreme and it allows these up/down/cross conversions:
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Thanks Ken. Appreciate that. I am however aware that they do have those capabilities, but I think the question at hand was whether or not those conversions were hardware or software conversions. And unfortunately, I think others have told me that BM cards only have the software conversions. Some of AJA’s cards offer the highest quality hardware conversions, which is much better.
Thanks
OS 10.5.5, Mac Pro 2 x 3 ghz quad-core intel xenon, 9 gb ram, with BM Intensity Pro card
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