Blackmagic Design IBC 2006 Update

[Peter Corbett]

Thanks Luke,

When I do use HDV footage it’s often in a mixed standard-def DVCPRO50 project so I just capture the HDV footage by changing the capture settings then using the 10-bit rendering in the SDI project. This is not ideal for editing (because the HDV clips have to rendered just to watch them), but it does keep the graphics and titles clean.

Being able to import/capture with the SDI Decklink and monitor with the new HDMI card would be great. Let us know if you find out any info.

Cheers,
Peter

Peter Corbett
Powerhouse Productions
Australia
http://www.php.com.au

[Luke Maslen]

Hi Scott,

No, HDMI does not carry timecode but you could use Firewire for that when working with Intensity. Firewire will provide you with both device control and timecode when working with cameras and decks such as the Sony HVRM25U. The DeckLink HD Studio also has RS-422 which you could use for a deck with both RS-422 and HDMI connections, eg the JVC BR-HD50U.

Regards,

Luke Maslen
Blackmagic Design

[Igor Babic]

Thanks Luke.
One more thing, is this codec usable on a machine without BMD hardware?

[Luke Maslen]

Hi,

Yes, the codec can be used on a machine without BMD hardware so this means you can give your files to someone else or even work on notebook if you wish. You will just need to run the driver installer to install the codecs.

Regards,

Luke Maslen
Blackmagic Design

[Jerry]

Luke,
How does the Online JPeg compare to Cineform Prospect in both quality and disc space use?
Is the Jpeg that you use, JPEG 2000?
I am currently looking into the Xena LH setup with the HD Connect SI box and the 10bit compressed
Cineform codec. This way I pull off of the firewire, convert to SDI, and the image is brought in at 1920×1080 in 10bit form. That said, if I don’t have to cough up for the Cineform I could save about $2500.

Jerry Hatfield
Six Gill DV
Orlando, Florida

[Igor Babic]

Coool.
One more. I have HD Extreme, and on a PC with latest drivers Proc amp for analog input is greyed out. Is this ok? What is the diference, YUV SMPTE and YUV Betacam in input output panel? I am doing something wrong?

[Luke Maslen]

Hi,

Proc Amp will be added for DeckLink HD Extreme soon. I think most of the work for that is done but just got held up because of preparations for the IBC show.

Please see the support note “Component analog video. Betacam or SMPTE?” for information about which option you should choose.

Regards,

Luke Maslen
Blackmagic Design

[Luke Maslen]

Hi Jerry,

I don’t have a Prospect system to test. What I can tell you is that the Online JPEG solution results in great quality and we’re very happy to finally have a compressed codec for our Windows users which can be used in both SD and HD and which retains the full 4:2:2 color space. Best of all, there will be no extra cost for this codec. We’ve wanted to have a codec for Windows users which cost little or nothing so that when you capture a movie with it, you know that others will be able to read it. We’ve looked at a bunch of commercial, proprietary, open source and free codecs and found many technicalities with their adoption. Finally we’ve settled upon a codec that not only looks great but can be used by anyone without having to pay anything extra.

As soon as we release the drivers on our web site, I recommend that you try them and see for yourself what you think of the results. I think you will be very happy.

The nature of JPEG codecs is that the data rate is not fixed (unlike DV, HDV and DVCPRO HD) and so the data rate will fluctuate to preserve the full 4:2:2 color depth of the captured material. It won’t just throw away color information to conform to a data rate. However one way to answer your question is that you can certainly capture and playback full resolution HDTV (1920 x 1080) with a single hard drive.

Can I ask what is the source of your video, ie what model of camera or deck? If you can just capture directly from the camera or deck via SDI or HDMI, that would eliminate the technicalities of converting from HDV via Firewire to SDI for no additional quality of image.

Finally, capturing in an uncompressed codec is always going to provide superior results to a compressed capture. This is particularly noticable when adding graphics and titles to video as they can suffer from becoming “soft”. For the sharpest graphics and titles, I would recommend you use an uncompressed capture codec, even if it is only 8-bit rather than 10-bit.

Regards,

Luke Maslen
Blackmagic Design

[Peter Corbett]

Luke,

What are the chances of Blackmagic integrating the JPEG2000 codec down the track for compatibility with Grass Valley Infinity systems?

Peter Corbett
Powerhouse Productions
Australia
http://www.php.com.au

[Luke Maslen]

[Peter Corbett] “Can the Intensity operate alongside a standard Decklink in the same PC to allow monitoring to a HDMI monitor or can only one BM card operate in a PC at a time? Now that would be useful.”

Hi Peter,

In the current implementation, the dual-card support is just for two Intensity cards working with On-Air 2.0. We’ve had multi-card support on Windows (via DirectShow) for some while and we’d live to add this support to Mac. It’s not something we’ve advertised but I think it should be possible in the future for our drivers to support capture via a DeckLink card and then playback via Intensity in the same computer. Right now that feature is not provided but we’ll look in to it after the show and see what our engineers can do as it would be nice feature.

Regards,

Luke Maslen
Blackmagic Design