Capture card for HD to SD Conversion

[Steve Eisen]

For portability, AJA ioHD or Matrox MXO 2.

Steve Eisen
Eisen Video Productions
Board of Directors
Chicago Final Cut Pro Users Group

[Shane Ross]

Steve said it. Both do this well. Also look at the I/O Express and MXO2 Mini…see if they fit the bill too. They are far cheaper.

Shane

GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def

[Carlton Hathcoat]

Thanks so much, would you say one’s better than the other??

[Shane Ross]

Better is relative. What are your NEEDS.

AJA I/O HD has a built in ProRes encoder, so it does ProRes hardware encoding. It connects via firewire. But in HD it ONLY does ProRes…although this allows ProRes capture on a laptop.

Matrox MXO2 doesn’t have a built in encoder, instead it relies on the computer to do the encoding. It can do uncompressed formats and ProRes on a tower, but on a laptop it is limited to ProRes 23.98 formats, and cannot capture uncompressed on a laptop, because the drive you need to attach are max FW800. But you can capture DVCPRO HD or ProRes 23.98.

The Express and MINI are smaller versions of these, with less connection types. ANd the I/O Express doesn’t have the built in encoder, I don’t think. You gotta go to the websites and research for yourself and determine what device fits your needs.

https://www.aja.com
https://www.matrox.com

Only you know what you need.

Shane

GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def

[Carlton Hathcoat]

Thanks so much for the info. Most of what you say is very foreign to me, is there someplace other than asking you, that I can educate myself better on all the different formats?

[Steve Eisen]

The first sign that led me to believe that this is all foreign to you was the fact that you said you were shooting P2 either 24p or 720p.

I mentioned the Matrox MXO 2 or MXO 2 Mini as a solution for you because you can connect your camera to it via component and downconvert to SD. How are you delivering to the broadcast stations? Beta SP, DigiBeta, DVCAM? Like Shane said, What are your needs? What exactly are you shooting and how are you providing the broadcast stations.

If you are shooting with the HPX-500, HPX-300 or HPX-170, you can connect via HD-SDI. If this is foreign to you, I would strongly suggest hiring someone who knows what they are doing.

MXO 2 has more ins and outs.

Click on the links that Shane provided for more detailed information on how the devices work.

Steve Eisen
Eisen Video Productions
Board of Directors
Chicago Final Cut Pro Users Group

[Carlton Hathcoat]

Steve and Shane,

First of all, thanks for the help. Here is exactly what we do. We shoot in a variety of formats depending on the project. We shoot on the HDX-900 and the HPX-500 at 1080i and 720p at a variety of frame rates, and the HVX-200A. We have two main things we do. One is a broadcast show that is shot with the HDX 900 and the HVX-200a on P2. It is shot in HD for archiving and other marketing uses, but delivered on Beta SP to be aired on TV. Right now I have an older Blackmagic capture card that does not down convert from HD to SD, so what I have had to do is edit the show in an SD timeline, and then lay it off to Beta SP. What I want to do is edit in HD and be able to lay off to Beta SP. Another thing we do is VNR’s on the road. We shoot on the HDX900 and the HCX500 P2 in HD because the clients want the final video in HD, but we need to down convert to Beta to deliver to news stations. We also sometimes compress the videos and email them to the stations. I hope that clears things up. Not to say I have money burning a hole in my pocket, but I am not necessarily looking for the cheapest way, just the one that will work best for my situation.

Thanks again Steve and Shane!!

[Steve Oakley]

MXO2 will do exactly what you want, down convert or cross convert ( 1080 <>720 <> SD ) on output with nothing more then the change of its output settings. I normally edit in HD, then use the MXO2 for SD tape output or monitoring.