Capture from Sony j-H1?

[Shane Ross]

Yeah, that’s more of a way to see what is on the tape, not any way to capture or critically judge.

Shane
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[Dale Kutzera]

Getting back to this task after the holidays.

What type of BM Decklink Card or Intensity Shuttle would work in an older mac pro tower? There are a dizzying array of cards. I’m hoping to pick one up off Ebay. Some have hdmi ports, others component ports. What model will fit into a mac pci-e slot…or do I just compare the slots to those of video cards I already have.

There are two flavors of Shuttle…thunderbolt and USB 3.0. My old tower has neither. Would fitting it with a Thunderbolt or 3.0 pci card make either type of Shuttle work?

Thanks in advance.

[Shane Ross]

You want one of these…these are cards that install in PCIe slots.

https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/decklink

Shane
Little Frog Post
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def

[Dale Kutzera]

Is anyone familiar with exporting footage from a Sony J-H1? Here’s my current setup:
–HDcam deck to a Blackmagic Intensity Shuttle USB 3.0
–The shuttle connected to a Mac Pro tower into a USB 3.0 pci card
–Using Blackmagic’s Media Express I can view the footage…so far so good.
–BUT…there are dropped frames when capturing, the audio sounds like chipmunks, and every so often the program tells me the file doesn’t match the project’s settings.

So I believe my last hurdle is getting the right settings down. The hdcam deck flashes 29.97 so I assume that is what the tapes were recorded at. I choose this in the Media Express preferences window. I have tried capturing at both uncompressed and Prores 4444 settings. Both result in dropped frames, but less with Prores (which tells me a Prores format may be less taxing on the USB 3.0 pci card). While the video looks good, the audio sounds sped up. Any thoughts on the correct settings?

[Brent Marginet]

As far as I can remember if the Frame Rate indicator is flashing then you have the deck set to the wrong frame rate. That would also explain the chipmunk sounding audio and dropped frames. Many decks will still playback even if you have the frame rate set incorrectly but there will always be something wrong with the audio and video when it’s not set to the same frame rate as the tapes were recorded at.

These could be the base frame rate masters which may have been done at 23.976 or they could even be PAL 25fps masters. The last production house I worked at only kept the 23.976 Masters in our Library so that we could do any required frame rate conversions that were required later on.

\”MY MEDIA/PROJECT MOTTO: If you think three copies of your Media or Projects are enough. Take a moment to place a value on them and then maybe add two more.
Hard Drives are now stupidly cheap. A RE-SHOOT AND YOUR TIME AREN\’T.\”

[Dale Kutzera]

Thanks. I think that is the issue. I assumed the deck would automatically play the tapes at their native format, but that’s not the case. Worse, the J-h1 doesn’t have a 23.98 option. It only plays at 29.97 or 25. The audio is much better exporting at 25, and I’ve found information online about the 4% speed difference and ways to correct the pitch. I’m exploring option to convert the exported 25 fps footage to 23.98, but I may have to find a j-h3 deck after all.