Capturing to Mac while shooting?

[Michael Palmer]

I captured from 3-EX3 cameras to 3 Mac Pro’s last season on an Animal Planet series and captured as Pro Rez, it was a solid solution.

If you are trying to capture in the field to a Mac Book Pro then you should consider the Matrox MXO2 portable HD I/O. This is an amazing new product that allows you to capture a 10 bit uncompressed signal to Pro Rez. I can’t recommend it enough.

https://www.matrox.com/video/en/products/mxo2/

Good Luck
Michael Palmer

[Mickey Power]

I need little persuasion about the MXO2’s capabilities but availability right now and specific amount of use I’ll get out of it are two separate questions.

Which brings me back to the firewire question: did you capture to the three Mac Pros with fw only? What were the settings on both camera and in FCP?

Thx

Mickey

[Michael Palmer]

“did you capture to the three Mac Pros with fw only? What were the settings on both camera and in FCP?”

No Firewire is only used for compressed video signals. I couldn’t and wouldn’t use Firewire as this would be post compression (firewire is HDV only with the EX cameras). The HD-SDI signal on the EX camera is before compression and this signal was piped 100′ to our DIT village then into the AJA LHe cards in the Mac Pro’s and we captured as Pro Rez. For a live capture you need to use the uncompressed signal from the HD-SDI port, so you better reconsider the MXO2, oh and you will love it.

The EX format was 1080p 30fps and so was the Pro Rez capture.

Good Luck
Michael Palmer

[Mickey Power]

Hmmm, MXO2 is appealing but I am not sure I’d get that much use with it other than, say, for monitoring out of FCP (alongside a Blackmagic Intensity card).

What about the MXO Mini?

BTW if I did invest in an MXO2 and used it while shooting on set to capture footage pre-compression, what perceptible advantages would I notice? I have a couple of mid-budget TVCs coming up but nothing in them requires heavy effects work and therefore a 4:2:2 space. But they would be output to Digi Betacam for broadcast.

Mickey

[Steve Connor]

[Mickey Power] “BTW if I did invest in an MXO2 and used it while shooting on set to capture footage pre-compression, what perceptible advantages would I notice? I have a couple of mid-budget TVCs coming up but nothing in them requires heavy effects work and therefore a 4:2:2 space. But they would be output to Digi Betacam for broadcast.”

I would say absolutely none.

Steve Connor
Adrenalin Television

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