Compatible Video Capture Cards for Avid Xpress Pro

Avid Media Composer

Compatible Video Capture Cards for Avid Xpress Pro

Posted by Oranges on November 12, 2005 at 1:01 am

Hi guys, we recently migrated from FCP to Avid Xpress Pro (Mac Tiger) with a Mojo. It helps a lot with productivity, especially we always work with tight deadlines. However, we run into issues with hi-end footage such as IMX, Digi-Beta etc., not to mention HD soon. We’ve looked into getting a Black Magic Decklink Extreme but the BM support told us that they are not sure whether Avid Xpress supports it. Has any of you used Avid Xpress Pro and Black Magic together? Or a roundabout way of digitising footage into Quicktime and have Avid Xpress Pro work with Quicktime clips? If this sound rediculous would any of you suggest another capture card that Avid will support and works well with a Mac? Not everyone can afford to upgrade to Symphony or Andreline, yet. Thanks a lot!

Bill Stephan replied 20 years, 9 months ago 5 Members · 8 Replies
8 Replies

Michael Phillips
November 12, 2005 at 12:53 pm

Avid products only use Avid hardware. The Mojo is the hardware designed for Avid Xpress Pro and is an SD I/O device only. The Mac will have FireWire HD I/O support in an upcoming release.

Michael
Oliver Peters
November 12, 2005 at 5:20 pm

[MichaelP] “The Mac will have FireWire HD I/O support in an upcoming release. “

That’s now looking like mid-2006, I believe – if delivery dates affect your buying cycles.

Sincerely,
Oliver

Oliver Peters
Post-Production & Interactive Media
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com
Oranges
November 12, 2005 at 7:39 pm

Thanks for your replies guys. Since our purchase of Xpress Pro and Mojo, we have been solely working with DV. We have an upcoming project that was shot in Betacam Sp. Can anyone provide a diagram or a description on how to hook up a Sony Beta Sp deck to Mojo? We have the Avid S-Video / Composite / Component cable. How can we remote control the deck? Keyspan/USB/RS422 converter for remote? How do we capture the audio from the Beta deck? We asked the supplier where we got the Xpress & Mojo from. They said we could dub the Beta Sp footage to a DVCAM tape. I was kind of speechless.

Anyhow, do you guys have better suggestion?

Best,
Oranges
Oliver Peters
November 13, 2005 at 2:24 am

Get a different reseller. He’s an idiot. Your Avid component cable has S+BNC on one end and 3 BNCs on the other. The 3 BNCs go to the deck, the S+BNC goes to those spigots on the Mojo. This is the Avid trick to share those connectors as either S or Composite or alternately as the 3 pieces of the CAV path. You cannot do component, S and composite simultaneously. Keyspan goes to the VTR remote control. Capture as uncompressed from the Beta-SP and work uncompressed. Some Beta decks also have S out, so you could use just S if you wanted to.

Sincerely,
Oliver

Oliver Peters
Post-Production & Interactive Media
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com
Oranges
November 13, 2005 at 4:14 am

Thanks a lot. One more question: how do we solve the sound issue? The Avid Component cable only solve the video part. Any suggestion to digitize balanced sound?
Dom Silverio
November 13, 2005 at 9:49 am

Mixer.
Oliver Peters
November 13, 2005 at 2:41 pm

[Oliver Peters] “Your Avid component cable has S+BNC on one end and 3 BNCs on the other.”

I meant to say S+RCA on the Mojo side.

– Oliver

Oliver Peters
Post-Production & Interactive Media
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com
Bill Stephan
November 18, 2005 at 4:40 pm

Get a matchbox (Henry Engineering makes a good one). Around $175 at any pro video or audio supply house.

Bill Stephan
Senior Editor/DVD Author
USA Studios
New York City

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