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Congrats to the BMD staff
Recently, I was quite outspoken about BMD’s failure to provide a timely response in relation to the shipment of the Multibridge. Well, NAB opens up and what appears? Not one, but three models of the Multibridge. Even though there were problems with the supplier for a part for the Multibridge, the R&D team kept pushing forward with the creation of two expanded models that exceed the specs and limitations of any competing product built by anyone on the planet, or anywhere else for that matter. The standard Multibridge is in the final stages of a microscopic quality control process and should ship any day now. The two larger and very loaded Multibridge Extreme and Multibridge Studio versions will start to ship in July (Extreme) with the Studio version to follow shortly.
The following is a copy and paste of a note sent out by Grant Petty, probably one of the most hard working, honest guys in the business.
Special thanks to Matt Dowling, by the way.
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Hi,
It’s NAB time again, and we have been working hard on new products and
updates!Introducing Multibridge Extreme
One of our new hardware products for NAB 2005 is called Multibridge
Extreme. This is very exciting, because we have taken our Multibridge,
which is a bi-directional converter, and added DVI-D as well as PCI Express
to it.What this creates is a bi-directional converter that’s great for connecting
analog equipment to SDI in either high definition, or standard definition.
However when you connect the built in PCI Express connection to a computer,
it instantly turns into a capture playback device with support for standard
definition, high definition, dual link 4:4:4 high definition or 2K feature
film quality.The PCI Express connection is high speed at 10 Gbps, so we easily have
enough speed for the highest quality feature film resolution, while also
being very low cost because it’s already built into most new PCI
motherboards. We supply a plug in PCI Express adapter card and 7 foot/2
meter cable to connect the Multibridge Extreme into the computer’s
motherboard, and because it’s a direct bus connection there is no latency.If you’re using a PowerMac G5, we have also developed a PCI Express Bridge
that plugs into the G5 PCI-X 133 MHz slot, and has PCI Express on the back
panel.With the built in Dual Link DVI-D connection, we can connect a low cost LCD
display directly to Multibridge Extreme for local monitoring. This DVI
connection is dual link, so you can connect larger 30 inch displays, and we
will use the high speed of PCI Express and the extra resolution of dual
link DVI to display real time 2K images played back via Multibridge. That
means we are now actually higher resolution than the HD television system,
which is cool, but you can also use smaller, single link DVI-D displays.I think this is really exciting, and you could use Multibridge simply as an
independent converter, and if you need an extra editing system, just grab
it and connect it to a computer. If you don’t need the editing system any
longer, you can still use it as a converter. Because all the electronics
are external to the computer, we have plenty of room for connectors.Multibridge Extreme has 2 channels of analog audio in and out, component
video in and out, and composite video in and out. Genlock input, RCA low
level audio output, DVI-D dual link, RS-422 remote, 8 channels of AES in
and out, with each input featuring a sample rate converter, dual link SDI
in and out and USB. Amazingly it all fits into exactly the same size as our
current Multibridge so that means it’s small enough to hide when space is
tight.Introducing Multibridge Studio
Multibridge Studio is a larger 2 rack unit version, that has extra
connections. It has all the connections of the 1 rack unit Multibridge
Extreme, however has 12 channels of AES audio in and out, 4 extra composite
video outputs, and 6 RCA audio outputs. It also has a sync generator built
in, and generates black burst or TriSync output for locking equipment in
your facility.Multibridge Extreme is US$2,595 and Multibridge Studio is US$3,495. We
expect Multibridge Extreme to ship first, in about a July timeframe.We are excited by these new models, and they are really different to just
plugging in a card. Even though the current Multibridge models have been
held up with a delay in getting a component for them, our engineers have
not wasted time while they wait for the components to arrive, and have
continued to develop Multibridge with models incorporating new ideas.
Incidentally the current Multibridge models should ship any day now, as we
received the component we have been waiting for.There is a lot more info on our updated web site at
http://www.blackmagic-design.com. Please check it out.Introducing FrameLink
We have a new software utility we are showing at NAB 2005 that will be
included free with all DeckLink cards, and it allows DPX file format
compatibility for Digital Intermediate (DI) feature film work.One of the big problems, with using QuickTime and DirectShow compatible
capture cards for film work, is their use of QuickTime and AVI file
formats. These files are not compatible with most network rendering
software, and don’t allow single frames to be opened and saved back into
the movie, which makes dirt and scratch removal hard. Lots of software use
the DPX file format, and FrameLink allows DPX compatibility while retaining
the speed and flexibility of QuickTime and AVI files.FrameLink actually mounts a QuickTime or AVI file as a disk volume, and the
disk volume appears as a numbered image sequence. It’s all handled in real
time so mounting is instant, and you can immediately open a frame. When you
save, the frame is written back into the movie, and you can then play the
file immediately. You don’t need to wait for heaps of DPX files to be
rendered into a movie as with a file format conversion utility. FrameLink
does it all in real time.So you can just mount the movie file, open a frame in Photoshop, paint it,
and select save. Instantly play back, and you can see the effects of your
painted frame inserted right back into the movie file. The movie file can
even be open in a NLE application and you can work on it and play any time.
It’s very exciting.FrameLink uses frame numbers to work out where frames go in the movie, so
you can network render and as numbered frames are written into the volume,
they are automatically ordered in the correct position into the movie. You
can create empty movies and just render or copy to the volume to build the
movie. The length of the movie becomes the highest frame count, and as each
frame is saved, the QuickTime or AVI header is saved so you don’t loose the
movie file if there is some kind of crash. That’s one of the biggest
reasons many people like rendering in DPX files, and we get that benefit.We had considered writing software to capture and play DPX files, however
it’s very hard on disk systems, and SAN’s because you need to open 24 files
per second when doing real time capture, and you cannot edit folders of
frames very easily in NLE software. Media management is also a mess. This
method is much better and has the advantage of single file QuickTime and
AVI files, with the flexibility of DPX whenever you need to work in that
format.FrameLink will be included in DeckLink V5 software for Mac OS X and Windows
XP. This will be released in a few weeks.DeckLink for Macintosh v5
We have a new version of DeckLink software for full compatibility with the
wonderful new features in Final Cut Pro 5. We have support for all features
such as HDV playback via DeckLink, uncompressed HD real time effects, 12
channels of audio capture and playback in HD, and many more. It’s a
wonderful update, and it’s also compatible with the upcoming Tiger OS
release.We will include FrameLink with this update as well as a new feature
allowing HDLink custom gamma tables to be loaded into the capture side of
DeckLink HD Pro. You can apply custom gamma tables to any captured video,
and that’s great for feature film work. We have seen a lot of feature film
work being competed on DeckLink HD cards such as The Aviator, and these
enhancements will help film workflow dramatically.DeckLink for Macintosh v5 will ship when Final Cut Pro v5 is released, and
will be recommended for use with Final Cut Pro v5.DeckLink for Windows
We have a new DeckLink for Windows update, and this release builds on the
real time effects we added into the last update. We now have real time
effects working better in HD, and that really speeds up most HD editing
work. We will be adding more effects over time as we release more updates.Adobe has also just announced that DeckLink is now certified for Premiere
Pro, and that’s really great news. DeckLink HD Pro is the only solution
available for editing with Premiere Pro in 4:4:4 RGB 10 bit, so that’s
really exciting if you’re using Premiere Pro for film editing or other high
end work.Sony Vegas v6 is also supported in this new DeckLink for Windows update,
and we know a lot of people have been asking for this. Support is mostly
for standard definition currently, however we expect that to expand. We
will be showing Sony Vegas on one of our demo stations at NAB playing back
to DeckLink.HDLink v1.7
We have a new HDLink software update, and this includes default gamma
tables for Panasonic cameras and Thompson Viper cameras. We have a blue
only setting, as well as a field emulator to make field movement look a
little better on progressive LCD displays. This update also has a pulldown
override mode so you can use monitors that won’t automatically configure
because they don’t provide correct EDID info. Some Plasma displays and
projectors suffer from this problem.HDLink v1.7 is in final testing now, and should ship within a week or two
after NAB.As you can see this is going to be an exciting NAB for us and if your
visiting the show, please stop by to see these updates. It’s really
exciting that after all this development we can finally tell people about
these new updates! We are located about halfway down the south hall.Regards,
Grant Petty
Blackmagic DesignNOTE: We try to keep up updates for when we have something important to
tell
you, however if you would like to be excluded from future updates from us,
please drop us an email at un*********@***************gn.com.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
My friends in Hollywood say that the DPX thing is BIG, real BIG!
Order yours today.
Steve Wargo
HD CineAlta Cinematographer, editor -
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