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H.264 glitchy video and some experience with the device so far
I was pointed to these forums by BlackMagic tech support today. We are very interested in getting the ProRecorder device working as advertised, and it’s been a bit of a challenge.
We’re almost there, but the device appears to have encoding problems that would appear to be in the firmware/device itself that cause glitchy video.
Some initial help for others from our experience so far:
– It works on Windows 7 64-bit only. The box says “Windows”, but it definitely does not work on Windows XP, Windows Server 32-bit, or Windows 7 32-bit. We tried all three. After an hour on the phone with tech support, we discovered to everyone’s surprise that Windows 7 64-bit is the only option. I’m hoping that XP and Windows 7 32-bit are in the works. It would probably also be very helpful to have the installer point this out if you try to install on an unsupported OS. Figuring this out the hard way was not ideal.– You MUST have an audio device attached and turned on. The behavior of the software is odd and erratic without it. We struggled for a long time with this one.
– You almost certainly need an NVIDIA card that supports H.264 decoding support on the card or an ultra high-end machine because the software decoding for preview is a big CPU hog. It’s a little frustrating because the H.264 decoding in Media Express is actually more CPU intensive than H.264 encoding in software on the same machine. A lot of the value of the device (offloading compression from the CPU) is lost because the decoding consumes so much CPU.
– MP4 output only. Unless you’re a Mac/Quicktime user, this isn’t great. There’s a dropdown for this, so I’m hoping that AVI is in the works.
Here’s our problem:
– With an NVIDIA GeForce card in place and good dual core box, we can capture video almost perfectly. The only problem is that there are what appear to be encoding glitches every 2-3 minutes (irregularly and seemingly unrelated to the contents of the video). The glitches are a hesitation (mostly repeated frames) with blockiness around areas of detail. My guess is that we are seeing the device fail to encode the video frame successfully. With the exception of these moments, we are getting great video, but the glitches make is unusable for professional work. The CPU is nowhere close to maxed out, the drive can do 80MB/sec both directions which I think should be more than enough, we’re using a 3Mb/sec stream, and have a pretty good graphics card. So, my suspicion is that the problem is inherent in the firmware on the device. I would love it if that weren’t the case, but at the moment, that’s where the signs are pointing.Any help would be appreciated.
I’m a few glitches away from a usable product, so hoping for the best.
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33 Replies
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Mark,
I got my H.264 Pro Recorder one week ago and I have the same glitches problem. I’m also thinking the problem is firmware related.
Like you, I note the high CPU usage that MediaExpress require to playback the content during capture. An option to disable it during the capture would be welcome in a future release of the software.
Here is a copy of the email I send to the BlackMagic tech support on August 1st and i’m still waiting for a reply :
Hello,
I just receive my H.264 Pro recorder and I already have 2 mains problems with it. I use the last Desktop Video 8.2 on Mac OS X and I updated the H.264 Pro recorder to the last firmware.
01. There is no option in Media Express to capture interlaced source, only progressive and it auto select the project format to 1080p29.97. As most of my content is broadcast 1080i59.97 fields based, a progressive capture blend the fields together causing gosting.
02. I’m unable to capture 1080p29.97 HD footage using component or HDMI without H.264 encoding artifacts as seen in screenshot01. They appears randomly and if I capture the same clip multiples time they showed at difference places. They last for about 6-14 frames and it show around 4-8 times during a 2 min capture.
Here is what I try :
– I disconnect all others devices to get the maximum bandwidth from the USB bus. No change, I still get encoding artifacts.
– I lower the bitrate from 18, 12 and 6Mbps to see if the 7200RPM hard drive in my computer could not be fast enough to handle the bandwidth from the USB bus. No change, I still get encoding artifacts.
– As my computer run Mac OS X 10.7 Lion, I booted it back to Mac OS X 10.6.8 Snow Leopard but I still get encoding artifacts.
– I use another computer with an SSD drive, I try the same things I write above but I still get encoding artifacts.
As I’m able to capture 720p59.97 content without theses artifacts I may guess the box is working correctly but it’s hardware doesn’t seems to be able to handle 1080 HD content as advertised.
I hope you will have some good news for me and that a fix is coming soon because this box is useless now as I buy it for 1080i59.97 HD encoding.
Thank you,
Eric
Update to the e-mail : 720p59.97 content also show glitches when capturing clip longer than 2 minutes.
I would say to anyone looking to buy this 500$ box to wait they fix the problem. The quality is awesome but glitches makes it useless.
Eric
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Eric,
Thanks for the response. You just saved me from testing an SSD drive which was on my list. With both of our experience combined, I’m more convinced than ever that the problem is inside the ProRecorder box.
Overall, I agree with your assessment that people considering buying the device should wait until/if the box works. With the glitches and the massive CPU usage just for preview, I agree that it is useless in its current state.
Mark
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I am also experiencing the same issues of random glitches and artifacts when Capturing HD1080. I am using the Mac version of software.
I have tried internal and external drives, run disk speed tests etc and changed the capture bite rates from 8 to 20 Mbps with no improvement.
I can only get reliable results (no noticable randwom glitches) if i use the AppleTV setting which has max quality setting of 5mbps and only records at 720p (not good enough for my purposes).
I tried all the latest s/w drivers etc with no impact.
The other thing I have noticed when capturing is that the black levels also get crushed a fair bit (I am feeding it 1080i source via HDMI). I wonder if anyone else has notice this black level issue.
It seems to me to be a problems with the BM firmware or software that relate to 1080 processing… when I received the unit it did not even have any software included, just a note telling me the software was not ready at the time of packaging and to download it from their site.
Usually I have had great experiences with BM products. I hope BM can quickly release updated firmware and s/w to resolve … otherwise this is an expensive paper weight … it seems to have been rushed out the door and is not ready for pro use.
Hopefully someone from BM can respond to this thread.
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Guys,
Maybe all the H.264 Pro Recorder do not show theses problems but being 3 in the same situation is probably not a coincidence. I am somewhat reassured not to be alone in it. BlackMagic have to do something quick and I’m sure they will.
An other thing that scare me is that the box become really hot about 5 minutes after I plug the power cord. To avoid stressing the parts in it and shorten it life, I always unplug it after capturing content. Can you comment on that please?
@David : On my side the black levels and color balance are perfect from HDMI or component input. To my eye, they are precisely were they should be.
For now there is no nothing to do except waiting that BM fix it.
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I will be waiting to see if these are resolved…I was just about to order one too…..here is hoping….keep us updated guys and thanks!
Regards
Scott Francis
Mind’s Eye Audio/Video Productions -
Hi,
Thanks for the report. We should have a fix for the glitches in the video soon. If anyone of you contact our support team, they should be able to send you a build we are hoping to release really soon.
regards
Kristian Lam
Blackmagic Design -
[Eric Lanouette] “An other thing that scare me is that the box become really hot about 5 minutes after I plug the power cord. To avoid stressing the parts in it and shorten it life, I always unplug it after capturing content. Can you comment on that please?
“Hi Eric,
There’s nothing to worry about. The heat is dissipated via the case so it will feel warm.
regards
Kristian Lam
Blackmagic Design -
Thank you Kristian for the reply on the situation, it’s greatly appreciated to have good news.
Now, I need to get my hands on that custom build… 🙂
Eric
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Hi Kristian,
Could you please respond to my related questions in this thread from 3 weeks ago?
https://forums.creativecow.net/thread/124/877024
A brief summary:
1920×1080 @60hz progressive doesnt work (should do according to specs)
Require an option to turn Video preview Off, as the current CPU use makes the hardware based encoding of the Pro-Recorder far less efficient than currently free screen recording software!
ie. Currently H.264 Pro-Recorder = $500 paperweight!nb. the streaming server is using about 4% cpu (good). However with preview its 100% & cant keep up at all (bad).
Related specifically to this thread, I also start getting glitches after ~10 secs @ 1080PsF29.97.
Look forward to your response,
Thanks -
Hello,
I run it under vista 64-bits version. I have also problems with glitches, once every 30 seconds by YUV-connector.
My ideal captureprogram would be very simple : One start and stop button, one button for the preferences and one box for the filename (with counter, to prevent overwriting of footage). And maybe an extra counter of captured time / MB’s.
This would also make it possible to run it on simple laptops/netbooks.I am happy they are working on new firmware/software
Jack
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