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Help with new system setup – DV player, Decklink card, broadcast monitor
I have just purchased equipment in order to upgrade the quality of our show. Now I am having trouble making it all work.
My Equipment:
Mac Pro
Decklink HD Extreme
Panasonic AG – DV2500
Sony CRT MonitorAt this point, I am trying to capture using the panasonic, through the Decklink, and into Final Cut Pro. I am also trying to use the broadcast monitor for color correction purposes.
Here are my issues:
1. The back of the Panasonic has three component plugs (1 video, 2 audio). I have component to BNC adapters connected and have BNC cables run to my Decklink. My video comes through fine, however the audio is not coming through at all. I have two audio lines out of the Panasonic and only one audio line in to the Decklink. How do I connect this and how to I make the audio come through on the capture?2. My broadcast monitor is hooked up via SDI connection. The video plays on the monitor when I’m using the Blackmagic Deck control, but does not play once I import the video into FCP. What setting should I use? Am I missing something about the workflow?
3. What are the best settings to use with all of this stuff? I have footage shot on SD cameras. The footage is on mini dv tapes. My output goes straight from my timeline to BetaSP for delivery to a station. We have upgraded to HD cameras, but I have to use my SD footage for my 2009 shows. How should I set up my Mac, Decklink control, FCP?
4. Finally, what is the best workflow to accomplish this? Do I capture using the Decklink control or is there a way to capture in FCP?
Thanks in advance for all advice.
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6 Replies
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Does the Panasonic have SDI outputs? If so use them as the picture is digital and the audio embedded.
The easiest thing is to use firewire to capture DV pic & sound
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No SDI on the VTR. All I have is Firewire and componant. IF I capture via firewire then that is just bypassing the card and defeats my purpose. I think my audio problem is that I need componant to XLR cable’s. Hook up the two componant outs in my vtr and run them to the xlr input of the card. However the Blackmajic tech has me running through another cable.
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Brandon
You have your connections all wrong. Your DV deck does not have Component out. It has S-video and Composite out. For best quality, connect your DV deck to your Decklink via S-video. Check out how to do it here:
https://www.blackmagic-design.com/downloads/manuals/DeckLinkMacManual.pdfYou will need RCA to XLR connectors or adapters for your audio.
To recap, your deck has 1 composite video output and (2) left and right audio outputs. These are RCA outputs. It also has 1 S-Video output.
Steve Eisen
Eisen Video Productions
Board of Directors
Chicago Final Cut Pro Users Group -
[Brandon Carter] “1. The back of the Panasonic has three component plugs (1 video, 2 audio). I have component to BNC adapters connected and have BNC cables run to my Decklink”
As Steve says, these are not component. This is composite video and stereo audio.
As for all your other questions, once the card is set up correctly, you simply use presets from BMD to capture / view your material. For instance you don’t use DV-NTSC for your Capture preset any longer if you want to capture through the card. You probably want to go with 8bit uncompressed or ProRes for your captures now using the card to convert the video.
I’m sure the BMD user materials list some workflow examples and how to set up for certain scenarios.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Editor, Colorist, Director, Writer, Consultant, Author.
Credits include multiple Emmy, Telly, Aurora and Peabody Awards.
Owner, Biscardi Creative Media featuring HD Post
Biscardi Creative MediaCreative Cow Forum Host:
Apple Final Cut Pro, Apple Motion, Apple Color, AJA Kona, Business & Marketing, Maxx Digital. -
I mistakenly wrote component…you are correct, its composite video and RCA’s for the audio. There is no S-video input on the card, so I should use a S-video to BNC adapter in place of the composite to BNC? Is the S-video a higher quality connection?
Also, I have my monitor hooked up via SDI. The only time I can review the footage is when the BMD comand window is open. I cant view if as I’m working in FCP. Is there a way around? You guys have been a savior in upgrading our system!!
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Why do you want to capture footage from a DV VTR through your Decklink card? By doing so you’re adding an unnecessary D/A and A/D conversion to the process, reducing the quality of your original DV source footage, which is already a fairly compressed 4:1:1. Since your VTR doesn’t have component analog video outputs, you’re further degrading the quality of the source footage by capturing it as composite or Y/C analog through the Decklink card.
Capturing via Firewire wouldn’t defeat the purpose of your Decklink card. The Decklink card has many functions apart from capturing video. Use the Decklink card for monitoring your FCP video output or for recording video out to an analog or SDI-equipped deck. If you have a professional CRT, it should have multiple inputs so that you can connect both your DV deck’s analog video output and your Decklink’s SDI video output. Just switch the monitor to the deck when you capture and to the Decklink when you edit.
If you plan to work in ProRes or Uncompressed SD projects, just capture your DV footage via Firewire and let FCP transcode the footage when you render the final output. At least then you’ll be bypassing an unnecessary digital/analog/digital conversion. You can simply use Firewire for deck control in Log and Capture within Final Cut. If you’re outputting to Beta SP, connect the Beta SP deck to the component analog video outputs (and the the RS422 serial control port) of the Decklink card. You could even connect the Beta SP deck’s video monitor output to your CRT (assuming it has enough inputs) if you need to monitor the Beta SP deck during recording.
You should be able to view FCP on your monitor – strange that you cannot. Double check the Playback Output section of the A/V devices tab of the Audio/Video Settings preferences menu in FCP to make sure that you have the correct device (Decklink) and format (525i 29.97) selected for playback.
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