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Intensity card won’t monitor HD via HDMI!
i can’t believe that i’ve spent as many days trying to get this Intensity Card to work as dollars i spent to originally acquire the thing.
Initially, the Intensity card worked pretty well with my Mac Pro 2×2.66 – all i’ve been using it for is to monitor HD on a plasma screen via hdmi.
something happened last summer, not sure what, and the signal started cutting out when monitoring. it would play 2 sec, then get just cut out (with 1 or 2 frames of jaggy signal on the way in/out) and then back in, and then out, in, back and forth a couple more times and then finally cut out.i tested different slots, hdmi cables, etc. and the finally sent it back to Black Magic (through my reseller, Keycode media) for a repair/replacement. it took them MONTHS to get a new one to me, but they finally did, and now, this new one has the same problems.
So it looks like some sort of setting, or?…
THE WEIRD THING IS, i’ve discovered on this card, when i view external video NTSC, from a DV 720×480 sequence, that works fine. of course it doesn’t look so good, being lower resolution than the HDTV,, BUT it plays continuously.
i then switch to an HD sequnce (720×960 DVC Pro HD at 59.94 – though i’ve tried every setting there is) and the same problem happens. it cuts out.any ideas?
the support page at blackmagic-designs.com has been uphelpful on this issue.
thanks in advance for your help!!
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4 Replies
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Hi Riley,
First off if possible could you please post a more detailed spec of your machine (RAM, Os version, G5/mac pro, what slot your using etc) just to get a better picture at what could be the problem.
Secondly can i ask are you using a RAID to store your HD footage and again how is that set up? Also with final cut pro when you change your easy setup (and the Blackmagic setting should be fine ok) it does not apply retroactively to your sequence, so you either need to create a new one, OR go to final cut>>audio/video settings of the current sequence.
Cheers
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Callum,
thanks a lot for your help. much appreciated.i’m running a mac pro with 2 2.66 ghz processors. i’m running os 10.4.11 and FCS 6.02. i’ve got 3g of RAM, and the intensity card is currently in slot 3. i’ve got the media stored on 2 Maxtor 500G drives set up as a RAID 1 (so it totals 930 gigs) this RAID is currently 60% full.
your question about the RAID made me think that maybe the hard drives can’t keep up – but i don’t think that is it… (first of all, its DVC Pro HD footage, and those Maxtors should be able to keep up with that ok (i just ran the Blackmagic Disk Speed Test and got 109.9 mb/s)
the HD footage plays just fine in the Digital Cinema Desktop Preview…
i’m not using Easy Setup in FCP and understand that i can’t change the setting of a sequence retroactively, but only by making a new sequence. one thing i don’t understand is this:
Does the ‘video playback’ setting have to match the Sequence Setting?
if so, how do i view a 720p24 sequence are 50 and 60 fps? -
today, it seems to be a bit better.
i haven’t changed any settings, but the ‘dropouts’ happen much less frequently. maybe every 25-40 seconds, instead of every 2-3 seconds. the dropouts themselves still look the same, and still are 1.5-2 sec in duration themselves.
it seems to happen in every type of HD sequence. 720, 1080, 24p 30p 59.94, 23.98, etc.
SO weird. -
HI Riley
Thanks for the specs. At a quick glance that I have this morning it would seem your problem is from the footage not getting enough bandwidth through you’re system. I would have to check the bit rate of your footage and get back to you on that, but 100 mb/s seemss a bit slow for HD. What i would also suggest though is trying your Intensity in slot 4 (top) as that is the recommended slot to use. Can you playback SD footage with no frame loss?
However if you’re getting normal playback outside of Final Cut through your Intensity (have a try playing it out with deck control) then it could well be your sequence settings. I understand you’re not using easy setups, but it may be worth trying 1 just to see the results. Generally all you’re video settings should match the resolution of your footage.
cheers
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