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Intensity Pro Capture Settings
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[Richard DePaso] “apparently there are problems with the card as indicated by the thread below taken from the Apple Forums. There are similar posts in other locations also I can post. I’ll try to see if anyone online has found a solution”
OK…this is the main issue. Getting a proper working FCP system with hardware takes a little technical know how. When Avid first started making systems, they’d say “This is configured properly and certified to work without issue. So DO NOT CHANGE ANYTHING. Don’t install other applications, don’t install interesting widgets…no third party plugins…nothing. They might cause the system NOT to work well. We only certify that it will work configured the way we have.”
That being said…people now have a lot of systems they build themselves. They don’t get the “turnkey” systems that are properly configured. They have their own computer, that they install FCP on, and other applications, and cool widgets, and neat system preferences that allow them to do all sorts of groovy things. The thing is, that any one of these neat and groovy things can cause issues with the hardware. PERIAN, for example, is a great handy app that allows us to convert FLASH media to quicktime. But that handy app can interfere with Log and Transfer. So it might be that one of those dozens of apps that you have installed is causing this not to work. Same for everyone you list in other forums… issues can arise from one a SEVERAL reasons. Finding that specific reason is called troubleshooting, and is done in the manner I laid out.
The only way to know if you have a good, solid working system, is to install the OS fresh, update it fully, install FCS, update it fully (Avoid the ProKit because…wait…I CAUSES ISSUES!)…and then install the drivers for the card. If things work…BAM! YOu know it is one of these other things…that SOMETHING is causing this not to work.
But people don’t want to do that. They want things to work on their systems that they have all these cool widgets on, and they don’t want to remove them, and they want the drivers to just work. Well, Blackmagic and AJA and Matrox cannot test their hardware with every conceivable widget in existence. Impossible. They test their hardware on systems that are bare and have only professional video apps installed on them. Stuff you’d expect video pros to have installed.
People install these cards on their loaded systems…things don’t work…they blame the hardware/software. 95% of the time is isn’t the hardware that is at fault, it is something else on the system. But these people, including you, are unwilling to go through the proper steps to figure out what it could possibly be. YOu just assume the hardware is faulty, or the drivers, blame the company or blame Apple for not properly testing…and go out and get something else. That is the problem.
Do you want to figure out why this isn’t working, and have a properly working system? Or do you want to flail about and spend thousands of dollars and waste hundreds of hours chasing your tail? Take 8 hours to install a new OS, and FCS, and update them, get the most current driver, and see how things work. IF they work fine…then you know that nothing is malfunctioning, and something else on your system is causing the problem. OR…if it doesn’t work, you know it is the hardware or FCS that is at fault.
Ball is in your court. Either do the right thing or don’t. But if you decide not to, don’t come whining back to us. I have no sympathy for those who choose to ignore the good, solid advice they are given and do things their way.
Shane
GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def -
There were two files that the uninstall didn’t remove that were the basis of the problem. In /library/preferences the uninstall did not remove the “com.blackmagic-design.decklink prefspanel.plist” and in /library/preferences/users another file.
What i did was install the card in a PC to be certain it wasn’t a hardware problem. In a PC it worked fine. I then spoke to Blackmagic tech support, learned about and downloaded the latest 7.9.5 driver, found and deleted the errant files in the Mac, put the card in the Mac and installed the latest driver.
What was needed was to find the residual corrupted files that weren’t uninstalled with the Decklink Uninstall. That and corrupted Preference files are a suspect issue with problems like this.
Shane, I’ve been building computers since 1987 and it is rare that I’ve had to reinstall the operating system to fix problems with an application; on a PC usually only when internet activity corrupted the operating sytem itself. These computers I’m posting on are only used for NLE tasks. We have other machines for administration. Usually what I’ve found with operating system issues with a Mac, is it is a problem in the /Extra folder and with specific applications with a plist file somewhere corrupted or with preferences that just need to be deleted. My expertise is definitely on the PC side but for the last year we have been heavily into learning the Mac. Hopefully the problems will remain resolved. Thank you for your suggestions
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Errant files that DON’T get uninstalled? What’s the point of the uninstaller then? Sheesh…it needs to get those files. If I knew that bits and pieces of the software wasn’t removed, I would have made that suggestion. GUess I know now.
I’m glad that BMD Tech support was able to help resolve this, and get things working. And I apologize if I spoke in a condescending manner about troubleshooting. I didn’t know your level of technical expertise.
Resolved? yeah!
Shane
GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def
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