Intensity Pro HD to SD Letterbox 16:9 troubles…..

[Joachim Blunck]

Having this very issue with DVCProHD 720p30 footage through HD Extreme 2 to SD monitor. Any solutions?

[Jeffrey Di lullo]

I’m having the same issue. Have you found a fix?

Jeffrey Di Lullo
jeffedits.com

[Rob Grauert]

At first I had an issue playing 720p60 to an SD monitor. I have figured it out, though, incase you are still stuck.

Make sure your software is up to date – OSX, FCP, BlackMagic Driver.

Blackmagic System Pref
Set Output: HDMI & Composite (Y Out) & S-Video (I am using S-Video)
Use video setup in NTSC: At 7.5 IRE for use in the USA
Remove field jitter when video is paused: checked
Output Processing: HD to SD Letterbox (although SD Anamorphic has worked for me too)

FCP Easy Setup
Format: HD
Rate: 59.94 fps
Use: Blackmagic HDTV 720p 59.94 – DVCPro HD (Blackmagic HDTV 720p 59.94 – ProRes HQ and Blackmagic HDTV 720p 59.94 – Uncompressed work too)

Rob Grauert, Jr.
http://www.robgrauert.com
command-r.tumblr.com

[Jeffrey Di lullo]

Had a long talk with BM tech. They said that 720p24 or any other flavor other than 720p60 is non supported.

Jeffrey Di Lullo
jeffedits.com

[Rob Grauert]

Hmm…weird. That might be because technically DVCPro HD is 60 frames per second. If you record it to tape, even if you record 720p24, it will have pulldown added so it records 60 frames per second to tape. It’s weird that they don’t support 30p or 24p playback, though. It’s not on tape at that point… But then again, what can you expect for $200?

Maybe drop your 24p footage into a 60p timeline and let FCP add pulldown? That’s what we always do at my work…

Rob Grauert, Jr.
http://www.robgrauert.com
command-r.tumblr.com

[Jeffrey Di lullo]

Rob,

You are exactly right. The intensity does not support frame rate or cross conversions even though it does “do” 1080p 23.976 to NTSC 29.97. From my discussion with BM this behavior (1080p 23.976–>NTSC 29.97) is more of a bug than anything else. Seriously, he said “Bug”.

“Maybe drop your 24p footage into a 60p timeline and let FCP add pulldown? That’s what we always do at my work…”

This will work, but will lead to all kinds of timing problems if you ever want to go back to a 24p timeline. Also FCP doesn’t do the greatest job of frame rate conversions (I’d say it does a terrible job).

You are right, what can we expect from a low end card like this. I bought this card thinking that it could output a 720p24 time line and I only needed a preview card for my suite (no RS-422, etc). I’ve got to say that the marketing/tech specs on this card were vague and it wasn’t until I talked with BM tech support that I got the full answer.

If we want 720p24/30 support the Matrox Mini is the next price step up. I’d also suggest an AJA LHi which does a terrific job (though it is quite a bit more expensive).

Jeffrey Di Lullo
jeffedits.com

[Jeffrey Di lullo]

So I just stumbled onto something and thought one of you guys can confirm this works:

I’m running FCP 6.0.6 with OS 10.6.4

I’ve got my easy setup set to BM HDTV 1080p 23.98 – Apple ProRes (HQ)

The Intensity Pro’s control pannel (3.9.4) is set to:

HDMI & Composite (I am monitoring via S-video to a JVC studio monitor)
Remove field jitter, etc is NOT checked.
Output is set to HD to SD Anamorphic

I was bouncing back and forth between projects; one being a 1080p 23.98 and the other 720p 23.98, and happened to leave the easy setup for the 1080p project on when I was working with my 720p (prores) timeline. I looked at my NTSC monitor and was astonished to see my 720p23.98 footage playing out “correctly”!

Now, I don’t know what kind of extra signal processing (read: degradation) is going on and I don’t have an HDTV in this suite to check what a HD signal looks like, but to my eyes it looks pretty good. Full frame rate, and in sync with viewer (have fcp offset set to 3 frames) and external speakers with proper pulldown added. The down converted NTSC signal also looks stable and correct through my Leader 5872 Vec/wvfm.

Jeffrey Di Lullo
jeffedits.com

[Rob Grauert]

Weird! Pretty much the exact same thing happened to me the other day too, except I was bounce back and forth between an SD Anamorphic project and a 720p60 project. Both going to an SD JVC broadcast monitor as well.

My BlackMagic settings were set up for SD Anamorphic. When I opened the 720p project, it was going out to my monitor perfectly. I was stunned. Of course, when I set up the BlackMagic card with the correct settings, that worked too.

I have no explanation, though. Just letting you know you’re not the only one 🙂

Rob Grauert, Jr.
http://www.robgrauert.com
command-r.tumblr.com

[Jeffrey Di lullo]

Rob,

Were you playing back a 720p60 sequence or 720p23.98 sequence?

Jeffrey Di Lullo
jeffedits.com

[Rob Grauert]

720p60. Maybe it just converted it to 480i60 on the fly, since that really isn’t that hard.

Rob Grauert, Jr.
http://www.robgrauert.com
command-r.tumblr.com