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Migrating from SD to HD with Blackmagic…
Hi Luke,
I currently have a Decklink Extreme on a 2.5 G5, and am on the verge of buying a 2nd G5 that will be primarily be used for SD work.
I would like to have HD/HDV capabilites on the new system even though 95% of the work I’ll be doing will be SD via BetaSP (UVW 1800).
Couple of questions:
1. How do I convert my component outs (and sometimes composite out from other decks) from my beta deck to feed a HD series card via SDI?
2. How will I monitor on my Sony PVM 20″ NTSC through a HD series card?
3. Is there anything else I need to be thinking about when working 95% in SD with a HD series card?
4. Which Blackmagic products would you recomend for me to make this work?
Thanks in advance…
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4 Replies
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I understand your concerns but trust me, you don’t need them. The Decklink HD products work just as well with SD footage as the Decklink SD products do. You can set the card in System Preferences to downconvert HD footage to SD so you can still use your Sony monitor while working with HD footage. You can even pick letterbox or anamorphic. If you want to work with HDV natively, you’ll have to wait for FCP 5. For component input, get a Decklink HD Pro, or you can use a Multibridge to convert to SDI. Check the website for product info.
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Hi,
I would also support what Sean is saying. We have a “hybrid” system here that we are using mainly for SD, but also using to handle the growing HD work. This system gets chopped and changed on a regular basis, and handles it all fine. We only have SD monitoring on this system, and the downconversion works a treat.
Rock solid, and great to work with.
Cheers
Alister
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Great, thank you both very much for your responses. Is there an exact product configuration either of you would recommend? Are you guys working with the HD Pro card and a Multibridge? I’m kind of leaning towards converting my SD footage to SDI via a Multibridge (have they started shipping yet?) to get footage in via component and composite deck outputs. Thanks again…
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I use an HD Plus with a Multibridge. I thought the HD Pro had component in but I guess it doesn’t.
If you need and HD card, and you need component in, and you don’t want to wait for the Multibridge to be ready, I’d get a mini-converter from AJA. Check their website. Then combine that with the regular Decklink HD.
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