PPro, MacPro Late 2013 Capture Solution – What are using to digitize your tapes?

[Ken Jones]

I have the Blackmagic Ultrastudio Express, but I have only been using it for monitoring XLR audio and SDI video. I haven’t had to digitize from or output to a tape in a couple of years. In other words, I haven’t tested its capabilities with a deck but it does have SDI and XLR in/out and also has a 9-pin RS422 control cable. This from the B&H website:

Breakout cables feature: composite, component, S-Video, RCA audio, AES/EBU on XLRs, sync input, genlock and RS422

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/857462-REG/Blackmagic_Design_BDLKULSDEXPRESS_UltraStudio_Express.html

[David Roth weiss]

If you are even contemplating using DaVinci Resolve in the future your ONLY bet is to get a Blackmagic Decklink card (or Thunderbolt device if you have a new Mac Pro cylinder).

If Resolve is not on your horizon, then you might consider an AJA or Matrox I/O card or device.

David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor/Colorist
David Weiss Productions

David is a Creative COW contributing editor and a forum host of the Apple Final Cut Pro forum.

[Peter Garaway]

Hi Jeff,

Great to get feedback for what’s working for folks out in the field. Just wanted to chime in to let you know that any AJA, Blackmagic or Matrox hardware with SDI and a RS422 connection will offer this support.

Best,

Peter Garaway
Adobe
Premiere Pro

[Tero Ahlfors]

I have the older Blackmagic Ultrastudio 3D that uses Thunderbolt. It works fine.

[Jeff Coleman]

What tapes are you digitizing with the Ultrasudio 3D?
What application are you using to digitize/capture?
On field tapes, how does it handle timecode breaks?

[Jeff Coleman]

Peter,
Haven’t found that to be true in real world experience here.
I have 15 years of HD field tapes and haven’t found a solution to digitize/capture those tapes due to the timecode breaks inherit in the field tapes. I do know that AJA has NO solution with their applications (VTR Exchange and Control Room and PPro Plug-In). Premiere Pro CC doesn’t seem to be able to offer a field tape capture solution either as it has no ability to create a new clip when encountering a timecode break– something FCP had for as long as I remember and AVID as well. Seems like a foundational/fundamental task that is absent in Premiere and AJA offerings.
Do you agree?

[Jeff Coleman]

Thanks for the input. However, I’m really looking for real world field tape digitizing/capturing experience. I’ll keep that in mind if I’m looking for monitoring/playback solutions.

[Jeff Coleman]

David,
Are you using a Blackmagic device to capture/digitize your tape sources?

[David Roth weiss]

[Jeff Coleman] “David,
Are you using a Blackmagic device to capture/digitize your tape sources?”

Hi Jeff,

Unfortunately no, at least not in recent times. I have used every brand of I/O out there (AJA, Blackmagic, Matrox, even Bluefish, at one time or another, but I have not had to digitize a tape in the last few years.

FYI, if you haven’t already checked with Bluefish to see how they handle dropouts you might want to. The Bluefish cards are not inexpensive, but they are superbly manufactured cards with very well designed drivers.

Just for the record, what tape deck is the primary deck you’re capturing from? I hope it’s not a Sony J3 deck, as I’ve had nothing but trouble with those decks reporting timecode breaks where there are none.

David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor/Colorist
David Weiss Productions

David is a Creative COW contributing editor and a forum host of the Apple Final Cut Pro forum.

[Jeff Coleman]

Mostly F500, ADJ1400, PVW-2000 now.
I’ve sent Bluefish’s North America contact an email asking if they have a solution. Don’t see one mentioned on their website and their CC page looks Windows only with a note next to OS X installer “Coming soon!”