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SDI to HDMI conversion….what’s lost/changed?
Hello All,
Dunno if this is specific to FCP, but I figured some of you would have some insight on this. I have a Blackmagic Intensity HDMI In/Out card that I’m not really using because I got a Matrox MXO for display/monitoring. I plan to put the intensity in a Mac Pro that will be used on-set for loading from a camera to a fast raid. Several of the HD cameras we’re looking at have an SDI out but not an HDMI out, and for certain things, we’d want to load in uncompressed. There are several SDI to HDMI converters out there, and I’d like to know what’s lost or changed when converting the ‘raw’ uncompressed SDI to HDMI. It seems from various specs that HDMI is capable of passing signals/resolutions that match some SDI specs, but what changes in the conversion, and how does the quality hold up? Of course, we could always get a AJA or Black Magic card with actual SDI in, but since I already have the Intensity, and was going to get the SDI to HDMI converter for various other uses, I was wondering if I would get the same quality loading in via SDI to HDMI conversion as I would straight SDI for the formats that match specs. Thanks in advance, and please excuse the simplicity of my query. Things were so much easier when we used to shoot film!
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11 Replies
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[rcPics] “Several of the HD cameras we’re looking at have an SDI out but not an HDMI out, and for certain things, we’d want to load in uncompressed.”
This is correct and I’m not sure when/if you’ll see a camera with HDMI out. Whenever we need an HD system on-set we bring one of our Kona systems and take the HD-SDI feed directly out of the HD camera for ingest into our system.
A true SDI Input card would serve your needs better in my opinion, I would recommend looking at the AJA Kona series of cards.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.com
HD Editorial & Animation for Food Network’s “Good Eats”
HD Editorial for “Assignment Earth”“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters
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Thanks very much for responding, Walter. Yeah, it’s looking that way anyway, and we were eyeing the Black Magic Decklink. I might end up buying that card and using it in my system anyway, but since this stuff is coming out of our personal assets (i.e. limited), I’m trying to guage what the quality control would be like if all I had to get now was an SDI to HDMI converter….which I know we would get a lot of use out of, whereas we’re pretty-much set in other areas with what we have already. Aside from the SDI capture, I really wouldn’t need all the features on the Kona or the Decklink right now or anytime really soon. So I’m trying to see if SDI to HDMI will give me equivalent results.
Funny that you guys do the Food Network…we worked on the Bobby Flay ‘Hot Off The Grill’ shows at the post house where I used to work back in the 90’s.
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[rcPics] “I’m trying to guage what the quality control would be like if all I had to get now was an SDI to HDMI converter…”
I just looked up the AJA site and they do have an SDI to HDMI mini converter. If you were to go that route, then I would still recommend AJA as their converters are used daily in live television productions and their quality is unmatched out there in terms of image quality and reliability.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.com
HD Editorial & Animation for Food Network’s “Good Eats”
HD Editorial for “Assignment Earth”“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters
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forgot the link
https://www.aja.com/html/products_converters_HI5.html
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.com
HD Editorial & Animation for Food Network’s “Good Eats”
HD Editorial for “Assignment Earth”“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters
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SDI to HDMI converters are meant for monitors, not for capturing. Is there a difference? I’m not sure. There very well could be. While they’re both uncompressed, its very possible those devices alter the colorspace. Also, there may be a delay introduced which might affect deck control. You won’t have SDI output from the Mac. So you can’t feed it a sync signal and you can’t record out to the deck or camera.
I think its a bad idea. It might work just fine, but you’ll probably be the first person to try it which is never fun.
Sean
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Hmmm. Given the answers, would you be willing to sell your Intensity card? 🙂
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Thanks again for all the insight, everyone. Again, yes…it looks like a Kona or Blackmagic SDI card is the way to go…might as well do it right the first time instead of trying to experiment too much. Paris_ntz…would I be looking to sell the Intensity card? I dunno. At a mere $230 & change, it’s kind of a nifty and useful thing to have around if it’s needed. Plus, it includes hardware acceleration and its own set of playback codecs/formats which are interesting. As of now, it’s taking up a slot in my computer that I could use for something else (like a Kona/Decklink!!). So for the amount that I would sell it for, might as well just keep it around in case I need it. For my home setup, the MXO works very well and gives me what I need, since I’m not doing a lot of SDI loading or anything on this right now.
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You mean professional cameras with HDMI. Because there are plenty of prosumer cameras with HMDI out.
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“You mean professional cameras with HDMI. Because there are plenty of prosumer cameras with HMDI out.”
Exactly.
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I’ve experienced some instability on systems with AJA and BMD products installed simultaneously
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