UltraStudio Pro USB3.0 for Vegas Pro?

[John Rofrano]

[Charles Smith] “I’ve been looking at Blackmagic’s UltraStudio Pro USB 3.0 as an option for my workstation. Anyone have any experience with this?”

Does it even work with Vegas Pro? All I see is Adobe advertised on their site.

[Charles Smith] “I really want to get a bump in quality AND speed up my workflow. Any thoughts? Comments, recommendations…personal experiences are most welcome.”

No personal experience here but unless you tell us what what formats you work with no one will be able to make a recommendation? It only makes sense to buy it if it enhances a format that you use. i.e., how do you think it will improve your quality? and what speed improvements are you hoping for?

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Chas Smith]

Thanks for the response. From a format perspective… I guess I should’ve mentioned a “multiple format I/O configuration”. I get a considerable amount of work using older archive formats from analog to DV and more current stuff on HDV/HD. I like the idea of the connectivity that this UltraStudio Pro has to offer (i.e. SD/HD capture & playback solution). Sorry not to be vague…it’s just I sometimes rent decks on a per-project basis depending on source media. (historic or medical or gov’t archive).

You’re right…it looks as though Adobe CS is the featured compatible software so I can’t answer the Vegas question. That’s why I posted here thinking that if someone has used it with Vegas, it would be in the CreativeCow Vegas Forum.

As for speed boosts… I was wondering if UltraStudioPro has advantages when added to a USB3.0 port on a PC. Working with uncompressed video would seem to slow a PC down a bit.. so my query is really asking if this will speed things up. As an added bonus.. using uncompressed videofile for streaming video seems like it would offer some advantages in terms of quality. If not…someone who knows about this could maybe address it.

I have an e-mail in to BlackMagic Design asking that very question.
I’ll get back to you when I get an answer.

Thanks again,

Chas

[John Rofrano]

It sounds like this will be a great device for you if you deal with all of those formats especially if you rent a lot of different decks.

As for working with uncompressed HD, you will need a RAID 0 array with at least 5 discs to be able to produce the data rate needed for sustained uncompressed playback so just having that device is not enough.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Chas Smith]

Thanks John:
Yep…RAID 0 is what I currently have and I’m looking at an External Array setup for ease of access. I just wanted to get some first-hand feedback if anyone here has used UltraStudioPro yet. I’ve got a posting on the BlackMagic Forum so maybe I’ll get some end-user’s to chime in over there.

Thanks again,
Chas

[Danny Hays]

I can use the Intensity Shuttle with vegas but it doesn’t see the BM MJPEG format in the capture formats, only MXF which looks great, and the uncompressed 8 and 10 bit avi formats, whis as said needs a raid array. I gather your going to capture straight from a cameras imager via component or HDMI with the BM device right. The SDI capture needs the full bandwidth of uncompressed in order to work. “From the BM site”
(Uncompressed Video Quality
SDI uses a higher data rate than DV, so it’s got the speed to handle full resolution video in standard definition or high definition, completely uncompressed. That means you can preserve video quality until you need to compress the video, such as the final compression pass for streaming or broadcast.)
I’ve been looking at the LaCie ToBig USB 3 raid 0 drive, specs showed it’s read/write speeds to be high enough to handle the uncompressed formats, Haven’t tried it yet though.
The Asus MB P6X58D-premium and -E work great with the BM usb 3 devices by the way. Danny Hays, Universal Studios FL.