Where should I spend my

[Mike Smith]

Is FCP right for HDV? Might you do better with Edius, or Axio ..?

[Darryl Yee]

I’ve been doing a lot of research and the Blackmagic Intensity card seems very compelling. It just started shipping so there’s probably no reviews for it yet. For your deck, you could buy an HDMI Sony HC3 ($1100) and the Intensity card ($250). This $1350 combination takes care of most of your dilemmas: you get a new deck, capture is all digital (it doesn’t use the analog component outs, the HC3 is connected to the card via HDMI which has both audio and video, control is still over firewire), you can capture as uncompressed HD or downsample to DVCPRO-HD which Final Cut Pro handles easily without needing a RAID, the card also has an HDMI out port so you can monitor it on any flat panel display with HDMI (your Samsung probably has it).

I’m really considering this setup, and unless the Blackmagic crew know otherwise, this camera-card combination will solve a lot of my HDV pain at a reasonable price. Since it doesn’t sound like you need SDI for anything, the only issue is if your G5 is PCI-X or PCI-e.

[Bob Zelin]

your post Subject asks “where should I spend my money” –

https://www.etenerife.com/k9-tenerife.htm

right in the Canary Islands.

Bob Zelin

[Chemix Ferreiro]

Thanks Bob, If you’ve ever been to the Canaries or know something about this nice, little group of Islands, then you are aware of the two provinces, Gran Canaria & Tenerife, being eternal rivals (soccer, politics, etc…) but here in Gran Canaria we have better beaches, which is all it matters for us islanders. What I didn’t know about Tenerife is their dogs were computer experts, broadcast advisors and technologically advance.

If you ever plan on coming over… just let me know. I will show you around!

Thanks again

BUNKER studio
“edit in paradise”

[Kristian Lam]

Hi,

You can capture component video with analog video if you opt for the DeckLink HD Extreme card. You’ll have to control the deck via firewire deck control but make sure the deck is able to down convert on its firewire output as Final Cut Pro does not allow HDV deck control without capturing via firewire so you’ll need to use either Firewire PAL or NTSC as the remote protocol.

You’ll need some form of level convert for the audio outputs of the deck if they’re consumer level. This tech note should help:

https://blackmagic-design.com/support/detail.asp?techID=174

For the video connectors, just get BNC to RCA adapters.

regards

Kristian Lam
Blackmagic Design

[Robert Lindqvist]

…go for Intensity HDMI.
IF, and I mean IF, you would like to capture uncomressed you CAN with this card.
(to do that you need HC3 or HVR-M25 with HDMI out)
But, it could be “better” to capture as native over firewire, edit as native and move to higher
domain IF needed when doing grafics and certain effects.
What are the connections on your Samsung LCD? If no HDMI, the Intensity HDMI don’t
work for client monitoring. Also using consumer grade LCD’s for monitoring is not
always “good enough”. Very few of those LCD’s are.

fwiw,
Rob