[Anmol Mishra]

Hi Alex.

a. I have only used BMD HDMI capture products in YUV space. I do not have access to any device that outputs RGB 444 via HDMI. The cameras I am interested in all output YUV 4:2:2 and a couple use the xvYcc colorspace.

b. With a xvYcc input, superwhites and superblacks are used. And my discussion with BMD indicated clipping with no option of disabling clipping. I do not have tools to show this experimentally.

[Anmol Mishra]

Here is a long thread I had last year with BM support discussing the clipping. I removed the name of the sales rep just in case he does not want it posted here.
This is the important part..

Intensity will probably capture the xvYCC colorspace but it will strip the
video to the YUV colorspace. This does the same thing if you take a RGB
colorspace signal and capture it with Intensity. Instead of the RGB 0-255,
it will capture and strip it to YUV 16-235.

The same should apply with our DeckLink cards even when capturing at 10 bit.

As such, you may want to look into alternatives.

>>>
Hello Anmol,

I do understand why you would want the full support for colorspace. I will be happy to re-log this request.

Regards,

Support Representative
Blackmagic Design Inc.

>>>

Hi. I am definitely interested in your products – have of 3 of them now. I do want to point out that e
ven the ITU.BT-709 standard clearly says that video data is all the range from 1-254. So why are they clipped ?

BM provides products for the professional industry, so its actually a major drawback to reduce colorspace in this range.
HDMI 1.3 allows for xvYCC, and both AVCHD and H.264 include this support in their specs.

The specs for all BM cards include HDMI 1.3 so its strange that this clipping is happening.

>>>
Hello,

I would guess that the H.264 Pro Recorder will also clip the xvYCC colorspace to YUV but without the product being out, this will not be known currently. We are hoping to ship this product around NAB time (so looking like April). If you are still interested in this, please get back in touch with us in the near future and we should have some concrete answers about this product then.

I think 1080p 23.98/24/29.97 are in spec for this product but not sure about 1080p 60 yet.

Regards,

Support Representative
Blackmagic Design Inc.
https://www.blackmagic-design.com
>>>

Hi. I am thinking of buying the H.264 Pro Recorder when it comes out. How will it handle xvYCC inputs ?

Will they still be clipped ?

Also, while I understand that there is a hardware h.264 encoder onboard, is there a min system spec for 1080p recording ? Just wondering if I can reuse my old 1GHz ULV tablets.

>>>
Hello Anmol,

Not sure as I am not a hardware engineer, but I will be happy to log this as
a feature request!

Regards,

Support Representative
Blackmagic Design Inc.

>>>

Is this a limitation of the hdmi input SMD that your are using or the
processing in the firmware ?
If the limitation is in the firmware, would you consider releasing a fix ?

Its just a simple mapping of the input signal.

>>>

Hello Anmol,

Sorry for the delayed response. I had to check around to find the answer to
your question.

Intensity will probably capture the xvYCC colorspace but it will strip the
video to the YUV colorspace. This does the same thing if you take a RGB
colorspace signal and capture it with Intensity. Instead of the RGB 0-255,
it will capture and strip it to YUV 16-235.

The same should apply with our DeckLink cards even when capturing at 10 bit.

As such, you may want to look into alternatives.

Regards,

Support Representative
Blackmagic Design Inc.

>>>

Subject: 4:2:2 xvYCC support in HDMI capture
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Name: Anmol Mishra
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Product: Intensity Pro
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Driver Version:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
OS: Mac OS X
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
OS Version: 10.6.5
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Message:
Hi! I have been a long time user of both the Intensity and Intensity Pro
cards.
I am working on a 3d project which will 2x camcorders that ouptut 4:2:2
xvYCC
via HDMI. Now, I know that the standard 8-bit YUV 4:2:2 works great with
your
cards.

How do your products stack up while recording 4:2:2 xvYCC streams ?
I know they will record, but do you actually map the extra color information
into capture data ?

I think the low end Intensity cards are internally 8-bit, but I do know that
your higher end card is 10-bit. Will that support 4:2:2 xvYCC?

[Anmol Mishra]

I am using the extra resolution for framing, and using 100% would get me too close.
Is there another option ?

[Anmol Mishra]

Is there a way to do this in FCP7 as well ?

[Anmol Mishra]

The Crucial 512GB M4 SSD is listed. Does that mean that the 128GB Crucial M4 SSD will also work ? Or is the compatibility only with the single model.

[Anmol Mishra]

Kurt. I am having the same problems as you are. Could you post how you fixed your problems ?I try all I can and FCP does not render out anything less than a full render.

FCP 7
Cineform files in timeline
CF as render codec

Qt reference is a small file containing links
A full render is self-contained video file.

[Anmol Mishra]

An addendum to this thread. The 7D outputs fine as long as you select NTSC. In PAL, it seems to output an incorrect signal that causes problems.

[Anmol Mishra]

bump..
Its easy to confirm this issue at Blackmagic. Someone just need to connect a 7D with the PAL switch in the menu to an Intensity card.

[Anmol Mishra]

Hi Callum. Thanks for the reply.
The 7D outputs 25P as a 1080i/50i signal.
It output 24P and 30P as a 1080i/60i signal.
At least from my understanding.

When I set the 7D to NTSC – Intensity Pro can “see” the signal.
When I set the 7D to PAL – no dice. Just a black window..

I am not the first person to notice this issue..
Please see..

https://forums.creativecow.net/thread/124/873245#873245
https://www.cinema5d.com/viewtopic.php?f=64&t=8870&p=87493&hilit=blackmagic+7d#p87493
https://www.cinema5d.com/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=7692&p=54997

Some explanations are :-
1. So it looks like the camera’s monitoring output AKA HDMI is only capable of doing interlaced NTSC.
2. Camera outputs using HDCP.

I can confirm that 2. is wrong as the NTSC signal works..

As for 1. I can neither confirm or deny this – but this seems a bug, and Canon is unaware of such a bug.

[Anmol Mishra]

On further tests I decided to include the AMV2-MT codec from here..
https://amamaman.hp.infoseek.co.jp/english/amv2_e.html

Its a lossless 8-bit 4:2:2 codec similar to Huffy.
It costs 10 bucks though.

I found it to be the best lossless capture option. It gives 2-4 times compression in realtime. It seems to be a variant of the AMV codec, which is a variant of MJPEG.

I will post a video that shows the colorspace issues with BM MJPEG, Huffy and AMV2-mt.
AMV2-mt is a faithful reproduction of the SMPTE color bars..