[David Mack]

Hi Jeron,

With the Black Magic system, coming from the Multibridge Extreme, you really are seeing an image quality that is identical to a standard computer monitor – there appears to be no degrdation in signal quality at all. When I got my system, I did an image sequence with invividual pixels, edge lines, subtle colour changes etc to really test it. I was pleased to see that it genuinely was a pixel for pixel mapping with no drop in quality. The only issue I have with the playback is that it refreshes the LCD at 25Hz interlaced. This means that you can (if you have quick eyes!) see the individual fields and so when you have horizontal movement, you see feathered edges. If the system could be made to work at 25FPS Progressive, with a screen refresh of 50Hz, then I think (maybe apart from colour ) you would have the ultimate monitoring solution.

What converter are you thinking of getting? The AJA?

[David Mack]

Hi Jeron,

Oh! Not really what I wanted to hear but thanks!! Strange though. My current setup comprises a Black Magic Multibridge Extreme. It has a DVI output and that is connected to a 27″ Dell monitor – the picture quality is awesome! Apart from the refresh rate (25Hz Interlaced) it is as good as an LCD being used by a computer – really, it is stunning! It would be a shame to finally get image sequences playing off the timeline only to find that the result looks rubbish!!!!

Has anyone tried attaching to an lcd via a AJA HDP HDSDI to DVI converter? Does that give good results?

[David Mack]

Thanks for the reply. Got to say the ‘should in most cases’ concerns me!* Surely it either does or it doesn’t?!?! In what circumstances does it work and in what doesn’t it? BMP’s and TGA’s are fixed formats, we’re talking uncompressed it can’t be the level of detail in the images – so where does the variance enter the equation?

*Excuse me if I am a little wary, I’m possibly moving over to Xena because the BM system I currently have doesn’t seem to do image sequences despite it being splashed across the website as a feature! I’ve asked others and no one has managed to get it to work. It’s the ONE feature I really need in the system so I’ve got to get it right. I can’t go through all this again!

[David Mack]

Hi Guys,

Just want to jump in here and ask a quick question. I have a Black Magic card (bear with me) and I’ve had no luck AT ALL with image sequences. Can someone confirm or deny that the Xena system will play back 1920X1080 progressive image sequences (BMP’s or TGA’s) straight off the Premiere Pro timeline without the need to render them (or import them as a folder)? I’ve got a raid that can handle the data rate (it’ll do uncompressed AVI’s etc) but the Black Magic system just won’t do it. I’m thinking of jumping over to a Xena based system but thought I’d get this vital to me info first.
Thanks in advance!

[David Mack]

Hi Brett,

OK, you’re going above my Premiere Pro knowledge now! I’ve not done ‘nested’ things before. I’ll have to look into that. Let me know if you have any luck – sounds like a plan!

I’ve still not heard back from BMD – normally they’re very good at responding to support emails?

[David Mack]

I did a 360×288 (half D1 PAL) image sequence and that played straight of the timeline. You’d hope so though with a five disk raid!!!!! I’m rendering on the machine so I can’t test higher than that at the moment.

On Black Magic’s website, they specifically refer to 32bit Targa image sequences playing straight off the timeline without rendering. Kristian has said that he has it working at his end so we must all be doing something wrong!?!? Unless of course he means using the folder technique….

I’ve sent an email to Kristian – I’m eagerly awaiting his reply. I am very much hoping that they recognise this as an issue and are working on a solution as a priority.

[David Mack]

Sounds to me like nobody’s managed to get it working like the BMD website states. I wonder if there’s a fix in the pipeline?

Any comment from BlackMagic Design?

[David Mack]

I agree.

For animation in particular, you just don’t want to convert at all – it’s a real workflow stopper. I specifically got BM’s MultiBridge Extreme because of what is depicted on the website – TGA’s and BMP sequences straight off the timeline.

Any comments BlackMagic guys?

[David Mack]

Thanks Jeff – second person to confirm – Now I’m getting scared!

I’d love to hear from a Blackmagic representative on this. Is this seriously what they mean by playing TGA and BMP sequences as depicted on their website?!?! As a collection of stills that gives you no ability whatsoever to actually edit them?!?!?!

This cannot be true?!?!?!

Grant or anyone else at Blackmagic – Is this true?

[David Mack]

Thanks Martin – Appreciated.

So, I’m not the only one!

I also discovered this single frame workaround and told BlackMagic about it. The problem with this method is that you can’t easily edit the animation. For example you can’t trim clips to the exact length or put in cross fades (to be rendered), unless I’m missing something? It does prove though that it is NOT a performance issue.

So, has ANYONE actually got numbered stills/image sequences to work?