[Luke Maslen]

Hi Paul,

QuickTime 7 for Windows works fine with DeckLink cards for video but the QuickTime audio output component has been removed so you won’t get any audio out of QuickTime applications. That migtht or might not be an issue for you if working in After Effects or Combustion. There will be a DeckLink Windows driver update soon which will work with the new audio implementation in QuickTime 7 for Windows.

Regards,

Luke Maslen
Blackmagic Design

[Luke Maslen]

Hi Robin,

Multibridge (Extreme) doesn’t use FireWire but you could certainly use the Multibridge to convert the uncompressed component HD output of the HDV camera in to HD1080 digital video which could be captured to a supported compressed or uncompressed HD1080 timeline. The same is true with the current combination of Multibridge with any DeckLink HD series card.

Regards,

Luke Maslen
Blackmagic Design

[Luke Maslen]

Sorry about the double-post. I received an error on both occasions and repeated by attempt to post!

Regards,

Luke Maslen
Blackmagic Design

[Luke Maslen]

Hi Paul,

I looked on Canon’s site and found the XL H1 camera and it looks very nice. It says that it has uncompressed HD-SDI (SMPTE 292M) output and this standard is supported by all DeckLink HD series cards. This means that you could capture video from this camera to an uncompressed 8 or 10-bit HD1080 timeline using any DeckLink HD series card including the $595 DeckLink HD card.

[Paul from JKT] “I know it will not be a true original 422, but can the footage be up-res to a 10 bit 1080i uncompressed?”

Yes, you could capture the output of the camera to a Blackmagic 10-bit timeline using any DeckLink HD series card. However one of my colleagues has read somewhere on the web that the output of the camera is 8-bit via HD-SDI. I do not know whether this is true and you would probably need to check with Canon. Regardless, I’m sure the quality would be excellent and maybe it would just make sense to capture to an 8-bit timeline to save some disk space.

[Paul from JKT] “and what would the color space actually be at that point, would it stay 420, or would it be a degraded 422?”

When the camera outputs video via HD-SDI, it must perform 4:2:0 to 4:2:2 color space conversion inside the camera before outputting the video. The DeckLink card will then capture video in the 4:2:2 color space. Of course this doesn’t mean that the quality of the image has magically improved but merely that the color space has been appropriately converted.

Your DeckLink HD Pro should be perfect for capturing uncompressed HD-SDI video from the camera. Capturing to an uncompressed timeline is great if you want to edit the video without generational loss and without the time-consuming conform process which can occur when performing an Edit to Tape with a HD deck via HD-SDI output.

I’m not sure how the Canon cameras are made but it is possible that if you capture the HD-SDI output while shooting live video, you may capture perfect, uncompressed video rather than video which has already been compressed in to the HDV format on tape. That is something you would probably need to check with Canon but it would be great for shooting in fixed locations such as in a studio or at a sports ground.

Regards,

Luke Maslen
Blackmagic Design

[Luke Maslen]

Hi Paul,

I looked on Canon’s site and found the XL H1 camera and it looks very nice. It says that it has uncompressed HD-SDI (SMPTE 292M) output and this standard is supported by all DeckLink HD series cards. This means that you could capture video from this camera to an uncompressed 8 or 10-bit HD1080 timeline using any DeckLink HD series card including the $595 DeckLink HD card.

[Paul from JKT] “I know it will not be a true original 422, but can the footage be up-res to a 10 bit 1080i uncompressed?”

Yes, you could capture the output of the camera to a Blackmagic 10-bit timeline using any DeckLink HD series card. However one of my colleagues has read somewhere on the web that the output of the camera is 8-bit via HD-SDI. I do not know whether this is true and you would probably need to check with Canon. Regardless, I’m sure the quality would be excellent and maybe it would just make sense to capture to an 8-bit timeline to save some disk space.

[Paul from JKT] “and what would the color space actually be at that point, would it stay 420, or would it be a degraded 422?”

When the camera outputs video via HD-SDI, it must perform 4:2:0 to 4:2:2 color space conversion inside the camera before outputting the video. The DeckLink card will then capture video in the 4:2:2 color space. Of course this doesn’t mean that the quality of the image has magically improved but merely that the color space has been appropriately converted.

Your DeckLink HD Pro should be perfect for capturing uncompressed HD-SDI video from the camera. Capturing to an uncompressed timeline is great if you want to edit the video without generational loss and without the time-consuming conform process which can occur when performing an Edit to Tape with a HD deck via HD-SDI output.

I’m not sure how the Canon cameras are made but it is possible that if you capture the HD-SDI output while shooting live video, you may capture perfect, uncompressed video rather than video which has already been compressed in to the HDV format on tape. That is something you would probably need to check with Canon but it would be great for shooting in fixed locations such as in a studio or at a sports ground.

Regards,

Luke Maslen
Blackmagic Design

[Luke Maslen]

Hi Paul,

I found 2 Sony 26″ HDTV’s online:

[Luke Maslen]

Great reply Kaspar!

Short and to the point 🙂

Thanks for helping out.

Regards,

Luke Maslen
Blackmagic Design

[Luke Maslen]

Hi Igor,

We can do HD 1080 down conversion with the DeckLink HD Pro 4:4:4 hardware on Windows XP. The other cards do not currently perform down conversion on Windows. This contrasts with Mac OS X where we are able to offer software down conversion on all DeckLink cards.

The DeckLink HD Pro 4:4:4 can perform down conversion in Premiere Pro right now. The cost of the DeckLink HD Pro 4:4:4 has just dropped to US$1495 following an announcement at IBC 2005. It works in SD and HD as well as both 4:2:2 and 4:4:4.

Regards,

Luke Maslen
Blackmagic Design

[Luke Maslen]

Hi Jay,

[jayzejay] “Some staff says she heard that BlackMagic DeckLink cards introduce noise to the picture etc”

All analog devices introduce noise to the picture. That is the nature of analog. If you want to avoid analog noise, then you need to work with a purely digitial workflow which would mean using a (more expensive) deck such as a Digibeta and then connecting it to a DeckLink card via digital SDI connections.

The Betacam SP deck is an analog deck. When you capture from a Betacam SP deck to a DeckLink SP or DeckLink Extreme card, you will be capturing analog noise as part of the capture process. Once the video has been digitized in to uncompressed digital video, it will not suffer from any further noise issues during your editing or when applying effects.

If you then output your video from the computer to a Digibeta deck, there will be no noise issues. However if you output your video back to a Betacam SP deck, more analog noise will be introduced. That is just the nature of analog technology and why using uncompressed SDI video is a wonderful thing. Traditionally working with SDI has been more expensive than working with analog.

It should also be noted that not all digital video is of equal quality. Blackmagic Design is primarily in the business of working with uncompressed video because that is maximum quality and you don’t lose quality when you work on it with effects and when rendering. There are various compressed digital video formats such as DV and HDV. These use lossy compression and may rapidly deteriorate in quality when you apply effects and particularly when rendering video.

In other words, while uncompressed analog video will suffer from some analog noise, it is still uncompressed video and really very high quality. You will often get better results working with uncompressed analog video compared with working on compressed digital video such as DV. I hope I haven’t made that too confusing and please let me know clarification is required.

The internal data path of the Betacam SP deck is 8-bit so the DeckLink SP matches the same quality by using 9-bit analog capture (the extra 1 bit allows for analog noise on capture from the deck) and 8-bit analog output back to the deck. The Betacam SP is fundamentally a 10-bit SDI card with analog convertors on it. So once you have captured from the Betacam SP, you can work in 8 or 10-bit uncompressed formats and then output as 10-bit SDI to a Digibeta if you wanted to do so. You can also use the spare SDI port for monitoring via an SDI video monitor.

The DeckLink SP and DeckLink Extreme cards are compatible with both Mac and Windows. This is nice in an educational environment where parts are often moved around between computers. The DeckLink cards will work fine in a G4 or in the PC and they are also low cost which is particularly important for education.

[jayzejay] “Should we simply go for the gusto and get the MultiBridge Studio”

These aren’t shipping yet but we’re working hard on delivering them soon.

[jayzejay] “or is the DeckLink card gonna cut it? (remember, I do need analog out as we’re pushing outputs to Betacam SP).”

Your requirements are very modest and the DeckLink SP will be fine. If you also need digital in and out, for use with an SDI deck such as a Digibeta, then you might consider a DeckLink Extreme as is has both SDI and analog in and out with the one card. However it sounds as though you only need the DeckLink SP and it will be fine for use on Mac and Windows.

In regards to any issues with Premiere Pro, we have a support note named Premiere Pro 1.5.1 caveats with DeckLink where we list any known issues with Premiere Pro along with any solutions or workarounds. This may be of some help. Our drivers are OpenHD Certified by Adobe and so we keep this support note updated with any new issues as we update our drivers.

Our software drivers also include the following utilities:

• Blackmagic FrameLink – open an 8 or 10-bit AVI movie and see it as a sequence of dpx frames. Add, delete or edit any frame (eg in Photoshop or After Effects) and then immediately play back the AVI movie to see the results of these changes.
• Blackmagic Disk Speed Test – This provides an indication of whether your disk storage is fast enough for working with uncompressed video in various standard definition and high definition formats.
• Blackmagic LiveKey – Key graphics over your video.
• Blackmagic Deck Control – a basic capture and playback utility with RS-422 deck control. This is useful for workstations which don’t need a full NLE such as Premiere Pro, Vegas or Final Cut Pro but simply need to caputre material for editing in applicaitons such as After Effects. You can then use the utility to record back to tape or use DVD burning software to burn to DVD. This saves on the additional cost of NLE software when you don’t need NLE editing features.

This is quite a lot of information to absorb but I hope it helps as I think DeckLink SP will be perfect for you. Please let me know if you have any further questions.

Regards,

Luke Maslen
Blackmagic Design

[Luke Maslen]

Hi Tanis,

Your existing Multibridge SD should be fine for what you need to do but it is not a video router or switcher and the SDI inputs and outputs are not (currently) designed to select between two different devices as a router would do.

When working with a Digibeta, connect the DeckLink Plus card directly to the SDI input and output of the Digibeta. If you want analog monitoring then you can either use the analog outputs of the Digibeta or else connect the Multibridge SD, to a spare SDI ouput on the Digibeta, and then use the analog outputs from Multibridge for monitoring.

When working with a Betacam SP, connect the analog video and audio connections between the Betacam SP and the Multibridge SD. Then connect the SDI input and output of the DeckLink Plus to the Multibridge SD.

These two workflows will enable you to capture and record to Digibeta and also capture and record to Betacam SP.

Clearly you wish to switch between using the Betacam SP and the Digibeta. If you already have an SDI router, then use the video router to switch between these two workflows. If you don’t have a video router, then an inexpensive US$30 patch bay will enable you to switch between these two workflows. We also make the $4995 Workgroup Videohub which is an SD and HD SDI video router but it might be overkill for your needs unless you are also connecting to other workstations and decks.

Regards,

Luke Maslen
Blackmagic Design