[Luke Maslen]

Hi Michael,

Yes, you could use a Multibridge for that and please see the technical note How to achieve maximum quality with HDV cameras which details how to do it. However if you are planning to record to tape, and then capture to your computer, you will retain the best quality by capturing via Firewire as this will avoid the introduction of any analog noise. Alternatively, if you are able to capture the video live on to your computer, eg in a studio, then Multibridge will provide the best quality. This is discussed in the technical note.

The current Multibridge, and the forthcoming Multibridge Extreme and Multibridge Studio models, are all capable of converting analog uncompressed 4:2:2 HD in to HD-SDI.

If you want to capture that to your computer, then you could partner the current Mutlbridge with any DeckLink HD series card in a Mac or PC.

The forthcoming Multibridge Extreme and Multibridge Studio models can both convert and capture and playback. They include a PCI Express card which will require that you have a computer with PCI Express slots. This would be a total solution for you in that it will convert from analog to digital and then enable you to capture to your computer. You can edit the material and then output to a deck if that’s what you want to do.

The current Multibridge plus any DeckLink HD series card achieves the same thing except that the DeckLink card is a seperate product and requires a PCI-X slot.

Regards,

Luke Maslen
Blackmagic Design

[Luke Maslen]

Hi Dino,

I am not familiar with Capwiz and could not find any details about it on the ADS Tech website. Can you refer me to some detailed information or else let me know what this software does? Is it designed to work with our cards? It sounds as though it must be if you are using it to control a tape deck via the DeckLink card. I am not familiar with it but would like to learn more if it mostly seems to work with DeckLink cards already.

Regards,

Luke Maslen
Blackmagic Design

[Luke Maslen]

Hi Marcus,

[marcuslyall] “I guess I’m currently writing to the screen using it as a ‘video desktop’ rather than outputting to it like FCP does.
I need to talk to the card like FCP does.”

Yes, talking directly with the card is what you need to do if you want smooth video. The video desktop is a nice feature but is something you should only use if desperate as it is likely to lead to jerky video. It’s nice if you want to output from something like PowerPoint as it has no way of outputting directly to the card. If you’re writing your own application, then it would be best to use QuickTime output components so you can output directly to the DeckLink card.

This is the great thing about QuickTime, and the Apple web site has a load of information about how to interface to QuickTime. You need to check the section about writing to an output component. This is how software asks QuickTime to play to hardware. It’s a very nice architecture, as once you get this working, you will work with DeckLink, DV and any other hardware card that’s QuickTime compatible.

There is also a section on writing capture components, and this is how application software can capture from any QuickTime based hardware device without needing to know the details of the hardware device itself. QuickTime does a lot for you already.
Please check: https://developer.apple.com/quicktime/.

You might also like to join the Blackmagic Developer Mailing List where you can ask questions if you are having problems making this work. Developers ask questions about QuickTime and DirectShow on the list and you will usually receive replies from other DeckLink developers or our engineers.

Regards,

Luke Maslen
Blackmagic Design

[Luke Maslen]

Hi Steve,

Thanks for your good news and I hope you’ve worked out how to release CAPS Lock 😉

Based upon your question, I have created a technical note named Trillions of Colors in After Effects as I’m sure other DeckLink users will encounter this scenario occasionally.

Regards,

Luke Maslen
Blackmagic Design

[Luke Maslen]

Hey Lex,

That is great news and thanks for letting us know. I’m glad that solution works for you as it means you can continue to use the analog video with DeckLink Extreme and not have to worry about switching to a different AGP card.

Regards,

Luke Maslen
Blackmagic Design

[Luke Maslen]

Hi Lex,

The heat sink would not be the problem but if you can see exposed copper coils on the graphics card, then they probably are the source of electromagnetic interference. It would be worth swapping the cards around so that the DeckLink Extreme is in Slot 4 and is as far away from the graphics card as possible. Then use the SATA card in slot 3 to help shield the analog components on the DeckLink Extreme card from the electromagnetic interference. The SATA card won’t be affected as it is all digital and electromagnetic interference has no impact upon digital components. That is also why the SDI video on DeckLink Extreme is unaffected by electromagnetic interference and you only see it with analog.

Thanks for your kind words. I don’t always get as much time as I would like on this forum but it is a great place to find out if people are happy or having problems and it’s always a good feeling to be able to make a difference.

Regards,

Luke Maslen
Blackmagic Design

[Luke Maslen]

Hi Steve,

Here’s a possibility. I wonder if you installed After Effects after installing the DeckLink drivers? If so, this might explain your problem and the solution would be to simply uninstall and reinstall the latest DeckLink drivers. Does this help to make the Trillions option appear?

Regards,

Luke Maslen
Blackmagic Design

[Luke Maslen]

Hi Nico,

“Soon” is becoming an overused word so I’ll say something else 🙂

We’ve been hoping to ship this northern summer and it’s getting close to completion but it has taken a little longer to make sure that it is working really fast. We could have made some compromises and shipped it a little earlier but decided that we would build the Multibridge Extreme for maximum speed and reliability. The extra speed helps avoid the kind of problems that can occur if you build a product that is only just capable of doing a job and which can then be badly affected by any unexpected slowdowns. There has also been the usual saga of some component supply holdups but this is pretty normal and we ordered components ages ago so any delivery delays haven’t been too long.

The engineers are very happy with the way that the new Multibridge units are looking and we’re getting closer to releasing them but still have some work to do before they will be released.

Regards,

Luke Maslen
Blackmagic Design

[Luke Maslen]

Hi Jase,

Unless you’re manually invoking the Blackmagic 8-bit codec, it will not be used as so you’ll simply be using the Apple codec. Amongst the RT Extreme effects provided with the Apple codec are some text options.

Regards,

Luke Maslen
Blackmagic Design

[Luke Maslen]

Hi Thom,

Your question prompted me to create a detailed technical note named How to use LiveKey for Mac OS X. All DeckLink cards, except for the DeckLink HD model, can perform Internal Key in 4:2:2 mode and this includes the DeckLink HD Pro Dual Link card. However it does not perform Internal Key in 4:4:4 mode as this is not supported in hardware.

Hopefully the new technical note will cover the bulk of questions you might have regarding LiveKey. I’m still refining the technical note at the moment but will make it searchable from our support page when I’ve received feedback from some of our engineers.

Regards,

Luke Maslen
Blackmagic Design