[Luke Maslen]

Hi,

I’m glad that Dave was able to help you resolve this mystery and the Multibridge Extreme is OK. Some time this year, I don’t exactly remember when, there was a change in the firmware and we updated the Readme file with the following brief note:

The “SYNC IN” analog port should be used for sync/genlock input only. Composite video input should be connected to the “Y In” Then select composite input in the DeckLink system preferences

That note almost at the end of the Readme file so I’m not surprised that you had not seen it. Hopefully it will all work smoothly from now on 🙂

Regards,

Luke Maslen
Blackmagic Design

[Luke Maslen]

Hi Raymond,

Sameer is abosolutely right that SDI is the way to go. The Digital Betacam is a digital deck with SDI inputs and outputs so you are best to get a card with SDI inputs and outputs. The DeckLink SP would not be the right card for you as it has analog inputs and outputs. Whenever possible, it is best to use SDI digital video and audio all the way as this avoids the introduction of analog noise which is always a problem with any analog equipment.

The most inexpensive option would be to get the entry model DeckLink card which is only US$295 and has one SDI input and two SDI outputs. However if you want to monitor your video from the card, and you don’t have an SDI monitor, then it would be worth considering the DeckLink Pro or DeckLink Extreme PCIe cards as they both have SDI in and out but also analog outputs. You can use component or composite analog monitoring with a TV or low cost video monitor. Definitely don’t choose the DeckLink SP as it is designed for use with a Betacam SP deck whereas you need a different card for the Digital Betacam deck. If you need a card that works with both, then the DeckLink Extreme PCIe is the way to go. If you also need HD capabilities as well as SD, then the DeckLink HD Extreme is the right card for you. I hope this makes sense and please let me know if you need any more clarification of the features of the different cards.

Windows XP Pro is what I would recommend to you as we don’t test the Home edition and the 64-bit versions of Window have no speed advantages when used with mainstream video software such as Premiere Pro.

Sameer’s disk recommendations sound good to me although I wouldn’t usually suggest placing the application software on your disk array and would instead keep them on my startup disk along with Windows XP. I’m sure that is a topic that can be debated both ways but if there is a chance that you will be moving your disk array from one computer to another, then it is best not to have the application software installed on the disk array.

Regards,

Luke Maslen
Blackmagic Design

[Luke Maslen]

Hi Raymond,

We’ve got both PCI and PCIe versions of the DeckLink SP and so if you haven’t bought the card yet, I would suggest getting the DeckLink SP PCIe version as it uses the modern PCI Express interface and that means it will work with the newer motherboards as they have PCIe slots. The cost of the PCI and PCIe versions of DeckLink SP is the same (US$595) so you might as well get the PCIe version. If you are likely to be working in HD, then you should also consider the DeckLink HD Extreme (US$995) instead of the DeckLink SP PCIe. The DeckLink HD Extreme is a PCIe card with both SDI and analog inputs and outputs and works in SD as well as HD.

The onboard SATA support should be fine for your SD capture and playback and you can use the Computer Management control panel in Windows XP to create a striped disk array for fast disk performance. It’s a good idea to have one disk for your Windows XP Pro system and then use 2 or more disks for your internal disk array. Modern, fast disks running at 7200 rpm should be fine.

We’ve got information about Storage and Data Rates for Uncompressed Video on our web site but here are the SD rates for NTSC and PAL.

525 NTSC uncompressed;
8 bit @ 720 x 486 @ 29.97fps = 20 MB per/sec, or 70 GB per/hr.
10 bit @ 720 x 486 @ 29.97fps = 27 MB per/sec, or 94 GB per/hr.

625 PAL uncompressed;
8 bit @ 720 x 576 @ 25fps = 20 MB per/sec, or 70 GB per/hr.
10 bit @ 720 x 576 @ 25fps = 26 MB per/sec, or 93 GB per/hr.

It doesn’t matter whether you are capturing via SDI or component analog or composite analog as the file size will be the same. The DeckLink SP can only capture via analog but the DeckLink HD Extreme can capture via SDI, component analog, S-video analog or composite analog.

Please let me know if you have any further questions.

Regards,

Luke Maslen
Blackmagic Design

[Luke Maslen]

Hi Nico,

Thank you for providing these details and I’ll pass them on to the engineers and see if there is something we can do about it or at least document it in the Readme file.

Regards,

Luke Maslen
Blackmagic Design

[Luke Maslen]

Hi Sean,

I’m sure I’ll be able to get you an answer for this but not until after the weekend. Do you have an urgent job or can the answer wait a few days? I just need to get some time with one of the engineers to find out the workflow.

Regards,

Luke Maslen
Blackmagic Design

[Luke Maslen]

Hi Borjis,

One of our engineers will call you tomorrow and find out what’s going wrong and whether it is a faulty unit. I’ve sent them the general phone number from your web site.

Regards,

Luke Maslen
Blackmagic Design

[Luke Maslen]

Hi,

Deck Control is using QuickTime to perform the capture to a Photoshop file whereas the plug-in in Photoshop is just taking a raw data capture from the deck. However I would expect the captured file to look the same so we’ll try to test this out soon and get back to you. Meanwhile I would suggest using the Photoshop plug-in.

Yes, Digibeta really is 10-bit 4:2:2.

Regards,

Luke Maslen
Blackmagic Design

[Luke Maslen]

Hi Matt,

That’s a very strange and frustrating experience. You mentioned you are running Multibridge 5.6.3 drivers. When you’re not in the middle of an important job, I would recommend you update to Multibridge 5.7.2 drivers which are the current version and you can download them from software downloads.

In regards to your RS-232 device control, is that just a typo or are you using some adapter to control via RS-232? Multibridge Pro provides device control via RS-422 so hence the question.

Regards,

Luke Maslen
Blackmagic Design

[Luke Maslen]

Hi,

I’m glad you have solved the problem but can you tell me which version of Photoshop you are using at the plug-in should have been installed automatically?

Regards,

Luke Maslen
Blackmagic Design

[Luke Maslen]

Hi,

In theory your internal disk is fast enough for SD capture and playback. You’re working in PAL so you need at least 25fps capture and playback. The real test comes when your hard disk fills up as it will slow down. As you are only working with a single drive, there will be signicant fluctuations of disk speed and that could be your problem. I am puzzled that you found you could playback video without problems but you could not capture without dropping frames. Playback of uncompressed video is more demanding than capture so your observations are the opposite of what I would expect. Were you playing back uncompressed video or were you playing compressed video?

One test you could try is to have Deck Control capture using a PAL JPEG easy setup. This will capture your video in a compressed format which will be much easier for a single disk to do. If you still encounter dropped frames, then some other issue is the cause of your problem and we would need to look in to that. However if the dropped frames go away as a result of capturing with the JPEG compressed codec, then this would suggest a disk-related issue which could probably be overcome by striping 2 or more disks together. 2 x 7200 rpm SATA disks should be fine.

Regards,

Luke Maslen
Blackmagic Design