Luke Maslen
Forum Replies Created
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Hi Radek,
Which DeckLink drivers are you using? We’ll check it out on our systems and get back to you. RAM Preview out of After Effects is far more demanding than output from Premiere Pro and that might be the explanation for your problems but we will check it out here and let you know.
Regards,
Luke Maslen
Blackmagic Design -
Hi Robin,
The Apple Cinema Display 30″ is superb when used with the Multibridge Extreme and you really can’t go wrong with that monitor. You could buy a HD TV but their screens are much lower resolution and they often enhance the color to make them more appealing to consumers. The Apple Cinema Display 30″ will provide you with pixel-for-pixel presentation of resolutions including 2K output and yet is often cheaper than many HD TV displays.
The physical dimensions of some HD TV’s can be larger than the Apple Cinema Display 30″ and if you primarily require size rather than pixel-for-pixel and color accuracy, then the HD TV’s are well worth considering.
Regards,
Luke Maslen
Blackmagic Design -
Hi Jeremiah,
Your DeckLink Extreme already provides:
1) SD component out for monitoring.
2) SD component in for occasional beta SP capture.
3) SD-SDI in/out
4) realtime HD to SD downconversion on analogue outputs so I can monitor on an SD monitor while I edit.HD material for down conversion must have a compatible frame rate with standard definition video. You can use HDTV 1080/59.94i or 720/59.94p for use with 29.97fps NTSC. Alternatively use HDTV 1080/50i for use with 50fps PAL.
HDTV720/50p down conversion to PAL is not currently implemented as there are currently no shipping decks (of which I am aware) which support the rare HDTV720/50p standard.
If playing out HDTV 1080/23.98p material and down conversion is desired, choose a Blackmagic HDTV 1080 23.98 -> 59.94 easy setup. This will enable 3:2 pulldown and convert the video to an NTSC-compatible frame rate so that down conversion can be used.
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If you need to work in Varicam, then a DeckLink HD series card, or one of the upcoming Multibridge products will be required. If you need something today, then the $595 DeckLink HD card, combined with the $1995 Multibridge, would provide all the connectivity you need and more.
One thing of which you need to be aware is that Varicam won’t necessarily down convert to SD. Generally to down convert to SD the HD frame rate needs to be a multiple of 25fps or 29.97 fps. We also provide down conversion for 23.98 material but there are many Varicam frame rates whose frame rates will not be compatible with the standard 23.98, 25 and 29.97fps frame rates.
In other words if you are going to work with Varicam, you are going to need a HD monitoring solution. Expensive HD monitoring solutions exist or alternatively you could use a HDLink partnered with a DVI-D or HDMI monitor for perfect, pixel-for-pixel, 1280 x 720 monitoring. Varicam is only 1280 x 720 and you don’t need a full 1920 x 1080 monitor for Varicam.
Incidentally HD cross conversion is supported on playback, with all DeckLink HD series cards, using 720p/59.94 and 720p/60 to 1080i rates. Other 720p formats (eg VariCam rates) may also work but this is dependant upon Final Cut Pro HD 5.0.
Finally, if you are going to work with HD material, then you will need to ensure that your disk array is adequate for HD. Your G5 and RAM appear to be adequate but I don’t know the details of your SATA disk array. It would be a good idea to benchmark the disk array using Blackmagic Disk Speed Test and then compare the results with the following 720p data rates:
720p HDTV uncompressed; -
Hi Scott,
If you have not already done so, please update to the DeckLink 4.8.1 drivers as they were specifically tested against the Panasonic 1200a deck and may well overcome your problems. Are you aware of any changes made, since your previous successful configuration, which might explain the current problems?
Regards,
Luke Maslen
Blackmagic Design -
Hi Rome,
The black borders sound like analog blanking. When capturing via SDI, NTSC and PAL are 720 pixels wide compared with analog video which is about 702 pixels wide. Your DeckLink Extreme card is an SDI card which has both SDI and analog connectivity. This means that you get 9 pixels of blanking (black borders) on either side of the 702 pixel picture to make up the full 720 pixels of the SDI standard. That’s probably what you are seeing and there’s nothing wrong with that. 640 x 480 is not a TV standard format and you won’t be able to capture or output 640 x 480 with the DeckLink card as this resolution does not conform to the standards for TV.
Regards,
Luke Maslen
Blackmagic Design -
Hi Amund,
The DeckLink HD is purely a digital card and has no analog components on it so there is no way to output analog directly from the card. However if you connected it to a Multibridge, then you would be able to both capture and output analog video and audio as well as digital video and audio.
The RS-422 port on the DeckLink HD looks similar to the breakout port used on the DeckLink HD Pro cards. However the port on the DeckLink HD card really is only an RS-422 port as the card entirely uses digital components.
Regards,
Luke Maslen
Blackmagic Design -
Ooops, my apology for completely mistyping your name. Next time I’ll look at the keyboard!
Regards,
Luke Maslen
Blackmagic Design -
Hi Sameer,
Please review the support note DV clips in PAL format look weird. The DeckLink 5.1 Windows drivers should be fine to use with PAL DV but there are general field order issues with PAL DV which are often exposed when applying effects including color correction. The support note provides some details regarding this.
Regards,
Luke Maslen
Blackmagic Design -
Hi kjasdf,
Please review the support note DV clips in PAL format look weird. The DeckLink 5.1 Windows drivers should be fine to use with PAL DV but there are general field order issues with PAL DV which are often exposed when applying effects including color correction. The support note provides some details regarding this.
Regards,
Luke Maslen
Blackmagic Design