[Lu Nelson]

Hi Dan,

a further thought now, after I responded to Brian’s post — I’m not sure that the tangents *would* match up; let me know what you think because I should have pointed this out in the first post:

If we go back to the simple example of a linear value change over 10s, let’s say for simplicity’s sake the value is going to 0 to 10 over this time. Therefore:

at 0s, value is 0
at 2s, value is 2
at 8s, value is 8
at 10s, value is 10

However, if we add easing in the way I’m suggesting, to the first 2s and to the last 2s, then:

at 2s value is something less than 2
at 8s value is something more than 8
…and the linear section in the middle has a steeper slope than the original linear curve, in order to make up for that.
Then, to calculate what the easing curve should be like for the first/last two seconds means being able to match tangents with a new straight line in the middle which has a slope that is being affected by how much easing time you allow — it’s all interdependent and as I say it’s even hard to do by hand since the relationship would be better exemplified by the way B-Spline curves work, rather than Bezier, but I’ve never seen a B-Spline keyframe editing interface….

Lu Nelson
Berlin, Germany

[Lu Nelson]

That’s an interesting way of looking at it Brian but one can’t apply multiples to the frame rate through expressions I think;

also, applying a ‘slowing’ at the beginning and end of a value change would effectively extend the whole thing by some amount, meaning the beginning and end would no longer correspond to the KFs you set.

I think part of the reason it’s quite challenging is that the linear section isn’t the same speed (or the graph if you will does not have the same slope) as the basic linear transition that we start with. The middle section is a constant speed but slightly faster than the whole thing would be with no eases, to compensate for the easing at beginning/end.

Lu Nelson
Berlin, Germany

[Lu Nelson]

Hi Dan,

yes percentage may be the way one has to think of it; though I wonder if perhaps that could be the way the expression would handle it internally; but still allow the user to specify a value in seconds (either by an expression control or just values in the expression that are easily seen and changed) — thus if I changed the length of my example to 20s, it would fit the value change to two sections of 10% and put 80% linear in the middle.

However I really like your way of seeing it — the idea that it was as though you just calculated the easing for a shorter section and then broke it up by inserting the linear section in the middle; I’m trying to visualize whether the tangents would match up but your way of reasoning suggests that they should.

Thanks for that contribution, maybe someone else wants to chime in?

Lu Nelson
Berlin, Germany

[Lu Nelson]

I haven’t noticed a keyboard problem here yet, but had nearly the same scenario is you — until I simply opened the Displays System Preferences panel, and re-selected the settings for my two displays. I think the system was not recognizing them properly, although it was displaying info on them. It might be a question of persistent settings problems, like what you sometimes get with the “Startup Disk” item. Anyway I restarted and now DCDP is available.

Lu Nelson
Berlin, Germany

[Lu Nelson]

From what I’ve read, editors seem to also like the AJA boards better because they have a faster response time. Blackmagic has a 4 frame response lag that is very annoying during editing, when you are shuttling around — although it must be said that most cards have *some* lag.

Also Blackmagic has a history of unfortunate long-standing software issues, like when certain cards would cause systems with more than 2GB of RAM to crash, or the persistent system slow-down that happened with the Decklink Extreme (you can search this on the BM forum), and these took many months, even more than a year to be resolved, and were rarely properly acknowledged or documented.

Lu Nelson
Berlin, Germany

[Lu Nelson]

There’s another thread about this. Looks like there may be issues for some.

Lu Nelson
Berlin, Germany

[Lu Nelson]

I would warn you away from the HDLink.

I bought this and the MXO both, and had the chance to see them side by side. The HDLink does not properly translate 601 or 709 color, it does not support interlaced signals (it simulates them, sort of), and it has a long lag-time behind the canvas, especially noticeable when shuttling (sthg like half a second)

I sold the HDlink. The MXO works very well with an ACD for color and interlacing, though it does have a lag time but you can easily switch back to Digital Cinema mode when just cutting, as this has no lag.

Lu Nelson
Berlin, Germany

[Lu Nelson]

Well if that’s the case then I retract my comment, though I will still prefer to test it myself —

can anyone else who had the problem confirm that it is solved?

In any case, why did those particular threads go unanswered from Blackmagic for so long?

Lu Nelson
Berlin, Germany

[Lu Nelson]

Just want to add to the comment by Sebastian Hampl; though I have commented in the other threads regarding this too. I saw another question about this this morning so I am posting again because it makes me so angry.

I have the exact same system configuration (Mac Pro Quad 2.66, FCS2, DLX HD PCIe), and the exact same problem with my Decklink card, and my machine has 8GB of RAM.

Everything else I run on this system is perfectly fast; there is no other excuse for this problem. I am really fed up with the way Blackmagic keeps ignoring this issue and releasing new ‘updates’ to their software which seem to address only superficial compatibility with Quicktime updates etc.

The long list of what these Decklink cards can do is worthless if they bring system to a grinding halt!

Lu Nelson
Berlin, Germany

[Lu Nelson]

You should search this forum for “slowdown” and find out if this issue has been addressed with Final Cut 6 and the Decklink cards.
It is an issue where after a period of time (as little as half an hour to an hour), the performance of final cut with simple editing, shuttling, etc. begins to degrade dramatically, forcing the user to restart the computer to regain normal responsiveness.
It has been around for a long time and all the users who have experienced it have found that switching to AJA was the only solution. I have yet to read any kind of response from Blackmagic about it.

Lu Nelson
Berlin, Germany