[Martin Korczak]

> But this item in particular is working as designed.
> This setting in the preferences is a “display” setting only. As the native aspect ratio of Anamorphic SD is 4:3 (data stored out of aspect)

Fair enough, if the setting is for Media Express display only, shouldn’t the capture be as you said – “out of aspect” and retain SAR, which for CCIR 601 PAL is 5:4 (720:576 is 5:4 not 4:3)?

Thanks for you help btw. 🙂

[Martin Korczak]

Vince: FCPX A/V output has to be changed in System Preferences panel (in driver) EVERY TIME you drag new media to FCPX. It doesn’t automatically match the output to video like old FCP or Premiere.
It does not seem to be fully communicating with driver either, so every time you put new media, you have to check what it is, close FCPX, set new “video standard” value in Blackmagic Design to match video you will be working with and then start FCPX again. Very odd, very backwards, very $299 software like, not really usable to anyone unless it’s a one off holiday video project, but I guess – better than nothing.

As for the 9.2 beta 3 package.

DNxHD support in Media Express 3.1 seems to be limited to MXF only, I can’t get any DNxHD movs to work. If this is intentional limitation it should probably be clearly stated in read me, as it means it’s of no use to most of us. Additionally DNxHD MXF playback appears to suffer from the same FCPX bug – DNxHD output from Media Express is related to video standard value in System Preferences, not standard of the video dragged into the ME.
Also, as far as I can see, not all essences are supported, sample from Avid seems to work, sample from Omneon crashes the ME etc. Come on Blackmagic – add DNxHD in mov compatibility, it’s only right thing to do.

All of the old media express newer than 2.5 issues still exist in 3.1:
– Uncompressed 8bit files cannot be played back unless writing library header is set to “Apple QuickTime”, Media Express 2.4 and below used to play anything in Blackmagic 8 bit 2VUY codec regardless of what software it was created with, as long as the file was in mov format. I still have to keep and use ME 2.4 for compatibility.
– multichannel audio is still captured as some weird single QT sound track with mapping instead of separate 5.1 mono tracks + stereo Lt Rt as played back by the deck. Same in reverse – standard 5.1+LtRt captures cannot be played back from Media Express to decks either.
– all SD video captures still have incorrect aspect ratio headers. Despite “Use anamorphic” set in Preferences all files end up with 4:3 header and not even as much quicktime DAR set. This issue is so old I don’t remember ME captures ever displaying correctly without changing it in QT and re-saving.
– 1080p 25Hz signal over SDI from some equipment (eg. TVOne converters) is not recognised by Media Express correctly (black screen) and cannot be captured, despite being correctly recognised by decks and Blackmagic’s own UltraScope. This is odd as Media Express is not that precise or picky when it comes to signal compatibility – for example 1080i 50Hz signal can be captured via 1080p 25 setting without any issues.
– minor issue, but still – “Grab Still Frame” always capture images in container aspect and size not display aspect and size. Anamorphic setting in preferences is ignored too. Why would anyone need frame grab stretched differently to what they actually watch on the screen.

I’ll probably find more issues tomorrow. 😉

[Martin Korczak]

Some media playback compatibility is broken since you guys moved on from ME 2.3.

I have few application outputting Uncompressed 8 bit and some files just stopped being accepted by new Media Express versions. I made two samples for you guys to test – just a few seconds of black, 50Mb each.
Both files are identical in mediainfo, but one of them won’t play back in media express 2.4 or 3 betas.
https://ocuk.filmsuk.com/magictest.html