[Sam Goetz]

Thanks for the in-depth reply, Kristian. Our problem IS inconsistent and sometimes happens randomly. But since i upgraded to the 6.1 drivers (two days ago) I have yet to see it. I’ll keep you and the forum posted to whether this occurs again.

Thanks!
Sam

[Sam Goetz]

Hey Kristian,

I’m installing the 6.1 drivers now (on several computers that we use here to lay off) and I’ll get back to you on whether the fix works. Thanks for the quick response.

I should note that it’s not an offset issue. The problem is that the FIRST FRAME of the layoff is getting doubled. So even if I use an offest INSERT edits will still be all screwed up because the first frame will be doubled. Does this make sense?

Sam

[Sam Goetz]

I’M HAVING EXACTLY THE SAME ISSUE.

I called Blackmagic about it almost four months ago and they admitted that it was a bug (first frame of layoff is doubled causing rest of tape to be one frame off… they blamed it on Quicktime), and that a fix was in the works. Since then I’ve been working around it and testing all of the new drivers to no avail.

Blackmagic, PLEASE FIX THIS BUG. It is HUGELY frustrating, and is stopping our facility from laying Digis in a timely matter. I’m seriously considering a switch to Kona based on this one issue alone. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE address and fix this bug.

For clarification, it occurs frequently, but not with every layoff, and many times it will go away if I do a simply system restart. It will happen whether I am assemlbing, inserting, master mode, editing mode, w/ timecode overwrite, w/o timecode overwrite, from any of our Final Cut stations (G5 – FCP 5.0.4), with various different Blackmagic cards (SD or HD), and on either of our two Digi-Beta decks. The issue is always the same. The tape comes in at exactly the right moment, but from that point on everything is one frame off. If you test this more thoroughly you will see that this first frame is doubled. Sync is also not affected. Sync is perfect.

Kristain, please give us Blackmagic users an answer to this frustrating bug. It is driving me and my company crazy.

Thanks,
Sam Goetz

[Sam Goetz]

I figured it out. It is a bug, but there is a workaround.

If you go into your “frame controls” in the inspector window in Compressor and turn it to “CUSTOM,” it should be fixed. I believe it has to do with the “resize filter.” Putting your frame controls at “off” or “automatic” continued to stretch out my titles and effects, but putting it at custom and changing my “resize filter” to “fast,” “better,” or “best.” All resized my titles and effects correctly. Of course “better” and “best” looked much better than “fast.” So, my new preset has frame controls at custom & resize at better.

Word,
Sam

[Sam Goetz]

Apparently, the Blackmagic 5.6.1 Drivers have a bug. And this is the bug. Big thanks go to Kristian with BM support for identifying the issue and hooking me up with the older drivers.

Warning to other BM users!!! If you are using drivers newer than 5.5 your captures may be ONE FRAME off. Seems insane, right? Check it out.

[Sam Goetz]

Can anyone just confirm that they’re seeing the same thing? Stuttery 720p60 SD conversion with Blackmagic Cards.

I guess Kona has better 720p60 support, but this is one of the ONLY problems I’ve ever had w/ BM’s cards. Looks like we’re going to do 1080i anyway, which is the better format so I’m not bumming it.

Sam

[Sam Goetz]

True, letterbox looks MUCH WORSE than anamorphic, but BOTH have stuttery motion. Letterbox would be ideal for us, but if anyone can figure out a way to get good motion with Anamorphic, I’d be down, as well.

[Sam Goetz]

This can definitely happen with Blackmagic Cards. Fortunately, all you have to do is change your settings.

– Go into your System Preferences and choose Sound.
– Click the Output Tab
– Instead of “DeckLink Audio” choose “Line Out”

When you have DeckLink Audio selected in your Sound preferences for your computers line out, whether you are capturing or not, your computer’s audio will go out with your SDI/AES/SPDIF. This includes the infamous “bloop” noises that incoming instant messages love to make. 🙁

Make sure your Sound is always set to “Line Out.”

[Sam Goetz]

Digital Desktop Preview is definitely a good monitoring option, but clients tend not to trust it, and we need the ability to layoff to tape in a moments notice. Unfortunately you cannot go to tape with Digital Desktop Preview. You need 50i PAL.

Thanks though,
Sam

[Sam Goetz]

This WOULD allow us to work in 25 w/ sunk audio and video, and I’ve proposed this work around to my producers before, but the problem they have with it is that the footage we will be looking at on our timeline will not match the footage the animators are delivering.

What might be frame 37 on our end could be frame 35 for them. A lot of the editing for us involves calling back bad animation and without a common timecode base between us, it would be impossible to establish a ground on which we could point out frame accurate mistakes. To add to this, the animation is overseas, so bringing them in and showing them mistakes is out of the question.

We could ask our animators for a burn in on all of their animation, but that would have to go away for the final animation, which also goes through a rigorous call back process. Also, unfortunately, FCP’s 24@25 timecode function only works one way (giving 25fps timecode for 24fps material not 24fps timecode for 25fps material).

Basically, any conform of the animation is out of the question. I need 24p animation playing back at 25 w/ a 4.2% speed up. HAS ANYONE INVENTED SOMETHING TO MAKE THIS WORK?