Steve Harley
Forum Replies Created
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That’s perfect.
Thanks very much for the link. -
Sorry…not active on this forum.
Here are the facts:
1. This hardware configuration worked flawlessly for 1 year.
2. Last week, I upgraded to the latest software release — and I am now dead-in-the-water.
3. Extensive testing suggests that a software [and/or] driver [and/or] firmware update has “broken” the UltraScope on this hardware platform.
4. I know of no way to fix this problem — and neither does Black Magic.
5. It would be an understatement to say that I am deeply disappointed in this outcome.
6. I also sincerely regret that some of you are also in the same position.
Conclusion — DO NOT BUILD THIS COMPUTER FOR ULTRASCOPE USAGE
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Hi Gary,
Thanks for your response. I think I should have been more specific.
When I display my Avid 1080 Color Bar .tif in the Windows Picture Viewer (in full-screen slide-show mode) the bars are perfect on my Black Magic Ultrascope. If I view those bars with the Windows Picture Viewer application title bar and scroll bars visible — my luminence levels are illegal. Those PC graphic elements are the culprit.
When I view a Photoshop-converted JPG of those same bars in a browser like Firefox (which has no facility to eliminate the title bar or scroll bar (as far as I know) the same illegal issues crop up. And when I navigate to any website on the Internet — the levels are similarly illegal.
My principle application for the AJA HA5 is to integrate web content into videos that I am cutting for specific clients. I will need to capture computer applications — as well as websites, images and video off the Internet.
My original thought was to use the color bars as a way to determine that the output of my graphics card was in conformance with legal video levels. But the PC’s desktop and application video levels do not match the color bars images.
If I use the nVidia Control Panel I have the option of selecting RGB vs. YUV dynamic range (0-255 vs. 16-235) but that has no effect. I can also selectively control brightness, contrast and saturation parameters — but the video looks flat and dull when I do that. And, I’d rather not use the Avid legalizer to arbitrarily force the signal level into conformance.
My quandry is how to “setup” this PC’s native display — regardless of color bars — so that I can capture computer applications, websites, images and video off the Internet — and incorporate them into videos that I am cutting.
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Thank you Kristian.
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Quick Update:
The UltraScope is now working with 720p59.94.
No sure why the flickering stopped.But I would still like it to properly identify 29.97.
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Hi Kristian,
Sorry for the delayed response. I must have missed the notification of your post — and I haven’t been on Cow for a while.
Yes, 29.97PsF video is reported as 59.94i on UltraScope. UltraScope sees 23.976PsF and 24PsF just fine — but not 29.97PsF — and the same device is sending those rates.
Considering the intrinsic function of a scope — as an information and measurement tool — it would really make sense for it to report exactly what framerate it is receiving. Otherwise, it contributes to confusion — rather than clarifying it.
Also, I’m not sure this is documented, but UltraScope freaks-out with a 720p59.94 signal. The entire display flickers and flutters and it is completely unusable. Is this a known issue? And if so, is a fix in the works?
Thanks for your assistance.
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I read a NewEgg post like that too.
There are two fans assemblies in the product — the PS fan and the CPU cooler:
The PS fan is very quiet — you’d strain to hear it at 6 feet or so. The CPU fan is also very quiet.
When UltraScope starts running — it ramps up the processor cooler — but not the PS fan. With my lower end processor, Task Manager reports +/- 40 CPU Usage when UltraScope is running. It may very well be that a faster processor would not heat up as much — and would not trigger the CPU cooler in the process. It would be interesting to find out.
Shuttle also offers something called XPC tools that allow you to customize everything in the machine — including fan speed. I considered playing around with that — but my UltraScope largely lives in an adjacent space and it is not an issue.
If you do pull the trigger on that machine — and if you opt for a faster processor — please report back on your Task Manager CPU usage — and your associated CPU cooler fan. I’d love to know what the difference are.
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Sorry, forgot to include the link: https://cybernetnews.com/alttab-mouse-shortcut/
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Btw:
For those who only want a mouse or a small USB trackpad on their desk to control the UltraScope — here is a nice little AutoHotKey script that allows you to “Alt Tab” between UltraScope and any other application — without having to close UltraScope first — and without a keyboard.
Just download the file in the red “Update” section, install it, and you can “Alt Tab” by just holding down the left mouse/track button — while pressing the right mouse/track button.
Sweet.
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One more…
6. It would be nice to see the full graticule on the Vectorscope