Wearable Computer System for HD Capture

[Andrew Swihart]

I think its a killer product idea that will sell very well today and in the future, given the long run of 1080p HDMI camcorders that will undoubtably continue to proliferate in the market, both pro and consumer, for years to come.

Would an ExpressCard Intensity kill this idea? I think it could eat into it's market share but both should coexist. I think the ExpressCard would be nice to have, but it sounds like BM isn't interested, which I think is foolish. I can't imagine why they wouldn't want to pursue this.

[Andrew Swihart]

Kevin, looks like you've got the iStarUSA S3 Mini-itx case. I see MSI also has a mini-ITX GM965-based board, this looks like the best solution at this point compared to getting a dang Magma box for $700+. I know I'm late to the thread, but thanks again for your post.

[Anmol Mishra]

Hi Kevin, Henry! This MJPEG quality setting is driving me nuts - I remember Kevin's post but I can't figure out how to do this..Anyone ???


[QUOTE=Henry Olonga;766691]

Originally Posted by Kevin Kondra

Hello Everyone,

The cpu, T7200 with 667 MHz RAM, has enough power to record 60i without dropping frames using BM MJPEG. The data rate seems to be 13 MB/s. What most people may not know is that BM supplies a second MJPEG codec that isn't used with their recording app and has selectable quality values. Upping the bit rate to 20MB/s makes a noticeable difference in visual quality. They number used is similar to JPEG compression quality numbers, where 100 is supposed to be lossless, and 80 is default. 20 MB/s is 92 on the scale.



Hi Kevin and one and all.This is an intriguing thread.I am new to this forum. I am an indie musician who would like to record music videos on a budget and something you wrote caught my eye. I have built my own intensity capture station. HC3 sony Cam @ 1920 X 1080i - HDMI - (Magma expressbox - Intensity) - Laptop Computer. My laptop is not fast enough to encode in the Medium or high settings of Cineform NeoHD ( Core2duo 1.8 Ghz - drops frames consistently ) but handles the BM M-jpeg just fine with plenty of CPU in reserve.I would like to get rid of the fine artifacts that are present in the BM codec and clearly absent in Cineform.If the quality is noticeably better at higher data rates, then that would save me having to upgrade my new laptop.I was wondering where you acquired the second codec that allows quality settings to be adjusted and what capture software you use it with.It would be awesome if I could up the rate to 20 MB/sec.Your help on this is much appreciated.
Kind regards.
Henry

[Joseph H. Moore]

David,
While a "Firestor" like HDMI device would be very usefull for run and gun situations, I personally would MUCH rather see an ExpressCard HDMI capture device.

1) Direct capture, straight into NLE.
2) The laptop acts as a convenient/largish monitoring station. Perfect for focus, great for director/others to watch.
3) Cost. (Should be $500 or less.)
4) Flexibility.

[Daniel Apollon]

http://www.engadget.com/2006/09/12/b...ci-express-ca/

[Richard Leadbetter]

This is the card we all own, check the date of the article!

[Henry Olonga]

Hi Anmol.Yeah it was driving me nuts too and I e-mailed support at Blackmagic Design.Turns out they do not have the option to adjust the quality and I quote .....( I had quoted Kevin words in the e-mail )

'Now, the quote you are talking about actually refers to a PHOTOJpeg codec that is only for use on the Mac. It is not available on the PC at all.

The MJPEG codec does not have the option to adjust it's quality slider at this time.'

In other correspondence ...'WE can capture uncompressed, M-jpeg, and Cineform'.

Cineform is soooo much better than mj-peg (it's not bad though)so I purchased Neo HD.The option to adjust Mj-peg would have been neat I must say - I am on a PC and my laptop cannot keep up with Cineform high or medium encoding but is fine for m-jpeg.1.8 Core2duo.I use the magma PCI - expresscard solution and it is very good.Cineform told me my laptop is way too slow so would need a Santa Rosa running at 2.66 ghz; so I would need a new laptop to take advantage of the codec really.Thing is I just bought this one so it kind of sucks but such is life.I was thinking out loud so I e-mailed them back to enquire about the possibility of encoding using Cuda.Graphics cards are WAY more powerful than a cpu and my laptop has a 8XXX series Nvidia card.

The reply was

'We have no plans to do any GPU-based code because it limits the customer base that can benefit from it.'

I think I see their point so the easiest thing is for me to do is just upgrade again.But surely there must be others out there who are in this boat?Perhaps it will spawn a whole new opportunity.Cost of the whole portable setup comes in quite reasonable.Around £ 3000 all things considered.Poor man's Wafian ha ha.

Laptop £ 1000.Magma Chassis £ 500.Cineform Codec $ 599.00 ( not sure of Forex conversion) .Intensity Capture card £ 160.Portable Xantrex powerpack £100.HDV Camera with HDMI out £ 700.

Still not the most mobile setup (the Xdcam EX looks like a treat) but beats a desktop.I completely agree with Joseph.Perhaps if a company came out with a product that allows you to record direct from the HDMI or SDI output to expresscard that would be the day. So I e-mailed Blackmagic about this and ....


'Again it is a great solution and something that we are fully aware of. Our people are looking into it, but at this time we have no plans to release such a solution. This is not to say that we will never tackle such a beast, but I have no information regarding when/if ever this solution will be present in our line of products.'

So perhaps in the future,perhaps never.I think that that would be the holy grail though.

[Klas Persson]

Originally Posted by David Newman

When we are thinking of a capture station, we are thinking of a Firestore sized device that encodes HDMI directly to CineForm, that is much more convenient than using a laptop in mobile camera acquisition.

That would be so freakishly cool. Do it already:) You absolutely got a market here...

[Anmol Mishra]

I had 2 questions - one is partially answered..
1. When I toggle the DISP button I can remove most of the icons on the display - except the TAPE operation. The green STOP or PAUSE or the RED record icon in the top right corner.. Problem is that this gets output on the HDMI side. How did anyone manage to avoid this problem ? I see frame grabs without this - please let me know..
2. The topic of 24P pulldown using HV20 and INTENSITY - Cineform does it, After Effects does it. And the freeware solution described on the web is for HDV - is there an alternative solution for MJPEG ?? Also, does Vegas Studio 8 remove the pulldown or not - I can't seem to get a definite answer on this :-( ?

Thanks!

[Andrew Swihart]

Anyone seen this yet? Looks like our prayers will be answered:
http://www.cineform.com/products/CineFormRecorder.htm

[Elliott Tucker]

Originally Posted by Andrew Swihart

Anyone seen this yet? Looks like our prayers will be answered:
http://www.cineform.com/products/CineFormRecorder.htm

Thanks Andrew for letting us know about this. Thanks also to Cineform and its partners for working on this.

[Ian G. Thompson]

http://dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.ph...highlight=hv20

[Anmol Mishra]

Can anyone confirm if the GetCatalyst works with BM Intensity ? Thanks!

Originally Posted by Serge Victorovich

I hope GetCatalyst is less expensive than MagmaBox.

BTW, original "Wearable Computer System" based on mini-ITX GM965 looks as better solution than games with these adapters for laptop, imo:)

[Sherif Choudhry]

Hi all, i read the entire fascinating thread -

- did cineform ever release a firestore like device to capture HD out of a Canon HV20/30?

Thanks!!

[Alex Raskin]

They are working on it:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=107885