Blackmagic Intensity Pro capture 4:2:2 (1080x1920) over component?

[Rolf Seitz]

Well finally I got the Intensity Pro running. Was actually my fault, i just didn´t look in the BMD directory to find the config tool ;)

So here are my first test images:

The hdv files are captured via firewire, the component via component (that sounds funny lol)
These both are captured from a tape that I shot this summer for my so-called "Abschlussproduktion".
I saved the frames in PPro 2 as tiff files...deinterlaced them in Photoshop and resized the hdv files to 1920x1080....saved to jpg.

[Rolf Seitz]

I also uploaded the tif files. they are not deinterlaced and the hdv stills are still 1440x1080...

http://www.kornflex.netprovide.com/dvinfo/menu.htm

[Bill Ravens]

hmmm....doesn't look like the same images for comparison. To my eye, the firewire capture seems more detailed. There seems to be significant difference in shadow/highlight lighting, and a shift in color balance?

[Daniel Browning]

Originally Posted by Rolf Seitz

So here are my first test images:

Wonderful! Thank you, Rolf. Your test clearly shows that the Doug Harvey's poor results are not systemic. You've put my mind at ease and solidified my plans to order the Intensity Pro.

It would be neat to see some tethered clips, i.e. live input directly to the computer captured to an uncompressed or lossless codec. That would more clearly show the difference between HDV-over-component and uncompressed-over-component.

[Rolf Seitz]

Originally Posted by Daniel Browning

Wonderful! Thank you, Rolf. Your test clearly shows that the Doug Harvey's poor results are not systemic. You've put my mind at ease and solidified my plans to order the Intensity Pro.

It would be neat to see some tethered clips, i.e. live input directly to the computer captured to an uncompressed or lossless codec. That would more clearly show the difference between HDV-over-component and uncompressed-over-component.

I will do that in the next days ;) but I can only capture to the BMD MJPEG codec, got no RAID for uncompressed YUV.

The component footage is brighter than the hdv footage, but details and sharpness are nearly the same... I will try to find out if this is the camera or the Intensity Pro that makes the footage "burn out".

[Daniel Browning]

Originally Posted by Rolf Seitz

I will do that in the next days ;)

I'm in your debt.

Originally Posted by Rolf Seitz

but I can only capture to the BMD MJPEG codec, got no RAID for uncompressed YUV.

You might try capturing just a few seconds of uncompressed. It should be small enough to fit in Windows's write cache.

If that doesn't work (this is *Windows*, after all), you might try a software RAM disk, like this one: http://users.compaqnet.be/cn021945/R...amdiskfree.htm

[Glenn Chan]

It looks like there's color inaccuracy from decoding the material incorrectly (mixup between Rec. 601 and 709 luma coefficients).

And there is also the blowout going on.

[Giroud Francois]

it could be too that one capture is on 16-235 level and the other one on 0-254 level, then the difference in black and white values.
(ou can check in a paint program to see what are RGB values)

[Rolf Seitz]

Originally Posted by Glenn Chan

It looks like there's color inaccuracy from decoding the material incorrectly (mixup between Rec. 601 and 709 luma coefficients).

And there is also the blowout going on.

So is that my mistake? Can I change these settings?

[Rolf Seitz]

@Daniel:

I´ll try my best ;)

[Glenn Chan]

So is that my mistake? Can I change these settings?

I don't think it's your mistake. Properly-engineered equipment should figure it out automatically.

I'm not familiar enough with your camera, HDV codec on your system, and the Intensity to say if there's any settings that could be changed.

Though you can try a different HDV/mpeg2 codec... some of them will get it wrong. Though that's only if the HDV footage (e.g. not the Intensity) footage that is wrong.

2- The blowout looks like it's happening because the analog gain on the footage is too high... perhaps the Intensity has some proc amp controls that could adjust the signal to bars.

[Robert Ducon]

Component is soft, btw. I had three 50 foot cables for component, and it was soft :(

So I got a nanoConnect for HDMI to HD-SDI.. much sharper.

[Daniel Browning]

Originally Posted by Robert Ducon

Component is soft, btw. I had three 50 foot cables for component, and it was soft :(

What do you think of component over short distances, like 10 feet? Rolf's stills show that component as enough resolution for me, that's for sure. (I hate interlaced video, but that's a price I'm willing to pay.)

[Robert Ducon]

I'd test it, but I'd think it'd be great.

When I used my 50' cable, it was nice at first glance, but not as sharp as HDV (I always thought I had the focus off, but it was just soft.. nothing I could do) - and couldn't get it as sharp in post. 50' is long though. 1080i over analog is fine ... I'll do component out to my HDTV once I get one, so it's not poor solution. So, YES - Do it if you can.. 4:2:2 beats 4:2:0 hands down, AND you'll skip HDV compression. Just make sure you use a good codec when importing.. stay far away from DVCPRO HD. I'd recommend JPEG or ProRes 422 if you're near a Macintosh.

[Rolf Seitz]

Originally Posted by Glenn Chan

2- The blowout looks like it's happening because the analog gain on the footage is too high... perhaps the Intensity has some proc amp controls that could adjust the signal to bars.

Yeah that could be the Problem, but there is no such feature... at least not in the prefernce settings of the card.
It would really be nice if a BMD Guy was following this thread and could help.
If I´m not the only one with this Problem, we could tell BMD. Then they could update the Firmware or Driver if they find the problem that causes this.