Blackmagic Intensity Pro.............

[Bruce Phung]

Originally Posted by Gerald Webb

and another thing, and I think this may be the best yet.
Had my sons christening today, took along my handy little canon HF10 avchd cam.
Got home and went to load the footage on the PC, and thought, hang on, I wonder......
HF10 has HDMI out- plugged the HDMI into the blackmagic and .......
how good is this!!!!
Captured MXF 50Mbps MPEG2 from a AVCHD camcorder.
Now my formally AVCHD footage previews in best quality.
This thing really is the best thing since sliced bread.
:)

After reading your post, I dig deeper into this card. What you are saying, you use HDMI out from the HF10 to HDMI in and hit record/capture (black magic screen) that will transfer all the video file from cam m2t to a new MXF 50mbps mpeg2. The whole HD thing is to much tricks and catches to learn in order to get what is truly HD.

[Paul Hudson]

Best card for the money....hands down.

Paul Hudson
Lizardlandvideo.com
Phoenix Video Production

[Adam Stanislav]

Originally Posted by Gerald Webb

I capture a lot of stuff from the TV, for family and forums I belong to.
Installed my new Blackmagic card yesterday and I am blown away.

That sounds like a rather complicated way of capturing stuff from TV. Personally, I use the HDHomeRun to capture anything I want, directly as transmitted over the air waves. No need to have the TV decompress it: It captures the original MPEG transport stream that the TV station sends out. Every single bit of it.

[Gerald Webb]

I agree Adam.
if ALL you wanted to do is capture from TV, this is probably a bit of overkill, however, Its not that much more expensive than a standard TV capture card, maybe $40-50 more. I never would have bought my previous ASUS TV card had I known this was out there.
And, the difference in quality between capturing 576i MPEG 2 @ DVD quality
or
Capturing a 1080i 50mbps 'image' of that stream is absolutely massive.

The real advantage of the card is being able to capture any type of camera's streams in uncompressed or MXF.
If you have edited AVCHD you know how hard it is on your NLE.

Paul, yes, did this last night, HDMI out of cam, straight into Vegas as MXF. giddy up baby. :)

[Adam Stanislav]

Well, the HDHomeRun is not a TV card. It is a networked device that receives the digital TV signal from the antenna (or from the cable, but only if it is not encrypted) and sends it to any computer on the (local) network, where it can be saved to a file without going through any kind of device drivers.

It makes no sense to decompress the MPEG data sent over the air and then recompress it. If you recompress it at a higher bit rate than what came over the air, you are wasting bandwidth because you cannot make it any better than its source (TV signal), and you probably lose some of the quality unless you are using a lossless codec.

Yes, I understand it can capture any camera data, I was just commenting on the TV comment.

[Mike Calla]

Originally Posted by Jeff Harper

Footage was phenomenal...very nice.

What!?!? Footage was phenomenal...in bizarro world!!!!

unless i missed some sort of "view in HD" button (cuz i'm on a proxy) then:

- Footage was atrocious
- This work-flow of capturing SD TV signals as HD to preserve the image is just plain weird!

I know this isn't a HomeTheater Forum but there is a TON of inexpensive hardware specifically designed for capturing TV signals AS IS, no com/decompression!

weird thread!

weird!

[Seth Bloombaum]

Originally Posted by Mike Calla

...weird thread!

weird!

I have no use for Gerald's specific workflow originating with broadcast TV, but, that the Intensity Pro operates from HDMI or Component HD input direct to MXF, an HD editing codec that Vegas can actually support on the timeline reasonably well... I find that part pretty interesting.

For tape-based workflows, we've been on Firewire capture of DV and HDV for a long time. $200 USD isn't much money to get to a new capture method, with MXF in Vegas Pro 9. I'll sure be checking this out.

Previously, the only method to get 4:2:2 in was via Cineform applications (which Intensity also works with). I've wondered why Sony didn't update their Cineform version, and finally dropped it in V9. Maybe MXF is the reason.

Originally Posted by Gerald Webb

...The real advantage of the card is being able to capture any type of camera's streams in uncompressed or MXF.
If you have edited AVCHD you know how hard it is on your NLE.

Paul, yes, did this last night, HDMI out of cam, straight into Vegas as MXF...

[Gerald Webb]

Originally Posted by Adam Stanislav

It makes no sense to decompress the MPEG data sent over the air and then recompress it. If you recompress it at a higher bit rate than what came over the air, you are wasting bandwidth because you cannot make it any better than its source (TV signal), and you probably lose some of the quality unless you are using a lossless codec.

I know what your saying Adam, Ive argued the exact same thing,
"Its 576i and it doesnt matter how large you capture it, its still 576i".
But, IMO, ( and it is just an opinion, and im not going to argue it out with decimal points and data )
it looks at least 10 times better captured this way, than it did with my standard ASUS capture card.
But really, the TV stuff is just the icing, the card stands up in so many other ways.

Originally Posted by Mike Calla

unless i missed some sort of "view in HD" button (cuz i'm on a proxy) then:

If you watched 640x360 flv file that is standard youtube display, then it may not have looked so good. Maybe try the 'Watch in 1080p button'.

But regarding the tone of your post, It was rude to Jeff and Myself, and I suggest that if you walked into a bar and approached some people having a conversation with exactly what you just said, you would be knocked out in 10 seconds.

I dont care how much you know about this stuff,
Its no excuse to act like a tool.
Learn some manners.

[Jim Andrada]

Hey guys, keep it polite and civil, please!

[Mike Calla]

Originally Posted by Gerald Webb

(...)But regarding the tone of your post, It was rude to Jeff and Myself, and I suggest that if you walked into a bar and approached some people having a conversation with exactly what you just said, you would be knocked out in 10 seconds.

I don't care how much you know about this stuff,
Its no excuse to act like a tool.
Learn some manners.

Gerald, never once did i attack Jeff, or you personally... no need for name calling. People don't call each other names on THIS forum.

[Gerald Webb]

Mike, I did not and would not "call names", I just felt that your post was rude, maybe I overreacted. I always try to look at posting like a face to face conversation.
Anyway, no hard feelings and lets move on.

In regards to the capture card, This thread was not meant to be about TV capture, I was just trying to let people know about the advantages it can provide for capturing your footage.
If it helps someone out, thats great. If not, its just pointless banter.

The MXF it delivers is very good on the Vegas timeline, that alone makes it worthwhile to me.

[Mike Calla]

Originally Posted by Gerald Webb

Mike, I did not and would not "call names", I just felt that your post was rude, maybe I overreacted. I always try to look at posting like a face to face conversation.
Anyway, no hard feelings and lets move on.

In regards to the capture card, This thread was not meant to be about TV capture, I was just trying to let people know about the advantages it can provide for capturing your footage.
If it helps someone out, thats great. If not, its just pointless banter.

The MXF it delivers is very good on the Vegas timeline, that alone makes it worthwhile to me.

no worries Gerald, after i read my post again, although i didn't mean to offend, i realized it added NOTHING to the conversation. My apologies to you and the rest of the DVinfo net forumites:)

You're right about sony's MXF files on Vegas though, as Sony's MXF format seems like Vegas' native format. Even on my lowly netbook Sony's MXF do pretty good!

What about previewing using the Intensity's output??

Now that would make Vegas users salivate as outputting HD has been a thorn in Vegas users side for a long time. AJA Xena boards have seemed to be the only viable, reliable yet expensive solution in years past.

Any way you could hook up your computer/intensity to your HD tv to check preview-out?

[Gerald Webb]

All good Mike :)

Yes, the Intensity Pro has HDMI out as well, so you could preview on a big flat panel.

This link that Serge posted has me interested in its usability out in the field, that would be huge.

[Adam Stanislav]

Originally Posted by Gerald Webb

it looks at least 10 times better captured this way, than it did with my standard ASUS capture card.

Was the TV signal analog or digital? If analog, there can be a big difference between the methods used to stretch the image to full 1080. Especially if the TV uses a dedicated hardware circuit and the ASUS card uses software. Hardware can do a much better job, especially in real time (the software just may not have enough time to use a good algorithm).

[Gerald Webb]

Adam,
It is labeled HD component out of the back of the pay tv box , but it only sends a 576i image unless its on a HD channel.
But yes I was wondering the same thing about the difference if it was digital, unfortunately I cant check because my PC is 25mts away from the box and HDMI, as far as i'm aware, wont go that far.
The ASUS was just lower quality all over i think.