Is NeoHDV what I need with the Intensity card?
 

Okay, I've got the HV20 and I'm looking at finally getting NeoHDV for all that it offers, but I've also started thinking seriously about getting the Intensity card at the same time since the Cineform codec will work for live capture with the card. I assume that I'll be able to use the HDLink capture software with the Intensity to capture live compressed video. But will NeoHDV be the right software package to use with the Intensity that will allow me to capture the full image size of 1920x1080 from the HV20?

Neo HDV is licensed for 1440x1080 captures, which matches what we believe be the internal represating on the image -- we know this to be the case for the Sony V1U, and expect so the Canon HV20. The NEO HDV will automatically resize the HDMI output to fit within its 1440x1080 license in real-time. If you want 1920x1080 HDMI captures you can do that with NEO HD -- which also adds 10-bit encoding form HDSDI sources (and HDMI when 10-bit sources are available.)

David,

When capturing from an HDV tape, is there any adavantage going through HV-20's HDMI port to an Intensity card to Neo HD, instead of just going from Firewire to Neo HD?

I have read in a few threads that using the HDMI port to capture from an HDV tape gives a better result than using Firewire b/c the HV-20 removes the HDV encoding and upreses to 1920 and 4:2:2 color. But Neo HD does that anyway, so I'm not sure if going the HDMI route is worth the bother.

Thanks as always!

Here is the link to the discussion of HDMI capture from Tape on the HV20...

http://dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.ph...281#post725281

This sounds like a good way to capture from tape.........

Ray,

Thanks for the link. I've been watching that thread. But it's been talking about Apple's ProRes422, which is not as good a codec as Cineform's Neo HD.

There is nothing the camera can do upres-ing 1440x1080 4:2:0 to 1920x1080 4:2:2 that can't been done as well (or better) in software. So I didn't see quality being the advantage of playing HDV tape out to HDMI, however there is a speed advantage, as now the PC doesn't have to decoding the MPEG and upconvert to 1920x1080 before encoding into CineForm.

Does Neo HD also decompress HDV's MP2 audio tracks? And if so, what sampling and bit rate does the result have? Thanks much.

All HDV audio that I have encountered is 48kHz. We decompress all MPEG audio.

So HDV's MPEG-1 Layer 2 audio is converted to 48kHz uncompressed audio.

Thanks.

Yes, in 16-bit stereo.

This may indicate an advantage with capturing HDV tape via HDMI.

According to Kristian of Blackmagic, the HV-20 upreses HDV sound to 24bit when playing an HDV tape out of its HDMI port.

While I doubt it will sound any better off the bat than 16bit, it should be more amenable to post because there will be less trucation of the data. I believe I've got this right anyway.