Cineform and Blackmagic Hyperdeck II

[Barry Nolan]

Is HDLink able to transcode the DNxHD files from the Blackmagic Hyperdeck shuttle II to Cineform files?

[Jay Bloomfield]

Here's been my experience. HDLink will convert the DNxHD MOV files from the Shuttle 2 just fine (except you will get one mono PCM audio track and not 16 audio tracks). The only "glitch" is that the log file window says it converted the file from 4:2:0 to 4:2:2:, which doesn't make any sense, since the DNxHD files are 4:2:2. HDLink will of course, not open the DNxHD MXF files at all, because of the interrelated indexing (structure) among the video and audio MXF files. If you try the demo of the MXF importer from Calibrated{Q}, you can open them however. Without the $199US importer, only Avid software and BlackMagic Design Resolve will open those files.

I have yet to get Go Pro Studio (Professional 1.1.2.100) to even open the DNxHD MOV files from my Shuttle 2, let alone convert them. It doesn't generate an error. It just does nothing, when you click on a DNxHD MOV file in the file open dialog box. I'm running Win 7 x64, with QT 7.7.1 and Avid Codecs 2.3.7., so your experience may vary, if you're on a different platform. I haven't really worried about it too much, because there really isn't too much to be gained by converting the DNxHD MOV file to CFHD, except active metadata. I've just been working with the DNxHD files directly in Premiere and Vegas Pro and they work okay without any conversion.

One thing that I'm not going to comment on, though (since it's been covered on various video message boards in detail) is the color space issue with the Shuttle 2 DNxHD MOV files. This has nothing to do with your original question, except that it appears that every piece of software that can read the Shuttle 2 DNxHD MOV files either thinks it has both super blacks and whites or it doesn't. I haven't looked closely enough with scopes at the HDLink conversions to see what happens in that case. Maybe someone else can comment on that.

[Barry Nolan]

Thank you Jay.

[Jay Bloomfield]

I just wanted to update some information. The new version (0.7-rc7) of ffmbc (freeware, with donations accepted):

ffmbc - FFMedia Broadcast - Google Project Hosting

will now read the op-atom DNxHD MXF files from the Hyperdeck series. I tried it out myself and ffmbc does work for rewrapping those files to MOV. I will try when I get a chance and see how it works for converting to CFHD. ffmbc is a branch of ffmpeg that is designed for broadcast work.

One advantage of recording with a MXF wrapper is that it not only works with Avid MC, but when you use ffmbc to do a rewrap to MOV, those files work in AE CS5.5, unlike the native Hyperdeck DNxHD MOV files.

[Steve Kimmel]

Realize this is a bit off-topic but: can cineform transcode the uncompressed .mov files from the BM shuttle?

[Jay Bloomfield]

Yes, at least HDLink does. I've never checked GoPro Studio.

I haven't transcoded any recently, so there's a remote chance that with updates in either the BMD or Cineform software, that something might have changed. The Hyperdeck software installer puts a BMD QT uncompressed codec on your system, allowing pretty much anything that accesses QT to read the uncompressed MOV files.

[Steve Kimmel]

Thanks. Looking for something to transcode into cineform -- just tried with HDLink and it couldn't read the .mov file.

[Jay Bloomfield]

I should have added that I'm using Win x64, QT 7.7.1, Hyperdeck software 2.5/beta 3 and GoPro Studio Pro 1.1.2.100. I just tried an uncompressed MOV from the Shuttle 2 in HDLink and it converted okay, as best I could tell. Again, no guarantees regarding color space, as I didn't check that.

[Steve Kimmel]

Originally Posted by Jay Bloomfield

I should have added that I'm using Win x64, QT 7.7.1, Hyperdeck software 2.5/beta 3 and GoPro Studio Pro 1.1.2.100. I just tried an uncompressed MOV from the Shuttle 2 in HDLink and it converted okay, as best I could tell. Again, no guarantees regarding color space, as I didn't check that.

Interesting. When I tried that I get an error message "format not available, or no valid video stream found." I'm using the same setup that you are.

[Jay Bloomfield]

Check the folder C:\Users\Public for a file MyConvGraph.grf.

If HDLink got very far it will create that file, which can be displayed with the MS utility GraphEdit:

GraphEdit - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

(or use Google for download links, if you want to see which DirectShow filter chain was attempted by HDLink)

Cineform support used to use that file to see what was going on with imperfect transcoding. It might be helpful, if you decide to submit a support ticket to them.

BTW, does any software open the file? Anything that is QT-aware should work (Vegas Pro, Premiere Pro CS5.x, QTPlayer, etc.). You should have the BMD QT codecs (BlackmagicCodec.qtx) in the folder:

C:\Program Files (x86)\QuickTime\QTComponents

and it should have a file creation date of ‎January ‎10, ‎2012.

[Barry Nolan]

A Note I recieved from Jake Segraves at Cineform, Apr 15 08:40 pm (PDT):

"We don't have an actual DNX decoder so it is using MediaLooks to decode and that converts it to 8-bit. That why hdlink says its up converting any why the files are smaller."