V1, HDMI and the Intensity card
 

So, HDMI does not support 24p nor carries timecode. What does that mean for those of us shooting 24p?

How do we get synched TC if we go through the Intensity card? [In my case, will be outputting into FCP as DVCPRO HD.]

Thanks,
Gene

First of all the only real advantage of using the Intensity card is for live capturing in which case you wouldn't need timecode.

Once the video is on the HDV tape the quality will not get any better by going through the intensity card.

You have to remember that the HDMI port was mainly a better way for us to view HD video from our cameras on a HDTV without having to use analog component cables. It just so happens that Blackmagic came up with a great new way of using this port so it acts as a poor mans SDI port.

You can capture from a HDV tape through the card as DVCPRO HD but I think you will be on your own for timecode and deck control. It wasn't really meant for this sort of thing and I think it was more intended for live high quality capture to bypass the HDV tape and compression. I'm not sure but there may be a way to use the firewire just for deck control and timecode but please do not quote me on this. I guess you could always capture the tape once as HDV and a second time as DVCPRO HD and use the cuts and timecode from the HDV file with the DVCPRO HD file.

As for 24p, component or SDI do not send out 24p frames either. With a 1080i HD camera the stream is sent out as 60i with pulldown applied to the 24p source. The same exact thing is done with SDI and component HDV cameras as well. About the only camera to do real 24p output through SDI is the Cinealta cameras I think. The lack of 24p over HDMI is not really a flaw but just the way it is. The same is true for 720p 24p HDV as well. The 24p stream will be sent out SDI or component as 60p. For video shot like this we need to use software to remove the extra fields/frames. So yes uncompressed 24p could be a pain but the same is true for uncompressed from any of the current HDV cameras. This is why I still prefer 25p for uncompressed capture.

Thomas, thanks for that explanation. It helps a lot.

Am curious about this one statement, however. Why wouldn't i need TC in terms of editing the live capture footage? How would I locate and work with the sections of the footage that I want?

Hi, Gene. I started a thread today that I hope will answer his very question. You're not the only one to bring it up. Check it out and add your thoughts.

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=80834

Thanks.