Capturing FX1 video signal with its analog component out to 8-bit uncompressed HD
 

Here is the details.
http://homepage.mac.com/kakuito/blog...055/index.html

Please do not make direct link to the files in the ftp. If I see this happening, I will have to stop serving the files. It is okay to provide the link above.

I will update that post later to provide you the comparison from digitally up-converted files.

Kaku, i do not understand why the benifit of the 1st method?

Beacuse if it is playing from the tape, then you already have mpeg2 compression, i thought the point of this method was to try and bypass mpeg2 compression or have i missed the point?

Anyway great work Kaku!

P.S is there anyway that the same setup could be achieved from a laptop (thus avoiding having a computer setup in the field?)

1st. method is experimented because software companies are still under development of capturing and converting HDV files at this point.

Especially, QuickTime seems to have more problems handling mpeg2.

I should also post the same footage converted from m2t format to compare. I will do that over the weekend.

And for now, as far as I know, there is no solution on laptop to do uncompressed HD right now. Does anyone know? I know where you are coming from, it would be great to be able to take this outside.

Somebody should start to manufacture a brick that has analog hd component input and fw800 output and embedded cineform's visually losless or sheervideo's math losless compression!

Okay, pulled the footage down and brought it into After Effects and did MAJOR level hauls on the image, checking into all three color channels, looking for indication of MPEG artifacts, which I can find quite easily on any other .m2t footage.

There aren't any. This is without the slightest doubt BEFORE compresson. Thanks Kaku, one major rumor laid to rest!

BTW, for those having trouble looking at the footage;

download, un-zip. Rename the file with .mov extention.
Go to BlackMagic-Design website and download the appropriate win or mac codec. Place the file in your QT

One thing... there is plenty of horizontal fine lines interference visible when mauling the image... I assume this is the result of using some gain. Hopefully not a result of the conversion steps...

Jim Arthurs

Kaku, did you notice if you can switch to CF30 and still see no major picture time delay when live?

Many conflicting theories on the possibility that CF modes involve the MPEG compressor on the camera.

Seeing no extra delay in the live image would suggest that CF happens before MPEG...

Thanks,

Jim Arthurs

First of all thank you Kaku for your time and diligence in posting the footage for us to examine

My interest is in the turtle footage which is direct off the cam head

In concert with Jims opinion I believe there is no m2t compression evidence in the footage, however there is some subtle compression which I am trying to discern where from

For those who dont have broadband I have upped some frames from the turtle footage for others to analyse, they can be found here

http://s17.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=0...U1DGA089KLQNNC


Take any of these bitmap frames and load into photoshop and magnify to 300% and carefully look via the blue channel only

It will be seen that there are some 4x4 pixel blocks which indicate compression - so where are these coming from? - could it be due to the blackmagic lossless jpeg encoder or from somewhere else?

I also saved them as a photoshop jpeg quality 10 to compare and the level of compression howver subtle is certainly better than this

maybe the blackmagic codec isnt truly lossless - realise the turtle file should be about 540meg, but it is only 365meg

I didn't notice anything else than 2x2 blocks. Because of 4:2:0?

Btw, these clips look really nice with 50% size (=deinterlaced).
My work these days is mostly web distributed, so z1 might be quite nice for 960x540 endproduct...

John Jay,

These are 2Vuy codec (which provides more real time editing), so little bit of something could be going on. I will try with other one.

Kaku

do you have the 4:2:2 version or the $:4:4 version (deliberate mistake ):) of the Blackmagic DeckLink HD Pro?

The links seem to be down, any chance of the footage coming back online?

<<<-- Originally posted by Jim Arthurs : Kaku, did you notice if you can switch to CF30 and still see no major picture time delay when live?
-->>>

There is no delay in the picture in any mode on the analog side. That would suggest to me deinterlacing before MPEG 2 compression.

Thanks Mike... I think that disproves the theory of Steve Mullen's that the CF modes are tied into the MPEG chip...

Regards,

Jim Arthurs

Yes, otherwise how would you introduce cineframe in DV mode?