Blackmagic intensity on a macbook pro portable at DVinfo.net

Steve Chapman · July 18th, 2008, 05:41 PM

I couldn't find any info whether anyone had tried this, so I went ahead and installed an Intensity card into my Macbook pro for portable uncompressed capture. It seems to work well with an HV20.

I wrote up the details here:
http://panocamera.com/blog/?p=4

Steve Chapman · July 20th, 2008, 01:03 PM

Interesting. But it seems Southern Sportsman's using an AJA IOHD, a $3000 product which is also using compression. Here we're talking about a $300 product and a $45 adapter, and getting uncompressed raw footage, as well as being portable.

Christopher Ruffell · July 20th, 2008, 01:59 PM

Nicely done, Steve. Sounds a little easier to bring a MacBook Pro to set rather than a Mac Pro tower + Monitor, mouse, keyboard, APC unit, extension chords, big padlock & cable, etc etc... which i've done, lol.

I wonder when Blackmagic will make an external version/portable version of their Intensity product - it'd be as simple as making one product, and having a choice between a I/O card for a PCIe computer, or a I/O card for a modern laptop.

John Palaganas · July 21st, 2008, 08:09 AM

Wow thats a cool mod! I use my Macbook Pro's wireless so I wouldn't want to use that, is there any alternative?

Christopher, yes I would like to see a portable Blackmagic Intensity solution or wish that Cineform will release their portable product soon.

Steve Chapman · July 21st, 2008, 05:54 PM

It just occured to me that all of that space where the optical drive normally resides could easily fit the Blackmagic card internally. If you'd pay $3000 for a dedicated hdmi capture device, why wouldn't one be willing to pay $3000 for a specialized Macbook Pro that Blackmagic had customized with hdmi capture card, maxed out ram, upgraded hard drive, and maybe one of those $100 Macbook Air -type- external DVD burners. You could be doing raw 4:2:2 capturing on-set then edit in the hotel room later, with a laptop you might have carried anyways. Of course, this might make you extremely tired.

For those who might miss the aircard, Amazon sells this:
http://www.amazon.com/Macsense-AeroL.../dp/B000M801WC
usb dongle

Incidentally, I tried 3D tracking some footage with this shindig, but the HV20's interlace and rolling shutter make a mess of things.

July 18th, 2008, 05:41 PM	#1
Steve Chapman New Boot Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Burbank CA Posts: 5	Blackmagic intensity on a macbook pro portable I couldn't find any info whether anyone had tried this, so I went ahead and installed an Intensity card into my Macbook pro for portable uncompressed capture. It seems to work well with an HV20. I wrote up the details here: http://panocamera.com/blog/?p=4

July 20th, 2008, 01:03 PM	#2
Steve Chapman New Boot Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Burbank CA Posts: 5	Interesting. But it seems Southern Sportsman's using an AJA IOHD, a $3000 product which is also using compression. Here we're talking about a $300 product and a $45 adapter, and getting uncompressed raw footage, as well as being portable.

July 20th, 2008, 01:59 PM	#3
Christopher Ruffell Major Player Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Victoria, BC Posts: 202	Nicely done, Steve. Sounds a little easier to bring a MacBook Pro to set rather than a Mac Pro tower + Monitor, mouse, keyboard, APC unit, extension chords, big padlock & cable, etc etc... which i've done, lol. I wonder when Blackmagic will make an external version/portable version of their Intensity product - it'd be as simple as making one product, and having a choice between a I/O card for a PCIe computer, or a I/O card for a modern laptop.

July 21st, 2008, 08:09 AM	#4
John Palaganas Regular Crew Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Ottawa, Canada Posts: 71	Wow thats a cool mod! I use my Macbook Pro's wireless so I wouldn't want to use that, is there any alternative? Christopher, yes I would like to see a portable Blackmagic Intensity solution or wish that Cineform will release their portable product soon.

July 21st, 2008, 05:54 PM	#5
Steve Chapman New Boot Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Burbank CA Posts: 5	It just occured to me that all of that space where the optical drive normally resides could easily fit the Blackmagic card internally. If you'd pay $3000 for a dedicated hdmi capture device, why wouldn't one be willing to pay $3000 for a specialized Macbook Pro that Blackmagic had customized with hdmi capture card, maxed out ram, upgraded hard drive, and maybe one of those $100 Macbook Air -type- external DVD burners. You could be doing raw 4:2:2 capturing on-set then edit in the hotel room later, with a laptop you might have carried anyways. Of course, this might make you extremely tired. For those who might miss the aircard, Amazon sells this: http://www.amazon.com/Macsense-AeroL.../dp/B000M801WC usb dongle Incidentally, I tried 3D tracking some footage with this shindig, but the HV20's interlace and rolling shutter make a mess of things.