Capturing uncompressed HD

[Serge Victorovich]

Originally Posted by David Newman

Aspect HD doesn't currently support live capture from anything but FireWire. Capture from a Xena card is Prospect HD feature.

David, but old version of Aspect HD 1.0 or 1.2 have no restriction for live capture through DS and VFW ?

[David Newman]

There seems to be some confusion, Aspect HD does support capture using the Xena card, only Prospect HD does. This is no way affects the DS or VFW codecs.

[Rich Everitt]

I just read the thread and gained more confusion! Tim (or anybody), could you answer me this? A Blackmagic sales/support person told me the multibridge takes away the need for their capture card. Is what you did possible with just this and you used the card because it already existed in your rig?

I would be pulling my hair out if I had any!

[David Newman]

Rich,

Who is your question for? Maybe you can re-ask. What are you hoping to achieve, and what system to you hoping to use?

[Tim Dashwood]

Originally Posted by Rich Everitt

I just read the thread and gained more confusion! Tim (or anybody), could you answer me this? A Blackmagic sales/support person told me the multibridge takes away the need for their capture card. Is what you did possible with just this and you used the card because it already existed in your rig?

I would be pulling my hair out if I had any!

They're wrong. The standard "Multibridge HD" interfaces with the SDI in and out on the Decklink HD. The multibridge converts analog sources to digital SDI and vise-versa.

The sales person may have been referring to the fact that Blackmagic is now bundling the Decklink Plus card with the original SD multibridge, and a PCI Express card with the Multibridge Extreme (for SD & HD.)

However, you still need at least a Decklink HD to interface with the standard Multibridge HD.
Or maybe I should say you need a Multibridge HD to use analog signals with a Decklink HD.

[Brian Duke]

Originally Posted by Tim Dashwood

It worked great, but you have to remember that you can only get true uncompressed when shooting "live," not playing back from tape (since the signal has already been through the MPEG2 encoder.)

Tim, Can you recommend a set-up for LIVE capturing on location? I was thinking of using my laptop as a controller, GRaid as the harddisk for the capturing and perhpas some video card with firewire to transfer the live signal. I am also trying to get a set up for capturing LIVE audio into Pro Tools instead of using a mixer and recording device on set, but rather my laptop and a G-Raid to record onto, since I will be able to EQ and Mix it live uncompressed.

Any ideas?

Thanks Duke

[John Mitchell]

Originally Posted by Brian Duke

Tim, Can you recommend a set-up for LIVE capturing on location? I was thinking of using my laptop as a controller, GRaid as the harddisk for the capturing and perhpas some video card with firewire to transfer the live signal. I am also trying to get a set up for capturing LIVE audio into Pro Tools instead of using a mixer and recording device on set, but rather my laptop and a G-Raid to record onto, since I will be able to EQ and Mix it live uncompressed.

Any ideas?

Thanks Duke

Brian - the firewire signal is exactly the same as the one being recorded to tape. If your object was to capture the uncompressed signal that won't work. If you merely want to capture what's going to tape live then you won't need a GRaid - any decent external firewire drive should be capable fo capturing the signal. If your laptop is a Mac it should have firewire built in so you won't need anything else except for some software to capture with.

If you want to capture the component HD signal and you are Mac based, you could capture directly to DVCProHD using AJA's KonaLH card (the one with the analogue component HD interface), but you would need a G4 or G5 on location as these cards require a PCI slot.

I don't know if anyone here has tested that setup so it would pay to do that first.

[Nicola Di Pietro]

Originally Posted by John Mitchell

Brian... you could capture directly to DVCProHD using AJA's KonaLH card (the one with the analogue component HD interface).

But can the AJA's KonaLH capture directly to uncompressed 8bit or 10bit HD too, or does it only capture in DVCProHD format?

Thank you.

[John Mitchell]

Originally Posted by Nicola Di Pietro

But can the AJA's KonaLH capture directly to uncompressed 8bit or 10bit HD too, or does it only capture in DVCProHD format?

Thank you.

This would be a question better directed to tech support at AJA for the definitive answer.

For my take based on the website information it will digitise to any Quicktime format (both in 8bit and 10bit and it will downconvert on the fly to SD) BUT DVCProHD is the only one that is supported by hardware compression on the card (or the only one they advertise). So to digitise to another codec you need:
1. one that supports JVC's HD60P format,
2. and then if it's a compressed codec you need a LOT of processing power,
3. if it's uncompressed you'd need a fibre channel RAID system and a LOT of storage, all of which can be problematic.

It appears it does support HDV playback in hardware.

[Nicola Di Pietro]

Thank you.

[John Mitchell]

Originally Posted by Nerses Papoyan

Hello,

I need some proffesional advise,
I'm planing to purchase the Multibridge Extreme, and kind of cofused if I'm doing the right thing,
I use Xl H-1 camcorder with HP XW 8200 Workstation with Nvidia FX4500 Quadro , Premiere Pro 2.0 After Effects 7.0 and 2 23" HP 2335 Monitors.
I would like to get the best quality from XL H1, and Output to HD DVD, such as Events, like Weedings and Bithdays.

Wich one would you recomend to get the Matrox Axio? or the Decklink Multibridge Extreme? and do I need special DVD burner in order to burn HD DVD?

Thank you in advance

While the Multibridge extreme would give you HD-SDI ingest, you don't need it for HDV unless you are planning to do studio type shoots and record straight to your HP live off the camera head. If this is your plan there are cheaper solutions from both BMD and AJA. The Decklink HD Extreme is only $US995 list and supports 4:2:2 HD-SDI while the Xena LH series seems to be basically equivalent feature for feature - both support analogue HD/SD ingest as well as 4:2:2 HD-SDI whcih is all the camera outputs. Most people who opt for the multibidge, need it to provide a hub for a bunch of equipment, not just an HDV camera. Both the Decklink card and the Multibridge Extreme require a PCI-Express slot and I don't think the HP supports that. The Xena comes in a PCI-x version so it would work. The Multibridge Extreme will work in standalone mode, but then how do you get the material into your system?

But if you plan to shoot to tape and ingest afterwards and from the sound of it you do, then all you need is plain old firewire 1394a port and software capable of digitising it - that would be by far your best option. What is your plan for a tape deck? That seems to be the biggest hurdle with the Canon. BTW this forum is for the JVC so not too many here actually using the XLH1

[K. Forman]

I'm also looking to move up. Since my PC died last night, I am going to have to do this sooner than I expected... I'm looking at the Xena HS and the Decklink HD Plus, both under $1,000. Now, I'm trying to figure out what else needs needs to be replaced. I need a PCI Express for either capture card, but find nothing with PCI and AGP to support a regular video card. So, will I have to replace a brand new AGP card with one that can use a PCI x16 slot? Whatever that is...

[Lew Barger]

Originally Posted by John Mitchell

But if you plan to shoot to tape and ingest afterwards and from the sound of it you do, then all you need is plain old firewire 1394a port and software capable of digitising it - that would be by far your best option.

Thanks John, I've been trying to make sense out of the whole thing, but that seems to be a very workable system for me. Any particular digitising software anyone would reccomend? I notice that several of the capture cards come with some software. Is that bundled SW adequate?
Lew

[John Mitchell]

Originally Posted by Lew Barger

Any particular digitising software anyone would reccomend? I notice that several of the capture cards come with some software. Is that bundled SW adequate?
Lew

I would recommend Avid Liquid 7.1 for HDV - but I haven't used it myself. It is the only NLE out there that seems comfortable with HDV. Stephen L. Noe has some very handy video tutorials on this site that describe a number of workflows. You can only buy Liquid 7.0 off the shelf - the .1 update is free from Avid's website (I think it's out of beta).

Bottom line is you don't need a capture card if you already have firewire on board (a lot of motherboards do). If you need a 3rd party card buy SIIG, preferably PCI-x if you have slots on your intended target machine. They seem to be qulaified by most NLE's.

[John Mitchell]

Originally Posted by Keith Forman

I'm also looking to move up. Since my PC died last night, I am going to have to do this sooner than I expected... I'm looking at the Xena HS and the Decklink HD Plus, both under $1,000. Now, I'm trying to figure out what else needs needs to be replaced. I need a PCI Express for either capture card, but find nothing with PCI and AGP to support a regular video card. So, will I have to replace a brand new AGP card with one that can use a PCI x16 slot? Whatever that is...

Keith - most PCI Express x16 motherboards do not bother with AGP because it is not as fast or wide. Here is a board that does support both natively(beware some boards use a masked PCI-x slot which simply bridges the PCIe slot to the PCIx buss):

http://www.asrock.com/product/939Dual-SATA2.htm

I can't recommend this board, it has got good reviews but in the past this manufacturer has made some duds, plus it is an Athlon board so if you have an application that requires SSE2 support (eg Encore DVD2) your SOL. If you do go completely PCIe the catch is you need a board with at least 2 x PCIe16 slots - one for video and one for your capture card.Some MB's only include 1 slot assuming you'll use that for your graphics card.

I would recommend upgrading the video card OR going for the Xena LH which only needs PCI-X (which is not to be confused with PCI-Express (Xena LHe). I would also suggest you look at the Decklink HD Extreme ($US995 list) rather than the Pro -it has analogue inputs as well and comes in both varieties PCI-x and PCI Express. The only advantage the Pro has is if you have a deck which supports dual link HD-SDI you can ingest 4:4:4 footage. The extreme is 4:2:2 only.

I would suggest if it is at all possible you see a demo of these cards and their software functionality before making a decision.