Blackmagic Intensity Pro card info help needed...

[First... Please note I'm new at all this stuff so I might of ask the question wrong]

I've been going back and forth with the sale representative about the Blackmagic Intensity Pro card. I asked:

"I am interested in the "Intensity Pro" card and really only have one or two questions. Can I install that card in my Mac Pro and run a HDMI cable to, lets say a Sony 1080P HDTV and get real time preview using Final Cut Pro 6? If so do I need any other hardware and is there any limitations?"

Blackmagic replied back:

"As long as the video signal you are trying to input into FCP from our card
is in a format that we support then yes you should be fine. Our Intensity Line supports the following HD formats: 1080i50, 1080i59.94, 720p50, & 720p59.94."

I then emailed Blackmagic back and asked:

"If I'm shooting in 1080P 30 using a Sony XDCAM EX1. Are you saying
that won't work will that card? This would be for previewing while
editing in FCP."

Blackmagic came back with:

"That is correct, you will not be able to I/O formats that are not supported
by our card. At this time we do not have any products support a 1080p30
format."

What puzzles me is why build a product to work with FCP, a professional software that has so much limitations. I wish then they would leave out the word "PRO" in that product!

So did I ask the question correctly and did Blackmagic understand what I was asking and is Blackmagic correct ?

Any input would be great, thanks :-)

I think there's significant debate about whether any of the "p30" formats really qualify as "professional." Technically the ATSC standard includes 480, 720 and 1080p30 formats, but they've really never taken off. Nobody broadcasts in those formats, so nobody in the commercial work (as far as I'm aware) bothers to shoot or post in those formats. It's easy to see why: Delivering 30p fails to give the look of either 24p or 24p with 3:2, but it doesn't give the motion quality of 60i either, so it just ends up looking odd. Basically the only virtue of 30p is if you want to deliver over the Internet for playback on computer screens, and thus need progressive scanning, but for some bizarre reason don't want to use either 24p or 60p.

The Kona board in my system, which is most definitely a professional I/O interface, doesn't support monitoring or I/O of any "p30" formats either.

Why are you using 30p?

Quite an interesting point, Jeff. I had a chat with a friend from a post facility, and he mentioned that he's never seen submission papers for 720. I'm wondering if it's regional...

>but for some bizarre reason don't want to use either 24p or 60p.

60p is not a widely accepted broadcast format, I gather...



www.strypesinpost.com

"Why are you using 30p?"

it was one of the options that my shooter gave me. Does translate to NTSC video nicely and can be modified to 60i very easily.

But the bottom line is, that Intensity Pro card won't give me a preview using a different format unless it's the formats listed?

Can't you just edit in a 1080i30 timeline? I'm assuming you're not shooting full integer 30P, but 29.97P?



www.strypesinpost.com

Quote

60p is not a widely accepted broadcast format, I gather...

I believe ABC, FOX and ESPN are still broadcasting in 720p60, but I'm pretty out of touch with network, so I could have old info.

Quote

Does translate to NTSC video nicely and can be modified to 60i very easily.

I have to differ with you there. Shooting 30p means all scan lines are recorded at the same time, behind a 1/60th shutter. You can convert that to 60i just by treating the odd and even lines as fields, but then your even fields are all offset in time by a sixtieth of a second, and your shutter angle is wrong, so you get odd-looking motion blur. The characteristic look of 60i video comes from the shutter angle, which adds up to a 120th-of-a-second shutter speed. There's very little motion blur on 60i, which is why it looks very crisp on television. Playing back 30p at 60i looks weird at the very least, and to my eye it looks bad.

I meant 1080p60/50. 720p50/60 are the broadcast formats, although 1080i25/30 are usually more frequently used as submission standards. So 720p50/60 would be submitted in HDCAM SR, I suppose...

>Playing back 30p at 60i looks weird at the very least, and to my eye it looks bad.

Here, it's all 25, but what looks really bad, is when you do speed ramps in FCP on an interlaced timeline with progressive footage, and the frame blending option interlaces footage, so you bounce between 50i and 25p, and that really cuts like glass.



www.strypesinpost.com

"I meant 1080p60/50"

Sure, but I'm still out of luck using the "Intensity Pro" card. Im correct on that?

[ Hey this is all good information from you guys, I'm not discouraged :-) ]

I have Intensity Pro. If you got a 2 sec clip to download I am able to verify if it works or not

Sounds good Niko, let me work on that today. I'm not able to sit at the computer very long due to I just had back surgery... thanks :-)

Good luck with that back.

Did the test using bars&tones with some motion animation...

YES, I am able to get the picture out when sequence preset is XDCam HD422 1080P30 and video output is set to Intensity HDTV 1080i 59.94 (1920x1080). Not sure if this totally OK but at least for any practical purposes, it WILL display what you are editing on a big screen without rendering or playback -problems.

Hope this helps...

Thanks, Nik. This is my second surgery on the same disk, Ouch!

It sounds like to me it doesn't matter what the sequence preset are but it's the video output that needs to be set to one of those that are listed for the "Intensity Pro" card. Does that make sense? If that's the case, I can live with that :-)

Not sure if you can totally mismatch sequence and video output settings but at least this combo works. For basic monitoring, it should be OK.

Hey Russ & Nick,

I just got off the phone with Blackmagic and their sales person said that the Intensity Pro would not work with XDCam EX footage. It's nice to see that Nick's test worked. I was wondering you you guys could confirm that the Intensity Pro DOES playback your sequence on an HDTV via HDMI.

I know Nick said he got it working but I just want to make sure before I go down the same path.

Thanks!
LBF

As mentioned, I was able to get playback with (self-made graphic) footage but didn't have any real - camera originated - XDCam 1080P 30 stuff to play around with.

Yeah, Intensity pro does work with XDCam EX footage, at least with sequence set to "XD Cam EX 720P25 / (35 Mb/s VBR) " and playing 720P footage originating from EX1 camera. Can not confirm if this hold true also with 1080P30 but here's a video proof that at least, 720 stuff works just fine.

[www.silverspoon.fi]

Got to love that RED 1 camera and the amazing optics + steadicam I used to shoot this for you

Love the RED camera work Thanks for the input! I'll let you know how it works out for me.

Thanks again,
LBF