DecLink HD Plus - required or not?

R

Ron Marinelli

Member
We're planning to get the HVX200 to shoot a documentary. We're also using FCP HD.

I'm not entirely clear on the need for an HD capture card. Is there a need for a card such as the DeckLink HD Plus, considering that all of the footage will be transferred via P2 cards and/or footage recorded directly to FireWire hard drives? Of course, we may also be acquiring footage from various other sources - not necessarily HD - to be integrated in the documentary.

What other purposes would this card provide that might be relevant/required?

We also plan to get the HD Link box to monitor the HD on an Apple 23" Cinema Display.

Any and all enlightenment is appreciated.

Thanks.


Ron...
 
I am planning to get the exact same things for my HVX workflow. You do need a Decklink HD Card ... not for capturing HD footage as you don't need that with P2 and Final Cut Pro ... but you will need it for the HDLink to hook up to it and to the Apple Cinema Display. So you will need it for proper monitoring, although the $595 Decklink HD card should be fine (no need for the higher ones in this scenario).

Hope this helps.
 
Well, I've got the Decklink HD Pro and HDlink + 23" display. I'm just waiting on the HVX. The old FCP HD/ Panasonic DVCproHD demo footage looks awesome on the 23" display, and so much better than FCP directly outputting to the same monitor with it's desktop cinema preview mode.

You don't need the "pro" 4:4:4 decklink card for monitoring DVCproHD, but it does make for a better display when you use the video monitor as a computer monitor. I'm hoping BMD will come out with a cheap HD card + HDLink in one box combo for just monitoring. The product "suggestion" is with them, so I'll hope they put thei thinking caps on and come up with a product to meet this increasing demand.

If you've not allready seen it, here's my review:

http://www.lafcpug.org/reviews/review_decklink.html

Graeme
 
Barry_Green said:
That may or may not be true; you may be able to monitor straight from the camera through firewire...
Click to expand...

Do you have any more info on this Barry. I presume this is possible for SD, but is it just a rumour for HD?

Thanks. :thumbsup:
 
I don't have any concrete info, other than it works with FCP5 and the AJ-HD1200A deck. So presumably it will work with the HVX, but it remains to be seen and confirmed.
 
Thanks Barry!

What would the HVX HD output be in that setup? Could you keep the signal digital into the display? Would you therefore need anything else to connect it to a Apple Cinema display or similar monitor?
 
Hey Graeme,

How is viewing 1080i footage on this HDlink/Decklin HD/Apple HD Cinema Display combination? Does watching interlaced footage on a native progressive scan monitor like the apple work? Is there something in the combination that allows you to watch it with the same motion as if you were watching it on an interlaced monitor or do you still get interlace artifacts?
 
It works fine in 1080i, but not so good in SD rez. BMD have an "interlace" mode which works great on the HDLink and it really does make it look like it would look on a CRT, but I can't quite get it to work right on my system (even though I was the guy who put the feature request in!!!) so not only do I get interlace simulation, I get trinitron type dots too, which is a bug, and they're working on it.

Graeme
 
Actually, will the $595 Decklink HD Card work with this setup or do I need to get one of the more expensive cards?
 
mmm said:
What would the HVX HD output be in that setup? Could you keep the signal digital into the display? Would you therefore need anything else to connect it to a Apple Cinema display or similar monitor?
Click to expand...
Analog component output. If you want digital output (HDMI, for example) you'd need to use a card for that, like the Decklink or something.
 
Hy Graeme

Do you have any thoughts on the upcoming new, decklink multibridge extreme. The company's promissing a full capturing, real time editing and monitoring solution all in one. Is it too much of a promess or the product could really deliver what has been promissed, and in that way be an alternative of buying hd card + hd link.

Any thoughts are more than welcome

cckid
 
Barry_Green said:
Analog component output. If you want digital output (HDMI, for example) you'd need to use a card for that, like the Decklink or something.
Click to expand...

Thanks again Barry!

Graeme, (or anyone), how bad is the FCP's desktop cinema display in HD? I have only seen it on interlaced SD. It is obviously a good saving to go straight out from my graphics card, but if it is useless, then I will have to buy an additional card.

Maybe it will be on the top of Apple's improvements list for FCP 6.0!

Thanks
 
I think the multibridge extreme will be revolutionary and great. Looks like the best concept in capture I've seen in ages. If I was putting in a new system, that's what I'd be getting.

The Desktop Cinema Preview is bad for a number of reasons:

a) no calibration options - what you see is what you get.
b) the video is seen through FCP's funky gamma rubbish
c) no fields at all
d) soft image
e) poor colour
f) you're not seeing the image as a deck or monitor would see it, but how FCP itself sees things.

Take a look at the two pictures I presented in the review. On inspection of the images in real life, it's night and day between them, on the side of the HDLink being much better.

Graeme
 
Graeme,

Thanks for the reply. Now I am even more excited for this product than I was before, but unfortunately Blackmagic design just keeps delaying the release of their new multibridge extreme. Anyway if it is the way to go also for you than I guess it is worth waiting for.

Best regards

cckid
 
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