HDlink a cheap solution for 4:2:2 recorder S-Log Viewing on Set?

V

Viddovation

Veteran
I just placed my order for the S-Log firmware, and for the Samurai.

From other forum posters I'm gathering that it's not possible to feed the left side of the dual-link into a 4:2:2 single link recorder, meaning to record S-Log with a single link recorder, you have to go through the monitor-out SDI port... which means, by default, you can't set the camera to enable a LUT on that output.

This means any client feed for video village has no LUT applied.

So... would Blackmagic's HDLink be a cheap and efficient solution? It looks like you could connect the dual-link output to HDLink ($495), apply a LUT, and output over either single-link SDI, or DVI... or even HDMI potentially. I already own a 24" production monitor that supports DVI and HD-SDI, but this seems to open other possibilities as well, including, using a cheap DVI monitor for the REC709 (LUT applied) picture, and having a side-by-side with the HD-SDI monitor showing a clean feed, no LUT applied...

Another workflow would seem to be, using the HDLink to downcovert the 4:4:4 to 4:2:2 single link (no LUT) and recording that way, while feeding the Sony Monitor Out LUT to the recorder (I'm not sure what the fidelity here is... hence, proposed as an *alternative* for experimentation...)

It looks like you can configure it over USB with a laptop, but it can run freely, no computer attached.

What do you guys think? If you've got video village power, not too much of a hassle to cube-tap one more device...
 
So, the HDLink idea has been brought up in a couple other threads now. Just got mine, and I thought I'd go ahead and let you guys know a couple things about how it's working, and the caveats...

(I got the HDLinkPro DVI-Digital)

1. Now that I have Slog, I see how minor the curve is. Really, without a LUT, the image does look washed out and desaturated, but that's it, and for run and gun I think it'll be easy to tell the client "we adjust the colors in post." That said, having a LUT for video village still seems great, so...

2. The SDI Loopthrough is *ONLY* active if the unit is able to output properly over the DVI port as well. This means you cannot only attach an SDI monitor. For me, my production monitor also has a DVI input, so I can cheat and make both connections, then just use the SDI one, but this product will not solve your workflow if you do not have a DVI device. Wish Blackmagic would fix this!

3. If fed a dual-link or 3G input, the SDI output will be 3G. There is no software way to force a downconvert to 1.5 single link. This means, if you use a dual link or 3G input, any SDI monitor attached must accept 3G. The DVI of course still works.

3. When a laptop is attached via USB, changes to the LUTs are instantaneous. Definitely easy to see changes. Even easier to see changes over SDI, because you can keep hitting the checkbox "Send LUT to all video outputs" to enable/disable the look.


This will work for me, and it's barely bigger than my hand, will fit in the bottom of my 24" monitor case, no problem.
 
Which model of the HDLinkPro do you have? I have the first model under that name and it does not require a DVI connection to enable the HDSDI loop through. It works brilliantly though the RGB curve software is not very user friendly. It is much better to load premade LUTS.
 
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