GH2 Questions about GH2's live hdmi out for LIVE events

Blackout

Blackout

Veteran
So I had been using others GH2s and finally plunged and got my own. I haven't had enough time to toy with
it or hack it but I have a project this weekend that needs to broadcast live in high quality on Livestream.
Is the GH2's hdmi out live or crippled and would it work with something like this:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/744366-REG/Teradek_CUBE_220_Cube_220_1_Channel_HDMI.html
That option is a bit expensive, but allows from roaming on a steadicam.

If you want to let a high end laptop do the encoding I just need a hdmi input so I was thinking the cheaper blackmagic box - I found one for SDI but I need something like this but with HDMI in:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...gic_Design_TVTEUS_USB3_Pocket_UltraScope.html

Anyone have any ideas? Needs to be for a laptop so this card is out:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...c_Design_BINTSPRO_Intensity_Pro_HDMI_and.html

BUT - would that card work for streaming LIVE from the GH2 if I was at my home studio which is a full Win7 box?

Do I need to hack the GH2 to make the hdmi out work fully?

I know there are some answers floating around to some of this but I got this gig just now and have to figure out what to buy / rent to be able to get the GH2 into my quadcore win 7 laptop and broadcast live with the livestream procaster software. They are not familiar with the GH2 or hack but I know they did a show with an HPX170 when promoting there live box a year ago... the industry has made leaps and bounds since then and they don't use their proprietary 8 pound $1200/day 8 card 3G backpack anymore. 4g or wifi up with about 5 megabit lets you broadcast live in HD, web high quality(youtube wide 480), and mobile at the same time.

Is there a usb 3.0 hdmi in card that will reliably work with the gh2s hdmi out? That would be perfect.

Would this work:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/686585-REG/Blackmagic_Design_BINTSSHU_Intensity_Shuttle.html

I am assuming I would need to be in 720 60p mode since it doesn't support 24p but the livestream procaster will bring that down to 30p like it does with webcams.

Thanks

- Blackout
 
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GH2's HDMI will not work in 720p mode, it only works in 1080i. The output is lousy unless you're actively recording too. In standby mode the output is just wrong and awful; when you go into "record" it becomes more representative of the real image. So if you wanted to leave it in record the whole time, and your card will work with a 1080/60i output (and note: it's 60i, not 59.94i), then maybe it would work. But I would question whether a lot of those cards will work with 60.00i, as that's not a standard video frame rate.
 
Everything Barry says is correct. Your only option for live HDMI is 1080 60i. I have a Blackmagic Intensity Pro card and can confirm that it will accept 1080 60.0i. At $190 it certainly is economical. But, how would you get it to work with a laptop? The Intensity Shuttle sounds wonderful on paper, but unfortunately there aren't any laptops that have the correct USB 3 chip to support it. (At least there weren't the last time I checked a few months ago). You should double check with Blackmagic to make sure something hasn't come along since then.

Good luck. Let us know what you come up with.
 
Agreed about the Intensity Shuttle -- on paper it seems ideal, but as a practical matter there's no laptop made that will work with it. I've got a USB3 laptop, have had for a year, and it's endlessly annoying to be <that close> and yet not have it work. But fact is, it doesn't work...
 
Ralph B said:
Everything Barry says is correct. Your only option for live HDMI is 1080 60i. I have a Blackmagic Intensity Pro card and can confirm that it will accept 1080 60.0i. At $190 it certainly is economical. But, how would you get it to work with a laptop? The Intensity Shuttle sounds wonderful on paper, but unfortunately there aren't any laptops that have the correct USB 3 chip to support it. (At least there weren't the last time I checked a few months ago). You should double check with Blackmagic to make sure something hasn't come along since then.

Good luck. Let us know what you come up with.
Click to expand...

Well, luckily I brought my whole rig with me and I wish I would have read your posts first because the damn thing said I had one of the very few laptops that would work and I spent 4 hours hunting down weird drivers and finally getting the card accepted but then it didn't see the GH2 and I was ready to kill. Brought that piece of &#^# back to B & H and in a last ditch effort I exchanged it for the intensity pro card to see if it will work on my home box - I have a little studio set here where I do livestream shows from with guests ect and am the webcams don't cut it above 840 x 480 they look like crud even the very best logitech c910.
So I'm glad to hear it should work with the GH2... I'm a little confused though.... it doesn't matter what mode I have it in the hdmi out will always be 60i? I think that will be ok because the livestream procaster has a built in deinterlacer so as long as it recognizes a damn signal coming in from the blackmagic pro I should be golden. I'm going to have some dinner and start toying with it. My brain is sooooo used to the GH13 that I'm having a little adjustment errors with the GH2 and it does seem to be 'stroby-er' to me than the GH13 but now that I actually have one of my own and am not playing with someone else's I'll have some time to dig deep, custom hack it, and from what I hear vitali is very close to getting the hdmi thing worked out.

Anyway thanks for chiming in... wish I would have seen this before I went but oh well, at least I know someone got the GH2 and blackmagic pro working and it's on the approved list of livestream cards so I'm crossing fingers. I would have liked a higher end mobile solution but I guess I'll have to wait and keep double shooting... (webcam on top of GH13 / GH2)

Also - what's the deal - no fake battery plug for the GH2? Never bothered to ask about that... and damn the batteries seem to go faster.
 
The Intensity card will be fine. The important thing is that in Blackmagic's software, Media Express, you must set the Project Video Format to 1080i 60, not 1080i 59.94. 59.94 will result in a black screen. This makes me wonder about you're aborted attempt to use the Intensity Shuttle. In the software, did you select 60 or 59.94? If you used 59.94 it would appear that the board wasn't seeing the camera.

And just to reiterate, to get the highest quality picture out the HDMI, you must be simultaneously recording to the SD card in camera.

Also, be aware that there is no sound out the HDMI. You must feed the audio in separately. Fortunately, the Intensity card has analog audio inputs. But there's still a problem - the HDMI picture is delayed 3/4 second or so relative to the live sound. In the Avisynth script, this delay is accounted for, but in a live application you're going to have to find some way to delay the audio, or else the sound will always be ahead of the picture.
 
No... I didn't set the Media Express to 59.94... it give me some message when I booted it up about not being in the correct format and adjusting, but then I would see nothing under devices, so I never thought to even try that. All that and it might have actually worked? (searches around room for shotgun)

Do you HAVE to run media express to use the card? meaning I install the card, run media express, then run the software I want - ie procaster for livestream?

man.. now the sound issue... I have seval ways of getting sound in... I guess I could add a delay but how to know the EXACT delay otherwise it will drift.

I was too beat last night to even begin messing with it looks like that's todays job.

I got a mackie onyx usb 3.0 for audio in and that thing has amazing quality preamps but one big problem it won't split a mono mic into a stereo in, so if I am recording narration on a high end mic or even a beta 58 it only comes in the left channel. This is fine for editing work as I can duplicate the channel but for live shows where I have music and commercials and am in stereo it sucks.
 
Holy crap got it working with audio in sync.... I am actually streaming this as I type it with live video from the GH2
via a 4G card and it's looking SWEET!

come check it out and say hi I'll leave it going for a while to test stability



http://blackout.com
 
CONGRATULATIONS! This is a first for the GH2. When you get the time, could you write a detailed description of everything you did to get it going - hardware, software, the number for the audio delay, etc.

Others have tried, but you're the first who has succeeded.
 
Replays of the live GH2 broadcast tests:

Test One:
http://www.livestream.com/blackouts...d04e&utm_source=lslibrary&utm_medium=ui-thumb

Test Two:
http://www.livestream.com/blackouts...ed01&utm_source=lslibrary&utm_medium=ui-thumb

Test Three (posting on this board)
http://www.livestream.com/blackouts...035c&utm_source=lslibrary&utm_medium=ui-thumb

Test Four: (audio doesn't work from GH2 cam - used mackie onynx blackjack USB and figured out the delay)
http://www.livestream.com/blackouts...7e91&utm_source=lslibrary&utm_medium=ui-thumb

Note: battery died on that one and it kept going and I changed batteries and came back on live without stream going down. impressive.

Enjoy and be sure to FULLSCREEN! amazing quality at 1.5 mbit 4g up.
 
Ralph B said:
CONGRATULATIONS! This is a first for the GH2. When you get the time, could you write a detailed description of everything you did to get it going - hardware, software, the number for the audio delay, etc.

Others have tried, but you're the first who has succeeded.
Click to expand...

I traded the shuttle for the blackmagic intensity pro - popped it in, downloaded the latest software drivers, ran the media program and set it to 1080 60i and then it DID see the camera. After this I ran procaster and set it to the same 1080 60i and set deinterlace to on. I set the video bandwidth to 1300 mbit and the audio to stereo mp3 128. I have 1.5 mbit 4G card so that's the max I could push, I will be getting 5mbit up soon. The procaster converts the GH2 into 1280 720p at 30fps and it looked pretty fantastic for the low bandwidth realtime encoding. The sweet spot is 1700mbit for HD live.

Don't bother using the blackmagic audio interface cables - that is what is introducing the delay, use a separate audio interface - I used an mackie onyx (but slight problem in that it doesn't duplicate the mic and my voice was only coming out the left side, but sync was perfect. You could also use your zoom h4n as an audio interface and that will duplicate the left channel. Viola - no audio delay.

See the examples I posted above if you missed it. I'll be doing a weekly show soon.
 
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