Attend the Blackmagic Design event?

metaleonid · #1 07-01-2015, 09:46 PM

I am not exactly sure what forum I should be posting this... I'm sure moderators will correct my post if they find it in a wrong place or will remove it if it's not appropriate at all.

I was invited to attend this event which is just within 25 minutes walking distance away from my work. Do you think I should I attend it and confront them how much they suck at analog to digital conversion and how they get beaten up by cheap USB sticks capture cards, old school PCI capture cards and a few newer PCIe capture cards?

--Leonid

PS. I'm sure that if anyone on this forum in the neighborhood, they can attend as well, so that I am not alone.

dpalomaki · #2 07-02-2015, 06:33 AM

Your reputation, your risk, your decision. Just be sure of what you say in public.

My impression is the main problem with BM is the maturity of their drivers - if often takes a few releases to get the right.

(However, a lot of stuff you mentioned does beat them on price point - for good reason.)

Goldwingfahrer · #3 07-02-2015, 10:19 AM

Quote:

I was invited to attend this event which is just within 25 minutes walking distance away from my work.

Yes, of course and then here report.
Perhaps, we can still learn.

premiumcapture · #4 07-02-2015, 08:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by metaleonid

I am not exactly sure what forum I should be posting this... I'm sure moderators will correct my post if they find it in a wrong place or will remove it if it's not appropriate at all.

I was invited to attend this event which is just within 25 minutes walking distance away from my work. Do you think I should I attend it and confront them how much they suck at analog to digital conversion and how they get beaten up by cheap USB sticks capture cards, old school PCI capture cards and a few newer PCIe capture cards?

--Leonid

PS. I'm sure that if anyone on this forum in the neighborhood, they can attend as well, so that I am not alone.

I would write something up and discuss it with someone who can actually make a difference and ask for a call back. You have every reason to rant and shout at them for the promises they put on their products but dont deliver, but at the same time, I firmly believe that they are often close to delivery very good products but just missing the mark. Their cintel system is like $30k, so I imagine they dont give a buck if the cards work like crap, but I would try to sell them on trying harder.

Definitely talk to them!

metaleonid · #5 08-05-2015, 10:26 PM

Hello,

So I did attend the event that morning. My intention was to inform them about my bad experience with intensity shuttle for thunderbolt and also pass the notes about the bad experience Mr. msgohan had with them. msgohan is way more knowledgeable than me. I even wanted to speak to him on the phone to make sure I understand exactly what his issues were. Fortunately he called me after I attended the event.

I did come to the room where a Blackmagic rep who looked like Karl Marx (yes) was advertising intensity shuttle, intensity pro, intensity Pro 4K and other devices of this family. I informed him about hidden dropped frames I described on this forum earlier. The rep asked me what source I was using to capture. I told him the LaserDisc player. He then went on telling me, that I couldn't capture from the LD player, because the signal there is different. According to him it wasn't even the NTSC signal but was a progressive scan non-NTSC signal....

Ok.... so I guess I should stop here....

Right now I'm just too lazy to write to BM and tell them what I think about them and their 'competent' representatives.... Overall I spent 20 minutes total there because after my brief conversation with 'Karl Marx' I felt like drinking coffee with free brownies....

dpalomaki · #6 08-12-2015, 07:33 PM

FWIW: The Black Magic Design Intensity Pro 4K component video capture, whether SD NTSC, or 1080i HD, is not working right. The captured levels are off significantly. Brightness is significantly low, saturation is significantly high, blacks crushed, even with the latest drivers. I would NOT recommend it for component video capture uses at this time..

On the other hand the legacy Intensity Pro captured with correct levels.

(Tested with color bars from known sources.)

msgohan · #7 08-13-2015, 12:29 PM

Have you tried composite or S-Video with the card for NTSC? I haven't seen anyone who has actually tried it to either confirm or deny that they get the same off-center/cropping as me. The only posts I've seen about composite capture were users in PAL countries.

Blackmagic support said they would escalate the issue to the engineers to see if they can determine the problem.

dpalomaki · #8 08-13-2015, 06:23 PM

With respect to the 4K I just received the following from BMD Support:

"We forwarded your issue and the Excel with your testing results.

Our engineers are actually aware and confirmed the same issue, with the colors being shifted down. They are I working on a software fix. We unfortuatly do not have a release date for the fix, but again it is in progress. "

I tried the 4K with NTSC s-video and composite and the results for color bars were within 2-3% of the expected values which is I think is usable, but I did not check beyond black, 75 and 100 IRE levels for variation in the gamma, or assess the noise floor. (These were with the drive brightness and color correction set to the neutral position.) However, In my tests the older Intensity Pro did better. HD (1080i) HDMI capture was fine.

lordsmurf · #9 08-14-2015, 09:01 AM

~~Did you attend? Sorry I could not reply until now.~~ Read the update post.

Were you be able to confront them in a Q&A, or in private only? I find that a public Q&A session confrontation opens the door for others to complain. Most people are wimps, and wait for others to be the a-hole. I have no problems being "that guy". If you make garbage, I'm going to let you and everybody else know it. That's part of the goal of this site: consumer awareness. We talk about what's good for video/photo/hosting, and what is not.

"In private" conversations never go anywhere.

Be professional, but don't be afraid to be "unprofessional" if they go there first. (For example, blowing you off.)

I have no problem telling someone, point blank, to their face, that they're a dumbass when I hear something ridiculous (like "Laserdisc is not NTSC"; idiot). I then ask to speak to somebody smarter (yes, using the word "smarter"). I'm not kind to stupidity in professional fields.

BM should just leave the hardware game. Stick to something they know (software).