Black Magic Intensity Extreme - capture uncompressed SD video?
 

Has anybody looked in to the Black Magic Intensity Extreme? Its supposedly can capture uncompressed video. Im thinking of getting one and selling my AIW Card setup. I like it because it doesn't feel like I'm investing into some unsupported technology, its new thunderbolt tech. It would be mainly used, in the beginning, to capture using Hi8 with S-Video.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

There's really nothing outdated about a good ATI All In Wonder setup. Analog video itself is from the previous decade and before, and the ATI AIW cards have proven themselves to be a solid method capable of achieving top results.

Reading at the Blackmagic site, the Intensity Extreme model is only capable of capturing from HDMI and component sources. That would do you any good for a Hi8 signal, which is best over s-video, or possible over composite. So I'd have to say this is the wrong tool for the task -- it doesn't meet the needs of your project workflow.

I'm not sure that it's compatible with standard resolutions at all, based on the specs I'm seeing.

Look carefully: http://www.blackmagic-design.com/products/intensity/

If you do buy any Blackmagic gear, don't forget the best prices will almost always come from B&H Photo and Video.

The Extreme is just an external version of the Intensity Pro PCIe card, I wouldn't be surprised if its the same PCB in an external box with a PCIe to Thunderbolt bridge in it. It does support S-video via the breakout cable.

In the specs it also says it does the standard NTSC & PAL resolutions. With uncompressed video capture, I think this is a good choice for me, having the availability of a thunderbolt connection.

There is only one way to find out if it really works, right?

Indeed. :cool:

Be very sure to come back here and share your experiences, too!

I am looking into this right now too, I am thinking of purchasing the Blackmagic Intensity Pro because I have seen nothing but bad reviews for the external shuttle version due to connectivity and compatibility issues. I have not done any research into the Extreme thunderbolt version. The Pro version has generally good reviews. The whole Intensity line supports analog in; composite or S-video. Most importantly to me, it supports uncompressed video capture, which I want for post processing of family home VHS videos I want to convert to digital. You can get a lot more technical information from the manual: http://www.blackmagic-design.com/med...sitymanual.pdf

It seems like it also supports gain adjustments for audio and video levels which is really important to me. I could not find much information in the manual about this so please let me know what you find if you purchase this product.

There website is really lacking on some deep technical details. To connect composite video, connect it to RCA plug 8 (Y) Green.

To capture s-video on the Pro or Extreme you need a special cable to split out the Y and C lines to RCA jacks like so: http://www.microcenter.com/single_pr...uct_id=0203614 The C line connects to 9 (B-Y) blue RCA plug. See page 60 of the manual.

Also worth reading this if you want to capture composite: http://www.thedigilabs.com/news/Blac...lved-1300.aspx

If either of you ends up buying this card ... let the rest of us know how it works. :)

Feedback is always desired here.
Let us know how your projects are going, what your video interests are, etc. (I do a lot of hobby cartoon videos, for example.)

Yes, please. I was also looking into it. I remember it said 10 bit ADC. Does it mean they put modern Conexant chips there? If that's the case, I will stay away.

I would be surprised if a company like BlackMagic Designs was using cheap off-the-shelf chipsets.

Not only they don't have 3d comb filter for Y/C separation in composite, but the composite itself is not working. I'm definitely not buying it.

Personally, I think that's a decent workaround.

A comb filter could be added by way of using another S-VHS VCR as middleman. ;)

I'm no longer in the market for new capture cards, having instead adopted more PCI express ATI AIW cards and ATI 600 cards.
The BM serves a niche audience, however.

I'm lost. What are you referring to?

I have a few questions for you.

1. If you put a middleman as TBC and/or 3d comb filter, isn't it going to do: ADC->DAC before it gets to the capture card? I.e. 2 conversions are going to take place per one middleman: analog to digital and then digital to analog. Should there be a concern of losing the information/quality during each conversion?

2. What is the flow of the signal inside the capture devices be it ATI or Compro VideoMate or ADVC-300 that have 3d comb filters? The 3d comb filter digitally separates Y and C. Is the signal converted to analog after that or is it finally digitized? I am really confused about it.

Thanks.

--Leonid

No. Three steps forward and one step back is still two steps forward. ;)

Some of this gets beyond what I generally concern myself with on a daily basis. I'd have to refer back to spec sheets. Most of the time, I know that stuff because it was researched during the process of learning theory, buying hardware, or creating various guides. Sometimes it's info that is come across when I try to explain my observations with actual tech/science/facts, instead of layman concepts.

Find the spec sheets. :2cents:

By the way, all intensity pro/shuttle/extreme products have 8 bit analog capture, not 10 bit. 10 bit is only for HDMI. Does it mean that the ADC chip Black Magic uses is inferior to those of Philips and Conexant? So it basically the same quality as Brooktree chip?

The info about 8 bit capture was brought to me by a Blackmagic representative. Although it wasn't clear whether the he meant the resulting digital file with 8 bit color representation or 8 bit ADC.

8-bit vs. 10-bit really won't make any difference for VHS, Video8, Hi8 or any other consumer source. That includes cable, satellite, HDTV, etc. The quality of a lot of those chips is suspect these days, because 10-bit is now just another buzz word to push so-called "quality". Just look at IPS monitors, and all the 6-bit panels with dithering that call themselves "8-bit".

AFAIK, there was tremendous visual difference in video capture quality when done using TV Tuner with 8 bit Brooktree Bt848 chip on it and TV Tuner with 9 bit Philips SAA713x chip on it. Or am I talking about different things?

Bit depth is not the defining factor in AD device when inspecting the visual quality. It's just one spec among many.