Call to all Intensity Pro owners

[proudgeek]

Hi,

Does anyone out here has real world experience with the Blackmagic Intensity Pro card capturing 1080i via component with MJPEG compression?

Although there have been several debates and speculation on this, there is still no clear minimum CPU requirement to be able to accomplish this. I've contacted Blackmagic support and their position still stands... "get the biggest CPU you can afford".

Your help is greatly appreciated.

[edDV]

Did you call the system integrators on the BlackMagic reseller list?

[proudgeek]

Did you call the system integrators on the BlackMagic reseller list?

I've called some local ones (FL) and they are more in tune with BM's more expensive products and have shown no interest in following up. I figured it would be more practical to post than to go down the list until "I get lucky".

Hopefully, details will bubble up at some point. Please post if you hear anything.

[abluesax]

I just recently got the Intensity Pro card and have been testing it out. As you can see from my system specs, its not the most powerful system, and I'm starting to think Blackmagic is right.

I've done numerous tests and I've found that the audio goes out of sync when capturing with HDTV 720p, Motion JPEG using the component inputs. It is usually fine for the first couple of minutes, then goes out somepoint after that. Usually will be a second or so delayed. When it happens, it's fairly instantaneous, with the audio dropping out, then coming back in delayed, while the video appears okay.

Now, all that being said, I used task manager to monitor the CPU usage - it hovers between 70% and 85%, sometimes jumping to 96%. This leads me to believe that my system is underpowered and the audio problems may be due to processor nearly maxing out.

But then again, I've recorded a couple 15 minutes segments without any problems. I guess it depends on the complexity of the content being compressed in real-time.

Anyone else have some system specs to share? I'm thinking I need a faster CPU (possibly quad-core), but would like some other people's working system specs.

As for the original poster, you probably need a system faster than mine! At least you know what doesn't work.

[proudgeek]

I just recently got the Intensity Pro card and have been testing it out. As you can see from my system specs, its not the most powerful system, and I'm starting to think Blackmagic is right.

I've done numerous tests and I've found that the audio goes out of sync when capturing with HDTV 720p, Motion JPEG using the component inputs. It is usually fine for the first couple of minutes, then goes out somepoint after that. Usually will be a second or so delayed. When it happens, it's fairly instantaneous, with the audio dropping out, then coming back in delayed, while the video appears okay.

Now, all that being said, I used task manager to monitor the CPU usage - it hovers between 70% and 85%, sometimes jumping to 96%. This leads me to believe that my system is underpowered and the audio problems may be due to processor nearly maxing out.

But then again, I've recorded a couple 15 minutes segments without any problems. I guess it depends on the complexity of the content being compressed in real-time.

Anyone else have some system specs to share? I'm thinking I need a faster CPU (possibly quad-core), but would like some other people's working system specs.

As for the original poster, you probably need a system faster than mine! At least you know what doesn't work.

Thanks a lot for the report. This confirms my thoughts. If your CPU is the D 820, it has a score of 29,797 points for multimedia processing according to the Sandra benchmark software: http://www.sisoftware.co.uk/

I am too thinking this will require a quad core ( with he cheapest being the Q6600 that costs around USD$279 ). Under the same benchmark software, the Q6600 gets a score of around 200,000 -- roughly 7 times what yours gets. I have a dual core AMD with an even lower score in multimedia performance

Windows performance degrades once past 80%+ CPU utilization. We're definitely underpowered here.

Thanks again for the post.

[abluesax]

I actually have the D 920 processor. Thanks for the benchmarking link. I'm also looking into the possibility of moving to a quad core. But this means a CPU, new motherboard (the P5B Deluxe since Blackmagic recommends it) and possibly new RAM as well (which means at least $600 to upgrade).

I meant to mention in my previous post, that these test were done on a fresh install of XP SP2 with only the drivers installed and Blackmagic's software, nothing else. So it was a very clean system, nothing else to be running in the background from other apps. I've now applied some tweaks and I'm defragmenting the drive before attempting again (the drive tester provided indicated I had lots of write speed overhead, but just trying to get every ounce out of the system).

My last test (if i can get the hardware to set it up), will be to configure the on-board raid control to run two drives in a RAID0 config to attempt to record uncompressed HD. New drives would be cheaper than the other option.

I'll let you know how it goes. If it fails, I guess I'll be shelling out for a CPU...

[igor_video]

I'm curious about Premiere Pro 2 and this card.



The 60fps interests me, I just need to know if Premiere Pro 2 can record at lower resolutions (but higher than dvd resolution - 800x600 - 5meg example) in software from a native 720p signal. The example is fraps at 50fps 800x600, but I think it gives an idea of what i'm aiming for and hopefully won't drop frames at that res on a dual core 3gig (or if I upgrade a quad core machine). I can't seem to find the relevant info on PPro2 capturing features, but will keep looking.

[abluesax]

igor_video,

My experience is that you can only record in the sizes presented from the Intensity card (HD 720p, HD 1080i, NTSC and PAL). Even if you can record in the format you're suggesting, your CPU is still probably underpowered for the task of the real-time Motion JPEG compression (see my previous posts).

As to my previous post, I've decided to go with the RAID0 configuration with two 500GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 drives (ST3500320AS). With the one board raid controller, I should be able to sustain the required write speed of 106 MB/s for uncompressed 720p HD video. Just waiting for the drives to arrive.

[igor_video]

thx abluesax, do me fave and let me know how the 1280x720p 60fps works out on the specs you're going to use. I'm thinking on getting two or more raptor 10,000rpm hdd myself.

[proudgeek]

igor_video,

My experience is that you can only record in the sizes presented from the Intensity card (HD 720p, HD 1080i, NTSC and PAL). Even if you can record in the format you're suggesting, your CPU is still probably underpowered for the task of the real-time Motion JPEG compression (see my previous posts).

As to my previous post, I've decided to go with the RAID0 configuration with two 500GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 drives (ST3500320AS). With the one board raid controller, I should be able to sustain the required write speed of 106 MB/s for uncompressed 720p HD video. Just waiting for the drives to arrive.

Any updates on capturing uncompressed? How's that working? What do you convert the capture to? Mpeg2? Other?

Thanks!

[abluesax]

The update: I'm still waiting for the drives to ship! I guess because they are so new, they are not yet in Canada. Hopefully soon! I'll update once they arrive and are tested.

What do you convert the capture to? Mpeg2? Other?

I plan to convert the capture to Mpeg2.

[abluesax]

The long awaited update (ie. the drives finally arrived!):

Installed the drives and configured them in a RAID0, creating a 1TB drive. I ran the disk benchmark tool from Blackmagic and got a read and write speed of about 200 MB/s. The required sustained read/write speed for 720p uncompressed is about 105 MB/s, so lots of overhead.

Using the latest Intensity Pro drivers (1.8.2), I was able to capture uncompressed 720p. I then brought the video in Premiere CS3. When playing in back in Premiere, the audio would go out of sync after about a second - but if you stop and then start, it is back in sync, then goes out again. So the audio appears to have been recorded in sync, but playback is messing it up.

I exported the to mpeg2 using the Adobe Media Encoder, which produced a files with the audio in sync, but still not wild about the export picture quality. I guess I'll have to play around / read up on the proper settings.

So basically it appears to be recording okay, but something is messed up with the playback. Anyone else had this problem?

[igor_video]

Glad to hear capturing works fine abluesax, I will try and get hold of bmcard eventually, I don't know about the sync probs but as long as a compressed version syncs fine I won't mind, sorry can't be of any further help.

[70 Chevelle]

Glad to hear capturing works fine abluesax, I will try and get hold of bmcard eventually, I don't know about the sync probs but as long as a compressed version syncs fine I won't mind, sorry can't be of any further help.

How is your capturing going?I just purchased my Intensity card and should have it in this week to mess around with it.

[edDV]

I exported the to mpeg2 using the Adobe Media Encoder, which produced a files with the audio in sync, but still not wild about the export picture quality. I guess I'll have to play around / read up on the proper settings.

What resoulution and bit rate did you use for MPeg2? Progressive or interlace?

Also what framerate did you use for 720p capture? 59.94? 29.97?

Was this source film based?

[dvdfever]

I've got a Medion MD8800 PC with a D830 dual-core processor and I've just bought one of these cards and am trying to capture 720p footage but am getting dropped frames. Nothing else is running and I've got 3Gb RAM in the machine, which runs Windows XP SP2 (tried to upgrade, if that's the word, to SP3 but it wasn't having a bar of it) and the CPU goes up to 95-99% after a while and I get the 'dropped frames' message and the end result is a bit choppy.

I do have a quad-core machine but generally use that as my main PC and really don't want to put the card in there as with all the other stuff running at the same time (browser, Outlook, and a few other bits and pieces) I don't want to think it'll all work and then find out it's just as bad, after all that faffing about.

My dual core PC meets the min.spec so what can I do to get this working properly, please, or have Blackmagic just released a duffer of a card unless you've got a PC that'll run faster than Usain Bolt?

BTW, this problem happens whether I use drivers 3.1.2 on the CD, or 3.2 on their website. I'm capturing at 60fps, which is what the Xbox 360 puts out in 720p.

Thanks in advance,

[edDV]

You described your hardware but not your capture technique.

Are you using the Blackmagic MJPEG codec or trying to capture uncompressed? If uncompressed, describe your RAID.

[dvdfever]

Ta. I'm using the Blackmagic MJPEG codec (for some reason uncompressed doesn't drop frames but the amount of video is unwieldly) and I'm recording to a new 1Tb eSATA Seagate hard drive.

I just tried using Virtualdub to see if that helped. It didn't drop any frames (hurrah!) but the sound was sluggish like someone putting their finger on an LP as it goes round. If I could solve that problem then I've cracked it, but I tried PCM stereo and a few of the MP3 compression varieties.

If I can't figure that out, I was going to have a go at PowerVCR. Haven't used it before but I'm willing to try anything for this to work.

Thanks again for any assistance on this.

[edDV]

I don't have the card or codec here so can only make suggestions.

Somehow you don't have the MJPEG codec set correctly.

It could be the eSATA drive. Try an internal drive (not the OS drive) first.

[dvdfever]

I've just checked the settings and MJPEG codec is in there. Inside there's only the OS drive which is partioned and I've aso got a 750Gb USB 2.0 Seagate drive, but Blackmagic liked those less than the eSATA as the speed tests were way down on comparison.

[edDV]

I've just checked the settings and MJPEG codec is in there. Inside there's only the OS drive which is partioned and I've aso got a 750Gb USB 2.0 Seagate drive, but Blackmagic liked those less than the eSATA as the speed tests were way down on comparison.

There is a setup utility for the Blackmagic codec. Lots of info on their website.

The Blackmagic codec can capture stand alone.

[dvdfever]

Ta. Will give that a go tomorrow and report back.

Cheers.

[dvdfever]

Well, I had a go but I wasn't any further forward. The only setup utility I could find was the 3.2 drivers which I installed and didn't get any noticeable results. To be fair, playback of the captured video (via Windows Media Player, since VLC just doesn't get on with it at all) in MJPEG Compression format, only lost the odd frame here or there so wouldn't be too bad for a Youtube video, but... the sound was massively out-of-sync, and while I thought the problem lay with the player it was also the same when I tried to put it in Adobe Premiere Pro to edit it

I also tried PowerVCR, but that didn't seem to want to know about any form of HD input and also VirtualVCR was equally unhelpful as I put in resolution settings of 1280x720 and it didn't understand them. It also couldn't find my capture card.

Hence, I'm still at a loss. If I missed the setup thing you're referring to, please can you point me to a link. Thanks.

[edDV]

I'm at a loss too since I don't have one here at present. I borrow when needed.

Maybe another user can help. I think they are all gaming.

[Kniechion]

I just got an Intensity Pro this week.
Seems to work ok.
Hooked into Priem Pro fine.

But find that 1080i playback keeps stopping?

Sent a support email, but from reading the above, I wont hold my breath, Hate it when companys dont value customers.

I have spent the last 3 weeks reading into codecs, what is what, its been very hard work.
Even in Training videos they assume you know!

I have to be honest, I dont really know what I am doing with Intensity Pro. Capture is Faultless,
Playback is another Issue altogether.

Editing, some times the second screen plays, some times it wont, or it frezzes the last frame.
Running Dual Core 3g Amd.

SDD Drive in Vista, hooked up to 1T Sata 2 striped raid drive.

no kidding, I am mentally tired of reading endless websites on what is best.
I am up to speed with DVD creation now.

Open minded about the Intensity Pro at the mo

[jagabo]

Editors are not optimized for playback. Do your files play smoothly with a media player? Are you capturing compressed?

[Kniechion]

I was capturing at from the cam via Firewire, Now with HDMI with the Intensity Pro at Full Raw 1920 x 1080i the correct size.
My Hard drive was hey whats this, AVI uncompressed no kidding it takes up space.

You are correct, didnt really know, Prem Pro CS4 for editing, I dont need it full screen but need more than a postage stamp to see what I am doing.
It all Plays fantastic in Media Player, or Cyberlink.
My objective is simply to keep the quality as high as possible. But probably not doing myself and favours, working with AVI HD. At this Stage I have no intention of Blue Ray, so its DVD and H264 for webpages. Not sure if to compress the footage after import, or Down Scale it Via the cam to DVCam format. THe cam is a Sony HVR-V1p, as i am in the Uk its Pal. The work flow is very slow, as I have been experimenting, rather than chose the correct way to work. So thanks for the Tip, editors are no good for Display, but this is why I got the Inensity Pro, so I could see what I was doing, Render looks and plays great.

[EVGAmateo]

ok im new to the forums but my capture card is not streaming the video from my xbox 360 to my computer fast enough. i believe it is the graphics card. i have a ATI Radeon 512 MB 4550 HD.

my computer has been built from the ground up by me and i have a T260 samsung 1080p HD monitor.

Windows Vista Ultimate 64bit
EVGA nForce 790i Ultra SLI
Intel core 2 quad 2.33 ghz
4GB Corsair Dominators 1600mhz with airflow fan. (getting 4 more soon)
1TB Hard Drive (Western Digital) SATA/RAID
ATI Radeon 4550 HD 512MB
Blackmagic Intensity Pro

My computer freezes randomly at times but i think ive resolved that issue.. (RAM)

I saw video for about 3 seconds then it froze and i now see nothing. It all froze up. everything is installed correctly drivers as well. Im using media express that came with the cd to capture my footage if it will come up.

PLZ HELP


Email at mcreveling2008@hotmail.com

[jagabo]

my capture card is not streaming the video from my xbox 360 to my computer fast enough.

I not sure I understand what you're saying. You are capturing from the xbox 360 (via component?) with an Intensity Pro? When you start the software you see video for 3 seconds (after pressing 'record' or just previewing?) and then the software locks up. Or does the entire computer lock up? Can you capture video from anything else? What resolution and refresh rate is the xbox 360 putting out?

i believe it is the graphics card. i have a ATI Radeon 512 MB 4550 HD.

The graphics card probably has nothing to do with your problem.

[eyep]

Hello:

I am also using Intensity Pro and you can have a look at how to hook it up and other tutorials as well at: http://www.thehdstandard.com/hardwaresoftware-solutions-for-streaming/streaming-with-b...-capture-card/

See me offline if you have additional questions.

Catalin
Professional Streaming Consultant