Capturing HDMI output from a Panasonic DMR-EZ47V.

[whynotpizza]

Hello,

I finally decided to start converting my VHS and 8mm tapes to digital format. I was lucky to find a DMR-EZ47V VHS/DVD player/recorder which can output analog VHS through the HDMI out. I can also connect an analog camcorder to its inputs and output the video through the HDMI. I have also purchased an HDMI capture USB from Amazon (OODAN Audio Video Capture Cards - HDMI to USB 2.0 - High Definition 1080p 30fps). VirtualDub works with this setup and captures the HDMI video/audio. What would be the optimal capture settings in Virtual Dub? I have changed settings to 720 X 480 and 29.97, also audio to 48k 16bit, would this be the optimal settings for the digital HDMI capture? Which others should I consider?. Is deinterlacing something that I should worry about with the digital HDMI capture or is that already done by the Panasonic DVD/VHS?. I have enough space to capture lossless and plan to convert to MP4 with handbrake.

would an analog device such as "Diamond VC500 USB 2.0 One Touch VHS to DVD Video Capture Device" be better for the capture?

Thanks for your suggestions.

[dellsam34]

Capturing VHS thru HDMI is the worst way you can go by, The resolution will not match, the de-interlacing will look like crap, the colors and light levels will be crushed, capturing video the proper way has a learning curve and if you don't have the patience you will be recapturing those tapes again sometime in the future and hopefully by then you haven't thrown them out.

[whynotpizza]

Thanks for your prompt response. I will be experimenting with a Hauppauge USB capture device instead. I am connecting it directly to a Hi8 camcorder with S-VHS output. Will compare result with the HDMI captures. Totally new to this so appreciate your suggestion.

[oln]

It can work well provided you capture in the original 480i or 576i resolution, and the HDMI grabber is capable of capturing to a lossless format, and it's set to output in YUV format (using RGB will give clipping of brights/darks). Most Panasonic DVRs have some TBC/Jitter correction functionality as well which is nice (The pre-HDMI models ES10, ES15 and related have the best jitter correction), and the analog to digital converter is very good. I've done HDMI via DVR capture a fair bit myself, it can work quite well provided one is aware of the limitations. You usually need to use a HDMI splitter thingy to evade HDCP copy protection on the output, but it seems yours doesn't have this, at least not on non-copy-protected material.

DVRs can usually output upscaled and deinterlaced video, but I wouldn't recommend capturing that as the quality of the upscaling and deinterlacing is mediocre, and it will use up a lot more space. There are some that can only output deinterlaced video over HDMI though, in that case you can still use it as a TBC of sorts, and capture from the S-Video output with one of the common USB dongles instead.

Be vary that PAL Panasonic DVRs have a tendency to clip bright spots (can be avoided using something to drastically lower the video level before it enters the DVR), and the NTSC ones, at least the earlier non-HDMI models have some noise reduction that can't be entirely turned off.

[whynotpizza]

Thanks. I set up the Panasonic HDMI to output 480i. Need to test again to check interlacing. I think it is outputting deinterlaced video. I am also using the Hauppage to compare quality.

My current setup is a sony SVHS CCD-TRV81 camcorder (probably the original recording device). Video is sent to the Pan DMR-EZ47V and then use the HDMI out to the HDMI capture device OR an S-video output to a USB Hauppauge Digital TV Tuner which has an optional SVideo/analog capture cable.
For the analog capture, Should I use the Panasonic as an intermediary or connecting the camcorder directly to the Hauppauge be better? I have a used elgato USB analog capture arriving soon. Will compare quality of captures when it arrives.
I was also able to get access to a sony Digital8 DCR-TRV320. It can play the originial Hi8 and 8mm as well, waiting for the right cable to test firewire capture. Will using the digital camcorder as a passthrough for the sony TRV81 (instead of the Panasonic) be better than playing the tapes in the Digital camcorder itself?

[oln]

Playing back the tape in the TRV320 will likely give better quality than the older camcorder, it's newer and has TBC/DNR. I would recommend capturing from the analog output of it, with firewire the video is DV-compressed which reduces quality a bit, especially for NTSC.

[whynotpizza]

Thanks. I assume that passing video from Digital camcorder through the Panasonic is not needed for additional signal correction?

[FLP437]

This type of workflow usually do provides good and solid captures. I have used it in the past with a Panasonics DMR-EH65 and the results were quite good.

Has already said don’t change the original resolution and stay in interlaced mode. Don´t change also Video Proc amp settings , stay with the default values ( hdmi transfer)
it is a workflow highly recommended for the quality of the results and for being a solution that overcomes the problems resulting from noisy tapes or tapes with unstable signal that easily lead to drop or inserted frames and that with this solution are completely overcome.

You can see a lot of details for instance in the German forum gleitz.info

https://gleitz.info/forum/index.php?thread/47572-tutorial-hochwertiges-digitalisieren-...en-und-andere/

Put the chrome browser in automatic translation from german to english and the German problem is solved or use a copy I already made and translated to English ( have in mind that the translation is a google automatic translation)

[whynotpizza]

This type of workflow usually do provides good and solid captures. I have used it in the past with a Panasonics DMR-EH65 and the results were quite good.

Has already said don’t change the original resolution and stay in interlaced mode. Don´t change also Video Proc amp settings , stay with the default values ( hdmi transfer)
it is a workflow highly recommended for the quality of the results and for being a solution that overcomes the problems resulting from noisy tapes or tapes with unstable signal that easily lead to drop or inserted frames and that with this solution are completely overcome.

You can see a lot of details for instance in the German forum gleitz.info

https://gleitz.info/forum/index.php?thread/47572-tutorial-hochwertiges-digitalisieren-...en-und-andere/

Put the chrome browser in automatic translation from german to english and the German problem is solved or use a copy I already made and translated to English ( have in mind that the translation is a google automatic translation)

Quite a bit of reading but will experiment with this setup and compare with analog capture. Thanks for the guide! I don't think I would have found it otherwise.

[Eric-jan]

HDMI capture from a HiFi video customer product will fail most of the time, There's nothing wrong with the Intensity Shuttle, there are just too many fail points with HDMI and HDCP.
Try to find a DVD recorder that has component YUV video OUT (mostly Panasonic) and check first if it will passthrough the video input, and not just the DVD player, check this with the DMR-EH65, and if you can put the component out in progressive mode, and set Both apps for the Intensity Shuttle in corresponding resolution, frame rate and mode.
it's a bit strange this one has both HDMI and component out, component would be better because there's no extra decoding done to composite or HDMI.
to be able to activate the progressive mode you need to have "video with component" set, so, not RGB.
You get a better stable signal with component, is my experience, strange thing is also, with mine ES35V composite and s-video are also fine, s-video slightly less though..

btw, using component video, saves you buying the HDMI splitter, and you can use the analog (red/white) RCA audio connections for sound like normal.

[Tarantino]

Does the Panasonic DMR-EX98V work for this? Or do I need the old Panasonic DMR-EX95?

I read that the 98 have only a digital tunner and the 95 have the anaglog/digital tunner. Does that makes a difference for vhs capture?

The signal going from vhs player through those panasonic be the same/equivalent of using a TBC?

Because I want to convert VHS at maximum quality possible. I've a Canopus ADVC-100, I've an Avermedia DVD Ezmaker 7 usb, a LG Combo RC388 and at least 3 vhs simple players, clean rewinders for cleaning the tapes. What I do now is to clean the tapes properly with those special rewinders, and then I use the lg combo, and it provides good results.

But after a lot of reading it seems it is not the best method. So I was thinking on purchasing a Magewell card, but which one? And where can I buy from europe?
should I go to an 4k one? Hdmi one? I read too that I should go for an sd card, is that right?

I bought too an hdmi splitter an Orei UHDS-102.

And I was thinking on solving the TBC problem, and I guess the panasonic players solves that?

So the connection would be vhs player (scart/svideo) <-> (scart/svideo) panasonic - magewell card? If yes, and the cables between them?

[Eric-jan]

Both Panasonics you mention have component video out, you can set this also to progressive, the manuals will explain this,
So, if the Magewell has component input and the specs let you capture also in progressive mode + resolution is available you're ready,
Both Panasonic will give you steady video output on any output is my guess, that's my experience with my DMR ES35V so no TBC needed.
component would be your best option, better than s-video or composite, is what i experienced.
I have a guide on the BlackMagic Design forum that is dedicated to the use of my ES35V and the Intensity Shuttle, using component video connections.

btw. what kind of tuner really doesn't matter, since you're not using the tuner.

[oln]

The EX98V should work yes, whether or not is has a digital tuner doesn't matter. Don't know for certain if the jitter correction is the same between all models, or if there are some slight differences, but they all feature it as far as I know.

The LG dvd-recorder you have work a bit similarly, sending outputs via the internal digitizer, but it doesn't correct horizontal jitter much like the panasonics do.

For HDMI capture from these things you don't need 4k support obviously, as long as you can capture hdmi that should be sufficient. I don't know for sure if that particular splitter will strip hdcp or not, some do, some don't. Using component or s-video output usually works fine as well, main drawback on the panasonics is that they like to turn off the analog output when there is no input signal, while the HDMI output will always be active, or at least the standalone dvd-recorders do, I don't know when it comes to the combo units.

I wouldn't bother with progressive mode, do interlacing in post if you want the best quality.

[Eric-jan]

With HDMI you still have the chance the "handshake" will block working with capture device or any converter, component video will also filter any macrovision signal.
If you want to capture via HDMI you should use a solid-state capture device that captures directly to SD card or USB stick, but HDMI stays a risky bussiness, if you don't have any experience with HDMI capture.

[Skiller]

Capturing VHS thru HDMI is the worst way you can go by, The resolution will not match, the de-interlacing will look like crap, the colors and light levels will be crushed

I have to disagree. It depends completely on the device used. I get excellent results from VHS using a Panasonic DMR-EH 575 with it's HDMI output set to 576i.

Can't really say much about the DMR-EZ47V, but it potentially has the same circuits doing the ADC and then it would be a darn good choice. We tested a bunch of the Panasonics at the German Gleitz forum a couple of years back and found the ones we tested all performed identically (although some do not have 576i/480i output options, only 576p/480p). The only exception we found that performed differently is the ES10 (which however doesn't have HDMI).

I have changed settings to 720 X 480 and 29.97, also audio to 48k 16bit, would this be the optimal settings for the digital HDMI capture? Which others should I consider?. Is deinterlacing something that I should worry about with the digital HDMI capture or is that already done by the Panasonic DVD/VHS?.

Settings are fine, also make sure you capture in a 4:2:2 color space such as YUY2 or UYVY.

You could in theory set the Panasonic to 720p and capture it that way and it'll do the deinterlacing. I would very strongly suggest not to do so however and capture the native standard definition format.

[Alwyn]

I get excellent results from VHS using a Panasonic DMR-EH 575 with it's HDMI output set to 576i.

Interesting. What capture card/stick/device did you use, Skiller?

[Skiller]

What capture card/stick/device did you use, Skiller?

Blackmagic Intensity Pro (PCI-E), plus some generic cheap HDMI splitter to aid the HDCP issue.

[Tarantino]

I am thinking on purchase this one: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Magewell-Capture-HDMI-Video-Card/dp/B019M5IB2C

Should perform better then blackmagic I guess.

[Eric-jan]

What capture card/stick/device did you use, Skiller?

Blackmagic Intensity Pro (PCI-E), plus some generic cheap HDMI splitter to aid the HDCP issue.

the Blackmagic Intensity Pro is discontinued, (you should search for one 2nd hand), it's been followed up with a 4K version which is overkill.
But if you use component video through the breakout cable, it's also a good choice, (Pro only version)
Using HDMI will not add extra quality over component video, it could give you artefacts, from the HDMI coding,
If you can capturing from HDMI at all, because not just any HDMI splitter will work, you need the the exact model description, from a use case.

[Eric-jan]

I am thinking on purchase this one: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Magewell-Capture-HDMI-Video-Card/dp/B019M5IB2C

Should perform better then blackmagic I guess.

Why should it perform better ? do you have a good reason for thinking that ? because it is much more exspensive ? does it come with good software,
or is it compatible with other software ?
what are the latest drivers ? are they any good for windows 10, or any other current Operating System ?
Be sure it will capture the resolution your VHS will output, also progressive in case of component video output ? this will save time rendering in post,
The panasonic's will give good progressive output over component output, the ES35V does in my case, the 2 you mention are later models of that.

[FLP437]

The process of VHS capture using Panasonic VHS/DVD recorders combos via HDMI as nothing to do with HDMI itself, it's about using the internal VHS/DVD device ADC and associated tbc like circuitry versus an external ADC in a usb/PCIe capture card receiving composite , svideo or component . German Gleitz forum have tested several units from Sony / Pioneer, JVC, Toshiba, Samsung and LG - also a few "no-names and they found none of the built-in A / D converters on these other devices meet all of the analog-to-digital conversion criteria as perfectly as the Panasonic devices.

Hdmi doesn´t change quality it´s only a way to forward the digitized signal from the combo to a suitable PC hdmi interface .Converting the signal again to analog would introduce losses so the signal as to be carried out in digital format HDMi/SDI, it does happens consumer devices only usually have HDMI digital outputs. So what is important (and the only one thing that can change the output quality of these workflows) is the quality of the internal ADC and associated tbc like circuitry of these Panasonic combos mostly from the period from 2004-2007 that Gleitz forum as found them to be of very high quality and better then a lot of external capture devices and better then similar units from other brands. So this workflow is as good as the Combo ADC itself no better no worse.
In principle, all Panasonic models that have an HDMI output are suitable so the DMR-EX98V should be ok
.
This workflow type also allow people that are not yet comfortable with tweaking settings , adjusting levels, getting the right cables and connections or in general providing the optimal environment for their workflow, to work more easily and get more uniform and better quality results in the short term. It allows also to bypass the need of a full frame tbc that do cost fortunes and are in short supply.

I have used in the past a Panasonics DMR-EH65 with good results
Pana DMR-ES35(VHS) Svideo/Component or JVC HR-S9500 (SVHS) ->svideo> ->DMR-EH65->Hdmi->splitter-> Magewell Pro HDMI->VDub2-> Lossless File
Also direct analog Magewell captures ( Pro HDMI card) with also good results
Now I’m using an ensemble Designs brighteye 3 and brighteye 75 with slightly better results (however these are more expensive devices if not bought used).

If used as players Panasonics VHS section of these combo units provide simultaneous video signal through composite, svideo , component and HDMI outputs, audio simultaneous in analog (RCA) and digital (S/PDIF).
In the player the component output sometimes provides more stable and better signal. . The video should be captured in the native format SD 720x576 interlaced. Deinterlacing and upscale if needed are better done in post-production
The HDMI interface ( USB /PCIe) for transfer purposes does not in principle affect the quality and HDMI does provide a stable video source, however a good card is always important namely because the best cards have a series of features that can be quite useful.
Magewell and Blackmagic are good cards for this use as the source is stable and a tbc is not needed. I do have and have used cards from both brands without any problem but I do prefer the Magewell not for this particular workflow but because is more flexible for other uses as well. Related to the blackmagic the Magewell is a lot more tolerant to noise and unstable video signals, provides full info about the incoming video stream, you can change , aspect ratio, color format, quantization , deinterlacing, AR conversion, do cropping, video scaling, color space change, frame rate change, etc. In terms of color space/formats you have a vast array of 8 bit and 10 bit formats to choose from, as for image size you have also a large number of presets and if you are not satisfied you can define your own image size. You can have any instances, unlimited capture streams with independent settings for each individual stream. Support of several OS windows 7, 8.1 10, linux ,mac.
The Magewell Pro family and the Pro capture hdmi is a good choice if 4K is not needed, the AIO version if more inputs are needed ( SDI , DVI, VGA).
They are PCIe gen 2 cards (400 MB/s per channel DMA bandwidth) based on Analog Devices ADV7842 chipset and a Xilinx Artix-7 FPGA do support composite, svideo, component, RGB and HDMI, 2048x2160 pixels, 12 bit ADC, customized EDID, up to 8-channel audio streams ( up to 32 bit 192 khz), Full 10-bit video processing, support for DirectGMA( AMD)/ GPUDirect( Nvidia). 268 MB high speed buffer memory. If the environment is correctly set they will not lose or insert frames in direct analog video capture even with unstable signals. Very stable drivers , quite good support.

You can easily buy at amazon UK, DE SP , at online European retailers as https://www.streamingvalley.nl/ or local dealers.
HDMI splitters to overcome HDCP are not difficult to find also some HDMI2HDMI+audio deembedder work fine for this purpose.

[oln]

They are PCIe gen 2 cards (400 MB/s per channel DMA bandwidth) based on Analog Devices ADV7842 chipset and a Xilinx Artix-7 FPGA do support composite, svideo, component, RGB and HDMI, 2048x2160 pixels, 12 bit ADC, customized EDID, up to 8-channel audio streams ( up to 32 bit 192 khz), Full 10-bit video processing, support for DirectGMA( AMD)/ GPUDirect( Nvidia). 268 MB high speed buffer memory. If the environment is correctly set they will not lose or insert frames in direct analog video capture even with unstable signals. Very stable drivers , quite good support.

So does that mean the built-in TBC features of the ADV7842 is enabled in those? That chip has a full-frame tbc if the chip has access to memory, and also a line-tbc type feature (ADLLT).

As for the HDMI capture cards, I've tried the blackmagic intensity shuttle and an avermedia extremecap u3 that I found for cheap used. The avermedia has some weirdness to it, unless manually installing a driver for a different card or using a workaround it has audio issues on win10, and does not support 29.97 fps (only 30) for some reason so it's not ideal for NTSC (which is 29.97, not 30). I've heard other avermedia cards also lack 29.97 so worth making sure. On the flip side some of these avermedia cards are able to evade hdcp with some "tricks", I could only get that to work in the native capture app though which seems to deinterlace and only support h.264. I've had trouble with both cards on virtualdub, found amarectv to work better for this. Blackmagics own software would be fine if not for the fact that on windows they only support like mjpeg or uncompressed as video codecs. Don't get why they couldn't at least use windows installed codecs or something, on mac it's a bit better as you can use prores which with the right settings is pretty much lossless in practice.

Also been a bit curious about the latest video game scaler box thingis, the new retrotink 5x pro seems to have much improved signal stability over the older 2x (which does not work well with VCR sources) and has a separate buffered mode for such purposes, and the upcoming pixelfx morph also notes a film mode with TBC and 3D comb filter as a feature. I suspect these are also based on one of the ADV chips which has some of this built in. I've heard from some people that they were no longer able to purchase analog devices EVAL boards (were asked for a HDCP or HDMI license even though they ordered the version without HDCP support.), these scalers are not too different from how the eval board works.

[Eric-jan]

Capturing progressive from the ES35V looks fine for me using the Intensity Shuttle, i believe the Pro card version does not support progressive in the BMD software,
I must say that i use a MacBookPro which has the advantage to use the ProRes codec, using LT grade, which works fine data stream wise during the capture, in combination with the SSD storage.
But for capturing on windows 10 i could use the Magewell card i guess ? would it also have a setting to capture 576p ?

[FLP437]

So does that mean the built-in TBC features of the ADV7842 is enabled in those? That chip has a full-frame tbc if the chip has access to memory, and also a line-tbc type feature (ADLLT).

I made this same question 4 years ago to Magewell and the answer I got was:

Magewell have chosen not to implement the Advanced time-base correction (TBC) with frame synchronization and 3D comb filter even if these features are integrant part of the ADV7842 ( main card chipset ) and all requirements were met namely memory in excess of 128 MB ( card has 268 MB fast in board memory). We choose instead using the significant amount of memory installed to implement a multiple buffer system that completely avoid lost frames if the transfer speed is enough.


As the interface is PCIe 2.0 (up to 400 MB/s per channel DMA bandwidth) transfer speed is really not a problem and DirectGMA( AMD)/ GPUDirect( Nvidia) eventually helps too for people with graphic cards with large amounts of memory in my case I have a Nvidia with 4GB on board. Related to the 3D Comb I tried using the Snell & Wilcox tests a capture using the composite input and it seems indeed that the 3D comb filter is inactive.

The practical results however do show otherwise ,the card tolerates extremely well noisy or unstable analog sources without dropping or inserting frames, so or some TBC like features still remained or the multiple buffer and GPU direct do work well or it’s the results of the line-tbc type feature (ADLLT), or the info from Magewell is inaccurate. So far in the last 5 years doing this hobby I tested more than 20 capture cards devices and with the exception of the brighteye 3 and 75 that do have an integrated full frame tbc I have not found any card/device that tolerates noisy and unstable analog sources has the Magewell do.
For capturing video 8 from a D8 camcorder I got even best results with the camcorder line tbc off/DNR off.

I am very interested to test the retrotink 5x too, I do have a retrotink 2x and it works fine however for analog video capture the results are not up to the level of this vhs/dvd combo workflow or direct Magewell captures even less to brighteye captures, but can provide better results than cheaper usb grabbers , so far they made a pre serie that sold out immediately it will be only available in larger scale end of june/july. Also an OSSC Pro is coming that can be interesting too. I was not aware of the Pixel FX Morph it seems very interesting too.

[FLP437]

Capturing progressive from the ES35V looks fine for me using the Intensity Shuttle, i believe the Pro card version does not support progressive in the BMD software,

I am sure if you try avisynth QTGMC deinterlacing filter after capturing native deinterlaced you will get better results . However the difference may not be very large and capturing progressive it’s a lot easier as QTGMC as a lot of dependencies and it may take some time to install correctly and use to its fullest.

In the Mac world ProRes format it’s almost a standard however it’s a lossy format even if it does have a light compression and its almost visual lossless . In my case I always capture in lossless formats and if I do want to do heavy restoration even if my final result is 8 bit I do capture SD at 4.2.2 10 bit lossless using utvideo, magicyuv, FFV1 or x264 lossless they do work fine even with a standard HDD (mine have a sustained 200mb/s write speed what is more than enough).

But for capturing on windows 10 i could use the Magewell card i guess ? would it also have a setting to capture 576p ?

Magewell pro family standard versions not 4k cards will accept resolutions presets from 176x120 up to 2048x1536 . However you don’t need to use a preset you can use any value you want.
Width values goes from 64-2048 and with a 2 step increment
Height 64-1536 with 1 step increment
And it doesn´t matter if is interlaced or progressive they will ingest everything. If you can program and use the SDK you can even change the capture window values and position

[Eric-jan]

Thankyou, for a new Windows machine the Magewell card seems like a good option, and.. i don't understand the fear of using ProRes for capturing,(it's a professional standard widely used) there is no visible loss because it's a intraframe compression, instead of interframe compression, which everybody uses in the end, otherwise you keep having very large files, there's a big difference between intra and inter frame compression.

[FLP437]

Personally I have nothing against ProRes , DNxHD or similar formats, as I said they have a slight compression, are usually visually lossless and have an extended use in the broadcast industry.

Video file formats are sometimes classified depending on its use, in three main segments
Digital Masters- usually the best possible quality and as raw as possible - uncompressed and lossless files fit in this category

Mezzanine (or intermediate) files usually files with very light compression visually lossless, that are smaller and significantly reduce the resources needed in post-production without significantly affecting the final quality and that do allow a normalization of different original raw formats – usually ProRes ,DNxHd formats fit here

Compressed Delivery formats- files to output for distribution/final use usually H.264/MPEG-4 AVC / HEVC/H. 265 files fit in this category.
Basically it's all about bitrate that will model size and quality.

There is nothing wrong capturing in ProRes namely if anyone as limited resources. However VHS , video8 and similar formats are low resolution and noisy, also most of times tapes are not in optimal condition so losing a bit here and a bit there you are finishing to have in the end losses that are visually perceptible. If heavy restoration is needed the initial compression can also affect more significantly the process.
But each one according to the resources he has and his degree of demand should define what is best for him, do not exist a rule that fits all.
In my case I have the resources and I don’t care about the file sizes so I do my digital masters in the best possible quality 4.2.2 10 bit lossless files, 95% will say its overkill, I don’t care.

[Eric-jan]

Yeah, and the last thing you mentioned is not available for most users, most of the time, a lot of users think they do okay with a cheap pc, and a usb dongle, while you need speed and cpu power, and lots of storage space, for lossless capturing, my guess is i would fail at lossless capturing on my MacBookPro, or have too much dropped frames, over a period of 1 hour.

[dellsam34]

@FLP437 Capturing from HDMI is not a bad idea but someone who is not aware it can lead to problems, Unlike SD SDI which is governed by a unique standard (D1, the constitution of video capturing), HDMI is very loose when it comes to video capturing, because it's a modern display port and have gone thru a lot of standards, versions and revisions. It all depends on what HDMI capture chip (analog to digital -ADC) and what HDMI interface used (HDMI to HDD). Legacy devices made for analog formats from back in the day such as DVD/VHS combo, some DVD recorders, some media players/DVR's, Analog to HDMI converter can indeed follow the D1 standard, But these modern Chinese analog to HDMI converters and HDMI to PC capture devices don't follow any standard for SD, It can be anything, 480p, 720p, 1080p anamorphic, de-interlaced, encoded on the fly, color space changed on the fly ....etc

Keep in mind that SDI is a video port made a display port for convenience (just like firewire), HDMI is a display port made a capture port for convenience.

So yes HDMI route can be as good as SDI route or the very old fashion way of PCI and USB capturing but only if one knows what he is doing and what equipment to get.

[Eric-jan]

My idea was, that HDMI mainly was made for protection of video content, and for the consumer market, the Chinese devices have most of the time "no calling" to any protection,
I think it is just too easy to say to any layman: use HDMI and it will work, you need use cases, or good research of the devices specs/versions. i guess i'm saying the same in that case....