Blackmagic Intensity Pro.

[liamb96]

Hey Guys,

I've recently bought a blackmagic intensity pro capture card from blackmagic to capture xbox 360 gameplay:
http://www.blackmagic-design.com/products/intensity/

Tech Specs
http://www.blackmagic-design.com/products/intensity/techspecs/

Now basically the deal with the blackmagic is that you put it inside your computer, but i'm not 100% sure whether my computer specs are good enough to run it. Here they are:

Intel(R)Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E7400 @ 2.80 GHz 2.80 GHz
Installed Memory (RAM): 4.00GB (3.00GB usable)
32-bit operating system
Windows 7 Home Premium
ACPI x86- based PC.

Sorry I'm not too sure about the whole deal with the blackmagic and how your supposed to put it in your PC so yeah, if anyone could please help me I'd appreciate it if they explained this to me =)

[neomaine]

Based on your post, you're going to have a learning curve here in areas that you're probably not used to. But here goes...

You don't have anything about your hard drives in there which is probably more important when capturing video. When (re)encoding the captured video the CPU will be more important, but, your specs look basically fine.

Here is my (son's) setup that I put together for him that seems to work fairly well. Additional hardware is recommended if you want to keep your lag time minimal.

1 - Install the BMIP into you PC per the instructions. If you got an oem drive, go to the BM site and download the user manual and get the latest drivers.

2 - 360 HDMI to an HDMI splitter. There are passive/non-powered and active/powered ones. Pretty sure we have a passive one. Works fine since its such a short run (less than 8ft).

Here's a link to a powered one:
http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=101&cp_id=10113&cs_id=1011301&p_i d=5418&seq=1&format=2

and a passive one:
http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=101&cp_id=10113&cs_id=1011303&p_i d=2522&seq=1&format=2

You can go there for excellent quality and very nicely priced HDMI cables as well:
http://www.monoprice.com/products/subdepartment.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10240

3 - Splitter to BMIP in.

4 - Splitter to 360 display. This can be a separate TV or your PC monitor. There may be special setups here, feel free to ask.

5 - In the BMIP capture software, set the capture software to 720p, MJPEG and output/save/capture to a folder of your choice.

6 - Set your 360 to 720p output. You will notice little to no difference between 720p and 1080p output but it will save you time and space.

7 - Start your game, start recording via the capture software.

8 - Stop your recording. This will create a file in your desired output folder with a size that depends on the length of time and type of game you capture. But overall, will be fairly large. Always keep an eye on available space.

9 - While uploadable, this large file isn't very manageable. I have my son use a program called VirtualDub (you can download here in the Tools section) to re-encode that MJPEG file to a divx AVI file. Keeping the same resolution (1280x720) you can cut down that size by 90%, and more if you only want a short clip of the segment you just captured. I believe I set him up as 1280x720 at a CQ3 (constant quality level 3). I forget what we did with audio. Probably just kept it as is.

(If you get that far, let us know. We can give more details if needed on the re-encoding.)

Note: This was all for an HDMI only setup. The BMIP also does analog capture from component and composite. Quality from composite will be low. Component can be high quality but will require a special setup.

Note: Two hard drives aren't specifically necessary but in the world of video two drives are better, three are preferred.

- OS Drive: OS, Programs, page files...
- Capture Drive: Single defragmented partition to capture video
- Output Drive: Single defragmented partition to send encoded output

The general idea is to read from one drive and write to one drive to avoid disk thrashing and fragmentation. Not only does it allow faster throughput but saves unnecessary wear and tear on the drives. If you'll only be capturing and then encoding small segments of video this becomes less of an issue.

[liamb96]

Thanks heaps for the reply, the main thing is that my specs are ok and that it will work because I'm getting a friend over that will help me put it inside my PC and set everything up.

I'm not really sure how to get all the info on my hard drive but it has a capacity of 700GB..

Thanks again.
Liam.

[edDV]

Thanks heaps for the reply, the main thing is that my specs are ok and that it will work because I'm getting a friend over that will help me put it inside my PC and set everything up.

I'm not really sure how to get all the info on my hard drive but it has a capacity of 700GB..

Thanks again.
Liam.

I highly recommend you install that second internal hard drive while you have the machine open.

[liamb96]

Thanks heaps for the reply, the main thing is that my specs are ok and that it will work because I'm getting a friend over that will help me put it inside my PC and set everything up.

I'm not really sure how to get all the info on my hard drive but it has a capacity of 700GB..

Thanks again.
Liam.

I highly recommend you install that second internal hard drive while you have the machine open.

Is it hard to install a second internal hard drive? And if I do that will the Blackmagic definitely work?

[edDV]

Thanks heaps for the reply, the main thing is that my specs are ok and that it will work because I'm getting a friend over that will help me put it inside my PC and set everything up.

I'm not really sure how to get all the info on my hard drive but it has a capacity of 700GB..

Thanks again.
Liam.

I highly recommend you install that second internal hard drive while you have the machine open.

Is it hard to install a second internal hard drive? And if I do that will the Blackmagic definitely work?

Easy for most desktops. Screw the disk in and connect two cables*. Then format.

For a Core2 Duo, the BMI should work at 720p when the MJPEG codec is used. Don't expect it to capture uncompressed without a RAID.


* Your local BestBuy can do it for a small fee.

[liamb96]

The thing is I'm only going to be recording very small clips at a time, like a max of 2 minutes or so. I have 600GB free on my current hard drive and I don't plan to use 500GB of it. Also what is a RAID? I've heard the term a lot but don't understand it.

[edDV]

The thing is I'm only going to be recording very small clips at a time, like a max of 2 minutes or so. I have 600GB free on my current hard drive and I don't plan to use 500GB of it. Also what is a RAID? I've heard the term a lot but don't understand it.

Once you start capping video, you will quickly fill that space. But space isn't the issue. Throughput is the issue. The first drive is busy with Windows tasks. You will get drops if you try to cap to the OS drive.

A RAID is a parallel set of disks that capture higher bit rates than a single drive can.

You need to decide whether high def is worth it to you. If not, run the XBox standard def and cap with a tuner device with hardware MPeg2 encoder or a DVD recorder.

[liamb96]

Ok, High definition is worth it, I'll get another HDD and install it when I put in the blackmagic.