Is the Blackmagic Analog-to-SDI the (only) BM product with a TBC?

[jwillis84]

Don't laugh.

I'm new to 1986 SDI technology.

I think the Analog-to-SDI Converter was launched in 2008.

A new BMD box from 2016 says it was designed for VHS capture from VCRs with a Time Base Corrector.

The capture software it has worked with has ranged from VirtualDub to PowerDirector to SONY Vegas to OBS Studio to AMCap to VLC... and of course the DesktopVideo "Media Express" software.

The usb settings application offers independent control of Y or C, and Audio gain or boost using sliders for Analog balanced or Digital AES.

I'm a little curious about the very old (2010) H.264 Pro recorder.. it seems "designed" to take the SDI output from this TBC enhanced "Converter" and feed that into a USB 2.0 port to a PC.

The colors are really .. subjective judgement, but look real rich and correct to me.

I'm really surprised its still on the market.. hence the question?

Is this the only TBC enhanced product Blackmagic sells that mentions TBC, VHS and VCR all on the same box ?

I'm not recommending anyone seriously look into this if they haven't used the Converter before.

I tended to write BMD off after futzing with the Shuttles.. but learning more about the BMD eco-system has me re-thinking looking at them again.


Anyway.. just curious.

quote:

Convert any Analog Video

Now you can keep analog equipment connected to your latest SDI editing systems and routing switchers. Mini Converter Analog to SDI is small enough to be placed right next to analog equipment and features built in time base correction for unstable analog sources such as VHS players.

[DB83]

You know you can read lines in different ways.

My own interpretation of 'capture from vcrs with a TBC' means that the vcr should already have an internal tbc and that feature is not intrinsic to the BMD


Just my 2 cents (for what it is worth)

[jwillis84]

You know you can read lines in different ways.

My own interpretation of 'capture from vcrs with a TBC' means that the vcr should already have an internal tbc and that feature is not intrinsic to the BMD


Just my 2 cents (for what it is worth)

Yeah I thought about quoting the box.. and then thought.. someone is gonna debate the wording.. and gave up.

I really should just delete the post.

I know several people have gone down this route in the last two years.. and I got a ton of flack for even bring up the subject two years ago and never visited it again until now.

That it worked remarkably well for me.. wasn't without several days of dead ends.. and thinking I had a signal problem, when it was actually a settings problem.

[lordsmurf]

Even if a TBC is claimed, you must understand that "TBC" is a wide term that can mean many things. And many of those will do nothing for capturing consumer analog sources like VHS. Blackmagic is a brand that adopts too much marketing (hype), and not enough facts. It bamboozles lots of low-knowledge users, so don't be one of them. Be savvy.

But no, this is just a dumb box. No TBC.

Even then, the statement is bunk. VCRs with TBC are just line TBC. BM boxes are notorious for dropped frames, and line TBCs don't address that whatsoever. Frame TBCs needed.

[DB83]

Well had you initially quoted the box rather than your own precis of it I could have saved some finger-work.

[jwillis84]

i guess it doesn't matter

[dellsam34]

As far as I know none of Black Magic analog to digital converters have TBC in them, BM boxes are good at one thing, transfer SDI signal into PC via USB 3.0 or PCI, that's it.

The only SDI method that I tried and works better for me than any other capturing method including the vhsdecode (based on the samples posted) is using a studio analog to SDI capture device or converter as the manufacturer would like to call it, Models such as ED BE75, S&W TBS800, GV CVR600AD and their sister models, Those are the only boxes that are built in frame TBC, advanced comb filter for composite, proc amp. some are built in line TBC such as the TBS800 which I wrote about it last year.

I know you want all in one box but that doesn't exist "yet". There are some FPGA designs but require skills to get them to the final product, Also there are eval boards and the SM03 from Singmai but none has USB out.

Other than that using a D1 complaint device like the BE75 with SDI out is better than anything I have tried so far either in quality or OS dependancy, Capturing with SDI using MediaExpress is hassle free, works on any platform, any OS version, no CPU resources wasted since capturing happens inside the hardware, no driver issues, no dropped frames, no audio sync... It just works.

[jwillis84]

"
2011
analog front end

170 MHz 12-bit ADCs enabling true 12-bit video decoding
Proprietary architecture for locking to weak, noisy, and unstable sources from VCRs and tuners
Advanced TBC with frame synchronization, which ensures nominal clock and data for nonstandard input"

gosh i don't want to pursue this

i keep finding stuff that says it does have a TBC and that angers people on forums a lot

[dellsam34]

Well, don't say it until you try it, Any link to that BM card so I can check it out?

The main differences between the ADV7802 and ADV7842 is the addition of HDMI I/O and bandwidth increase from 135MHz to 170MHz, they both feature advanced time-base correction (TBC) with frame synchronization, nice 3D comb filter, DNR, 12bit processing.

[DB83]

Well it is not even clear as to what product this is.

I see nothing available on Amazon.uk. There are several on Amazon.us with prices ranging from <$200 to <$500


Not that I am bothered but just to quote the OP


"Anyway....just curious"

[dellsam34]

Yeah, BM made a lot of devices throughout the years, keeping track of them is impossible since they quickly drop support for their products like they never existed, But as far as I know none is suitable for consumer formats even the famous, supposedly "VHS friendly" the Intensity Shuttle.

The chips linked above in my post are used by most capture devices especially in the pro devices. Everything is on the chip.

[jwillis84]

ok..

this is a photo of my blackmagic "mini analog to sdi converter"

the chip and the external tbc frame buffer memory are the majority of the functional chips

the xilinix Spartan is just an ARM processor for general traffic management



the TBC is flexible, it can be changed from "a line tbc" to a "frame tbc" with a single bit, or turned off

its pretty much a one chip wonder

Analog Devices only started making them in 2011 (announced at the NAB in 2008)and blackmagic only announced this product was for sale in in 2013, it is still sold new today - so it had the benefit of years of prior experimentation and expiring patents.. and only started to be manufactured "After the 2009" NTSC to ATSC transition in the US .. it had additional benefits of seeing what came before and did not address the market

Also of major note is the chip used in the black magic Intensity shuttles is not the same.

They used the ADV7604 in the Intensity shuttle, which famously does not have a time base corrector, but a "noise filter" for sync recovery, but no line tbc and no frame tbc or frame synchronizer. I think this makes sense because the Intensity line of capture devices specialized in HDMI capture as well as SD.. which don't work well together.. a single device can do one or the other.. but not both.. well. I won't devolve into details.. because the reasons are either obvious.. or i'll be corrected as being slightly wrong no matter what I say.. even if the core truth is.. they don't work well together in one device.

I still would not rush out to buy one from Amazon, BHPhoto or an auction site..

My personal experience is there is a tremendous learning curve to setting one up.. and the black magic ecosystem makes a lot of sense.. but being completely new to blackmagic I found it tremendously frustrating to set up. After I started capturing however.. it all made a lot of sense.. its just not 'casual user friendly'.

For example:

The documentation from blackmagic design is minimal, with only connection charts to help you.. and they are somewhat open to interpretation. The usb port is for talking to the ARM processor for orchestrating how a capture will be made, but does nothing once its setup. The lifecycle of the firmware, converter and desktop video releases is bewildering if you haven't been using it for over ten years.. they changed the device driver design half way through its entire life and there are now three device drivers; WDM, Decklink and Audio .. WDM works well with just about anything once the ARM management software has been used to setup the chips to basically perform as a PROC amp.. but they label the traditional black white hue sat.. totally differently. The Analog or Digital amplifier gain is adjusted in a tab. They use TRS style audio connectors instead of XLR or AES.. which is super smart and no one else in the industry seems to have done this.

So if your a broadcast engineer you will hate this box, if your a consumer you will hate this box.. it doesn't conform to anyone's norms except blackmagic.. and even within that group it stands out as "odd".

The ADV7842 is what shocked me.


ADV7842 : Hardware User Guide UG-214

pg142 / 504 pages

FRAME SYNCHRONIZATION (FRAME TIME BASE CORRECTION)

The frame synchronizer block in the ADV7842 provides stable timing information and stable clock frequency in the event of irregularities on the input signal. These irregularities include items such as VCR head switches, extra lines in a frame, too few lines in a frame, non standard input frequency, or interrupted field sequence that occur during VCR trick mode inputs and during input channel changes. Nominal 480i/576i H/V/F and/or CCIR-656 type timing and data is output from the system under all conditions. Figure 57 provides a block diagram for the system.

Input video is decoded in the decoder core to component YPrPb (or equivalent) with associated HSync, VSync, and field signals. The time base correction (TBC) control block writes YPrPb data to the frame memories in the external SDRAM. The TBC control block synthesizes H, V, and F timing signals with nominal 480i/576i timing and reads YUV data from the frame memories based on nominal timing signals generated using a fixed frequency clock. This fixed frequency clock is also used to clock data out of the ADV7842. The fixed frequency clock is user programmable but is intended to operate at 13.5 MHz, 27 MHz, or 54 MHz depending on the chosen output format.

The external SDRAM memory is used to provide storage for fields of data.

The frame synchronization controls are described below.

---

I can see the Cypress USB interface chip in the lower left corner.. but I don't see the SDI encoder.. its either on the bottom of the circuit board.. or the ARM processor is performing that function.

Also.. once its SDI signal is output.. you still have to "capture" the video to a file.. which means you need an SDI capture card.

Black magic makes SDI capture cards.. they call them "recorders". I have used the single lane PCIe "mini recorder" on Windows 7, and the Thunderbolt 2 "mini recorder" on a Macbook Pro running Lion.

Setting those up is also not straight forward to a person new to the blackmagic way of doing things.

The "converter" software talks to the "mini analog to sdi converter".

Then the "desktop video installer" installs a port selector either in the control panel of windows, or the start menu depending on which version of the years and years of releases your using. They completely re-designed the management and capture software over the years.. installing a new one revamps everything.. and the documentation is ?

The documentation is like it was written by programmers who have lost touch with what it is like to not be familiar with their assumptions.

Its like a single page in a catalog, or a quick start sheet.. and that's it.

Its really not an easy product range to get use to if you have a short temper or little patience for feeling lost.

But once I got all the pieces in place and working.. the pictures were good.. stable.. and pretty nice.

They also have this paradigm where you "configure" the device and flip a dip switch to save the settings on the device when its dettached from a usb port for field work.. which feels "odd".

The H.264 encoder device is a whole other animal.. there are very few similarities.

Without an encoder.. the "mini analog to sdi converter" and "mini recorder" provides a Windows WDM interface to your capture programs.. or to the provided Media Express software.. which runs on Windows or Mac.

The Decklink device driver seems to not be a ksproxy mini driver and operates outside the windows kernel somehow.. I'm not an expert.. it seems after more than a decade they are still using it for Media Express.. but other than VLC or OBS.. its a bit harder to use.

When SONY Vegas was breaking up and eventually got sold to Magix.. SONY had wrestled control over testing from black magic and they seemed to let the decklink capture in Vegas break from SONY Vegas 10 through 13. SONY Vegas 9 appears to work.. and release notes seem to suggest after Magix took over Vegas releases they fixed the decklink integration in Vegas 14.. but I have not been able to test that.

i don't know what to think about it,, there is this forum history and lore that says this is a terrible device.. but that's not been my experience.

i don't know how to reconcile that.. so i'm walking away from it for a while

i just don't want to get yelled at anymore for a while


ADV7604 ("Intensity Shuttle Video decoder")

ENHANCED STANDARD DEFINITION PROCESSOR

The ESDP is designed to provide robust synchronization separation capability for component video input modes that are likely to have an unstable time base. These are component signals that have originated from CVBS signals such as noisy/weak RF signals or VCR signals with head switches. The ESDP is available for SD (480i, 576i) and ED (480p, 576p) component video input modes with embedded synchronization because these are most likely to suffer from timing impairments.

The ESDP contains circuitry for identifying characteristics of the input signal, and these are then used within the device to automatically configure it optimally for different inputs. It uses digitally controlled analog clamping to maximize the range of the video signal within the ADC. This effectively compensates for the poor signal quality that may be present on the input.

---

Clamping and Autogain.. is a bit like using AGC on component or Y/C video.. its a stab in the dark.. i can't imagine how it would lock onto or hold an unstable signal without at least a PLL. I noticed that AJA and Atomos also produced Analog to SDI boxes around the same time.. but strongly worded that "no vtr signals can be captured without an external time base corrector" in their manuals. They did not mince words. I have not had the privilege of looking inside an AJA or Atomos device.. but I wonder about the chips they use.

[DB83]

It was just a simple Q. that wanted a simple answer.

So here's another one. Is it THIS ?


https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005VNE85Y/ref=ask_ql_qh_dp_hza


And do read the 1st review.

[dellsam34]

I believe that's the one, I had it before but never knew it had a TBC built in since it was very cheap used like $20, Ended up selling it and getting the BE75, But I think Jwillis is making the use of them more complicated than what it actually is, For SD AVI there isn't much to tweak really, The USB control port is where you see all the parameters since that box doesn't have a front panel control/display like other pro capture devices, some use ethernet port for ftp control menu. What's in the menu is basically proc amp including audio gain control, TBC ON/OFF, Comb filter ON/OFF. everything else should be off or grayed out. SDI to USB part is 100% transparent, Media express automatically detects the video standard and save the stream to hard drive as such, AVI 4:2:2 10bit 720x576 for PAL/SECAM, and 720x486 for NTSC, 48Khz/24bit for audio.

System on the chip works pretty well, the only people that tell you doesn't work are the ones never tried it, I've been using these devices for few years now and end users are very happy with the results.

[jwillis84]

I would be willing to believe the reviewer.

Except:

1. He says it has worked successfully for him.

2. Opening the box and looking up the Manufacturers data guide for programming the chip says it has a Time Base Corrector on the first stage.

3. Blackmagic advertised it as appropriate for VHS from VCR capture

4. The Intensity Shuttle "Experiences" cannot be generalized because they use a different chip, which the manufacturer says does not have a a TBC, nor does it have their ADLLT feature in other CVBS chips they make.. (Texas Instruments also used ADLLT in some of thier TVP5100 line up) instead they deliberately made sure the ADV7604 could not work without an external time base corrector.

Magewell also uses ADV chips and has stated in the past on the record when the capture device handles HDMI they have deliberately disabled the TBC function in the XI100USB and other boxes by design. AJA also stated they deliberately disable TBC correction in their products in the first software releases and then gradually reintroduce in in the second or third releases if capable, and they so choose.

I haven't looked at the Blackmagic Decklink SDK.. maybe they do disable the TBC function? It seems rather odd.. especially since the default is on, and this does not capture HDMI.

I'm trying very hard to bend my mind in a pretzel to agree with the "reports" it has no TBC.. then i'm starting to think.. the user didn't finish configuring the video processor before trying to capture and left it .. i don't know.. in a state that turned it off?

i don't like disagreeing with people

i'm just not able to replicate their experience

---

dellsam34

that has been my experience as well.. once its setup, once the recorder card is setup.. it just works

didn't mean to make it sound harder than it is.. but.. i guess i'm low on the IQ scale.. for me.. first timer with blackmagic.. it was very hard.. even compared to the Intensity Shuttles

i even got kind of confused by your summary until i re-read it a few times

first time setting things up, i ran into a lot of firmware problems, blue screens of death, selecting the correct input on the mini recorder because it defaulted to HDMI.. and the selector didn't always consistently "switch".. once it was switched.. it stuck.. but often the software would just not switch.. i would press the button over and over and nothing would happen

the systems on chip also seem to respond to configuration commands slowly.. but once its all switched and setup.. then every power up its already configured and I don't have to do that.. it just snaps right on and starts working

its the initial setup that seems or appears "unstable".. and I don't mean "picture is unstable".. i mean the buttons in the software that you push in windows dialog boxes.. do not seem to always take.. or maybe they bounce back if pressed.. like a double press.

that taken with my inexperience and unfamiliarity of what to expect had me thinking it was a problematic workflow.. but once it was setup up.. it just worked.. and its worked very well ever since.

[dellsam34]

And do read the 1st review.

Is it the one quoted below? If so I think he means line TBC and just didn't know the difference between line TBC and frame TBC:

I have been using this converter for transferring all of my videotapes from my VCRs that have S-VIDEO outputs (using an S-Video Y Adapter cable) . The nice thing about this converter is that you can connect your RCA audio to it (using 1/4 adapters). Also, the audio sync has always been perfect for me using this converter. I then use the SDI out to a field recorder (such as the Blackmagic Video Assist). This allows me to record in PRORES at the highest quality possible. If you want the best possible tape transfers for personal or business needs, this converter is essential as part of the workflow. I've had mine for 3 or 4 years now and have had no issues. This DOES NOT have a time base corrector (TBC) built into it, so if you want to improve tracking, remove tearing and jitter (and reduce other artifacts) from the tape, you will need to obtain a TBC separately.

[DB83]

That is the review.

Now I regard myself as a typical user. I would NEVER open a closed box just to see what it has (not that I would even understand what I saw even if I did)


A typical user relies on manufacturer documentation either in the package or directly linked to from the package. And even with relatively simple devices such as capture cards I have known these to have chips but not all the potential features of the specific chip - PAL60 support for example - were enabled.


Of course it is always possible that the unit our friend has is actually internally different to the one reviewed. I do find it strange that a reviewer states 'No TBC' when the write-up on the box suggests differently.

[dellsam34]

I prefer line TBC to be in the playback machine, Never really liked line TBC outside the VCR or the camcorder, not to mention that an external line TBC can never performs as the one inside the player in most cases, yes I know there are special occasions with special tapes where the line TBC has to be turned off.

[oln]

4. The Intensity Shuttle "Experiences" cannot be generalized because they use a different chip, which the manufacturer says does not have a a TBC, nor does it have their ADLLT feature in other CVBS chips they make.. (Texas Instruments also used ADLLT in some of thier TVP5100 line up) instead they deliberately made sure the ADV7604 could not work without an external time base corrector.

I thought the intensity shuttle thingies used an ADV728x which does feature ADLLT? Though in any case that one doesn't have built-in frame TBC either. It seems blackmagic generally didn't put a lot of work into the composite/s-video part of those given how they react to bad signals, like they give a blank screen out way easier than even a $5 chinese usb dongle. Idk to what extent that's due to the programming of the microcontroller/FPGA in them, drivers or the hardware setup.

Afaik the ADV784x also require some extra memory for some of their features so as you note it depends a bit on how they're set up hardware-wise as well. Does the analog to SDI thing have a lot of settings you can alter? On the intensity shuttles there is usually not a lot the drivers let you change other than inputs and input format and levels.

[jwillis84]

Got an idea.

The box has a set of dip switches. One of which is SMPTE or Betacam Levels. I don't know this for sure.. but Betacam was apparently known for needing an external TBC.

Perhaps Blackmagic conflated or partnered the TBC function with one or the other "defaults" for this switch.

My dip switch settings were default from the factory set to Betacam levels..

I've never set this one switch otherwise. The limited documentation made it very hard to figure out how to set the dip switches to accept S-Video in on the Component BNC connectors.

So I had to angle a cell phone flashlight beam to find the "ON" symbol on the edge of the dip switches. This is also another step that made it hard to figure out how to set it up.. beyond all the software dependencies and software configuration.

I'm proposing that if someone got the switch settings set the other way.. they may end up switching the TBC function "off"

The alternative dip switch setting is SMPTE levels.

In the Analog Audio world SMPTE is known for producing very noisy signals unless highly filtered, it seems to be preferred for Broadcast standards and used only with low noise balanced connections.

I don't know what it is in the Analog Video world, but it seems associated with transmitting Timecodes with high fidelity.. again suggesting expecting a very precise and accurate input signal.

So

if SMPTE is "loosely" interpreted as keyword for "Broadcast quality"

if Betacam is "loosely" interpreted as keyword for "VCR or VHS quality"

and the TBC is turned "off" for SMPTE the TBC is turned "on" for Betacam

That might explain the varying user experience.

I did track down an older boxed release of the same device (different package style).. and it has the exact same quote that says it is capable of capturing VHS player video.

Someone said these "simple?" converters for SDI were of good quality but only worked with "Broadcast" quality signals.

AJA and ATOMOS and others in the "pure" broadcast supplier area seem very proud to call out they pass TLC time codes and adhere to raw unfiltered pass-thru.

I'm beginning to think for this one device Blackmagic simply made the TBC a "feature" rather than disabling it altogether.

Analog Devices made the chip, they designed the TBC function into it.. not Blackmagic.

I also found a more recent datasheet that says the "proprietary" business they include with the TBC is indeed the ADLLT algorithm.. which is just another way of saying they do line level stretching and compression when necessary to align the horizonal scan lines and eliminate "Waviness" or "Swimlanes" in the Vertical.

it almost seems Blackmagic was embarrassed by the TBC function and didn't capitalize on it being there except for the small blurbs from 2013 and they just left it in

Analog Devices seems to want to chat about anything "but" its over designed SDP section, and begrudgingly mentions the TBC component

except in the hardware implementers programming guide

[Cornucopia]

@jwillis84, you are conflating Betacam with Betamax. Betacam (and its big brother Betacam SP) is a high quality, professional, broadcast SD component format. Betamax, OTOH, is a consumer, composite with color-under format equivalent to VHS.

Betacam can certainly make use of a TBC, but you are wrong in thinking that it needs or requires it. In my work at the production company that I was at for almost 2 decades, we captured hundreds if not thousands of Betacam and BetaSP tapes direct to our AVID digital system - with NO TBC. We had two in the machine rack, but those were patched in and used only when needed, and they WEREN'T needed for the normal kind of digitization & capture you are referring. TBCs would be needed for Betamax tapes, the same that is almost a requirement for VHS tapes.

If it says (on device or in docs) "SMPTE" vs "Betacam" LEVELS, those levels are most likely having to do with setup levels (aka black level). In SMPTE it should be 7.5IRE. Not sure why they use "Betacam" in this context as IIRC Betacam was also switchable between SMPTE and Japanese levels (NTSC) of 0 IRE.

You are also misinformed about Analog Audio in the SMPTE world. Analog audio as specified by SMPTE is Low impedance, Balanced, XLR which is historically very LOW noise. Unlike consumer audio (RCA/phono, or 1/4", 1/8" phone which is unbalanced).

I think what you are conflating is that:
1. It is regular practice on systems that have only 2 channels of audio, and whose systems require use of Longitudinal SMPTE timecode but have no dedicated timecode track, for that SMPTE LTC to be laid down on one of the 2 audio tracks (usually ch2).
2. When played back on deck that don't have great inter-track isolation (bad interchange, lower quality deck, deck in need of servicing), it is not uncommon for there to be some interchannel crosstalk. Aka bleedthrough. So the SMPTE LTC timecode bleeds into the normal audio channel (ch1), with the binary coding structure that is used, this will cause a bit of high frequency chirpy vibration. But not much, unless one accidentally chooses to capture directly the timecode itself rather than the audio. In that instance, it is quite loud - close to 0dB full scale (on purpose).
3. HighFreq Filtering of a bled-through ch1 would help a little, but would also slightly muffle the audio.
4. This also occurs with 8-, 16-, 24- and 32-track analog Audio master tape recordings. In those scenarios, however, it has always been a best practice to leave a blank track between the edge track (usually the one used for SMPTE LTC) and the normal audio tracks. And because those formats all have a larger count of tracks, they can usually afford to "waste" a track for use as a guard band. Doing it thus, there is no bleedthrough.
5. Many/Most modern video decks that are capable of using SMPTE timecode are also capable of using not just Longitudinal TC (LTC) but also vertical interval timecode (aka VITC). VITC is encoded within the Video signal similar to the way Closed Captioning is done. As such, workflows that use SMPTE VITC have little need for SMPTE LTC because they serve a near duplicate function - the only difference being that LTC can be read while fast winding, while VITC cannot, and VITC can be read in freeze-frame while LTC cannot, and VITC has more capacity for user bits/data, though it is almost never utilized beyond what LTC is capable of.


I hate to say it but I think that most of what you referred to there iin that last post is a bit of a red herring.



Scott

[jwillis84]

Wow.. your post really seemed to take offense.

I did not mean to sabotage or hurt the reputation of Betacam or Betamax.

I do understand they are high quality and extremely Broadcast quality equipment that no consumer should ever be allowed to touch.

On the majority comment about audio.. same there.. sorry.. I apologize.

I'm a low life consumer video capture person.. trying to figure out how or if this cheap capture box really does what is claimed instead of attack the church of broadcast video.

I don't really see however anything you said says it invalidates my original focus however.

That the SMPTE / Betacam switch might be used for turning the tbc off or on.


.. i get it though.. i'm digging myself into a hole.

i should just go away.

I've unsubscribed from the thread.. so i don't cause any more trouble.

[dellsam34]

I don't think you are disagreeing with each other, jwillis was just guessing to what those dip switches functions are.

I believe the SMPTE <> Betacam dipswitch is strictly for levels, When switched to SMPTE there is two more options, 7.5IRE or 0IRE since betacam don't have those options, it has nothing to do with TBC, The pro devices I have do have the buttons for SMPTE/Betacam as well as TBC ON/OFF.

Audio input on those 1/4" plugs is balanced (Hot/cold/ground), if you look inside the PCB you'll see 3 tabs going to 3 solder joints.

[Cornucopia]

I was not "offended", but I didn't want to let you throw that out there without correction, as that is the kind of thing that breeds and spins out into quasi-information ("rumor") which is on the road to misinformation. Newbies have enough trouble as it is trying to traverse this field.

It was just a correction, that's it. Take it as it was given, scientifically. Note I just used terms like "conflate" and "misinformed". That's not anything to get worked up about, especially since you are a self-confessed consumer/hobbyist.
We just want to keep the bar of accuracy high here (well, some of us I guess).

As I said, and dellsam34 concurred, the important term in that switch is levels. Levels don't necessarily have anything to do with the presence of a TBC or not.

But, you hit the nail on the head: that device, and those similar, are strange birds.


Scott

[DB83]

Am I right in thinking that the OP, who appears to have thrown his toys out of the pram, edited his posts after replies to include links to manuals.

Strange tho that these manuals also do not mention the existence of a TBC !!!


In fact the one switch that could have meant something - No 1 - is not even activated per the manual.


The only mention is the box and we have not seen that.

[dellsam34]

That BM device in a nutshell is represented in the diagram attached below copied from its manual, Notice the "Customizable Video Processor" block, it is linked to "Central Processor and Firmware" block, and that block is linked to the dipswitch module, Now look at the dipswitch #1 description in the manual page 74, it says: Switch 1 - Processing Off - Processing On, This switch is not used. Bingo!! So no TBC, Therefore my statement in post #7 is still valid.

Now is anyone capable of writing a firmware to enable the TBC and other goodies? I didn't think so, BM $hit is not open source.

[DB83]

And as I already stated, just because a processor is capable it need not be supported by the actual device (whatever is written on the box)

[companda]

I was looking at the BM A2SDI as a solution for my VHS capturing. I'm fairly new (and ignorant) to capturing, so please forgive me for my lack of knowledge. My question is: Can I use the BM A2SDI to pull the image from my VHS and convert that signal with the BM SDI to HDMI 3G converter into my computer/software program, or am I completely wrong in in thinking this setup is a possibility?

[dellsam34]

Why would you need HDMI? What you need with the above capture device is a SDI to USB 3.0 device.

[jamessoul]

i have a decklink 4k extreme 12g another user asked me to post a sample