Sidekick

[Mark Schlicher]

re: cross-conversion, it makes sense that it does no transcoding to different codecs. So cross-conversion is an inaccurate term.

 

But are both the HDMI and HD-SDI outputs active at all times regardless of input source like some other units? If so, a very useful feature for my potential applications.

 

EDIT: from the BM FAQ:

 

"all outputs are available when recording or playing back. For instance, you can record SDI but preview on both the SDI and HDMI outputs."

 

What is still unclear to me is whether this works when you are neither recording nor playing back...ie., just using it to pass signals. Seems like it should, but would love confirmation.

[Sydney Seeber]

The Hyperdeck Shuttle to me at this point is a curiosity. Until there are some serious field reports on it, I'm not going near it, despite it being cheap.

 

-Andrew

I got one a few weeks ago. Far and away my biggest problem isn't with Blackmagic, rather it's the data coming out of the HDMI ports on various cameras. Bottom line, you never know what you're gonna get. It works with some cameras, still others only export 1080i through HDMI but 1080p to internal media. Other cameras export a shitty, probably intentionally downgraded signal... Jagged edges and whatnot. And then there's a couple that just don't work at all with the Blackmagic. SDI is absolutely the best option.

[Mark Schlicher]

Just got off the phone with Blackmagic and am passing on the info.

 

Loopthrough is available on both outputs, regardless of the input. Must press "stop" to activate loopthrough.

[William Demeritt]

Eric, what size SSD do you use in your BlackMagic? How much recording time do you get out of it? As prices of SSD's drop, my preference of the Atomos Samurai (as of yet unreleased) over the BlackMagic is slowly skewing just based on cost. Recording time and the affect of 4400rpm spinning platters inside 2.5" HDD's also plays into the decision.

 

... it's the data coming out of the HDMI ports on various cameras. Bottom line, you never know what you're gonna get.

 

I think the bottom line should be that HDMI should never be used in a professional environment for video acquisition with any intention for post production. I really can only see recording off HDMI if I'm trying to record footage for quick playback, or I want to take footage home with me. Otherwise, HDMI is a nightmare best left for the consumer world.

[Andrew Stone]

That's great Eric that you have got it up and running. Of all the people I have heard TALKING about it you are the first person, I have seen, with an actual usage report. I've been waiting for this.

 

Despite your confident dismissal about the SSD degrading over time/usage issue, it is an issue. There are tools out there to defrag them to keep them running in an optimal manner but you have to be on top of this. I don't believe you can do this in the unit but have to do the defrag on your PC/Mac. Probably won't matter in your case but if someone was using this in production as a recorder to capture production footage and frame are dropped, it is an issue. RAW 422 10 bit material does push the limits of a single SSD drive. The Convergent Design people have been wrestling with this issue in developing their new SSD based recorder and have developed defrag routines to keep the drives running at full strength.

 

Optimal performance is key for SSDs to capture flawlessly. Down the road it could become an issue.

 

Did you make your cables Eric?

[Andrew Stone]

Clarification in my post above. "RAW" should read "uncompressed".

[Thomas Karlsson]

That's great Eric that you have got it up and running. Of all the people I have heard TALKING about it you are the first person, I have seen, with an actual usage report. I've been waiting for this.

 

Despite your confident dismissal about the SSD degrading over time/usage issue, it is an issue. There are tools out there to defrag them to keep them running in an optimal manner but you have to be on top of this. I don't believe you can do this in the unit but have to do the defrag on your PC/Mac. Probably won't matter in your case but if someone was using this in production as a recorder to capture production footage and frame are dropped, it is an issue. RAW 422 10 bit material does push the limits of a single SSD drive. The Convergent Design people have been wrestling with this issue in developing their new SSD based recorder and have developed defrag routines to keep the drives running at full strength.

 

Optimal performance is key for SSDs to capture flawlessly. Down the road it could become an issue.

 

Did you make your cables Eric?

 

A minor clarification; Andrew I think you mean “Trim the SSD” which is something completely different than a Defrag. Typically you don't want to defrag a SSD as such operation will shorten its lifespan, cost unnecessary write cycles, and doesn't add any value to its performance due to how a SSD actually works at low level. All modern O/S will disable the defrag option for a SSD so it’s the Trim* feature you want and need. The Trim command basically tells the drive that a memory block is available and can be zero'd out while the drive is still being used by the system. This way the write performance will be on top all the time. A drive without Trim support will after some time usually have a huge write performance hit, usually in the range of 50% to 60% less write performance based on my own experience, but only during the second and forward write cycles of that specific block. Of course Trim must be present in both the actual drive and the operating system or by using a 3rd party tool. For instance Intel has a tool for their Trim supported drives if you are running XP or Vista as those systems don't support Trim natively.

 

*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRIM

 

//Thomas

This post was written on a machine with a SSD and Trim support :-)

[Sydney Seeber]

 

I think the bottom line should be that HDMI should never be used in a professional environment for video acquisition with any intention for post production. I really can only see recording off HDMI if I'm trying to record footage for quick playback, or I want to take footage home with me. Otherwise, HDMI is a nightmare best left for the consumer world.

While the HDMI connector itself is a terrible option as far as connectors are concerned, there are entirely too many cameras out there that send relatively uncompressed video through this port to ignore it. Since most if not all of these cameras natively record to compressions of epic proportions such as AVCHD and HDV, trying to work with the HDMI signal is absolutely worth the trouble in my opinion. There may not be a standard, but the signal is always much cleaner, richer and with noticeably less artifacting. I don't include HDSLR cameras in that, but there's a possibility that may change in the near future.