Intensity Pro 4K with Panasonic GH4 failure

I'm trying to capture at UHD resolutions with a Panasonic GH4 on an Intensity Pro 4K capture card. It works fine at all resolutions below 1080p60, but anything above that fails to auto-detect in Black Magic Desktop Video, and also results in a black screen in Media Express.

I've tried two different Pro 4Ks, two different Intel chipsets (Z97 and Z170), and two different operating systems (Windows and Linux) with Desktop Video 10.5.

I know that the GH4 is outputting a valid signal because it successfully outputs to two different 4K TVs.

No matter what settings I choose in Media Express (2160p24, 2160p30), all captures are always black. A cursory search shows numerous reports of this on the forums. I have yet to find a single instance in which somebody actually reported this combination working.

Has ANYONE been successful at capturing 4K with the GH4 and the Intensity Pro 4K?

This is a real shame because I have FOUR of these things that are now looking to get returned...

It doesn't work.
This has been reported to BM technical, although they claim they can't reproduce it with their GH4 and the IP4K. The GH4 does seem to work with other BM cards though so I'm not sure what the difference is between the cards

I've also forwarded to them that it does it with the newer GH4R

This is just about the most frustrating thing ever.

I've been back and forth with Blackmagic support for the last two weeks and they have strung me along continuously, claiming that this "should work," and that I merely have the wrong settings on the GH4.

I've tried the GH4 directly hooked up to external UHD monitors and they work perfectly. I've also tried three different cables. None of these work for UHD capture on the Intensity Pro 4K.

I've tried every single combination of MediaExpress settings and Desktop Video settings that I can find.

This simply does not work.

Where is Blackmagic engineering? Why, nearly almost one year after release of this card, is this still broken?

I'm using 5 of these cards for prototyping a new product and I can not in good conscience recommend Blackmagic products to anyone given the lack of support.

It's definitely the IP4K, we can use the same GH4 and GH4R and plug it into an Ultrastudio 4K and Decklink 4K cards and it works fine.

Thanks Adam,

In the meantime, do you have a recommendation on a 4K UHD source that does work with these cards?

I am now looking at a Sony A7Rii or Sony A7S, but if the IP4K won't record, then I have no need for these ridiculously expensive cameras...

Have you tried older drivers?

I'm in the exact same situation trying to capture UHD video from a GH4 to the Intensity Pro 4K card (see my cry for help here on this forum a while ago). Since then nothing has changed: 10.4 is the newest driver that works.
I've noticed that along with the update to 10.4.1 there is also an update to the card's firmware and there could be the reason why it stops working.
I would prefer to have a newer driver than 10.4 because deep color output was introduced with 10.4.1 only.

Regarding DeckLink cards. I have here an obviously early specimen of a DeckLink 4K Extreme which needs even older drivers to work (UHD from GH4, that is), namely 9.9.6.

Wolfgang

Yes, installing the 10.4.0 driver will enable you to capture 4K video from the GH4. Unfortunately it will also lock the card's fan at full speed once again.

Hi Wolfgang,

I will try the older drivers, thanks. If it works with older drivers, then we know that the hardware is in fact capable of capturing the signal. Hopefully BM will fix their drivers in the next version.

Hi Troy,

That sounds like very good news.

Could you specify what UHD/4K resolution you have been able to grab from the GH4 ?

Pal or NTSC (25f fps or 30) ?

Thanks,
Jeff

Hello Jeff,

I have only tested 4K (3840x2160) at 24p and 10-bit 4.2.2 but am quite confident that other frame rates will also work. I will attempt to capture DCI 4K, along with various other frame rates later today.

Thank you,

Troy

Desktop Video 10.5.1 is out today.

Does it work with the GH4 ?

Jeff

I will be able to test a GH4 with the Intensity Pro 4k next week for 4K capture.

Adam, does this now work with 10.5.2 ?

Or as per Troy's message, is the only way to get it to work is to use 10.4.0

Thanks.

Jeff

Nope, still doesn't work. have been in touch with the higher ups at BM technical and they are looking in to it.

Thanks Adam.

Have you been able to reproduce Troy's success with 4k acquisition and version 10.4.0 ?

Jeff

P.S. Panasonic has announced that they want to introduce 8k in consumer cameras in 2017

Not sure if I tried 10.4.0, I did go back to 10.3.7 and 10.4.1, but not 10.4.0

Adam, I don't understand.

Have you been able to grab 4k (or UHD) from the GH4 with the Intensity Pro 4K using ANY version of BM software (10.3.7, 10.4.1 or any other version) ?

Thanks.
Jeff

No, I've never managed to get it to work

I had the opportunity to test a GH4 with the Intensity Pro 4k.

It did not work with 10.5.2

With 10.4, it did not work with 24fps or 30 fps but it DID work with 25 fps in UHD !

When installing 10.4.0, I had to accept a software upgrade that pops-up but this did not change the software version (maybe a firmware upgrade ?)

In Desktop Video Utility, the signal is recognized as UHD.

In Blackmagic Media Express, I have a stable color image. It says it is UHD.

I am testing all this to receive the video stream in 4k into a special software through Directshow.

But when I select BlackMagic WDM capture (10.4), I don't have any resolution above 1080p in the dropdown list !

I then installed 10.5.2. - > 4K not working anymore but all 4k and UHD resolutions are avaible in BlackMagic WDM capture dropdown list.

It's taking a long time to fix this. This card is out now for nearly 10 months. I hope a solution will come quickly.

Jeff

"Desktop Video 10.5.3 Update" is out.

Will this version finally fix this problem ?

I don't have the GH4 anymore to test. Sorry.

Jeff

Didn't have a chance to test it before leaving work for the holidays, but I doubt it as BM will have to get a GH4 that it doesn't work with. They borrowed one from Panasonic a while back and it worked with that one, so first they have to get one that it fails with

Thanks Adam.

I also got a message from tech support saying that Directshow is no longer supported on this product.

It doesn't sound good...

Any news ? Any success ?

Version 10.5.4 is out today.

Still doesn't work. I tested with GH4 version 2.3 firmware and Desktop Video 10.5.4

I wouldn't hold my breath.

is there any difference in quality if i record a clip in 4k and then convert to 1080p, versus just using the built in 4k-1080p downsample in the HDMI settings on the GH4?

I suppose that would depend on the software converter you use

Ok, ,I now have my own GH4.

I cannot capture any signal above "1920 x 1080p @ 60 fps"

I tried all the available resolutions, frame rates and formats:

30 (NTSC 59.94 hz), 25 (PAL 50 hz)& 24 fps (24 h cinema)

AVCHD / MP4 /MOV

3840 x 2160
4096 x 2160

Nada, nothing !

I just also upgraded to Windows 10 just in case some miracle would take place. But no.

It's hard to understand that it was working previously (but without the 4k resolutions in directshow) and not after.

It's time the development team fix this issue once and for all. Since it was partially working in version 10.4 (only at 25 fps in UHD).

FWIF, I purchased a small external 4k hdmi capture device that plugs into USB 3.0 and I was able to capture 4k with it from the GH4 on my laptop. The problem is that it not working for the moment on my main machine. A USB 3.0 driver problem.

Jeff

It's a known issue that the IP4K doesn't capture from GH4's at 3840x2160, and it won't do 4096x2160 as it's not supported, so no surprise those don't work. I've tried every driver from 10.3.7 to 10.5.4 and never got it to capture any UHD at any framerate

As per my previous message:

"With 10.4, it worked with 25 fps in UHD

In Desktop Video Utility, the signal is recognized as UHD. Same in Backmagic Media Express.

But when I select BlackMagic WDM capture (10.4), I don't have any resolution above 1080p in the dropdown list !"

Since then, the UHD resolution is available in Blackmagic WDM drop down list, but at the same time the UHD capture from the GH4 is broken.

Is there any hope that they will can correct this ? Since it did work, it's not a hardware issue.

Jeff

And I said, I've never got it to work using any drivers from 10.3.7 to 10.5.4. I've even tested with the GH4R and that has the same problem with all drivers at all frame-rates

Adam,

As Troy Dunn-Higgins first wrote, and tested by myself,
the Intensity Pro 4K version 10.4.0 works in 4k UHD, but the UHD was not available in Directshow which is what I need.

In any case, this can only be resolved by Blackmagic Design.

Are you able to capture a UHD signal with the Intensity Pro 4k from ANY other camera?

I've not tried any other cameras, but I know the GH4 and GH4R both work on other BM cards, I have no issues with the Ultrastudio 4K V2 I've also had it working on some of the 4K Decklink cards as well.

I know that someone also had issues with the Sony PXW-FS7

I can confirm UHD is working with the GH4 on Media Express 10.4 with the following camera settings:

Camera Firmware 2.4
Rec Format: MP4(LPCM)
Rec Quality: 4k 100m 24p
System Frequency: 24.00hz(CINEMA)
HDMI Rec Output:
- Bit Mode: 4:2:2 10bit
- 4k Down Convert: OFF


Other notes:
The cable i was using was a Cable Matters High Speed 25 Foot.
This was on a hackintosh runnning OSX 10.11.3
It only seemed to work reliably if the camera was already on, configured, and connected before launching media express. If media express was already open I'd sometimes get a black screen and have to restart the program.

Now to figure out how to replace this whiny fan.

Same for me, but as mentioned previously, in that version (10.4), the available resolutions with Directshow stops at 1920x1080p. No resolution above.

For my machine vision application, I need a working directshow driver.

What's ironic is that the higher resolutions in directshow were added in the next versions but at the same time the 4k capture was broken (at least with the GH4 but at the same time I have not read about a single person who captured any 4k signal with this card).

We know the card CAN capture 4K.
We know that the software DID capture 4K.

I have written numerous times to tech support about this, but I am not keeping my hopes high.

Yes, the fan noise on version 10.4 is horrible.

Jeff

Is this resolved now?
I am looking to buy the Intensity Pro 4K to go with my GH4. I want to use it with OBS software for Twitch and other streaming platforms. I know people with say you don't need 4K for that. But I need to create multiple 4K video as well and wish to get the max out of my 4K video.