Blackmagic Design Intensity Pro, Black Frames In Jumpy VHS

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SeeNoEvil

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Blackmagic Design Intensity Pro, Black Frames In Jumpy VHS

PostTue Feb 06, 2018 8:32 am

I've been using a Blackmagic Design Intensity Pro 1080p Capture Card for a few weeks to capture VHS tapes. I'm specifically using this product, as it allows me to capture both PAL PAL-60 & NTSC signals via a variety of inputs, all in one card. I've noticed one little issue and I'm hoping there might be a setting to change this.

When using it to capture a decent quality tape, it does the job perfectly. No problem. I have noticed the card does not display everything put into it. By that I mean it displays a signal when I have a VHS tape playing, but it does not display the blue VCR 'holding' screen when the VHS is stopped, and if a VHS tape is a little degraded, it will black out any frames of jumps or noise. I'm sure the card is doing exactly what it's meant to, but not being able to see the VCR blue screen means I have to plug it into another source in order to change any VCR settings via the on-screen menu, and if I want to capture a less-than-brilliant VHS source, I'm left with bursts & odd black frames throughout?

I'm using the card in a Windows XP PC, with a JVC HR-S7600 S-VHS VCR with TBC, and this issue is the same either via composite or s-video connections. I have also seen this same issue before on a friend's Mac capture rig with a different VCR.
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Patric Favreau

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Re: Blackmagic Design Intensity Pro, Black Frames In Jumpy V

PostWed Feb 07, 2018 2:44 pm

A VCR with built-in TBC is perfect to clean and stabilize the picture, but you also need an external TBC to stabilize the video signal before going into the capture card/device.
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SeeNoEvil

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Re: Blackmagic Design Intensity Pro, Black Frames In Jumpy V

PostWed Feb 07, 2018 3:38 pm

Ah, okay. So having a decent external TBC in between the VCR & Blackmagic card will stop the black frames during sections of degraded video? And what about viewing the VCR menu through the card rather than a separate device?
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Patric Favreau

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Re: Blackmagic Design Intensity Pro, Black Frames In Jumpy V

PostFri Feb 09, 2018 2:57 pm

You won't have black frames, but it's possible that you'll have distorted video course. But it's the way to do it.

For the VCR Menu, it depends on the TBC used. I've try a brand new Toolbox AVT-8710 which have great review normally, I was not able to see the VCR menu from my JVC HR-S9800, and had ghosting issue also..

I don't have the VCR menu or ghosting problem with a Datavideo , FOR.A, Snell-Wilcox, or Big Voodoo TBC.
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Denny Smith

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Re: Blackmagic Design Intensity Pro, Black Frames In Jumpy V

PostFri Feb 09, 2018 5:19 pm

I use a Sony 8-inch CRT pro filed Monitor to loop the Composite Ir SVideo signal through first, you can see the menus and what you are feeding, then connect the monitor loop through out to a SW Kudos TBC, this way you get a reclocked signal via the TBC for the capture card, and can see the menus from the VCR and input signal. I have a spare monitor you can have for $100 plus shipping.
Cheers
Denny Smith
SHA Productions
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Bartoloni

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Re: Blackmagic Design Intensity Pro, Black Frames In Jumpy V

PostThu Jun 01, 2023 5:33 pm

I'm going crazy with these black frames, i can't understad why other cheaper cards (USB or PCI-C) are showing vhs defects without any problem... and also.. why VCR menu' is not displayed ? i have to connect an old TV to the VCR to see the menu....
Please Blackmagic, fix the Intensity PRO and the 4K... i know that ANALOG (PAL o NTSC) are not the main business right now.. but we are close to lost every VHS on the planet, probably on next years will be more users connecting your cards to a VCR that a console.

btw.. i just bought a datavide SE 500 4channel mixer just to have a cheaper (200$) video syncronizer hoping i can see VCR menu' on the media express.. and maybe not loosing too much on SuperVHS input

P.S. anyone know how many horizontal linees (vertical resolution) can handle?
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Eric-Jan

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Re: Blackmagic Design Intensity Pro, Black Frames In Jumpy V

PostSat Jun 03, 2023 8:12 pm

Yes, the cheaper (consumer) USB dongles or (consumer) capture cards are less "picky" capturing (consumer) analog video signals, but that is not always an advantage as you noticed.
As far as i knew, any BMD product can't handle PAL60… only few legal SD video resolutions are supported,
instead Blue holding, is there a option to set this to grey ? for me on a Panasonic combo this works,
A solution to your problem could be: using a Panasonic (PAL) DVD recorder (combo) that has the so called "VHS refresh feature" an EU version will also have SCART, which is handy for connecting a CRT (allways have a visible picture image) or 2nd hand flatpanel TFT/LCD for monitoring.
The VHS refresh feature replaces a TBC, (JVC is overrated for it's "TBC") the VHS refresh feature works on all video-out connections with my DMR-ES35V, it does not playback full SuperVHS quality, it converts to standard quality,
The DMR-ES35V also outputs the VHS deck over RCA component (YUV) video output, which is slightly better than s-video i guess.. this way i don't loose sync when a grey (no tape running) screen is on the video output,
on the scart output, menu setups will always be visible, PAL will be played as PAL and NTSC will be true NTSC, PAL or NTSC needs to be set in advance, There's only an auto-mode for PAL/MESECAM(color) but i don't believe the BMD software has an option for MESECAM, but it's possible that it comes out as PAL anyway..
I used to use the Intensity Shuttle Thunderbold2, but the Analog to SDI mini converter with the BMD (SDI) Video Assist recorder works also perfect, and no dropped/black frames.
Capturing with a computer brings most of the time many issues allong the way, due to incompatebility in hardware or driver/OS software…. old/new M1/M2
Intensity Shuttle, ATEM Mini, Video Assist 5"(mini USB), Hyperdeck ShuttleHD,Analog to SDI mini-converter, software: Davinci Resolve 15 on Sierra, Resolve 18 on Catalina. (Using Apple OS 32 & 64 bit on different MacBook Pro's

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