Intensity Pro does not recognize Component Input

Hello,

Has anyone else had problems with the Intensity Pro card and component input? I have tried my card on two different PCs running Media Express without success. The HDMI input works fine as do all the outputs. I have double, triple ... checked the input specification (by going to start>control panel>blackmagic>set input), but no luck. I have used three different component signal sources with each PC and those signal sources have been verified as working by connecting them to a HD TV.

Any similar experiences or suggestions for what might be wrong?

Thanks,
gisnar

What are the sources?

The component signal sources used are: Canon Vixia HV40 camcorder, JVC GZ-HD7U camcorder and LITEON LVW-5005 DVD Recorder/Player.

When you connect to the TV does it tell you what resolution and frame rate the component signal is? You are remembering to change the settings in both the control panel and in media express?

Hello Adbear,

Thanks for your reply.

No, the TV does not tell me that. The signals are the same as those I can successfully capture with the HDMI input of the Intensity Pro card. Yes, I am remembering to change the settings in the control panel, as described in my original post. I am not aware of any input settings in media express itself. Please specify in detail if there is something here I have missed.

Thanks,
gisnar

In the BM control panel you have to set it to Component and whatever your input res and frame rate are and then in media express you have to go into the preferences and set it correctly in there as well

Adbear,

You are of course correct. In my initial testing I had been setting the preferences in Media Express. I just forgot about that part when I tested the second time around. However, the settings must have been correct anyway, since the HDMI input worked. I don't believe there should be any differences in the preferences between HDMI and Component input. I have now just checked this again and the preferences are set as follows:

Project Video Format: HD 59.94
Capture File Format: AVI Motion JPEG
The rest of the preference settings should not matter.

In the BM Control Panel I use the following settings:
Set Input: Component Video and Analog RCA Audio
Set Output: HDMI and Component (the setting here should be irrelevant anyway, since I don't use the output.)
Use Video Setup in NTSC: At 7.5 IRE
Set default video standard as: NTSC
Select output processing: Off
Select input processing: Off

I still only get a black screen in the case of Component Input. HDMI works fine. The Audio Input also works fine. (I use it in a custom application program.)

Let me know if you think any of these settings are incorrect.

Thanks,
gisnar

It depends on what your devices output the component as. According to what you've written you have the BM control panel set to SD and Media express set to HD

Adbear,

Again thanks for your reply. Can you please specify the conflicting settings? I don't see which BM control panel setting specifies SD. Thanks!

Set default video standard as: NTSC

Also on this line
Project Video Format: HD 59.94

there should be a number between the 'HD' and the '59.94'. What is it actually set to?

Also as I said, your component out might not be set to the same res as your HDMI. On my cameras I can set the component to SD or HD output

Yes, default video standard is set to NTSC.

The Project Video Format is HD 1080i 59.94 (Sorry about the omission of 1080i.)

Yes, I can also set the component output on my camera to SD or HD. It has been set to 1080i all along, i.e. HD.

Do you agree that with these settings, the component input should work?
Thanks!

I believe I have solved the mystery. The problem was that I had the HDMI cable connected at the same time as the Component cable. For some reason this shuts down the Component signal, even though the settings were correct, most importantly the input set to "Component Video and Analog RCA Audio". I had not caught onto this because the HDMI input works fine when the input is set to "HDMI", even with the Component cable connected at the same time.

Was it at the camera end you had to disconnect the cable or the Shuttle end? I've seen it happen on some of my cameras where the HDMI output overrides the Component. You could try connecting the HDMI to a different camera and see if you can switch between the 2 different sources

It doesn't matter which end I disconnect.When I have a chance I will try HDMI from another camera and see if I can switch between the two, but I believe the HDMI signal will still block the component signal.

I tried connecting the HDMI to a different camera and that does in fact allow me to switch between the 2 different sources. In other words, the component signal is blocked by an HDMI signal only if the two signals come from the same camera. I wonder why that is. Comments?

Most likely your camera detects it's plugged in through HDMI and turns off the component output

Adbear,

Thanks for your latest suggestion. I carried out another test to check this hypothesis. I connected a HD camcorder (JVC GZ-HD7U) to a HD TV via both a HDMI cable and a component cable at the same time. This allowed me to switch between the two signal sources and both the HDMI signal and the component signal came through fine. Just to be sure I tried the same test with another camcorder (Canon HV40) and the result was exactly the same.

This leads me to believe that it is the Intensity Pro card that detects that both signals are present and for some reason blocks the component signal. Comments?

Well you could have tested your theory about the intensity by connecting 2 different cameras to the intensity, 1 through HDMI and 1 through Component

Assuming I understand what you are saying, I already did that. See my post on Sat May 4.

There are reports that if you have anything plugged into HDMI at the time, it will ignore the component input. Make sure nothing is plugged into HDMI.

But on his system he's already proven that not to be true. He's had the HDMI from 1 camera and the component from another plugged in at the same time and he can switch between the 2. It's only when the component and the HDMI are both attached to the same camera that he can't switch.
One last thing, if you have the HDMI from the camera attached to the TV and the TV switched on, do you still get component out to the Intensity? I'm just wondering if changing the TV's input is the same as disconnecting the HDMI cable and therefore it then allows the component out on the camera

Just did a test with my HV40 and the component out gets cut off if you have HDMI connected and it detects that the other end of the HDMI is connected to something as well. Unplug the TV end of the cable and the component starts working

I just tried the same test with the HDMI signal from the camera (Canon HV40) going to a TV. You are correct, I get the same result. I also tried it with my JVC GZ- HD7U and again the component signal (connected to the Intensity Pro) comes through when the TV is not connected to the HDMI signal.

So what's the explanation?

It's simple, the cameras disable component output when they detect the HDMI is connected to something

You mean connected to the HDMI signal from the same camera. As we know from my May 4 post, if the HDMI signal comes from another camera, there is no problem. I guess this is now all consistent.

I have tried searching the Internet for a video camera HDMI signal disabling the component signal, but so far I have found nothing. The definitive test would be to hook the camera up to two TVs, the HDMI signal going to one and the component signal going to the other. This test would be completely independent of the Intensity Pro card.

It has nothing to do with the Intensity, I've already tested it on my cameras independent of the intensity

I am revisiting this because I believe we may have drawn the wrong conclusion. When I connect both the HDMI and component signal at the same time from one video camera to a HD TV I can switch between the two signals (see my May 7 post). This suggests that the video camera does not detect that the HDMI output is connected, with the result that the component input to the TV is blocked. The component signal is not blocked and comes through just fine. However, when I do the same test with one video camera and the HDMI and component signals being connected at the same time to the Intensity Pro card, the component signal is blocked.

This to me suggests that the Intensity Pro card detects that the same signal is present on the two inputs and gives the HDMI signal priority by blocking the component signal.

This has not really anything to do with the intensity. The Intensity keeps all it's sockets 'live' so if your camera is plugged in through HDMI & component your camera disables the component as it still sees the HDMI is live and connected even though you have the intensity set to component, whereas when you connect to a TV the TV 'disables' the HDMI socket when you change to the component channel so the camera thinks it's unplugged and allows the signal to go out through component. It's not got anything to do with the Intensity blocking the signal as it has no way of knowing that the component and HDMI are plugged into the same device as one signal is digital and one analog. You've already proven this before when you had the cameras connected to a TV via HDMI and the component connected to the intensity. The Intensity didn't get a signal until you unplugged the HDMI from the TV.

So basically to boil all this down. If you have the camera connected via HDMI to a live socket then it disables component out. This has nothing to do with the intensity and is the camera that is doing it. If you want to capture component then don't have the camera connected to anything via HDMI at the same time.