2014 Mac Mini

Can anyone tell me, or confirm if they have one, whether or not the mid-range 2014 Mac Mini (2.6GHz, 8GB RAM) is powerful enough to capture to Prores in Media Express?

Also, other than the input/output connections, what is the difference between the Intensity Shuttle and the Intensity Extreme?

Yes, I use a mid-range 2012 model together with a Intensity Shuttle Thunderbolt and can capture the full range of file formats available with the installed BM Media Express. I have captured a huge volume of material in that time, most of which is either ProRes422 [HQ] and 10-bit/8-bit Uncompressed Quicktime 422. My advice would be to use the fastest external drives you can as this is really the key to a sustainable write/read at this level of work. I recently filled up a 4TB WD MyBook USB3 drive with 10-bit uncompressed Quicktime files for a professional archiving job recently and all was fine.

If you plan to write to the Mini's internal drive you may have a problem with the latter, but ProRes422 files should be OK. I'm capturing direct from DVCAM to ProRes422 [HQ] onto my Mini's internal drive as I type and all is well.

If you're still hesitant, download BlackMagic's Disc Speed Test Tool and that will produce a checklist on what formats your HDDs will support.

Disk speed wasn't my concern as I am planning to use an SSD to store the video.

My concern is with the Mac Mini being only a dual core processor. There is nothing on the BMD website to suggest minimum cpu requirements.

I currently capture MJPEG with an Intensity Pro on a Windows 7 machine (i5-3570 Quad Core) and it normally uses about 35% CPU.

I can't see any problems. As I've mentioned above the Mac Mini you're looking at has a higher spec than mine which copes perfectly well with not just ProRes HQ but also 10-bit uncompressed QT. As you'll be using an SSD you'll of course be eliminating a key bottleneck. I write to SSDs in a BM MultiDock most of the time without problems.

the Mac Mini you're looking at has a higher spec than mine

But yours is a 2.3GHz Quad Core, and the one i'm considering is a 2.6GHz Dual Core.

(based on wikipedia spec table)

Yes, my apologies but I missed your reference to dual core above. That probably will impact on your ability to capture uncompressed 10-bit of even 8-bit QT files but might still be OK with ProRes422. I do understand your dilemma though!!

Just a quick update.

The mac mini arrived last Thursday, and the Intensity Shuttle Thunderbolt has just arrived here to me at work.

Will post my results once i've got home tonight and given it a test run.

New toys! I love 'em!!

Looks like the Mac Mini has no trouble capturing Prores 422 HQ (even to the internal disk)

Problem i now have is that after about nine and half minutes of perfect capture, i'm getting the black flickering problem. Even in the preview window with no capture running.

Capturing direct from HDMI at 1080i50. Check cables and settings with no luck.

Looks like a fault with the Shuttle getting really really hot on the bottom.

Have managed to capture 90+ minutes (and still going as i type this) by switching to an Intensity Extreme.

Looks like a fault with the Shuttle getting really really hot on the bottom.
Have managed to capture 90+ minutes (and still going as i type this) by switching to an Intensity Extreme.

all our Intensity Shuttle are going very hot ...about 60 degrees Celsius ...Can this be normal? we Do have massive picture Quality Issues, while capturing through Composite or Svhs Input.

Update for those interested...

Since changing to the Intensity Extreme, I have had flawless 1080i50 captures to ProRes 422 HQ, with some being over three hours in length.

The only dropped frames I've had (I have it set to stop capture on the first dropped frame) was when it ran out of disk space, but the footage up to that point was still perfectly usable.

Why would you need an intensity shuttle or extreme if you already have a Teranex and an iMac or Mac mini with a thunderbolt port?

I'm not quite sure I understand