Moire patterns on Intesity Pro 4K analogue interface

Hi all.

I wonder if anyone can shed some light on an issue I'm having with a brand new Intensity Pro 4K capture card please. The capture on CVBS and S-VHS is spoiled by faint diagonal lines moving on the picture. I'll take some screenshots tonight and post them up but they look like what others have described as "moire patterns". The picture is great apart from that.

The problem is not limited to any one kind of device (I've tried various VHS, DVD machines and even a battery operated pattern generator). I've tried a different VGA card, unplugging every bit of non-essential hardware from the PC (even the keyboard, mouse, sound card and network cable) and still the problem remains. I've tried installing the latest Black Magic software but it makes no difference. The issue appears on any capture software that I use and is present on any recordings I make.

The problem looks like RF noise but from where I don't know.

If anyone has any ideas then I'd be very pleased before I pull the rest of my hair out.

Many thanks all.

Kind regards.

From Mike.

Hi all again.

Hmm. It's like going to the doctor. I've just tried to get a picture of the patterning and it's barely visible. I've drawn a red line to indicate the direction of the lines but the patterning has been much worse than it is at the moment.

This is connected to my Panasonic DVD recorder with a high-quality 1.5M screened lead using composite video.

I'm not sure why it's worse one day and better the next. Just to be awkward I suspect.

Thanks all.

Kind regards.

From Mike.

Could be a lot of things, like a strong source of interference only working at certain hours.
I remember a studio in a neighboring city in the analog era where they had massive problems whenever a train was passing near by (most of our train system is electric).

Hi Uli.

Many thanks for the reply.

It's certainly something to think about. I'll make sure the equipment cab is off this evening along with everything else electrical I can find in the building. I live in a relatively quiet area (RF wise anyway) and not near any major sources of RF radiation.

The only thing I can say against the theory is that it doesn't seem to affect either of my other capture devices (an old Canopus ADVC device and another PCIe card which I can't remember the name of). I don't have the problem on anything else (monitors / VTRs etc.) either.

Thank you for the advice though Uli and I'll give it a shot later today and report back.

Kind regards.

From Mike.

Check cables too, corrosion of contact areas can generate problems as well. Oh, and no cellphone, WLAN or microwave near by!

Hi Uli again for the advice.

(All the cables are new and I've tried various different ones too.) Disconnecting the Y input and Y output and joining them together (so the source is connected directly to the monitor) shows no problem and there is no patterning.

The very annoying part about it is that just at the moment I can't get it to show more than a very slight patterning. It has been really bad but the problem comes and goes.

The issue appears (to me at least) to be virtually identical to the one in this thread:

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=32036

The thread mostly talks about the Thunderbolt Shuttle but the Intensity Pro gets mentioned a few times too and the patterning is identical to that which I'm experiencing.

I've uploaded a 20 second DV file of the problem which I captured just now. The problem is very slight at the moment but you can clearly see the swirly diagonal lines occurring - particularly on the areas of grey.

http://www.oldtechnology.net/misc/patterning.avi

The company I've bought it from (Jigsaw24 in the UK) have been exceptionally helpful and kindly offered a DOA service but my major concern at the moment is that the problem is often so slight (like now) that they may not even see it and will send me the same card back.

Thanks all.

Kind regards.

From Mike.

5 minutes later: The patterning has suddenly got worse so I've uploaded another short clip here:
http://www.oldtechnology.net/misc/patterning2.avi

Have you tried to move the card to another PCI-E slot (4x at least)? The issue still persists even on the S-Video, Component and possibly HDMI inputs?

Hi Massimiliano.

Unfortunately I have tried this. I've also tried a completely different machine. I'm not sure whether either component or HDMI show the same problem as I have nothing with component out and I never managed to get HDMI input to work at all.

However, I'm afraid I got fed up with it and sent it back to the good people at Jigsaw24 and ordered a DeckLink SDI 4K box which I can use with my BM analogue to SDI converter.

Regarding Jigsaw 24, they provided an excellent service from start to finish and I can highly recommend them. (I'm not sponsored by them either.)

Thanks for the help Uli and Massimiliano though. Its much appreciated.

Kind regards.

From Mike.