HANC data capture?

Is there any way to capture HANC data via the SDK? I couldn't find any....

I have been looking for exactly the same thing.
I know the official line as of a couple of years ago when I asked at a Blackmagic Design booth at the BVE show in London was that it wasn't supported and they had no plans for it, but I was hoping maybe to find something in the SDK, even if it was a raw SDI feed so you could extract it yourself.

I would love to know if that is possible. If not then can we have it as a feature request? Many cameras put out a lot of useful data for playback ops or live capture within the HANC metadata, like camera clip name, Scene & take info, exposure, white balance etc. If we had access to this then BMD capture hardware could be used in a lot more scenarios like in QTake etc.

Is there anyone from Blackmagic Design company who is watching this forum's questions. I see this question for 4-5 years in Developer mail list and in this forum but no one give a simple answer.

Can we get HANC or VANC data from camera (like Alexa, Red etc.) with any Blackmagic capture card or NOT?

If YES, please give a very very basic example, not much.

[Matt Jefferson]

Blackmagic Design does not provide support to capture embedded data in the Horizontal (hanc). The desktop (Decklink, Ultrastudio, Intensity products) SDK does not allow access camera data as requested in the forum post.

There is no sample as we do not provide any access to HANC where most camera data is stored. We do provide VANC access and there are samples and functions are documented in the SDK manual.

Matt Jefferson

So, almost another year on and I'm considering upgrading my capture cards. HANC, even if not available now but planned for the future would be a significant deciding factor.

I understand it is not currently supported as the Desktop SDK does not support it currently, but is this simply a feature you haven't seen as worth introducing in the SDK and might consider adding in the future or is it somehow a hardware limitation?

Some kind of position with regards to the future on this from black magic would be appreciated. Currently there just aren't many options out there when it comes to boards that can capture 4 or more HDSDI signals so those of us who need that but also need HANC are left frustrated and floundering.

Just some kind of acknowledgement that Blackmagic is listening - even if it's just to say we have added this to a list of feature requests, and maybe, hope beyond hope, even an indication of the level of priority it might currently have.

Or tell us a flat no. And we can put our hopes and dreams away and go look elsewhere for the solutions we need.

[Matt Jefferson]

Quentin -

yes it has been just over 10 months since last correspondence on HANC. We are in the same status as June 2015 with support of HANC. To confirm, we have no current support and no plans to support HANC access nor a framework that developers and users can access HANC.

Since the last post, we have updated our multichannel cards Quad 2 announced Sept 2015 and DUO 2 announced April 2016. Are you looking to use HANC meta data with a specific application or for camera SDI start /stop control on multiple channels of capture(input)?

Or are you looking for something else in HANC? Please state your OS and specific use case so it can be translated into a feature request.

As you know being part of the forum, we do not discuss or even hint as you request on future support but we are listening to specific ancillary data requests regarding future SDK support.

Hello,

I am also quite interested in accessing the horizontal ancillary data. In my case I want to access the clip name coming from a RED camera. It is outlined on their developer page. I would post the relevant URL but this forum will not allow me to do so.

As the other posters have mentioned I would settle for access to the raw SDI data if possible to author my own handler. Please update this thread on the most recent plans for HANC support as it does impact purchasing decisions.

Thanks

Reviving this old thread as I am revisiting this question once again.

I ended up upgrading to the Quad 2 which is a great card for my DIT work at a very reasonable price point.

I am predominantly using it for Livegrading using Pomfort Livegrade.

Pomfort have enabled VANC metadata capture via BMD cards so I can gather important information from Arri Cameras via SDI, however those same Arri Cameras use HANC for their record start stop flag and it would be great to be able to make use of this and automatically record whenever we roll a take. Something that other manufacturers capture cards do support.

Similarly to Roger Godspeed I would also want to receive the filename from RED cameras.

With many digital cinema cameras metadata and record flags can be in either section of the ancillary metadata, either HANC or VANC depending on the choices of the manufacturer and their other camera metadata is also spread between the two. The main cameras I tend to come across in Livegrading come from Arri (the many flavours of Alexas and the Amira), Sony (Venice, F65) and RED.

Simply having support for access to both sections of ancillary data in the SDK would really help with this situation, allowing full metadata support for the SDI output of all relevant cameras to be developed by software partners and make the Quad 2 the best choice for Livegrading multi-camera shows. As it is, it's a compromise and those who place more importance on the auto record and metadata gathering facilities will choose cards by other manufacturers that support those features.

I'm sure those operating Video Playback via QTake would also appreciate the option to buy BMD cards without this compromise - they make even heavier use of auto record and SDI record flags and filename metadata than I do in LiveGrading. (This is all relevant to the high end commercials, Features and TV drama market.)

Since I use Resolve on set in the same setup I chose BMD cards because those are the only ones supported by Resolve. However it would be great if this situation didn't feel like a compromise forced on me!

I am also in need of the HANC data capture. Would be much helpful for livegrade and qtake!!

Hope to have it as soon as possible! As Quentin said all manufactures have these features which is very helpful for us DIT and for the Video Assists!

@Matt Jefferson

Adding my voice to the requests for full and proper HANC support. My use cases are similar to Quentin's, I would like rec starp/stop support which is generally in HANC, and any additional metadata being passed by cameras.

@Matt Jefferson

Adding my voice to the requests for full and proper HANC support. My use cases are similar to the previous posters.

I too would like record start/stop support which is generally in HANC, and any additional metadata being passed by cameras (We are using Arri Alexa Mini typically)

Thank you

Hello all,

can anyone confirm that any of these devices can handle the Sony, Arri or Red record flags (which could be HANC?):
Video Assist 7“ 12G HDR
Video Assist 5” 12G HDR
HyperDeck Studio HD Mini
HyperDeck Studio HD Plus
HyperDeck Studio HD Pro
HyperDeck Studio 4K Pro

I know from my own experience that the Video Assist 4K from 2019 recognizes the Sony Venice flag (although not always). And back then the BMD support said that this was the only BMD device that can record automatically with Sony Venice. The older HyperDecks weren't able to.

So what about the current recorders?
Can they automatically record from Arri and Sony cameras using the SDI start / stop record flag?
I also asked the BMD support but didn’t receive an answer.
I‘m looking for devices that can be bought these days (no older models like a Pix or so) and of course it could be any manufacturer. I know the Atomos can do it but it would be great if there were something else. And it just would be great if the BMD devices could do that.

I mean, is there anyone in the world who has tested this before or who can actually test it?

As others have already mentioned, we need the possibility to use the SDI start / stop function with other manufacturers. I would buy 8 recorders right now if I knew it worked, and so would many others.

Thanks guys!

@Matt Jefferson

Also voicing my support for HANC parsing with Blackmagic products. Decklinks are more and more found on sets that have Arri cameras and not being able to get the record trigger over SDI is definitely missed.

Adding my voice to this request. This seems crazy that this is not an option in 2022. AJA cards have this support, why not Decklink?

@Matt Jefferson

Also voicing my support for HANC parsing with Blackmagic products. Decklinks are more and more found on sets that have Arri cameras and not being able to get the record trigger over SDI is definitely missed.

Especially with emerging xR and VR workflows its becoming a real sore spot that this data is getting stripped. I honestly doubt anyone at BMD pays attention here though.... we should have had some sort of response years ago... the radio silence is deafening.