Blackmagic Forum

I'm a mac user looking to capture some Mini & DVCAM tapes via firewire/TB2 cables. I was hoping Media Express would capture it but it seems that the software doesn't see the deck or signal. Does Media Express only work with a BM capture hardware hooked up and found under Device?
I actually had a signal using Quicktime "New Recording" for a second but it crashed and I believe QT is adding filtering, changing the codec etc. I can capture with Component cables and BM Ultra Recorder but I'd prefer to maintain the native codec through capture.

I have more modern Macs I could add a TB2 to TB3 adapter and then try capturing through ffmpeg-decklink (no not BM Decklink) but I'm not good with Terminal.

Any thoughts? Thanks
Jared

whatsleft wrote:I'm a mac user looking to capture some Mini & DVCAM tapes via firewire/TB2 cables. I was hoping Media Express would capture it but it seems that the software doesn't see the deck or signal. Does Media Express only work with a BM capture hardware hooked up and found under Device?

Yes.

OK thanks.

If you have a player with component video output, this would be your best option to use with a capture card, or converter to SDI/HDMI i guess the component signal would be stable enough….
Firewire is just not well supported on any operating system these days, you might ask the guy from https://www.video99.co.uk for some advise on that...

I capture DV, DVCam and HDV (720p) via HDMI from an Ultastudio Mini 4K HDMI/RS422 (JVC BR-HD50E deck), with excellent results and often realtime upconvert to 1080. I would not bother anymore with either Firewire or component, since the former is flaky, if you can even implement it anymore and the latter will impact on quality. If you need deck control and don't have a RS422 port on your card then a Rosetta Addendum, with a USB to serial convertor, would be the best alternative.

Steve Fishwick wrote:I capture DV, DVCam and HDV (720p) via HDMI from an Ultastudio Mini 4K HDMI/RS422 (JVC BR-HD50E deck), with excellent results and often realtime upconvert to 1080. I would not bother anymore with either Firewire or component, since the former is flaky, if you can even implement it anymore and the latter will impact on quality. If you need deck control and don't have a RS422 port on your card then a Rosetta Addendum, with a USB to serial convertor, would be the best alternative.

Interesting. Can Media Express capture native DV NTSC using HDMI? I'd make a copy for deinterlacing, upres etc. If that's the case, I may look into a DVCAM deck with HDMI out.

whatsleft wrote:Interesting. Can Media Express capture native DV NTSC using HDMI? I'd make a copy for deinterlacing, upres etc. If that's the case, I may look into a DVCAM deck with HDMI out.

Yes it can but Express only works with BMD's RS422 control. Control isn't necessary if you capture on the fly but it is useful for re batch capture. Essentially HDMI is like SDI on the old Sony Broadcast decks = to Firewire. For the JVC deck I have it also adds error protection, which Firewire doesn't, particularly useful for HDV.

Thanks for the insight. I'm going to look into this option.