Confirmed - Firmware 1.3 Release Fixes BMC Audio
Posted: Fri Apr 26, 2013 7:13 amHi Everyone,
I'm still doing some tests and experiments, but I wanted to confirm what others have been saying in this forum and others, that the Firmware 1.3 Release of the BMC software definitely DOES have some audio fixes in there - not just the interlaced SDI output (despite what BMD have said in the release notes).
The DC-offset has been fixed, and if you set the camera to 100% line level - this seems to perform as 0dB Gain and 0dB attenuation, based on the tests I've done with our Sound Devices 302 Field Mixer. This is really great news.
The audio I'm getting off the camera still seems to be quite noisy (i.e. if I record "nothing" from the field mixer - there is still an audible amount of noise) - but this could potentially be a limitation of the 302, rather than the BMC. I still need to do some further tests to double check everything is working as advertised. I also haven't yet compared it to other cameras - so it might be consistent to what others are seeing with RED EPIC, ARRI Alexa, etc. Having said that - the audio is DEFINITELY useable.
I've compared the output of a ProRes QuickTime vs DNxHD QuickTime vs CinemaDNG AIFF vs Media Express QuickTime - and everything seems to be consistent across the board.
You can see some tests of the before and after firmware update here.
You can also see some of my older tests before I did a firmware update here.
I have absolutely no idea why BMD made these changes, but didn't actually announce or note them in the release notes. Even if the marketing department at BMD don't care about audio - it's pretty clear the engineers do, which is FANTASTIC news!
Baby steps - but the camera is slowly getting there! Exciting times!
Any questions, let me know!
Best Regards, Chris!
I'm still doing some tests and experiments, but I wanted to confirm what others have been saying in this forum and others, that the Firmware 1.3 Release of the BMC software definitely DOES have some audio fixes in there - not just the interlaced SDI output (despite what BMD have said in the release notes).
The DC-offset has been fixed, and if you set the camera to 100% line level - this seems to perform as 0dB Gain and 0dB attenuation, based on the tests I've done with our Sound Devices 302 Field Mixer. This is really great news.
The audio I'm getting off the camera still seems to be quite noisy (i.e. if I record "nothing" from the field mixer - there is still an audible amount of noise) - but this could potentially be a limitation of the 302, rather than the BMC. I still need to do some further tests to double check everything is working as advertised. I also haven't yet compared it to other cameras - so it might be consistent to what others are seeing with RED EPIC, ARRI Alexa, etc. Having said that - the audio is DEFINITELY useable.
I've compared the output of a ProRes QuickTime vs DNxHD QuickTime vs CinemaDNG AIFF vs Media Express QuickTime - and everything seems to be consistent across the board.
You can see some tests of the before and after firmware update here.
You can also see some of my older tests before I did a firmware update here.
I have absolutely no idea why BMD made these changes, but didn't actually announce or note them in the release notes. Even if the marketing department at BMD don't care about audio - it's pretty clear the engineers do, which is FANTASTIC news!
Baby steps - but the camera is slowly getting there! Exciting times!
Any questions, let me know!
Best Regards, Chris!
.