Intensity Pro compatibility

The intensity pro PCI-e card was compatible with the HP Z400 workstation, however that workstation has been discontinued, along with other workstations noted to be compatible on the help site.

Has there been another workstation approved by the Black Magic team for compatibility? Is it compatible with the 420 or 620 workstations that have come out to replace the Z400 and Z600's?

This card is a great HDMI input card, please don't let it die off due to a lack of continued R&D and validation.

Thanks!

Sincerely,

Troy Siegert
Digital Signage Engineer
CastNET

[Joshua Helling]

The card works with the 420 620 and 820 workstations as well.

Thank you for the prompt response - and for approving the latest line of HP workstations!

--ts

The hardware compatibility page could really use an update. The message I get from this is: use an outdated no longer manufactured mobo, workstation etc or... gamble your money. If the z820/620/420 are compatible, why is this information still not up to date on the site? I work in higher education and I don't have the ability to say "Hey let's buy this and see if it works" I have a fixed budget to get something done and if what I purchase doesn't actually work it would be quite awkward to come back around and say "uh, actually I need to buy a different workstation/motherboard". It really seems odd to have to guess or rely on anecdotal information buried way back in the user forums. An attempt to provide a somewhat up to date hardware compatibility list would really be useful.

I agree with Barry. We're past 90 days now since this topic was posted, but it seems visitors to the support site are still seeing what I was seeing relating to compatibility... an outdated list it seems?

If the intensity pro PCI-e is somewhat hardware dependent (and it seems to be - I've not been able to get my test card to work on any recent Dell machine, including workstation T-series machines (1600 and 3500) and Optiplex series (980, 790 and 7010's), please at least keep the HP reccommendations current for those who wish to self-help.

The lowest end of the spectrum you're saying this is compatible with is a generally non-returnable HP workstation costing about $2.5k which is a real bitter pill to take if it doesn't end up working.

On that note... It'd be nice if you approved something cheaper. I really don't need a Xeon machine for what I'm trying to do with the product. This has got to be a chipset / mobo issue, correct? I've used this card on quad-core machines in the past, and so I'm thinking it's not a CPU or bus speed concern that is driving this reccommendation.

Thanks for listening, BlackMagic guys!

--ts

Troy, thanks for seconding my opinion.
BM does state that there are likely compatibility problems with Dells, Precision Workstations included. I almost missed that information (buried in the support part of the site) and purchased some Precision Workstations to host the Blackmagic cards I've already purchased.
BTW, right now I have 4 Blackmagic cards (3 Intensity Pros, 1 Decklink SDI) running in 3 boot camped MacPro towers running Windows 7. I am not running them on OSX because I still need to do windows media streaming in Wirecast which is not possible with Wirecast on Mac. Although they are listed as compatible with the Mac Pros, the Boot Camp end of things was a little murkier in terms of stated compatibility. It felt like a gamble to me and an expensive one at that. Luckily the systems have been quite stable. For what I am doing I do not need a screaming speed demon workstation either. Just streaming, compressing and recording video streams. I have a couple of newish Mac minis that are quite up to the task on the Mac side of things. The CPUs can handle the compression just fine and I don't need a RAID array or anything to record the compressed video. I am adding this to the anecdotal information here on the forums for future searchers
Still, I need to spec new systems of the Windows variety for some other locations. Looking for some information regarding compatibility that's a little more current and less ambiguous. Or, I guess I could dole out considerable extra cash for an Osprey card instead....
It's hard to argue with the price/value of the Blackmagic interfaces. It's just hard to plan my projects effectively.

thanks,

Barry

Barry, I am enjoying the conversation... I feel you on that post above. I am a systems engineer working for an AV systems integrator. If things don't work, it starts out my fault and goes down hill from there.



That being said, I have had good luck with the intensity pro cards, and once configured, they work great. I don't want any of my comments to be taken as detrimental to the OEM or the product line - just to the slight lack of support and documentation I'm detecting, which opens me up to issues in the event things stop working. This should be a cheap and easy device from a respected OEM, and it should enjoy the same level of support and comittment that the higher end products get. I know that saying "should" all the time is a recipe for dissapointment, but there it is.

So anyhow, in the spirit of wise words and speaking to future searchers:

I think it's a good idea to put a scaler in place between the input of this card and the source, if there's any chance that the source may change for some reason (IE: broadcast / commercials). The scaler will permanently set the input of this card to a known quantity, which is important. As it turns out, when this card stops working due to a change in input resolution or frame rate (IE: NTSC to 720P or 720P to 1080P), it may give you either horrible "horizontal blinds / tearing" output - or sometimes just a black screen (and little else to work with). And then all of a sudden it goes back to working like a champ again. It took my team a while (a couple hours of head scratching) to notice the change in input was what was leading to the seemingly intermittent issues.

Again, I think this product is great, but it could use a little attention. I understand that opinions are prolific on the internet, and I further understand posting one may be like chasing the wind - but here it is:

- Please test and overcome whatever problems are present with the card that are preventing additional compatibility with various PC manufacturers. By not working with any modern Dell (for example) you're avoiding a large chunk of the PC market in general, and users who either only will use Dell, or already have a Dell.

- Please consider adding more in the way of troubleshooting: An app that tells you what res and frame rate the video is coming in at would be nice - or maybe an option to overlay that information for troubleshooting?). Barring that, adding some optional error messages and logging capability would also be helpful for setup and troubleshooting.

Thanks again for considering these suggestions.

--ts

I agree: the product is great, but BM should also sell a PC with it! The Intensity Pro doesn't work with the Intel DH67CL and an Intel i5 running Windows 7 Ultimate x64 with 32 GB RAM! Nowhere in their ads do they mention this! It does, however, run with an outdated Lenovo ThinkCentre dualcore, Intel G31 chipset and Windows XP SP2 x32! But, honestly, who would want to work with such machines nowadays?

Bought this card with high hopes as a long time admirer of BMD but I'm ready to yank it.

Anyone had trouble with the Intensity Pro causing Nvidia Quadro4000 drivers to crash?

Here is a link to my system specs, is my EVGA® Classified Super-Record-2 SR-2 motherboard compatible with the Intensity Pro?

https://plus.google.com/u/0/113983902035072067923/posts/8Sc5d9G6wdZ

Thanks in advance!

We've been running the Intensity Pros in HP Elite 8300 PCs with i7-3770 processors and W7 Pro. These were pretty much plug & play.

We've now tried them in Lenovo M92p PCs with the same i7-3770 processors and W7 Pro. These took a bit more work to get the Intensity Pros to be recognized. Here are our steps:
1) Remove DVI/HDMI graphics adapter
2) Flash BIOS to latest level
3) Set BIOS to use onboard graphics controller and multi-monitor support
4) Plug Intensity Pro into PCIe X16 graphics adapter slot.

We now have 2 M92p systems running the Intensity Pro adapters. There was quite a bit of trial and error, especially with the expectation that the card would work in the X1 slot.

Any ideas why the Intensity Pro favors the X16 slot over the X1?

Probably because those systems use micro boards which normally means the 16x and the 1x slots are sharing bandwidth

I didn't want to leave BM with my last comment.
Here's what happened: I installed the Intensity Pro in my Intel DH67CL board which was specified by BM as "incompatible".
What I got was the firmware-update and error messages including the freeze of the PC at shut-down.
Yesterday I installed the card again, installed Desktop Video 9.7.7 and then I ran msconfig. In the Startup tab I unchecked "check version" and "update" from BM.
Guess what? The card works perfectly with my "incompatible mainboard" and it doesn't ask for an update, and it doesn't freeze the PC.
However, in Mediaexpress (capturing HDMI) I get dropped frames.
So, I installed Magix Video Pro X5, and I've got NO dropped frames.
Resume: BM's hardware is great, BM's software is something else!
My setup: Intel DH67CL, Intel i5 quadcore, 32GB RAM, Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit.
Thanks for the nice card, BM. No thanks for your software, though.
Regards.

Are you getting dropped frames in media express because you are trying to capture uncompressed?

Are you getting dropped frames in media express because you are trying to capture uncompressed?

I don't know WHY I get dropped frames, I only know I DO get dropped frames in Media Express, and, using identical settings I get NO dropped frames in VideoPro X5. Maybe you know why?

So what are your settings in Media express and what are your settings in VideoPro? (screenshots would be good)

Are you getting dropped frames in media express because you are trying to capture uncompressed?

I don't know WHY I get dropped frames, I only know I DO get dropped frames in Media Express, and, using identical settings I get NO dropped frames in VideoPro X5. Maybe you know why?

What format are you capturing in within Media Express? WHat we are talking about here is the CAPTURE FORMAT/CODEC. In Media Express all you can choose is Uncompressed or Motion JPEG.

If you are using the default of UNCOMPRESSED... then that may be the problem. That requires exceptionally fast hard drives.

Okay, I'll check it out. (I'm not at home right now) However, what are 'incredibly fast hard drives'? I've got 7200 rpm drives connected to a SATA-6 port. If that's not enough, then I don't know.

There is a DISKSPEED test utility that gets installed with the software - I recommend you run it. 7200rpm drives are NOT nearly fast enough for uncompressed HD. The information on this is in the FAQ for the Intensity Pro in the support section.

If you want to use Media Express with your current drive you will need to select the Motion JPEG option

EDIT: Typos

Well unless they are in a RAID they may not be fast enough for uncompressed footage, also bear in mind that as a mechanical drive fills up it slows down, especially if you delete anything off it and don't defrag as the drive then ends up with gaps and Windows has a tendency to fill those gaps first which fragments the files and again slows down read and write speeds

Okay, I will follow your advice. But I am also happy with VideoProX. What is your comment on the "Update" issue then? And why does it seem to be not only unnecessary but really destructive? (I couldn't get the card to work for almost 6 months because of that).

I suspect videoprox isn't capturing as uncompressed.
I also suspect BM have 'tweaked' the drivers to make the board work slightly differently as there were issues with HP machines which I gather have also been resolved

Problem solved. I created a 20 GB RAMdisk, and the Speed Test shows green marks on all items. Resume: Intel board DH67CL IS compatible! (If you remove the "check version" and "program update" from the start-up). Uncompressed capture is perfect if you have a speedy storage. Again, great card.

20GB is very small if you want to work with uncompressed, and you then run in to the issue that if you copy it off the RAM disc onto a harddrive it may not be able to keep up when editing it