Blackmagic Design's Ultra Studio Mini Recorder is dead

Hi. And I have to vent a little about this to the Blackmagic Design staff about the BMD UltraStudio Mini Recorders. How is it possible that there is no warning in large letters about the possibility of damage, that is, that the BMD US Mini Recorder firmware may tilt if the TB cable comes off during the Desktop Video installation or the connector is loose and the power is momentarily cut off.
At least I have not seen such a warning?
And also that it would not be possible to run the MiniRecorder BIOS/Firmware with a separate program on your own? I have read several topics where BND Support swears that it can only be done on their machines, in our office??? Comparing it to the Bios/Firmware update of PC machines, which are 100-1000 times more complex than the MBD Recorder Firmware. Similarly, can almost all other, other brands' Firmware be installed yourself?

Is the reason that the service connector is on the Recorder's circuit board, inside the housing and the housing has to be opened and the circuit board has to be removed from the housing?
In any case, that device cannot be sent to the other side of the world at these Posti and courier prices.

Final note: If other MBD devices have the same problem, i.e. it may be that the device goes into a dead state, then it would be a good idea to put a warning in red capital letters in those instructions that the operating voltage in the BMD device must be on during the entire "DeVi" installation.

Best Regars, Antti Numminen, Finland

That applies to about any device where you can update the firmware, like, e. g. , Sony cameras.
That said, search for the keyword „bricked“ around here, IIRC somebody found a way to revive one of such devices (not sure which one).

Hi. And I have to vent a little about this to the Blackmagic Design staff about the BMD UltraStudio Mini Recorders. How is it possible that there is no warning in large letters about the possibility of damage, that is, that the BMD US Mini Recorder firmware may tilt if the TB cable comes off during the Desktop Video installation or the connector is loose and the power is momentarily cut off.

A fix is discussed at this link:

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=199428

Hi everyone!. The issue was fixed with the UtraStudio Mini Recorder, so I bought a completely new UltraStudio Recorder 3G.
Now I've already captured about 20 VHS recordings (cassettes) with BMD Media Expert.

But, a new problem. Is it possible that the capture line loses the synchronization between the video and audio? It seems that the sound comes 4-5 frames behind the audio synchronization of the original recording?

Let me repeat the "capture structure". The VHS source is a normal, consumer-grade SONY VHS recorder. It has no timecode or sync. output. Composite video is sent from the VHS to the Panasonic DRM50 DVD recorder that acts as the TBC. The video is sent from the Panasonic via a BNC cable to the BMD Analog-SDI converter, from there via a BNC cable to the BMD UltraStd3G, and from there via a Thunderbolt3 cable to the Windows editor.
I do the cleanup editing with Adobe Premiere Pro. I also use it to encode the video to H.264.
I have a Panasonic AG-7130 SVHS player, but we haven't gotten it working.
It seems that BMD Media Expert won't accept direct VHS footage, but it has to go through that "poor man's Time base corrector" from Panasonic first?
Wishing you all the best, Antti

I found that had to use a proper dedicated TBC in order to get the sound properly sync’d, wasn’t any good running it through another consumer grade device that allegedly had a TBC in. Make sure the unit is using latest firmware too. Why BMD couldn’t put a dedicated TBC in the Ultrastudio i have no idea. Maybe most people using these units aren’t using them to capture from legacy devices..

I found that had to use a proper dedicated TBC in order to get the sound properly sync’d, wasn’t any good running it through another consumer grade device that allegedly had a TBC in. Make sure the unit is using latest firmware too. Why BMD couldn’t put a dedicated TBC in the Ultrastudio i have no idea. Maybe most people using these units aren’t using them to capture from legacy devices..

Good point. Two tips I'd offer for VHS capture (which has been discussed many times on the forum):

1) either get a TBC or get a VHS deck with a built-in TBC, like a JVC BR-S822 or a Panasonic AG-7750. This will give you the cleanest possible image on playback; the moment the tape breaks up, you can run into numerous capture problems, particularly with bad sync.

2) Get a standalone Blackmagic Hyperdeck Studio Mini or a Hyperdeck Shuttle HD, which is a standalone box that will capture anything with an HDMI output. (You will need a cable adapter to convert the S-VHS output of the VCR to HDMI, which is maybe $25-$30.) I find this is more reliable than trying to do it within Resolve.

You can also use the Blackmagic Media Express standalone program to capture, and (to me) this is more convenient than doing it within Resolve.

There are differing theories and methods as to how best to capture VHS and what codecs/standards to use, but I think a safe one is to use something like 720x480 and 525i or 1080i if necessary, making sure it's at 29.97fps. Experimentation will be necessary for best results.

It seems nothing is easy.