BlackMagic Extreme & Thunderbolt

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Schloss

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BlackMagic Extreme & Thunderbolt

PostWed Sep 05, 2012 3:15 pm

Hi everybody!

I desperately need your help, because during 2 last days I'm trying to set up the Blackmagic Intensity Extreme (Thunderbolt edition) capture card, but unsuccessfully.

I have MacbookPro (2011, Mountain Lion), the capture card and DVD-VHS LG DC476 (combo)
Image
The VCR has composite outputs (Yellow) for VHS & DVD, component outputs (Red-Green-Blue) & S-Video exclusively for DVD, also SCART.

Please help me to find out - what must be the software settings and what inputs/outputs I must use to get ANY picture in the preview window and ANY quality of capturing?

At the moment I have nothing on it, just a black screen and only sometimes the screen blinks and I can see the distorted DVD-player standby screen picture....

I also tried to connect my SONY full-hd camcorder via component cables (R-G-B), but got same result - nothing. No preview and no capturing.

I also bought external RCA/S-Video -> HDMI converter, thinking that the card has problems with all these RCA connections and might be working fine if I connect my VCR to the Extreme via HDMI input, but again - there's nothing changed....

Previously when I had PC and Pinnacle capture card, my VCR was working with that card just perfectly.
Now I start to think that I made a mistake and simply thrown away $300 for one of Blackmagic products. Will be happy if I'm mistaken now and someone can help me to fix the problem.

Thank you all!
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Schloss

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Re: BlackMagic Extreme & Thunderbolt

PostWed Sep 05, 2012 5:49 pm

Here's some updates.
I was just lucky to successfully connect a camcorder, using component cable and 1080i @50 in the settings.
But who needs to capture from a camcorder when you can easily download video files from camera straight to the computer's hard drive?!

Still no luck to connect correctly the VCR - the main reason I bought a capture card...
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bendermac

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Re: BlackMagic Extreme & Thunderbolt

PostWed Sep 05, 2012 6:55 pm

- connect your vhs/dvd to your extreme
- go to blackmagic preference panes in system preferences and select your input you want to use (hdmi, component, svideo or composite)
- open media express and in the preferences select the proper input resolution (pal or ntsc).
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Schloss

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Re: BlackMagic Extreme & Thunderbolt

PostFri Sep 07, 2012 5:29 am

bendermac
thanks for the reply! :-)
Yesterday I finally got the picture on the preview and recorded video from VHS!
The only problem is that when I want to record upscaled video, the result (recorded video) is a bit slower than the original playback speed.

Can it be that MacBook cannot afford uncompressed video with 1080i resolution even through Thunderbolt cable?

Also, do I have to install any additional codecs (like on PC) to have the possibility to have more presets of desired formats? At the moment I have only 2 uncompressed MOV presets (8 or 10 bit) and some format not familiar to me (it creates many files in the folder + wav file).

Thanks for help again! )))
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bendermac

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Re: BlackMagic Extreme & Thunderbolt

PostSat Sep 08, 2012 12:03 am

uncompressed hd should only be used if you have tons of storage and either ssd or a fast raid.

run the blackmagic disc speed app to see what your system is capable of capturing uncompressed video

install the prores codecs on your mac, restart and then select one in the media express preferences.

and why do you record vhs/dvd in 1080i?

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