Sunday, January 17, 2010

Uncompressed video from HDMI out

One of my readers, Ultraman38 has commented in my post, "Burning DVD's and File Size (dated May 6, 2009)" that it is possible to capture uncompressed video by using a video capture card such as the Blackmagic Intensity, from the HDMI output port of the HD2000. Several comments later another reader Khalis, commented that he is also trying to do the same thing. Since I am a stranger to this stuff, I think it is best that I start a new post on this to enable easy access for Ultraman38 and Khalis as well as other readers who may be interested in the same subject,. Otherwise this stuff may be hidden under that old post and escape the attention of other interested readers. Thus I have reproduced the relevant comments on this subject verbatim from that old post below.

Here goes. Quote.

1. Ultraman38
its so awesome that the cradle has HDMI out, Im doin some research and finding using a capture card such as the one made by Blackmagic Intensity Pro can really make a diff. The video is somehow compressed when recording to the SDHC card, but if you have it connected to HDMI with the BM card you can capture up to 1080i/59.99 fps uncompressed! It will require a RAID video card w/ lots of memory and 3 harddrives becuz the files will be so huge, but the possibilites are endless! But this will be more for studio recording where you have the computer and camera connected.

2. Ultraman38
I tested and hooked up the cam with cradle to LCD thru HDMI and the camera outputs to LCD while connected to HDMI in record mode! I even was able to zoom in and walk around a lil bit, but Im limited as the HDMI is connected. If you wanna see how awesome the potential for capturing live uncompressed HD is, do a google search for Black Magic Intensity Pro Capture, you will come across sites that state how wonderful it is to be able to capture raw, uncompressed HD.

3. Me
Hi Ultraman38, very interesting. What exactly is the setup to view on external LCD while recording? Normally once recording starts, the output to HDMI is cut off and only the camcorder LCD shows the recording.

4. Ultraman38
well, yes, it doesnt record when you press record but that dont matter your not recording the video with the video camera(that would be compressed HD and defeats the purpose), your capturing it with the BM capture card, just make the settings the highest setting- 1080p and then the footage will be captured by the card. The video will go out from the cradle HDMI and directly into the capture card. I will update you on this as Im awaiting the card. I also understand the BM card works will w/ Adobe Pro CS4. keep in mind all this uncompressed video is more suitable for studio shoots and indoors where the camera will be connected to your computer while capturing.

5. Khalis
Hi, Ultraman38! I'm also trying HD2000+BM Intensity Pro -- not working, the card can't see camera. I'm in Win 7, all the drivers are new. If you get luck please share =)

Funny, right after I wrote here I get first pictures.. If anybody interested: in the camera tv out mode is auto, hdmi-cec is on (but maybe it doesn't make difference), in Media Express v 2.0.1 (program frome the Black Magic site) input mode either 1080i 59-something or 1080i 60, unfortunatelly Intensity doesn't support 1080ps.By the way camera in this mode doesn't show anything on it's LCD, and ON LED is orange when connected.

6. Ultraman38
yeah, I had the same problem, called tech support and told me to make sure the cam is outputting 1080i NOT 1080p. I changed the output in the cam and finally got a picture to capture. To give you an idea how much space uncompressed HD holds, Adobe Premiere gave me an estimate of 1 hour video/ 500GB space! Now Im having problem with getting sound and also not getting the BM card to record my PS3 thru compenent video. I may return this card and get another it may be defect, called tech support countless number of times and not resolved it.

Unquote.

So dear Ultraman38 and Khalis (and other interested readers), this post is all yours and you can add your comments to yours hearts' content. Enjoy the testing and the discussion!

Ronald Kwok
http://ronaldkwok.atomicblog.hop.clickbank.net/

8 comments:

  1. ok, cool. I know how to post here now. What I wanted to say is there are two diff. ways to record w/ the BM card. One is live recording where you just capture video on the card while your cam is on stand by, not record becuz the HDMI is disabled when you press record.. Another way is to playback video on the camera HDMI out and into the BM card. This is if you wanna transfer the video uncompressed, I havnt tried the latter but will and update you.

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  2. Thanks Ultraman38. Hope some readers with similar interest will find this useful.

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  3. Just sort of curious, why are you looking for the 100% uncompressed footage?
    You can achieve a "studio look" with this camera, if you have good lighting. Lighting and White balancing are key to "goog" video.
    Honestly. you'd probably save a lot of money if you bought a better camera, than upgrading or getting a new computer. Cause the upgrade of computer means; Core i7, 8gb (At least) ram, two HDD for Raid, and tons more HDDs for storage, BM card.
    But I'd love to see the results you guys have

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  4. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  5. whem zooming, the zoom indicator shows up on the live hdmi output. anyone know how to get rid of this to get a clean image?

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  6. Question. I'm trying to rig up my old Sony Xacti HD2000 as a webcam. I see you've laid out some steps. I've managed to run HDMI out from the dock through my Flint 4KP capture card to MAC. I'm running OBS to see what's on the cam. I can't see to get a clean output from the Xacti. I see in OBS all the screen overlays from the Xacti. Is that something that Black Magic card is able to remove to help get that clean output?

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  7. @Tahirih, you had the same idea as me. I am trying to find a way to get Clean HDMI output from my HD2000. I plugged it in a cheap amazon Capture card and Image is great but I see all the camera info on the screen that I would like to get rid off

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  8. I just tried to test this with new HDMI switchers around 10 years later. I could not get a clean output through the menu settings but I could set up a joystick shortcut for "display" toggle and that got rid of the on screen stuff. Maybe the zoom issue mentioned above is still there, but otherwise it's clear. I bought 3 of these to shoot videos with for work, which never happened, but maybe they can try again in more of a livestream setup, which would be cool.

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