blackmagic intensity extreme story
I just received the blackmagic intensity extreme with thunderbolt connection that I ordered. I already puzzled quite a bit with it today:
- make sure you buy the proper thunderbolt cable, I first bought a cheap one which turned out to be a minidisplayport cable, you have to buy the expensive apple cable
- you can grab with jit.qt.grab from the hdmi in and select all sorts of input types
- you can send out video with jit.qt.videoout to the hdmi out and select all sorts of output types
(I already had a smooth 720p test setup which used 1 instance of max to render a gl scene, send it with syphon to another max instance which sent it to the jit.qt.videoout)
- you cannot simultaneously grab something and output something is else, this is a real bummer... because that is where I bought it for. I even checked it with blackmagic support if it was possible, and they confirmed I could do what I wanted, but they say now that they misunderstood my email...
- it is an end of chain device, it has no thunderbolt thru
- and... I could not find an available thunderbolt hub yet (yeah, belkin will probably release a really expensive one soon)
that's the story so far
tanx for sharing!
> I even checked it with blackmagic support if it was possible, and they confirmed I could do what I wanted, but they say now that they misunderstood my email...
sounds like enough of a reason for a return & refund, no?
hello timo,
does it remember the basic video input settings after restart ?
best,
TT
@dtr: not sure how it works, because I didn't order directly from blackmagic
@timtom: no idea... sorry, I will let you know when I found that out (that is: if I continue with this device)
with any purchase you have the right to return within x days. sadly that's no guarantee a shop will cooperate. but if blackmagic is willing to admit their mistake and tell the shop, it shouldn't be much of a problem. the shop can then probably send it back to blackmagic and be refunded.
@timo - you cannot simultaneously grab something and output something is else, this is a real bummer... because that is where I bought it for. I even checked it with blackmagic support if it was possible, and they confirmed I could do what I wanted, but they say now that they misunderstood my email...
does this mean you cannot grab video from a camera and then screw with it and send it out to a tv for example?
@dtr: I'll try it, blackmagic support is willing to talk to the vendor if they disagree (because officially I think I should not have opened the package to be eligible for refund)
@Liam: exactly
I decided to keep it and borrow an another laptop and use 1 laptop as capture laptop with a jit.net.send connection (since for this project there is not enough budget to buy another solution)
@timtom: I don't have to set set anything to get it to work properly for me (apart from choosing the correct mode with jit.qt.grab)
for those interested here is a list of input and output modes (this is not clear from the website)
Input with jit.qt.grab:
HD 1080p 23.976 - 8 Bit
HD 1080p 24 - 8 Bit
HD 1080i 50 - 8 Bit
HD 1080i 59.94 - 8 Bit
HD 1080i 60 - 8 Bi
HD 720p 50 - 8 Bit
HD 720p 59.94 - 8 Bit
HD 720p 60 - 8 Bit
NTSC/PAL - 8 Bit"
(note: so there is no 10 bit input option)
Output with jit.qt.videoout:
NTSC - 8 Bit
NTSC - 10 Bit
NTSC - RGB
NTSC/23.98p - 10 Bit
PAL - 8 Bit
PAL - 10 Bit
PAL - RGB
HD 1080p 23.976 - 8 Bi
HD 1080p 23.976 - 10 Bit
HD 1080p 23.976 - RGB
HD 1080p 23.976 -> 59.94 output - 8 Bit
HD 1080p 23.976 -> 59.94 output - 10 Bit
HD 1080p 23.976 -> 59.94 output - RGB
HD 1080p 24 - 8 Bit
HD 1080p 24 - 10 Bit
HD 1080p 24 - RGB
HD 1080i 50 - 8 Bit
HD 1080i 50 - 10 Bit
HD 1080i 50 - RGB
HD 1080i 59.94 - 8 Bit
HD 1080i 59.94 - 10 Bit
HD 1080i 59.94 - RGB
HD 1080i 60 - 8 Bit
HD 1080i 60 - 10 Bit
HD 1080i 60 - RGB"
HD 720p 50 - 8 Bit
HD 720p 50 - 10 Bit
HD 720p 50 - RGB
HD 720p 59.94 - 8 Bit
HD 720p 59.94 - 10 Bit
HD 720p 59.94 - RGB
HD 720p 60 - 8 Bit
HD 720p 60 - 10 Bit
HD 720p 60 - RGB
2K 23.976 - RGB"
2K 24 - RGB
2K 25 - RGB
now let's hope a compatible and affordable thunderbolt hub will be released soon
Hi, the hardware can do simultaneous input and output but it is the way max access these that is the problem. To check the functionality download the SDK and you will see a loopthrough example.
The issue is that the output and input object in max are separate and once one has control of the hardware the other cannot access it. I am currently trying to write a utility to syphon in and out of the blackmagic box simultaneously- but I am a little way off. Your hardware is functioning as expected, hook it up to blackmagic media express and capture while monitoring the output- you will see the input feed duplicated- this is a real output and it could be anything showing on the output but this is programmed to do a loop through while capturing.
If you know someone who can code the SDK is available and well documented, maybe someone could make an object to get full functionality form this device.
Hello Timo, I have a question. You say that with blackmagic is not possible to send video out using jit.qt.videoout, right? but can you send your video to a projector, using jit.window?
I was thinking to buy a blackmagic to capture a camera image in HD, process it in jitter and sent to a projector (through thunderbolt). So I'm not sure if I understood well.
Please, tell me about this.
Hi Oscar,
with this blackmagic it IS possible to use jit.qt.videoout
and it is NOT possible to directly use jit.window
but keep in mind: you cannot use jit.qt.videoout simultaneously with capturing.
For what you want you need another thunderbolt or hdmi port out (which my current macbook is lacking) or one of the upcoming thunderbolt hubs
Hi Timo,
Ok, I understand. Thank you very much for your answer!
Hi everyone I hope you can help me here. I am trying to capture from HDMI camera (panasonic HC-X290) into MAX 6 on MBPro, but cannot find the device. I'm using the intensity to convert into thunderbolt but it still does not appear as a device in jt.qt.grab & jt.grab. All that i see in umenu after 'get dev list' is DV, Firewire & USB class. @ Timo, did you download any additional software from blackmagic for the intensity? and where did you find the option to grab from HDMI and select input type as I assumed it would appear in the umenu as an additional device like thunderbolt? any thoughts or suggestions welcome as I'm running out of time for a project deadline!
Thanks
David
Hello,
I'm in need of capturing HD video from a camera while playing back previously captured video as part of an interactive video installation. So it sounds like I would not be able to do this w/ the blackmagic intensity extreme. So my question is, would I be able to capture using the blackmagic intensity extreme and then output captured video using the hdmi output or mini display port out directly from the computer? Using the blackmagic intensity extreme for capturing only.
from my understanding, yes. Capture does tax your machine, but it doesn't block you from simultaneous operations.