Update on Uncompressed over 1394 Support

MSchell wrote on 1/5/2005, 4:24 PM
Just a quick update on the forthcoming uncompressed over 1394 support for the SD-Connect converter box by Convergent Design. We now now capture uncompressed 8-bit video to the hard drive and playback thru Windows Media Player to the desktop (using Direct Show driver). Using a seperate stand-alone application, we can capture a 5 second clip to memory and play back the video to the client monitor. Of course the video looks beautiful. We will support both 8-bit and 10bit uncompressed video from component (BetaCam) or SDI (DigiBeta) source.

We are captuirng uncompressed video to an IDE drive, but a SATA raid drive will be necessary for multiple stream render applications.

The uncompressed over 1394 support is expected to coincide with the next release of Vegas and will be a free upgrade to all current SD-Connect users.

Additionally, we recently added frame-accuarte insert and assemble edit to SD-Connect, which is proving to be a real time saver for last minute tape changes.

If you would like to evaluate the SD-Connect box please send an e-mail to Mike@convergent-design.com or visit our web site: www.convergent-design.com

Mike Schell

Comments

farss wrote on 1/5/2005, 4:41 PM
I'd certainly love to evaluate it but I'm in Australia!
What I plan to use it for is to capture HDV using Cineform codec, edit etc, downsample to 4:2:2 SD and PTT on DigiBeta deck via SDI.
This is good news indeed.

We're also looking at sending HDV to HDCAM deck (render to uncompressed first), don't suppose you guys can talk to Cineform and put their codec in the box? Guess you might need dual SDTI and that'd kind of bump the price up, still a HD-Connect box would be nice.
Bob.
MSchell wrote on 1/5/2005, 4:48 PM
Hi Bob-
Maybe we can arrange an eval through our distributor New Magic.
Could you send your contact info to Mike@convergent-design.com and I will forward a message to New Magic.

An HD-Connect box is in the works, but I can't discuss the details at this time.

Best-
Mike
Coursedesign wrote on 1/5/2005, 10:16 PM
"We will support both 8-bit and 10bit uncompressed video from component (BetaCam) or SDI (DigiBeta) source."

...and please make sure you can capture a live SDI stream from a studio camera (no tape deck), that might convince even me to cough up the money for one of your boxes.

I'm working on replacing all video tape with SDLT600 data tape. Less expensive, far higher capacity and more robust tapes.
FrigidNDEditing wrote on 1/5/2005, 10:42 PM
OK, I am just looking to make sure I get this straight (it's kinda late here).

Currently you only capture through component or SDI? but will be able to use IEEE1394 when the next vegas comes out.

Sounds good to me, if I wasn't a no-namer, I'd love to try it out. I don't have anything worth trying it on yet though.

Dave
Spot|DSE wrote on 1/5/2005, 10:56 PM
Course, this is already do-able. Not a problem if you're not needing uncompressed. I'm showing this box at CES here, but also did a review on the box you can find on the DMN. I'd send you a link, but dialup makes it hard to do...sorry.
farss wrote on 1/5/2005, 11:02 PM
Done.
FrigidNDEditing wrote on 1/5/2005, 11:09 PM
No prob spot, I'm not on the DMN forums however, maybe you could do it when you're not out and about. (does that ever happen?)

Dave.
Spot|DSE wrote on 1/6/2005, 12:01 AM
Just do a search on Google for Convergent Design, Spotted Eagle.
www.digitalwebcast.com/ articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=28640
I just did, and found several references to a variety of places the review was posted.
FrigidNDEditing wrote on 1/6/2005, 12:13 AM
is it the one they have posted on their website, That's the one I read.

We've got some old 3/4" stuff that would be nice to transfer, but I've got very little exp. with that kind of stuff. Is something like and ADVC100 or 300 going to be good enough for that? or would this be the kind of converter that I might want to look into?

Also, it has multiple I/O for audio, but when sent down to 1394, would the audio tracks be able to be seperate? (say I'm recording a live event and have the audio lines running into the SD connect and then have them all running to a Firestore or some other Hard Disk capture device).

Don't know if there's an answer for that since that's not going to be out for a bit yet.

Thanks Spot for all the great info.
MSchell wrote on 1/6/2005, 9:21 AM
OK, we will add this specific test to our software QC. This should not be an problem as the current firmware works in this mode, but sends out a compressed stream.

Mike
MSchell wrote on 1/6/2005, 9:27 AM
The SD-Connect box should give better video quality than the AVC100 or 300. We're using 12-bit A/D converters and oversample the video 4X. Most users are very pleased with the coposite or component video quality.

In uncomopressed mode we will send 4 seperate channels of audio down the 1394 pipe. So your applaication should work fine.

Mike Schell
Coursedesign wrote on 1/6/2005, 9:30 AM
I do want to continue to shoot uncompressed directly from my SDI camera (I do it today with a Decklink card, but your box has some advantages over this solution).

If I understood Spot's comment correctly, you can capture uncompressed from a tape deck but not from a live camera? Why? There must be something I'm not understanding.
FrigidNDEditing wrote on 1/6/2005, 10:19 AM
So, then I guess the only major question I have left is if when running in uncompressed mode, does it require something more than a P4 3.2 HT 800FSB with a single drive running at 7200 RPM. I would be looking at using it with some "Field" setups so I would use my desktop replacement laptop for that.
MSchell wrote on 1/6/2005, 10:46 AM
You can definitely capture from either a tape deck or live camera feed. Actually, the live camera feed is easire since the timing is even more stable than a VTR.

Additionally, you can use the box as a SDI frame synchronizer. Since most camera do not have a reference input, you can feed a live SDI signal to the box and it will synchronize the SDI-Out to the analog reference input.

Mike
MSchell wrote on 1/6/2005, 10:57 AM
In uncompressed mode, here's some approximate data rates to consider:
8-bit video + 2-channels audio = 21 MBytes/sec
10-bit video + 4-channels audio = 27.5 Mbytes/sec

So, a P4 3.2 HT with 800FSB is plenty of CPU horsepower. The real limiting factor is the disk I/O. With a single IDE drive, you should be fine to capture 8-bit video; maybe 10-bit. You can also playback that same stream with no problems. However, for realtime 2-stream renders you will need a RAID drive. My two 10K SATA drives with a hardware RIAD gives 110 Mbytes/sec trhoughput.

Best-
Mike