Posted by Ma3rk on 01/17/08 22:59

Just wondering if you've considered Black Magic Design's MultiBridge
Pro? I had an older Matrox DigiSuite finally crap out on me a few
months back. I did quite a bit of research and concluded that BMD
really had great bang for the buck.

I also bought my first MacPro system for the new hardware as well. I set
it up for dual booting, but I'm running it mostly with Windows XP due to
the fact that all of my software is Windows. I added an HDLink box
which allows me to use a conventional LCD monitor although I also
breakout to a standard NTSC monitor too.,

At present I'm using Premiere Pro CS3. I "inherted" a 2 1/2 hour
documentary that had to be re-cut & updated so was locked into
Premiere. Unfortunately for that project it can't really take advantage
of the new BMD hardware, but all new projects can so most everything in
Premiere is now realtime w/o having to make preview renders. Down the
road, I can easily migrate over to Final Cut which I'll probably do next
major project that justifies doing that. I'm very impressed with all
the new hardware, but to be honest, the more I use the Mac OS, the more
I like XP.

Some MultiBridge specs:
Dual link SD or HD SDI 4:2:2 and 4:4:4 input and outputs
Analog HD or SD, YUV or RGB 14 bit 4:4:4 Component video output
Analog HD or SD, YUV or RGB 12 bit 4:4:4 Component video input
NTSC or PAL input and output.
HD Format support:
1920 x 1080 @ 24p 25p 30p 48i 50i
1280 x 720 @ 30p 50p 60p.
SD Format support:
NTSC and PAL
SDI Compliant
SMPTE 292M, SMPTE 259M, SMPTE 296M and ITU-R BT656
Color space support:
4:2:2 YUV, 4:4:4 YUV and 4:4:4 RGB
Audio
2 XLR balanced analog inputs and outputs.
2 Analog RCA outputs for monitoring.
8 AES/EBU digital audio inputs and outputs. All inputs have sample rate
converters.

The Eclipse model is more expensive but the only differences are on the
audio side; more I/O breakouts. Plus, disconnect it from the computer
and it's a stand alone converter. I think they just added support for
the ProRez codec as well, or soon will be if not.

http://www.blackmagic-design.com/products

Just my 2 cents.

M.




Larry wrote:

>Hi!
>
>I will need to buy a video i/o interface for my Mac (Mac Pro dual
>xeon / 8GB Ram / Tiger / FinalCut Pro - latest version). I have tons
>of live music footage (we usually shoot gigs from local bands playing
>in our small independent venue) and I want to archive past
>performences.
>Footage format: analog betacam, digital betacam, now dvc-pro hd. We
>have no problem with the dvc-pro as we use a firestone hd, but I need
>to transfer all the betamax footage.
>
>Betacam VCR is a Sony DVW-M2000.
>
>So far my preference goes to the Aja IO HD, and the MOTU V3HD. All
>seem to have a pretty complete connection that allows to plug all our
>stuff -- VCR video/audio, screens, smpte synch...no HDMI input on the
>V3HD but we wouldn't use that feature.
>
>Guess the thing that will make a difference is the compression codec.
>IO HD's Apple ProRes 422 vs compressed DVC Pro HD. My preference goes
>to the V3HD for that reason as it might get easier to edit native DVC
>Pro HD footage from our Panasonic cam with footage coming from the
>betacam tapes.
>
>However, I would like to know your opinion and advices.
>Thanks
>Larry
>
>

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