Blackmagic Intensity Shuttle Thunderbolt as a live input

[ra byn (robin) taylor]

Greetings everyone,

I've got an opera festival coming up that is ultra light in the audio realm
so I'm being asked to do some video work.

The director wants to have the ability to route live video to the
projector. He also wants to be able to play back prerecorded video. In
theory Qlab 3 should be capable of doing this simple task.

I have a simple workspace with (2) cues. One is a video cue. The other is a
camera cue.

I have a Blackmagic Intensity Shuttle Thunderbolt for an input. I have a
Sony HD camera connected to the Intensity Shuttle via HDMI and set to 1080i
(as it is my understanding that the Intensity Shuttle doesn't support
1080P). Using Blackmagic Media Express capture app, I have no problem
seeing and recording the camera signal coming in.

As a reality check, I have the camera cue setup to use the onboard Facetime
HD camera on the Imac 27" late 2013 computer with 1TB SSD and 16GB of ram.

When I switch to the Intensity Shuttle input instead of the Facetime HD
camera, I get nothing using the same camera cue.

Considering that the video shows up in the Media Express capture app, that
would suggest that things are working up to Qlab 3 but I don't know enough
about how that video signal is handled by the OS to know if there are other
places to check prior to Qlab 3.

The Sony HD camera is set to AUTO output under HDMI setting. I've tried
setting CTRL FOR HDMI On / Off. No change in behavior. I'm not sure that
matters at all in this case.



The Blackmagic Desktop Video Utility is configured as follows:



Here is the image I'm getting in the Blackmagic Media Express capture app:



I have scrubbed the archives for clues and I find very little information
about this matter.

Any hints would be greatly appreciated.

In the meantime, for those who come across this thread later, here are
important details that I didn't learn until today and which aren't obvious
regarding the Blackmagic Intensity series of devices. The device is
advertised as an realtime input / output device. Pick one.

The Blackmagic Intensity Shuttle (USB3 / TB) and Intensity Extreme (TB) are
cable of being an input or output but not both at the same time. This is a
bummer if you have a Mac with only (1) TB port and you need and input and
and output.

I had planned on using the device for both purposes but that isn't
possible. Fine. I have (2) TB ports on my Imac so I can use either a TB to
HDMI adapter for my output or my TB dock which has a HDMI output (already
tested and works).

The lingering question. "Why does the Intensity Shuttle input (that works
in the device's own capture software) not work with a Qlab 3 camera cue?
Hopefully it's something simple.

Thank you in advance for any light you might shed on the matter and best
regards,

ra byn (robin)

[Erik Rietman]

Did you patched it correctly in the Qlab settings panel?
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[Sam Kusnetz]

ra byn (robin) taylor wrote:
> I have a Blackmagic Intensity Shuttle Thunderbolt for an input. I have
> a Sony HD camera connected to the Intensity Shuttle via HDMI and set
> to 1080i (as it is my understanding that the Intensity Shuttle doesn't
> support 1080P).

This is incorrect. I have an Intensity Shuttle and a Go Pro on my desk
here, and everything works beautifully with the Go Pro outputting 1080p24.

> The Sony HD camera is set to AUTO output under HDMI setting.

I'm going to guess, then, that the Sony it putting out 1080i at 59.94
fps, which is the default framerate for NTSC video. Sony, in their
infinite helpfulness, probably labels this as 1080i60.

Try manually setting your camera, the Intensity, and the camera patch in
QLab all to 1080p30 and see how that treats you.

Cheerio
Sam

--
Sam Kusnetz | Figure 53 Field Operative
s...@figure53.com

[ra byn (robin) taylor]

On Friday, April 10, 2015 at 8:43:06 AM UTC-5, sam kusnetz wrote:

ra byn (robin) taylor wrote:
> I have a Blackmagic Intensity Shuttle Thunderbolt for an input. I have
> a Sony HD camera connected to the Intensity Shuttle via HDMI and set
> to 1080i (as it is my understanding that the Intensity Shuttle doesn't
> support 1080P).

This is incorrect. I have an Intensity Shuttle and a Go Pro on my desk
here, and everything works beautifully with the Go Pro outputting 1080p24.

I'm setup to test a Go Pro Hero 3+ @ 1080p24fps now and it shows up in the Media Express capture software but not in Qlab 3. I thought that maybe having both the Media Express capture software open and Qlab 3 might be the issue but closing both programs and only running Qlab 3 doesn't solve the missing video issue.
 

> The Sony HD camera is set to AUTO output under HDMI setting.

I'm going to guess, then, that the Sony it putting out 1080i at 59.94
fps, which is the default framerate for NTSC video. Sony, in their
infinite helpfulness, probably labels this as 1080i60.

When the Sony is set to HDMI output = AUTO, it is definitely defaulting to 1080i59.94 because that is the setting that works with Media Express capture. Still not with Qlab 3.  

Try manually setting your camera, the Intensity, and the camera patch in
QLab all to 1080p30 and see how that treats you.

The Sony doesn't give total control over the HDMI output. It offers the following choices.

AUTO
1080p/480p
1080i/480i
720p/480p
480p
480i

No frame rate options specified or offered.

Not sure what FPS setting to choose in the Intensity Desktop Video Utility & Media Express capture since the Sony doesn't explain which frame rate it's using when set to 1080p / 480p. I'll try every option and see if I find a winning combination.

More soon,

ra byn (robin)

[Sam Kusnetz]

ra byn (robin) taylor wrote:
> I'm setup to test a Go Pro Hero 3+ @ 1080p24fps now and it shows up in
> the Media Express capture software but not in Qlab 3. I thought that
> maybe having both the Media Express capture software open and Qlab 3
> might be the issue but closing both programs and only running Qlab 3
> doesn't solve the missing video issue.

You definitely want Media Express closed before launching QLab. For that
matter, you also want the Blackmagic connected and configured to HDMI
input before launching QLab.

I'm attaching a screenshot of the configuration necessary on the QLab
side, in Settings/Camera, to use a Go Pro. I 100% guarantee this is
working for me.

> The Sony doesn't give total control over the HDMI output.

This might be the problem.

> It offers the following choices.
>
> AUTO
> 1080p/480p
> 1080i/480i
> 720p/480p
> 480p
> 480i

I suggest you start with the progressive formats and work your way down
the list from top to bottom, simply because progressive looks nicer than
interlaced. No reason not to try the interlaced ones too if you want.

> Not sure what FPS setting to choose in the Intensity Desktop Video
> Utility & Media Express capture since the Sony doesn't explain which
> frame rate it's using when set to 1080p / 480p. I'll try every option
> and see if I find a winning combination.

What you need to do here is stop using Media Express. It tells you
nothing useful beyond whether or not your camera is working with the
Intensity, which it certainly is.

Look at the screen shot and step through the options in QLab
Settings/Camera. When the input format and frame rate set there match
what the camera is providing, you should see picture. You'll need to
stop and restart the camera cue in order to do so, of course.

[ra byn (robin) taylor]

On Friday, April 10, 2015 at 1:54:32 AM UTC-5, Erik Rietman wrote:

Did you patched it correctly in the Qlab settings panel?

In QLab 3,

VIEW / WORKSPACE SETTINGS / CAMERA / INTENSITY SHUTTLE / 1080P24 - works for GoPro set for 1080P24
VIEW / WORKSPACE SETTINGS / CAMERA / INTENSITY SHUTTLE / 1080I59.94 - works for both of my Sony HDR cameras when set to AUTO or 1080i.

So far none of the other settings for the Sony cameras works with Qlab 3 or Media Express capture software.

[ra byn (robin) taylor]

On Friday, April 10, 2015 at 2:58:00 PM UTC-5, sam kusnetz wrote:

What you need to do here is stop using Media Express. It tells you
nothing useful beyond whether or not your camera is working with the
Intensity, which it certainly is.

Look at the screen shot and step through the options in QLab
Settings/Camera. When the input format and frame rate set there match
what the camera is providing, you should see picture. You'll need to
stop and restart the camera cue in order to do so, of course.

I found this webpage that explains what the HDMI output settings on the Sony HDR cameras means:

https://us.en.kb.sony.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/44021/~/how-to-set-the-output-resolution-when-the-camcorder-is-connected-to-a-tv-with

In the meantime, I can find no settings that work between Sony Camera & Qlab 3 other than 1080i 59.94 (Sony set to AUTO or 1080i)

If that is the deal, fine. I'll focus on GoPro related tests now. More soon...

ra byn (robin)