Dear Avid MC Editors:

                              I am experiencing some capture difficulties when trying to capture in a 23.976p Project from an HD-SDI source. I have uploaded a short Windows Media Video to show you what my captures are looking like in the hope this may help diagnose the source of the malfunction.

As you can see the above image captures ok with good sound, but the image looks like this and I don't know why ???

Here's what I do Know:  

1. The source footage is totally pristine when played directly out of my Flash XDR solid state digital recorder/player directly to my nine inch Sony broadcast monitor via HD-SDI.

2. I am using an Avid certified system for the version of MC I am using (See my system specs).

3. When I first connected my Adrenaline to my NLE, three separate, and automatic firmware updates ran. Each update completed with a dialogue box indicating the update (s) were successful.

4. The Adrenaline will play back existing completed Sequences I have in either DNxHD, HDV, or Sony XDCAM HD 4:2:2 (23.976p) with perfect HD image and high quality audio.

5. The Adrenaline device shows up as listed and functioning properly in my Win XP Pro Sound, Video, and Game Controllers list in my Device Manager. So does my IEEE 1394 host adapter and controller.

6. There is no error condition light code on the front of the Adrenaline which would indicate a board failure of the SD Video, Audio, or DNxCel HD board.

Here's what I don't know:

1. The HD light illuminates on the front of the Adrenaline as soon as I load an HD Project in MC, but its color is orange. This would seem to indicate an error condition exists in HD mode, but not necessarily a hardware board failure. Should this HD indicator light be green ?

2. Why is there no choice to capture audio @ 96KHz sampling rate as indicated by the audio selection lights on the front of the Adrenaline, as well as in the Adrenaline features list ?

3. Why can't I capture with the TC switch in the "ON" position @ 23.976p ?

….I'm not convinced I'm dealing with an HD board failure at this conjuncture, more likely I have some sort of hardware, or software configuration error. Any assistance would be much appreciated.

Mark Job

 

The easy things first.

The 3 firmware updates is normal as the software updates the various components in the Adrenaline box.

The software doesn't support 96Khz so the LED on the Adrenline box is redundant.

The harder questions I'm not sure on.

Doesn't sound like a hardware fault to me. 3GB even on XP isn't great 4Gb would be better but that's unrelated. Also the FX1500 card isn't as good as a higher spec card but again should be related.

Is you QT version correct?

You say the images captures ok but looks wrong. Not sure what's wrong with the image posted as I don't knwo what it should look like.

Does it show the correct image on the Compser window and the Adrenaline HD output but look worng when played back?

Are you sure the HD-SDI input signal is correct (ie is the deck outputting correctly at the right frame rate etc)?

 

Hi Pat:

Pat Horridge:

Is you QT version correct?

…AS far as I know, yes. I am using QT 7.6.4, which is the version of QT which goes with MC 4.0.5.14.

Pat Horridge:

Does it show the correct image on the Compser window and the Adrenaline HD output but look worng when played back?

…Nope. Garbled in the MC window as well as on the HD monitor during and after capture upon playback.

Pat Horridge:

Are you sure the HD-SDI input signal is correct (ie is the deck outputting correctly at the right frame rate etc)?

…Reasonably sure, yes. If I go directly to my HD monitor from the HD-SDI out from my solid state digital recorder/player, then the image looks fantastic along with high quality audio. I don't know what's wrong ??

Mark Job

Hi Editors:

                 Unfortunately, the JEPEG I posted doesn't manage to adequately show the malfunction I'm seeing on screen. I have a 5 second windows media video of what the captures look like if anyone is interested ? Is there a way to post short video clips to this forum ?

Mark Job

Mark Job:

Is there a way to post short video clips to this forum ?

Mark,

You could upload a short clip to "http://www.mediafire.com/" and post the link in the forum.

ADDED:  "Mediafire" accepts file sizes to 200 MB for the free version (10 GB for the Pro version)

Hi Editors:

                 Here is a link to a few seconds of what my capture looks like. This is a WMV file. Go to

http://www.fileconvoy.com/dfl.php?id=g851731a3c16386c82932304461e8a25c73279

Mark Job

Fairly sure that the orange light means lacking ref. The fact that capturing with timecode is forbidden seems to indicate a signal/reference mismatch of some sort.

What's the output format of your flash recorder set to? 1080sf23?

Also, failry sure the software DOES allow for 96KHz, at least it does with DX, as long as you turn off embedded audio.

Hi Job:

Job ter Burg:

Fairly sure that the orange light means lacking ref.

…Yes, this is what I strongly suspect as well, but, so far, I have been unable to ascertain what is the specific cause of the reference mis-match ?

Job ter Burg:

What's the output format of your flash recorder set to? 1080sf23?

…So far, my Flash XDR is set to 23.976p output. (But I can set the output to Psf output). Maybe I should try switching back and fourth between p & PsF output to see ? Come to think of it - I vaguely remember reading somewhere that the Adrenaline can take a Progressive Segmented Frame input ??? My memory could be playing tricks with me on this. Is the HD light in the front supposed to specifically turn GREEN, or is the ORANGE illumination simply normal ?

Job ter Burg:

Also, failry sure the software DOES allow for 96KHz,

….I think so too. Why would Avid waste time and money designing and installing extra lights in their Adrenalines if there was no such feature as 96KHz ?? Thanks Job for giving me some leeds to check. I will report back and tell you what the result is.

Mark Job

 

Hi Everyone:

                   Success ! We can now capture our Canon HDV 24F in realtime via HD-SDI input into The Avid Adrenaline. We can do this via a couple of different procedures. However, we are still dealing with two bugaboos.

1. Cannot capture *Source Time Code* via embedded signal in HD-SDI input into Adrenaline DNxHD board. Why ?

2. No 96 KHz audio capture option (Still under testing - We will try to disable embedded audio in Adrenaline capture settings to see if 96 KHz option shows up in Audio Project Settings Drop Down List)

Thank you to Job ter Berg for suggesting the progressive output settings check. This was the key to solving HD-SDI realtime DNxHD capture.

* BTW, the HD light is still ORANGE, yet capture now works with HD-SDI @ DNxHD 36 (Haven't tried higher DNxHD codec data rate capture yet)

Mark Job

Hi Editors:

                I still have not been able to capture embedded TC from my Adrenaline's HD-SDI input. I have some doubts as to wether or not my Flash XDR Recorder/Player is putting out proper TC data stream, so I have contacted a friend who also owns one of these CF Card decks to see if he can measure his HD-SDI output to confirm embedded time code is fully functional @ 23.976 PsF. In the meantime, I will perform a fresh install of my MC system to make sure all configuration is clean and that some driver (S) did not get corrupted and this is causing the problem. Still no 96 KHz audio selection. The features documented such ability was possible with the Adrenaline.

Mark Job

 

Does your Flash XDR player got a separate TC out?  If so you can set the Adrenaline to capture that.

FWIW with HD SDI I get my TC from either the decks 9 pin connector or TC out and have not felt the need to look at any TC embedded in the HD SDI

Hi Andrew:

AndrewAction:

Does your Flash XDR player got a separate TC out?

….Unfortunately no. The Flash XDR is designed to take a separate LTC in or HD-SDI embedded TC in, but only outputs the TC stream via HD-SDI when you press Play. This doesn't leave me with any extra options. Is there such a device whereby you can plug in an HD-SDI input and have the device strip off the embedded TC and offer this data in a separate LTC output ? Then I could use the Adrenaline's LTC input and get the source TC that way.

Mark Job

Mark Job:

Is there such a device whereby you can plug in an HD-SDI input and have the device strip off the embedded TC and offer this data in a separate LTC output ?

In a quick search just now it seems like NO.  Seemingly this is the case with Avid / FCS / Premier Pro and probably Vegas.

The only possibility I came across was if the embedded TC is in one of the HD SDI tracks Avid sees as audio. If so then you could possibly use that track as AUX TC. Maybe someone here knows wether the TC is on an audio channel or its own discreet channel... Thats way beyond my knowledge.

Hi Andrew:

AndrewAction:

Maybe someone here knows wether the TC is on an audio channel or its own discreet channel...

….I can confirm it's on its own discrete channel.

Mark Job               

Yeah, P and PsF are two different signals. In general, HD-SDI products will want to see PsF, not P. HDMI devices will want to see P rather than PsF. Some devices accept both (apparently your monitor does). Avid will only capture PsF.

 

I don't think embedded TC is supported, only RS422 (when using deck control) or through the timecode input. Best option would be to route through something that reads the TC from the HDSDI and can slave to it and output a TC channel. Like a deck.

 

In the other thread I referred to, it specifically stated that 96K is NOT supported with embedded audio. So if 96K audio is your goal (not sure why), you will need to feed audio over AES and video over SDI, and deselect the embedded audio in Avid.

 

As for your ref mismatch: UNLESS you are sending a 1080/23PsF sync or trilevel sync into BOTH the Adrenaline AND the Nanoflash, and have both lock to that reference, you should not expect to see the green light on the Adrenaline. So how's your sync setup?