HD-SDI interface with Isadora

eight

Has anybody used HD-SDI interfaces with Isadora? Can any specific setups be recommended?

Thanks.

--8

MatthewH

Are you looking to output HD-SDI or capture an HD-SDI input? How many inputs/outputs do you need? What kind of computer are you using? I have used various Black Magic products for HD-SDI capture with Isadora.

eight

Thanks Matthew. I am in the early stages, the theatre I am working with uses HD-SDI for their projections with ScreenAV. I am wondering whether I would be able to convince them to use Isadora. I think I will be using a few projectors (three), possibly capture too. Edge blending will likely be required.

--8

MatthewH

I would shoot Mark an email. I know he has done this and Isadora Pro supports output to HD-SDI interfaces. You can also always just convert DVI to HD-SDI upon output. That is done all the time in theatre and broadcast

eight

Ah, Isadora-Pro!

Thanks for the suggestion.

--8

mark

Dear Matthe + Eight,

First, Isadora Pro doesn't really exist, in the sense that it's unreleased and only in the hands of a very few for beta testing. Those who are beta testing it aren't supposed to be discussing it in the forum.

That said, the output to SDI was done for the project I did with Francis Ford Coppola, which is part of the Pro feature set. However, because it does not use OpenGL, edge blending is not available. It basically sends the raw image directly to the Blackmagic card; you can't spin it, bend it or otherwise do anything to the image. So in this way, it is quite limited.

If you need edge blending, the Matthew's suggestion of going from DVI to HD-SDI seems like a reasonable one. Then you get the benefits of OpenGL and what it allows you to do in terms of the image processing.

Best Wishes,

Mark

MatthewH

Sorry, Mark. You had previously mentioned this functionality on the forum so I figured it was fair game to mention it.

@eight, I have used the Blackmagic DVI SDI Extender for this before and it works well and is on the affordable end for this type of thing. You are limited to a handful of supported resolutions (including 1080p) so that can potentially be limiting but if it supports what you need it is less than $400 and very reliable in my experience. DVI to HD-SDI converters are also pretty widely available in AV rental house stocks.

craigw

Hi,

Many of the better projectors have edge blending as part of there software.

eight

@MatthewH: thanks for the hardware suggestion.

@craigw: The venue does not have its own equipment: they always rent it, let's hope the edge blending projectors will be available at the time I need them. Thanks.

--8