Questions regarding Vidiot digital to analog to digital workflow

Helpdesk
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Hi there!

I’m a director working on a short film that mixes digital and analog effects. I was lucky to find an authorized reseller with Vidiot units in stock, and I’ve been combing through the forums and doing a lot of research on the workflow to get the digital signal converted to analog and back without having to re-record a screen with another camera. I still have several doubts though, and I was hoping the community could provide some insight.

The theoretical setup would be as follows:

  1. Signal out from my computer (2013 MacPro) via thunderbolt to a Blackmagic Intensity hub
  2. Intensity output to Vidiot input
  3. Vidiot colorizer output to Intensity input
  4. Intensity back to computer for re-recording via BM recorder software or similar

Thing is, I’m not 100% sure if this chain will work at all. I’m also not sure what kind of cables I would need to go from one link in the hub to the next and back, asides from the thunderbolt cable to go from the computer to the Intensity. Not sure if I need cables that can convert from composite to thunderbolt or similar, etc.

Here’s an example of the effect I’m trying to create:

LUMEN-TEST-03
LUMEN-TEST-031920×1200 433 KB

This was done using Lumen, but I’m really hoping I can find an analog solution with the Vidiot. I think the result will be several orders of magnitude better if I can get it working.

Thanks in advance. Cheers! -Carlos

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from what I can tell you need 2 intensity shuttles as the intensity shuttle will only do 1 direction at a time

from mac -> thunderbolt cable -> intensity shuttle 1 -> component rca -> vidiot input

from vidiot output -> component rca -> intensity shuttle 2 -> thunderbolt cable -> mac

NB I own neither a BM Intensity Shuttle, nor a Vidiot

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Welcome Carlos. Jim is right that the Blackmagic Shuttles can only operate in one direction at a time. To do in/out concurrently with them requires one for each direction needed in your signal path; one for output from the computer to the Vidiot, and one for input back to the computer from Vidiot.

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4

Hey guys, thanks for the answers.

Didn’t know that about the shuttles, which certainly complicates things. Not to mention pricey.

Is anyone aware of a more streamlined solution for this kind of post-production work, i.e. processing ProRes footage?

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That is the ‘streamlined solution for this kind of post-production’ work

cheaper can work but may not be good enough for what you want - everything else is way more expensive

have a search on this forum there is quite a bit of discussion - links etc

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Thanks. Like I said I’m completely new to this type of equipment and I’ve been going through the forums to try and figure out how to get this working. I also contacted LZX to see if they could provide some insight, but I was hoping someone in here might have some experience with what I’m trying to do and could walk me through it.

When you say “component rca”, what kind of cable are you referring to specifically?

Also, one of the things I’ve been reading about with the Intensity is that it can be a bit finicky when sending video out to a Vidiot depending on the format, framerate, etc. I’m going to be processing ProRes 4444 files @ 24FPS, any idea if that would be supported?

I’m sure a lot of these q’s seem like no-brainers, but I just want to make sure I have all my t’s crossed and i’s dotted before making the investment. :slight_smile:

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you’ll probably need to convert to PAL or NTSC

component rca cable is a triple rca cable

you might need composite though

as I said I have neither of these things

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Hey guys, thanks again for the replies and all the help. I’m going to be putting together the setup Agawell suggested: 2x Shuttles, 1x Vidiot. Besides the thunderbolt cables, I wanted to double check this is the correct type of component rca cable I’m gonna need:

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Any type of male RCA cable will work, but I prefer cables that are not bundled together.