What is the BEST cable connection from Canopus ADVC 300 to Black Magic Intensity Pro HDMI PCI Express Capture Card?

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nick1981 Author

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What is the BEST cable connection from Canopus ADVC 300 to Black Magic Intensity Pro HDMI PCI Express Capture Card?

I must connect an ADVC 300 to a Black Magic Intensity Pro HDMI PCI Express Capture Card. For best quality, which cable should I use?

On the ADVC 300 there are outputs of firewire, S-VHS and RCA.

On BMPro it's a little confusing. On the breakout cable there are connectors that say:

-5 B-Y OUT

-4 Y OUT

-3-R-Y OUT

-7-R-Y IN

-8-Y IN

-9 B-Y IN

-15 AUDIO IN RIGHT

-10 AES/EBU OUT

-12 AUDIO LEFT OUT

-14 AUDIO LEFT OUT

-13 AUDIO RIGHT OUT

With the BMPro, there is also a separate, shorter cable. On one end it looks like S-VHS and on the other there are two connectors, one black and one blue.

On the actual BMPro Express card strip instead of using the breakout cable, there is HDMI IN (and HDMI OUT).

How should I connect this? Is there an adapter cable of FIREWIRE TO HDMI?

Any help is much appreciated.

Posted on Sep 22, 2011 4:44 AM

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Answer 1

Sep 22, 2011 7:09 AM in response to nick1981

Check your BMPro documentation for correct cabling. Pretty sure it ships with an adapter for svhs, however, there's really no reason not to use firewire from advc 300 directly to the firewire on your mac. Some people claim that there might be a slightly better quality capturing analog, which makes no sense to me as the firewire connection is a bit by bit copy of the digital video on the tape.

And far as I know there is no adapter for hdmi to svhs.

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Answer 2

Sep 22, 2011 7:09 AM in response to nick1981

Can I ask why you need to connect a Canpous to a Black Magic card?

Why can't you simply connect the Canopus to your Mac via Firewire? Or bypass the Canopus and connect whatever device you're using directly to the BM card?

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Answer 3

nick1981 Author

Level 1

1 points

Sep 22, 2011 7:42 AM in response to Ronnie Pudding

Well, when I researched how best to digitize VHS (into Final Cut Pro 7), I learned two of the best devices to use are BMPro and Canopus ADVC 300. I’m using the ADVC 300 for the built-in time base corrector. I definitely want to use that to stabilize the video. I also read how well BMPro improves image quality. So, I thought to use the two together must produce outstanding quality (well, as good as VHS can be).

Perhaps I got confused into thinking I can use both. But the BMPro appears to have an S-VHS adapter.

I guess I’m wondering what is better quality:

Run the firewire from the Canopus ADVC 300 converter directly into the firewire port on the Mac Pro
Or, run an S-VHS cable from the Canopus ADVC 300 into the BMPro Capture card

(I should mention that I have purchased all these items and already have the BMPro Card installed so at this point it’s not a cost issue, but rather an issue of simply which works best?)

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Answer 4

Sep 22, 2011 7:50 AM in response to nick1981

as I said in my previous post, there are differences of opinion regarding what will give you the best quality. I'd suggest you try the 2 methods and see which looks best to you. I doubt you'll see much of a difference. Going from the canopus via firewire to your mac is the simplest.

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Answer 5

Sep 22, 2011 7:55 AM in response to nick1981

It would be absolutely silly to use both in combination - you use either/or.

Seeing that you come from VHS, it would make absolutely no difference which you use.

You need the BMP in order to capture HD video, for SD they are just the same.

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Answer 6

nick1981 Author

Level 1

1 points

Sep 22, 2011 8:08 AM in response to Michael Grenadier

thanks for your help

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Answer 7

nick1981 Author

Level 1

1 points

Sep 23, 2011 5:34 PM in response to nick1981

Okay, I'm trying to connect the ADVC 300 to the Mac Pro. I have the FireWire coming from the DV I/O on the back of the ADVC 300. However, the other end of the firewire cable does not fit into the firewire ports of the Mac Pro. Do I need yet another adapter cable or a different kind of firewire cable?

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Answer 8

Sep 23, 2011 6:11 PM in response to nick1981

No adapter - just a cable with the correct connectors

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Answer 9

Sep 23, 2011 6:14 PM in response to nick1981

>Do I need yet another adapter cable or a different kind of firewire cable?

There are 3 common types of Firewire connections:

4 pin (IEEE 1394a)

6 pin (IEEE 1394a)

9 pin (IEEE1394b)

You can find pictures of each type here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firewire

Many suppliers offer cables for almost any combination; 4 pin to 4 pin, 4 pin to 6 pin, 4 pin to 9 pin, 6 pin to 6 pin, 6 pin to 9 pin and 9 pin to 9 pin. Here's one vendor's offering: http://www.cablestogo.com/categories.asp?cat_id=600

-DH

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Answer 10

nick1981 Author

Level 1

1 points

Sep 23, 2011 6:33 PM in response to David Harbsmeier

thanks pal for the quick response. After reading up a bit via the links you sent, it appears my recently acquired mac pro is equipped with 9 pin firewire ports. I'll be purchasing a 6 pin to 9 pin, in case any other ADVC 300, Mac Pro users read this, say again - as of September 2011, the Canopus ADVC 300 comes with a 6 pin to 4 pin firewire.

thanks again

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