Capturing video for streaming with HDMI rather than Firewire

At today's Boston Media Makers meeting, Steve Garfield brought along a Blackmagic Design UltraStudio 3D [$945] to demo. He explained that if you want to stream video live from a video camera, it is getting increasingly hard to find cameras with Firewire ports - the way most people have been doing it for the last ten years. Now most of the video cameras output only an HDMI signal.

UltraStudio 3D

The UltraStudio 3D is one solution that lets you connect to an HDMI source, and then connect the UltraStudio to a recent Mac via Thunderbolt. Steve said that it worked well, though the UltraStudio 3D costs almost $1,000.

For those on a budget, Blackmagic has two other devices; the Intensity Shuttle Thuderbolt [$227] and the Intensity Extreme [$284] It doesn't appear that either are shipping just yet, and I believe the primary difference between the two models is that the Intensity Extreme is smaller and more rugged, making it more suitable for use in the field.
Intensity Extreme

Blackmagic Design: Intensity Models

Comments

GreenGenes said…
Sounds interesting but there's no explanation or video to show what was done or how.
Feb 6, 2012, 1:51:00 PM
Michael Murie said…
Actually, there wasn't much to it. He connected a consumer camcorder via the HDMI port of the camera to the HDMI in on the UltraStudio. Then connected the UltraStudio to the MacBook using a Thunderbolt cable.

He said that he didn't have to install any software and his web streaming software recognized the video input. He also said that Blackmagic offered some software for capturing the video, but he hadn't used that.
Feb 6, 2012, 6:16:00 PM
GreenGenes said…
What web streaming software?
Having used a few I've found that not all video i/o devices work with all streaming programs equally.
Feb 7, 2012, 5:45:00 PM
Michael Murie said…
Unfortunately, he didn't tell us that, and I was more interested in capturing the video - which Steve doesn't do and didn't really talk about - than streaming.

I think Steve uses The Pulse Network for a lot of his broadcasting.

You might drop him an email; I'm sure he'd tell you: http://stevegarfield.com
Feb 7, 2012, 7:32:00 PM
Paul said…
Firewire made it easy to stream video but USB bulk mode has ended that. Can I use any camcorder with HDMI out in conjunction with the Blackmagic box?
Mar 2, 2012, 3:48:00 PM
Friends of Laura Lucille said…
Actually, intensity extreme didn't work for me.
I was streaming at 1080 i 60fp/s from my Panny GH2 camera to the intensity extreme device, but I was unable to stream live using the most common encoders flme, quicktime broadcaster and procaster. Same problem with a different camcorder sreaming hdmi 1080 i at 30fps. I was successful at capturing the hdmi stream on my mac using the application that came with the device, but this wasn't the intended use. I am returning the intensity extreme box next week unless someone finds a solution.
Mar 5, 2012, 7:02:00 PM
Michael Murie said…
What version of Procaster are you using? The website says they added "experimental" support for Intensity Extreme in version 20.2.28, and improved in 20.2.69
Mar 6, 2012, 1:01:00 PM
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