Hi folks,

we finally have decided to make a professional HD-SDI 3G to DVI/HDMI converter that is meeting all requirements that are necessary for both the home theater and pro AV world.
This unit will use a scaler (a very good one) that can be programmed to be fully bypassed only doing the necessary YPrPb to RGB conversion for DVI output.
So if you have any special requirements this would be the place to talk about it.
It will be more expensive than the 495 USD the black magic costs, but we will make sure it is the one you were waiting for.

Spatz very nice ;)

anyway you guys could make this support 4:2:2 YPbPr HDMI output instead of DVI?, this would be much better if that is at all possible

that we could have HD-SDI 4:2:2 YPbPr in and HDMI 4:2:2 YPbPr out ;)

likewise I would love to test for you if you would be interested, send me a PM or contact me www.custom-ht.com

-Gary

sure we will support all modes and we will use a hdmi 1.3 chip for driving the DVI output. If will not be HDCP encoded and we will offer user selectable YPrPb or DVI output, in 4:4:4 or 4:2:2.
I am not yet sure if we will offer a special Home theater unit, the original plan is to have HD-SDI input/output, DVI Input/output 8-ch audio embedding/dembedding.
However if we can collect enough orders for a HD-SDI input and DVI (HDMI) output without audio, that might be significant cheaper and suit more the needs of this market. It would be up to you guys to pull this off. 100 pcs would be enough to go for a modified assembly not stuffing the parts that are unnecessary for HD-SDI or SDI modded players.

How about including a 3D LUT in the path? The professional side of the business is now being forced to use comsumer Plasma and LCD monitors due to the market failure of Sony's high end LCD. We need the LUT to correct the built in LUTS these monitors have to make consumer appealing pictures.

Black magic does make such a product - the HDLink Pro which retails for $700. It has problems. The HDSDI input is very picky - unreasonably. The DVI output blanks the first two lines of the image - unaccaptable in pro work. It does have an HDSDI output that is full image but then we need yet another HDSDI to DVI/HDMI box after. Or in the case of Panasonics high end Plasma, their $1400 HDSDI input module. All because BlackMagic can't make the DVI/HDMI output show the entire image. And the 3D LUT implementation is akward from all the current LUT tables. Though there is no set standard, some unofficial compatability to competing LUT products would be nice.

PM me and I'll give you more information and my contact info. If you are serious about this you could do well in the broadcast and professional market. $700 is too cheap. We don't mind paying $2000 for a box that works. $700 for a compromised box is bargin.

Oh and we don't need audio or HDCP either.

You SDI fanatics might want to check out this product line:

http://www.doremilabs.com/products/HDVI-20.htm

http://www.doremilabs.com/pdf/hdvi20.pdf

Hi Glimmie,

nice for you to chime in. Actually the chip we are using has 7 LUTs with 12 bit resolution and the ability to be used in a bypass mode if necessary.
What you are telling me about the quality of the converters that are available from the known vendors is more or less the same that I was told from the technical director of the biggest broadcaster in germany.
So we will make this definetely better and I will make sure that you will receive one prototype for testing.
send me an email spatz(at)spatz-tech.de so we can discuss more about this.
AUDIO
The current idea is to have the 4 stereo AES/EBU on Phoenix connectors instead of XLRs to save space and money and have one analog stereo in/output that may be assigned to one of the 4 Pairs ? Is that reasonable or what are the us demands in terms of audio ?

Spatz,

Very happy to hear this news & will be seriously considering this unit when available. Can't say that I think much of Glimmies "what the market will bear"
pricing plan though. Some of us are not professionals.

we can spin off a home theater unit that has HD-SDI input and DVI/HDMI output having no audio, that would use the same board but different assembly and housing.
I am sure we can do that for 1000 USD but still would need at least 50 pcs order so we can run the production for 100 pcs.
Maybe AVS can pull a power buy, that would help.

Forgot one feature:

I forgot that we probably will add 1 compostie, 1 S-video and 1 component input for SD video signals. The TVP5160 that we are using in the Barracuda delivers amazing results with its 11 BIT AD.
The scaling chip we are using has as well a deinterlacer with all the goodies that are offered nowadays.
It does not really add much to the cost of the unit, so if there is enough space on the back of the unit we will add them.

The HDSDI input is very picky - unreasonably. The DVI output blanks the first two lines of the image

It can get worse than that - When feeding its output to the DVI input of a Key Digital HD Leeza, the image is zoomed so much that only about 2/3's is visible. Do not have this severe problem with a VP50Pro using its HDMI inputs however PQ is not as good as straight HD-SDI input.

Bob