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Ronseal has a lot to answer for. ltīs just so tempting, faced with a product like the Convergent Designīs HD-Connect Ml, to dissolve into the tired clich6 - "lt does exactly what it says on the tin. Except it doesnīt come in a tin and thereīs nothing much written on the box either. What it should say on the tin is that the HD-Connect Ml takes an HDMI signal and converts it to HD-SDI. lt takes the HDMI audio and embeds it into the HD-SDI data stream and it can also convert RS-422 machine control protocol to Firewire. Perhaps you have one of the new generation of HDV decks that only has HDMI out (like the JVC BR-HD50) or an even newer generation camera like the Sony HVR-V1 E and you want to integrate it into your SDI workflow. This box is what youīll need. There are a few caveats. The HD-Connect Ml supports HDCP copy protection so anything that outputs video with this
turned on (such as an HD-DVD/BIu Ray player) canīt be copied. lf you have a JVC deck, make sure itīs got the latest firmware because the older units couldnīt turn HDCP off. The unit supports 7 20 / 29 .97 p, 7 20 / 25p. 1 080/5 9 .9 4i, 1 080/50 i, 486i and 576i HDMI but not 1080p. Gefen are rumoured to be releasing a unit that will support 1080p/30 (SEE UPDATE) but at the time of writing it isnīt available.
There is a software application that can control the unit over Firewire - this is also used to upgrade the unitīs firmware and itīs recommended that you do this as the application and the firmware come as a pair. You can select default resolutions andoutput bars (when the HDMI signal isnīt present) and there are presets for control by various NLEs.
The unit is housed in a robust aluminium extrusion and, for want of anything else to review, I took it apart. The single PCB was well made and so should be reliable, however the BNC
for the HD-SDI doesnīt have a locking nut holding it to the chassis - any stress on the connector is put on the solder joints on the PCB. In the past I have had problems with equipment made like this where the weight and twisting of an inflexible BNC cable eventually pulls the BNC connector off the board. Having said that, I expect most of these units will find their way into edit suites with a short, flexible BNC cable to a patch bay or directly into the NLE.
Power is supplied by a small wall-wart about the size of a mobile phone charger. Again, if I was really picking nits it would be nice to have had some strain relief for the coax power connector on the unit, so that it couldnīt be accidentally pulled out. Not usually a problem in an edit suite, but if you were using an HDMI out camera in a live environment it might be more of a worry. Mind you, the HDMI connector doesnīt lock either. I guess thatt what gaffer tape was invented for.
So there you have it. lf you have an HD-SDI workflow and need to integrate HDMI signals then hereīs the boxto do i t . |
