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Current SDI video capture cards tests and latency results

deckard97deckard97
edited March 2018 in MAIN
Hello there,

I just got my hands on a 15" Macbook Pro with Touchbar and a few video capture cards and wanted to share the results here.

Setup:
15" MBP w/touchbar

Cameras:

All cameras were connected through SDI 1080p 29.97fps

The Epiphan device only supports 1 camera and it had noticeable delay at 7.5 frames. I would even suggest that the frame rate was varying a little bit.

The Duo 2 inside the Sonnet Echo Express captured flawless video from 3 cameras simultaneously at 6.25 frames delay.
The Duo 2 supports either 4 inputs or 4 outputs which you can configure as you like: 3x1 ou 2x2, etc.

The Quad 2 inside the Sonnet Echo Express was a bit faster at 5 frames delay while capturing video from the 3 cameras.
Millumin always humming at 60 fps and Activity monitor reporting the system did not flinch at all.

I also tested 4 cameras with the Quad 2 and you can go up to 8!

If I get my hands on a USB-C to thunderbolt 2 adapter I can also test an Ultrastudio mini recorder, to compare.

Hope this helps.

Comments

  • MilluminMillumin
    edited March 2018
    Hello @deckard97,

    Thank you to share your results here. This is quite useful !
    Just 2 questions :
    - What delay did you measure : you film a timecode with your camera, then took a picture between this timecode and the image of the projector that redisplayed it ?
    - When you're saying you got 5 frames of delay, do you mean 80ms (5*16ms) or 165ms (5*33ms) ?

    Best. Philippe
  • deckard97deckard97
    Hi Philippe,

    time base is 29.97fps so 5 frames = 165ms, 6.25 frames = 206ms, 7.5 frames = 248ms.

    I was only interested in the delay for the capture and not the delay at output, which could vary depending on transport signal and output device.

    -3 SDI cameras connected to the capture device
    -Quicktime X recording the screen with audio from the Macbook Pro Mic
    -Compare the delay between audio and video in Premiere

    Very much non scientific but the difference between capture devices using the same methodology is still useful.

    David.
  • MilluminMillumin
    Hello @deckard97,

    All right. Thank you for these infos !

    Best. Philippe
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