Begginer - Blackmagic

Hello,
First of all , I'm a begginer , so please understand .
I'd like to start filming and produciing a Puppet story, filmed on chroma key.
I have a IMAC 27, I7 quad,16 gb ram, and a Panasonic HDC-SD60 (probably I will rent a real camera too)
I read a lot of info about Blackmagic Design Ultrastudio 3d or Intensity Extreme (thundebolt).
What should I buy , and it will help me more than just to import in FCPX via HDMI in real time ?
Does it make a big difference ?
Or do you have other suggetions ?

Best regards,
Adrian

You won't need either. You'll be shooting tapless HD, do ingesting the clips will have nothing to do with "capturing" them live.

Since you're shooting on a set, with controlled lighting, what in a "real camera" would you specifically need? I'd say do some test scenes with what you have first. Also, how do you intend to deliver this to your audience? That will have a bearing on if your camera is good enough, or if you do need something more sophisticated, exactly what. Example, renting a Red One to make a web only video is way over kill.

Thank you !
I understood that if I'm taking the signal out of the camera thru HDMI it will be much better than just importing into FCP , because of the conversion procees in the camera.
That was what I asked,if is it true, and also if those products from Blackmagic will help some how in the production procees in FCPX (like render time, fx,previews etc...)
I'd like to film HD, and about cameras ,,,don't know too much ..
Actually I'm a composer, and I find many similarities with video proceses . I'm very attracted about video , but it's the beggining for me .

The intensity is one of my favorite cards. I have alot of friends who do just wedding video work that I've recommended the intensity to and it's great for hdmi capture. Now to really take advantage of the higher quality you want to capture directly to the conputer while you shoot. If you feed it in after the fact you gain no advantage. From your camera to the card you can record directly to 10 bit ProRes 422 HQ this way you have a uncompressed file and retain the color space for keying. But if you are not going to capture on set it makes no difference if you have the intensity or not. But one thing to look forward too is soon "early 2012" you should gain the ability to do broadcast monitoring with Final Cut Pro X, and you will be able to see what you video will look like on a TV while you edit.

Thank you!
Is it a big difference ? (I'm not too sure about spending 1000 usd just for capturing from the camera).
I know about the edit in Fcpx...I'm on Lynda tutorials right now

No, HDMI is a compromised, two-way negotiated, compressed signal. If you want to capture from an HD camera and bypass the compression, you have to go through an HD-SDI connection, period.

Also, AJA has MUCH better tech support and integrates with Mac's way better than BM ever has.

If you're not capturing live, you don't need it. Even if you are, go to the computer via FW and use VeeScope Live, it's way better. FCP isn't really made for live capture. And FCP X will give you nightmares doing it.

As far as the difference, it's only a slight quality difference capturing live and just recording tapeless. Most folks can't tell which his which.

As for ProRes HQ, that's sort of overkill, as most HD cams aren't that high quality even via their raw signal. ProRes 422 will handle most HD just fine. Only if you're coming off a RED or such would you ever need HQ.

Well, broadcast monitoring is not what it will look like on "TV", it's being able to see the raw, un-compromised image. TV sets have built-in filters and adjustments that analyze the signal and adjust it so it is enhanced and look better on that specific TV set. Computer monitors are nothing like TV sets, totally different animal, and lie to you all the time. A broadcast monitor lets you see the true raw image. Most folks (even in broadcast) are not using broadcast monitors any longer, but a few do. If you're doing serious color correction it's nice to have. You still need to learn to read scopes and proper image handling, too.

And if you do go with a broadcast monitor, I'd still strongly recommend AJA cards over Blackmagic on a Mac, and for FCP especially.

My own set up is an AJA Kona LHi and a Flanders LM-2452W. Flanders tend to hold their calibration much longer, way more reliable, and are firmware upgradable (I have twice as much functionality now as I did when I bought it). But then, I am a colorist and probably half my work is just grading. Aside from grading video that will be shown on a theatrical projection screen, I really don't have much use for it. Using scopes properly is plenty is good enough.

BenB, thank you very much for your answer !
I read all you wrote over and over , so I can understand what are you saying .
My badluck is that my camera has just HDMI outs, Analog outs and USB- no firewire.
Also my computer is an Imac , so an PCIE card is not an option.
I saw your setup and I'm sure it's a strong one...unfortunatelly I have to make best from my setup for the moment (minimum investment)
I noticed you're a composer too and I liked that .
I saw also an tutorial about color corrections and it did change the way I was thinking about video ,cameras,and processing.
Can you give me an conclusion answer please ?
What would you personally do if you were in my situation?
From music background,as a studio owner, I understood that the human factor is the most important, but he must be helped by some minimum equipment,not necesaryly the most expensive one.
So I need the best ratio between quality/money, you have the answers, I know it.
Regards,
Adrian
PS. If you have time you can listen some of my works on www.adrianstavian.com

iMac, well... You won't get HD-SDI out of it unless it's a new one with T'bolt and you use the BM or AJA T'bolt box that gives that.

HDMI out to an HDTV is the next best thing. It's not a true broadcast signal/monitor, but is better feedback than a computer monitor.

I'm assuming you are using a DSLR. You won't get HD output live on most, some do, some scale down for live feed. Personally, with a DSLR, I wouldn't bother recording live anyway, that's just me.

Thank you for the answer. It's a Imac 27, i 7 quad ,3,4 ghz,16 gb ram, 2 tb hdd.
The camera is Panasonic sd60.
I don't understand....some say that it wont make any difference with Bm or Aja...some that it will...
I'm confused...can you help me, please ?

I am a huge fan of AJA based on my consulting work across the country. I've found them more reliable, better tech support, better FCP/Mac integration.

Some folks like Blackmagic better.

They both do the same thing. Brand loyalty.

For a Panny SD60, just record to the card, don't bother with live recording. I don't see the advantage with that camera. I don't think in this case the benefit would be worth the expense and time. And FCP X isn't going to record live without timecode being fed in, you'll have to find some other software to do it.

Thank you again BenB.
So, for my first project I hope I'll try with minimum equipment and see what can achieve, hoping it will be "decent".
The next step I see it includes some serios $$$ which is normal (for my audio studio, the soundcard I have is an Metric Halo ULN8 - 6000 $ ...so for a video card 1500-2000 shouldn't be much ..just that I'm not prepared right now to invest so much )
Regards,
Adrian