Blackmagic Video Recorder

Reviews for Blackmagic Video Recorder

Customer Reviews and Ratings

3.5 out of 5 stars

Based on 10 reviews

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    H.264 as capture FAIL

    • Written by from Los Angeles

    I was searching for this unit to capture footage from my DVR. Originating video is HD. Capturing via component out with the DVR set to downrez to 480. This BM unit IS NOT 720p as someone else here mentioned. It can resolve 720 Horizontal lines and 480 Vertical. Basically a 16:9 image. Using the highest capture setting gave decent video. Image compression made the video a bit contrasty and I had to use the adjustment window to bring some shadow detail back. H.264 is unfriendly with most higher level editing softwares. This required that it be rendered before even being able to view it properly. I also tested the S-Video pigtail and got pretty much the same results.
    I also bought Roxio easy VHS to DVD for Mac . This is pretty much the same software/hardware product. BUT it will only record to Composite or S-Video. I used the S-Video breakout and highest record setting, which uses Apple Intermediate Codec. The difference in quality really shows. Original capture much truer to color/contrast.. AND it is only $50.!!

    15 of 15 people found this useful

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  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    Simple to install and use; reliable capture with good video quality

    • Written by from Palm Beach Gardens

    I purchased the Blackmagic Video Recorder to transfer home movies from VHS and 8mm to digital movies (for use in iTunes on AppleTV). Setting up the Blackmagic video recorder is so simple that most people won't even need the instructions. The software is the same - the interface is clean and simple, with all the controls available in the preview window. It has some nice features like being able to set a timer so that you can walk away while capturing long videos. If you're capturing from tape, it's also smart enough to stop recording if the playback device hits the end of the tape. Anything that plays back over RCA, composite or S Video can be captured using Blackmagic Video Recorder. Picture quality is excellent, with no apparent degradation compared to the original. Recommended.

    18 of 18 people found this useful

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  • 3.0 out of 5 stars

    Good, but...

    • Written by from Eden Prairie

    This worked great... but after about 15 hours of recording family videos on tape, the application for it ceased to work. I can no longer record. I can see the live preview, but the record button (and command) does not work. Aside from that (huge) issue, this is a great product.

    21 of 23 people found this useful

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  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    Very good for VHS to AppleTV conversion

    • Written by from College Station

    This is 720p capable, but the AppleTV preset is for 640. Typical of BlackMagic its a very good product. I've been using it to convert a lot of old VHS tapes to iTunes AppleTV format then sourcing them to watch on my AppleTV 2.0 It does a very good job of reducing a lot of complex decisions to a couple clicks. Audio is also great, just enough advanced controls tucked away to deal with video and audio corrections if needed. Manual mentions a limitation (?) of 12 hours continuous recording before a new file needs to be created. Adequate for 8 hour extended VHS if you have any. Sure 1080p would be great, and i'd buy one, but really VHS at 1080p (?) what are you thinking archival quality from a VHS signal.. 640 actually seems to improve the signal when displayed on AppleTV because it gives it a slight gaussian blur effect, the simple cropping tool does a great job of snipping off the old bottom line of video head switching noise, though I could wish it had a slightly finer grain control of the actual pixels chosen.. its seems they chose to make it really simple to use rather than for detail oriented control freaks. I've used a number of capture devices before to do this same thing, and this is a best of class device.. also remember its a hardware H.264 encoder not just a simple capture buffer, can't be used as a generic webcam capture device. The video file that rolls out can be auto-added to iTunes and played. No post-processing or compression.

    34 of 36 people found this useful

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  • 4.0 out of 5 stars

    Good quality recordings with some problems

    • Written by from Issaquah

    VF from Van Nuys reports problems with the program hanging up after a few minutes.
    I have now recorded several hours, copying 8mm, Hi8 and VHS. Most of the time, I have no problems but occasionally the recording is broken up, mainly with old recordings that are either damaged or poorly recorded. I have also had problems with the gaps between clips. The software appears to hang if the noise in the gap is bad or too long.
    I am using an old Hi8 camcorder and I have to run the head cleaner every so often. I assume the old (nearly 20 years) tapes are not holding up to the environment I may have subjected them to in the past.

    49 of 55 people found this useful

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  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    Great Product

    • Written by from Lemoore

    Easy to use software and is by far, better quality than similar products out there. The fact that you can adjust brightness is a big plus. Overall great little device.

    20 of 25 people found this useful

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  • 2.0 out of 5 stars

    Not Bad for the Price

    • Written by from SANTA ANA

    For $150 the Black Magic Design USB recorder isn't a bad buy. It's pretty decent if you have footage you just need to digitize or put on the computer, but it's not very robust.

    It only records in 480i (interlaced) so if you're trying to record from a progressive source don't buy this. This is actually a little deceiving since it does come with component video-in. Still, not bad if you know what you're getting into. I wish it could capture at a higher bitrate, but, again, it's only $150.

    Pros
    - Good price
    - USB form-factor which is good if space is an issue; or if you're on a laptop
    - Easy to setup

    Cons
    - NO 480P/Progressive support
    - Maximum of 3.5MB/sec transfer
    - One second video latency
    - Software app is too barebones

    77 of 89 people found this useful

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  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    Amazing

    • Written by from yorktown

    it does exactly what it says it will and at amazing resolution had a little trouble getting it from my video camera to the computer but thats my cameras fault not black-magic. Perfect product no improvements needed.

    12 of 18 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    analog video from VHS

    • Written by from Van Nuys

    I connected to my VHS player and set on high quality as manual suggested. After recording for couple of minutes the program would freeze. The most recording I got was 4 minutes.

    13 of 22 people found this useful

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  • 4.0 out of 5 stars

    A Perfect Product

    • Written by from Marina del Rey

    This is exactly the kind of product I look for for my Mac - simple and straightforward on every level. Out of the box, I was able to hook up my VCR and record hours of video onto my Mac, import the video into iMovie and then into iDVD to create a slick rendering of VHS tapes which are on their last leg. Some basic editing features would be nice, but that's easy to do in iMovie. I highly recommend this product.

    73 of 75 people found this useful

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