In our latest technology purchase, our shop has bought a Blackmagic Intensity Pro card for our MacPro. We’re hoping to capture off our DVR and use news footage for our shows. After deboxing the B&H shipping box, I discovered the product in a box that seemed to be way to small! I knew the PCI-Express card was small, but man, it was much smaller than expected. Inside, you will find the card, a CD and a small tri-fold quick install guide. The full 35 page manual is on the CD (way to be green!).

After carefully reading the install instruction and reading up on PCI slot choices, I popped open the MacPro and dropped the card into slot #2. Blackmagic’s site mentions that you may be prompted to adjust performance to the slots, but after powering up, I wasn’t prompted. Granted this is the only other card in the machine besides our ATI (ehh) video card.

After installing the software there wasn’t a noticeable difference in the performance of the computer, heck there wasn’t even any outward difference in starting FCP, Color or any of the other apps. However, FCP now has more easy setups, and more options under external video monitoring. I connected our 9″ Sony production monitor via the component out (NTSC out) of the card. Instantly, after setting the Video Output in FCP to Intensity NTSC, the monitor showed video. Amazing! Beyond FCP, I then became interested in if Color would also broadcast to this monitor in the same way. I fired up color, and bam! I had an external monitor for color correcting in Color! Sweet! At $350, this card was becoming a GREAT investment.

We currently don’t have a HDMI monitor in the shop, but I’m pulling for a low end small HDMI TV (about $500). Stay tuned as I will be testing the capture capabilities of this card. But if its as easy as setting up an external monitor, I’ll be highly recommending this product to anyone with a MacPro.

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“Steal this Webshow! Welcome to the first MobLogic! Mission #1: What do you want in a news & politics web show?”

Have you seen this yet? MobLogic is a revolutionary web video destination. Head on over to the site and you’ll see what I mean! They player on the front page is HUGE!! 800px wide. If you find it somewhere else on the web, I’d love to know about it. Beyond this flashy exterior the concept of the show is solid. “News and politics the way you want them;” “Of the people, for the people, by big media,” lead the list of my favorite tag lines for the site. The show is run and produced by Adam Elend and Jeff Marks of CBS, but more importantly, the producers of Wallstrip.

“With MOBLOGIC, our goal is to put the news in context and make it viral!” says Elend. “We’re gonna make you laugh, we’re hopefully gonna make you think, and most importantly, we’re gonna deliver the news in a way you can relate to.”

Check it out. It will completely change your idea of how you want your web video! I’m sure to be posting on MobLogic’s post production and approaches to producing web video. Enjoy!

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