System Recommendations

Operating Systems Support

Cinegy Capture service/engine as well as Cinegy Capture Control is certified to run on the 64-bit editions of the following operating systems: Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2019, Windows Server 2022, Windows 10, and Windows 11.

Operating system recommendation: Windows Server 2022 is recommended for Cinegy Capture engines (server), and Windows 11 Pro is recommended for Cinegy Capture Control application.

Caution
 We recommend updating Windows OS to include the latest Microsoft updates and hotfixes.

Cinegy Capture service/engine is tested on fully patched versions of the supported operating systems at the time of version release, and problems may be encountered if a machine is not at this minimum patch level. Supported released versions are continuously tested against the recommended operating system, and incompatibilities that new patches might introduce will be addressed via a new Cinegy software release where appropriate.

Chosen SDI card compatibility with the operating system should be confirmed by the user.

Supported Codecs and File Formats

Supported TV Formats

Standard Definition (SD) High Definition (HD) Ultra High Definition (UHD/4K) Ultra High Definition (UHD/8K)

NTSC 720x480 4:3 29.97 fps

1280x720p 16:9 50 fps

3840x2160p 16:9 23.98 fps*

7680x4320p 16:9 25 fps

NTSC 720x480 16:9 29.97 fps

1280x720p 16:9 59.94 fps

3840x2160p 16:9 24 fps*

7680x4320p 16:9 29.97 fps

NTSC 720x486* 4:3 29.97 fps

1920x1080i 16:9 25 fps

3840x2160p 16:9 25 fps

7680x4320p 16:9 50 fps

NTSC 720x486* 16:9 29.97 fps

1920x1080i 16:9 29.97 fps

3840x2160p 16:9 29.97 fps

7680x4320p 16:9 59.94 fps

PAL 720x576 4:3 25 fps

1920x1080p 16:9 23.98 fps*

3840x2160p 16:9 50 fps

PAL 720x576 16:9 25 fps

1920x1080p 16:9 24 fps*

3840x2160p 16:9 59.94 fps

1920x1080p 16:9 25 fps

1920x1080p 16:9 29.97 fps

1920x1080p 16:9 50 fps

1920x1080p 16:9 59.94 fps

* The format is not supported for Cinegy Archive integration and has limitations for some file formats.

Supported Media File Formats

  • Raw Daniel2

  • Raw DV

  • MPEG-2 Program Stream (M2V, MPG)

  • Raw H.264

  • Apple Quicktime (MOV)

  • MP4

  • MXF OP1a

  • MXF OPAtom

  • MXF AS-02 / AS-03 / AS-11

  • WAV

  • AAC

  • VANC

  • Y4M

Supported Video Codecs

  • IMX 30 / IMX 40 / IMX 50

  • DVSD / DV25 / DV50 / DV100

  • Cinegy MPEG-2

  • Cinegy H.264

  • MPEG-2 XDCAM EX / HD / HD422 50

  • AVC-Intra 50 / 100

  • AVC-Ultra: 4K Intra

  • XAVC Intra

  • Apple ProRes 422 (Proxy / LT / HQ)

  • Avid DNxHD / Avid DNxHR

  • Cinegy Daniel2

  • Cinegy Daniel2 NVIDIA GPU*

  • H.264 NVIDIA GPU*

  • H.264 AMD GPU

  • H.264 Intel GPU

  • HEVC NVIDIA GPU*

  • HEVC AMD GPU

  • HEVC Intel GPU

  • Y4M

  • Uncompressed Video

* Hardware acceleration is available.

Note
 Please note that some of the video codecs listed here may require an additional purchase of a codec license depending on the product version or bundle used. Contact the Cinegy Sales Team for details.

Supported Audio Codecs

Note
 Cinegy Capture currently supports live input with an audio sample rate of 48 kHz.

  • 16 and 24-bit PCM

  • AAC Audio

  • MPEG Audio (MPEG-2)

File Formats and Codecs Combinations

The table below shows the allowed file/Codecs combinations:

Media Files Video Codecs SD HD UHD

MPG
(MPEG-2)

IMX 30 / 40 / 50

+

-

-

Cinegy MPEG-2

+

+

+

Cinegy H.264

+

+

+

MPEG-2 XDCAM HD / HD422 50 / EX

-

+

-

H.264 NVIDIA GPU

+

+

+

H.264 AMD GPU

+

+

+

H.264 Intel GPU

+

+

+

MOV
(Apple QuickTime)

IMX 30 / 40 / 50

+

-

-

Avid DNxHD HQX / HQ / SQ / LB

-

+

-

Avid DNxHR HQX / HQ / SQ / LB

-

-

+

AVC-Intra

-

+

-

AVC-Ultra: 4K Intra

-

-

+

Cinegy MPEG-2

+

+

+

DVSD / DV25 / DV50

+

-

-

DV100

-

+

-

H.264 NVIDIA GPU

+

+

+

Cinegy H.264

+

+

+

H.264 AMD GPU

+

+

+

H.264 Intel GPU

+

+

+

MPEG-2 XDCAM HD422 50 / EX

-

+

-

Apple ProRes 422

+

+

+

Uncompressed Video

+

+

+

MP4

IMX 30 / 40 / 50

+

-

-

Avid DNxHD HQX / HQ / SQ / LB

-

+

-

AVC-Intra

-

+

-

AVC-Ultra: 4K Intra

-

-

+

Cinegy MPEG-2

+

+

+

DVSD / DV25 / DV50

+

-

-

DV100

-

+

-

H.264 NVIDIA GPU

+

+

+

Cinegy H.264

+

+

+

H.264 AMD GPU

+

+

+

H.264 Intel GPU

+

+

+

HEVC AMD GPU

+

+

+

HEVC Intel GPU

+

+

+

MPEG-2 XDCAM HD422 50 / EX

-

+

-

HEVC NVIDIA GPU

+

+

+

MPEG-TS

AVC-Intra

-

+

-

AVC-Ultra: 4K Intra

-

-

+

Cinegy MPEG-2

+

+

+

H.264 NVIDIA GPU

+

+

+

H.264 AMD GPU

+

+

+

H.264 Intel GPU

+

+

+

Cinegy H.264

+

+

+

MXF OP1a
(Generic,
MXF AS-03,
MXF AS-11)

IMX 30 / 40 / 50

+

-

-

Avid DNxHD HQX / HQ / SQ / LB

-

+

-

Avid DNxHR HQX / HQ / SQ / LB

-

-

+

AVC-Intra

-

+

-

AVC-Ultra: 4K Intra

-

-

+

Cinegy MPEG-2

+

+

+

Cinegy H.264

+

+

+

DVSD / DV25 / DV50

+

-

-

DV100

-

+

-

Cinegy Daniel2

-

+

+

Cinegy Daniel2 NVIDIA GPU

-

+

+

XAVC Intra

-

-

+

MPEG-2 XDCAM HD / HD422 50 / EX

-

+

-

H.264 NVIDIA GPU

+

+

+

H.264 AMD GPU

+

+

+

H.264 Intel GPU

+

+

+

MXF AS-02

IMX 30 / 40 / 50

+

-

-

Avid DNxHD HQX / HQ / SQ / LB

-

+

-

Cinegy MPEG-2

+

+

+

DVSD / DV25 / DV50

+

-

-

DV100

-

+

-

MXF OPAtom

IMX 30 / 40 / 50

+

-

-

Avid DNxHD HQX / HQ / SQ / LB

-

+

-

Avid DNxHR HQX / HQ / SQ / LB

-

-

+

H.264 Proxy Avid

+

+

-

AVC-Intra

-

+

-

XAVC Intra

-

-

+

MPEG-2 XDCAM HD422 50 / EX

-

+

-

DVSD / DV25 / DV50

+

-

-

DV100

-

+

-

M2V

Cinegy MPEG-2

+

+

+

MPEG-2 XDCAM HD / HD422 50 / EX

-

+

-

DN2
(Cinegy Daniel2 Raw)

Cinegy Daniel2

-

+

+

Cinegy Daniel2 NVIDIA GPU

-

+

+

Y4M

Y4M

+

+

+

H264
(H.264 Raw)

AVC-Ultra: 4K Intra

-

-

+

H.264 NVIDIA GPU

+

+

+

Cinegy H.264

+

+

+

XAVC Intra

-

-

+

H.264 Proxy Avid

+

+

-

DV (DV Raw)

DVSD / DV25 / DV50

+

-

-

DV100

-

+

-

Raw *

HEVC NVIDIA GPU

+

+

+

H.264 NVIDIA GPU

+

+

+

Cinegy H.264

+

+

+

AVC-Intra

-

+

-

AVC-Ultra: 4K Intra

-

-

+

Avid DNxHD HQX / HQ / SQ / LB

-

+

-

Avid DNxHR HQX / HQ / SQ / LB

-

-

+

XAVC Intra

-

-

+

H.264 Proxy Avid

+

+

-

H.264 AMD GPU

+

+

+

H.264 Intel GPU

+

+

+

HEVC AMD GPU

+

+

+

HEVC Intel GPU

+

+

+

Cinegy MPEG-2

+

+

+

DVSD / DV25 / DV50

+

-

-

DV100

-

+

-

IMX 30 / 40 / 50

+

-

-

MPEG-2 XDCAM HD / HD422 50 / EX

-

+

-

Uncompressed Video

+

+

+

*Only one audio or video codec can be used for the Raw wrapper.

Supported SDI Boards

The following SDI boards are supported for ingest in Cinegy Capture: DVS, Blackmagic Design, AJA, and Deltacast.

The packages of the recommended driver and tools for SDI boards can be downloaded from the Cinegy Partner portal or the Cinegy Customer portal.

Multichannel Blackmagic and Deltacast cards as well as AJA cards of the latest generation allow working with channels in different TV formats on condition their frequency is consistent.

Note
 Before performing any driver changes or updates, it is recommended to stop processes and services (e.g., Cinegy Capture engines) that use SDI cards. Please note that most of the cards require a reboot or even a power cycle to finalize driver processing/firmware updates. Make sure the applications or services autostart is disabled. Processes and services that automatically start after reboot and access card/driver may prevent this update from normal processing and finishing.

DVS

Model Recommended Driver Version Recommended Firmware Version UHD Support RS-422 Control Ext. Timecode

Atomix LT

4.3.5.18

5.4.1.5_5.2.7

+

+

+

Blackmagic Design

In the table below, the minimal supported Blackmagic DeckLink driver version is specified. The newer driver version could be used.

Model Minimal Supported Driver Version UHD Support RS-422 Control

DeckLink SDI

11.6

−

+

DeckLink HD Extreme 3D

11.6

−

+

DeckLink Duo

11.6

−

−

DeckLink Duo 2

11.6

−

−

DeckLink Quad

11.6

−

−

DeckLink Quad 2

11.6

−

−

DeckLink SDI 4K**

11.6

+

+

DeckLink SDI 4K PRO

11.6

+

−

DeckLink SDI 8K PRO*

11.6

+

−

DeckLink Studio 4K**

11.6

+

+

DeckLink 4K Extreme**

11.6

+

+

DeckLink 4K Extreme 12G

11.6

+

+

DeckLink Mini Recorder

11.6

−

−

Intensity Pro 4K

11.6

+

−

Intensity Shuttle

11.6

−

−

* Supported in Single Link (1.5G - 12G), Dual Link (2x1.5G - 2x6G), Quad Link/2SI (4x 3/12G) modes with TV formats up to UHD 4320p59.94. Please note: DCI formats and 64-channel audio are not yet supported in Cinegy products.

** The board does not support VANC playback or capture in UHD mode due to the board’s limitation.

Caution
 Blackmagic Design DeckLink cards should be used with caution for critical installations 24/7 due to their high dependency on host hardware. The workflow should be carefully tested before deciding on using these cards in production.

AJA

Please note that multi-channel AJA cards of the old generation (specifically Corvid22, Corvid24, and Kona3G) do not support work with channels in different TV formats.

Caution
 Please be aware that due to OS changes, running old AJA firmware using later versions of Cinegy software may cause a known issue. In case you cannot access the correct number of inputs on the board after installing the new Cinegy software, then a firmware upgrade will be required.
Model Recommended Driver Version UHD Support RS-422 Control Ext. Timecode

Kona LHi

15.5.3

−

+

+

Kona LHe+

15.5.3

−

+

+

Kona 3G

15.5.3

+

+

+

Kona 4

15.5.3

+

+

+

Kona IP
SMPTE 2022-6/7 uncompressed IP video

15.5.3

-

-

-

Kona IP
SMPTE 2110-6/7 uncompressed IP video

15.5.3

+

-

-

Corvid

15.5.3

−

+

OnRef LTC

Corvid 3G

15.5.3

−

+

OnRef LTC

Corvid 22

15.5.3

−

+ (2x)

2x LTC

Corvid 24

15.5.3

+

+ (2x)

2x LTC

Corvid 88

15.5.3

+

+

OnRef LTC

Corvid 44

15.5.3

+

+

OnRef LTC

Deltacast

Model Recommended Driver Package UHD Support RS-422 Control Ext. Timecode

DELTA-hd-elp-d 44*

6.20

up to p29.97

−

−

DELTA-hd-elp-d 62*

6.20

up to p29.97

−

−

DELTA-hd-elp-d 80*

6.20

up to p29.97

−

−

DELTA-3G-elp-d 8c

6.20

up to p60

−

−

DELTA-3G-elp-d 4c

6.20

up to p60

−

−

DELTA-3G40-hd40-elp-d

6.20

up to p60

−

−

DELTA-3G-elp-d 40

6.20

up to p60

−

−

DELTA-ip-ST2022-6 10

6.20

up to p50

−

−

DELTA-ip-ST2110-6 10

6.20

up to p50

−

−

* DELTA-hd-elp boards have only passive heat sinks cooling. At least 5 mph airflow in the chassis is recommended, especially when using multiple boards.

SDI Signal Source Parameters Recommendations

The following settings are supported:

Parameters DVS/Deltacast/AJA Blackmagic Design

SDI Signal

SMPTE 292M (1.5G)
SMPTE 424M (3G)
SMPTE 425-3

SMPTE 292M (1.5G)
SMPTE 424M (3G)
SMPTE ST-2081 (6G)
SMPTE ST-2082(12G)

SDI Level

A

A

Color coding

10-bit YCbCr

10-bit YCbCr

HD formats

Single-link 1.5/3G

Single-link 1.5/3G

UHD formats

Quad-link 1.5/3G
"2SI (Two-Sample Interleave)" *except DVS boards

Single-link 6G
Single-link 12G
Quad-link 1.5/3G
Note
 RGBA (Fill&Key) dual-link is supported as a special mode only for Cinegy Air products

GPU-accelerated Encoding

Note
 After installing a dedicated graphics card, please disable the onboard graphics card (e.g., Matrox) using the Windows Device Manager > Display Adapters and selecting the "Disable device" option for that card.

Cinegy Capture supports a wide selection of hardware-accelerated encoding options, which are highly recommended for use with high-density output formats such as HD and UHD.

Please note that video acceleration configuration is available in both Cinegy Capture Manager and Cinegy Capture Control, and the use of the GPU card selected as the video accelerator in Cinegy Capture Manager will take precedence over the GPU device specified in the codec configuration in Cinegy Capture Control.

NVIDIA Accelerated Encoding

To optimize the performance of your NVIDIA graphics board, it is recommended to use the "Prefer maximum performance" value for the "Power management mode" parameter in the NVIDIA Control Panel.

NVIDIA RTX and other Turing-generation GPU boards no longer support interlaced H.264 encoding. This applies to all versions of any Cinegy software supporting GPU encoding and is a hardware limitation of the NVIDIA boards. Pascal and earlier boards are not affected. If using GPU-accelerated NVIDIA features, please be careful to match your settings to the capabilities of your board. Instead, you may use the Daniel2 GPU encoder.

Daniel2 GPU encoding and decoding are supported by NVIDIA video boards that have CUDA Compute Capability 3.5 and higher. For NVIDIA video boards with earlier versions of CUDA Compute Capability, use Daniel2 CPU encoding and decoding instead.

To be able to use the NVIDIA-based encoding hardware acceleration you will need to install the NVIDIA graphic board (based on Maxwell generation GPU) into the Capture server:

  • NVIDIA GeForce Series (started from GeForce 600)

  • NVIDIA Quadro Series

Please note that GeForce and lower Quadro Series (Quadro 600) have a limitation of eight concurrent encoding streams, therefore if you use these boards, you won’t be able to record more than eight H.264 files at the same time by using the NVIDIA hardware acceleration. For additional details, you can refer to the Video Encode and Decode GPU Support Matrix on the NVIDIA Developer webpage.

If you are going to use multiple encoding (more than 2 streams), it is recommended to use the Maxwell or Pascal generation of GPU (recommended board is NVIDIA Quadro P1000 or higher); if you do not need more than two streams, you can use the modern GeForce Series (e.g., NVIDIA GTX 960).

Caution
 Do not choose NVIDIA "RTX" series cards if you want to use GPU encoding (NVEnc) for Interlaced TV formats! All RTX (Turing family) NVIDIA cards do not support interlace field coding mode. Please, use the Daniel2 GPU encoder, which is not affected by this limitation.

NVIDIA Driver Version Updates

Due to the frequent release of NVIDIA drivers, it’s unfeasible for Cinegy to test every driver version with every possible GPU card combination to ensure compatibility with our software. As a result, we are unable to recommend a specific NVIDIA driver version for optimal performance. However, in our release notes, we highlight any issues encountered with NVIDIA drivers during our testing phase and, if they are fixed in subsequent driver releases, we provide information about the fixed version and offer recommendations for selecting the appropriate range of NVIDIA drivers. Therefore, when considering an NVIDIA driver update, it’s essential to verify its compatibility with your specific hardware and software configuration.

Cinegy 24.11 supports the latest NVIDIA boards which require new NVIDIA drivers and a new SDK to be utilized. For that reason, the minimal NVIDIA driver version is 456.81. Before starting any upgrades, please make sure that the OS under which you are running Cinegy Capture and the model of the NVIDIA board you are using are supported in the version of the NVIDIA driver you choose.

The NVIDIA GPU driver had an issue (NVIDIA Incident Report 4005908) where H.264 interlaced video was incorrectly marked as progressive. This issue has now been fixed starting from driver version 553.35.

If you use the older driver, you may have an issue with NVIDIA encoding initialization; in this case, you will have the corresponding message in the log file and encoding will fail.

Note
 Perform the process of NVIDIA drivers update only upon stopping Cinegy applications. For detailed instructions on installing an NVIDIA driver, please refer to the NVIDIA Drivers installation article.

Hardware Recommendations

The actual performance of a Capture server depends on the number of recording channels and streams and their resolution, source type, and encoders used for capture for each channel, as well as various settings. Therefore, no precise hardware recommendation can be given; however, you can find below the typical configurations that have been tested in our test lab.

Note
 Cinegy products work only on machines with CPU supporting minimum instruction set SSE4.1, "Intel® AVX" is also required.

These system recommendations use older hardware that has been previously tested. The CPUs listed should be used as a guide to select modern equivalent options and not as direct requirements.

Configuration Sample – HD Capture Server

The following configurations have been proven for reliable multi-channel capture of eight HD programs:

TV Format HD 1920x1080i25

CPU, Mainboard

Dual Intel E5 2650 v2 (2,6 GHz), X79

RAM

32 GB

Input signal

HD SDI

Codecs

MPEG-2 XDCAM HD 422 50 Mbs NVIDIA H.264 Apple ProRes 422

Preview stream

MPEG-2, downscaled to SD

Concurrent recordings

Up to 8 channels
TV Format HD 1920x1080i25

CPU, Mainboard

Dual Intel E5-2630 v3 (2,4 GHz), X99

RAM

128 GB

Input signal

RTP Stream, MPEG-2 HD

Codecs

MPEG-2 XDCAM HD 422 50 Mbs NVIDIA H.264 Apple ProRes 422

Preview stream

MPEG-2, downscaled to SD

Concurrent recordings

Up to 8 channels

Configuration Sample – Ultra HD Capture Server

The following configuration will be able to capture Ultra HD programs by using H.264 NVIDIA accelerated encoder or Apple ProRes 422:

TV Format UHD 3840x2160 @ 25p

CPU, Mainboard

Dual Intel E5 2650 v2 (2,6 GHz), X79

RAM

32 GB

Input signal

HD SDI

Codecs

NVIDIA H.264 Apple ProRes 422

Preview stream

MPEG-2, downscaled to SD

Concurrent recordings

Up to 2 channels
TV Format UHD 3840x2160 @ 25p

CPU, Mainboard

Intel I7-6700 (3,4 GHz), Z170

RAM

16 GB

Input signal

RTP H.264, 50 Mb/s*

Codecs

NVIDIA H.264

Preview stream

MPEG-2, downscaled to SD

Concurrent recordings

1 channel
TV Format UHD 3840x2160 @ 25p

CPU, Mainboard

Intel I7-6700 (3,4 GHz), Z170

RAM

16 GB

Input signal

RTP H.264, 50 Mb/s*

Codecs

Apple ProRes 422

Preview stream

–

Concurrent recordings

1 channel

* Due to the nature of the H.264 codec, a higher base CPU frequency is more important than a higher CPU core number. For this reason, a minimum supported CPU frequency has to be at least 3,4 GHz to decode a UHD RTP H.264 stream properly (see the tables above).