Black Magic Decklink SDI with Intensity Pro

[mgoorevich]

I have one computer which I intend to serve two rooms.
One is the main sound design suite and another next door mix stage.
I am trying to use together Black Magic Decklink SDI card with the Intensity Pro card in my Mac Pro.
I installed the Decklink SDI card in order to output picture (via SDI) to our mixing stage "Cristie" projector, while a permanent installed Intensity Pro card should output HDMI signal to the studio LCD TV.
The problem is when I have Decklink installed in the machine, I have no way to output HDMI to my studio TV.
When I pull out the Decklink card, everything works fine. It seems like two BM card interfere with each other.
Has anyone succeeded to use both cards together? Or is there a way I can choose in software what card I want to use at the moment?
...Decklink SDI also sucks because it messes up with bluetooth peripherals and I can't use my mighty mouse. But this is a known BM problem although unsolved.
Any ideas how can I use both cards together without connecting a TV to the analog out on Intensity Pro but HDMI?

[Chief Technician]

Originally Posted by mgoorevich

I have one computer which I intend to serve two rooms.

Alright.

Originally Posted by mgoorevich

One is the main sound design suite and another next door mix stage.

OK.

Originally Posted by mgoorevich

I am trying to use together Black Magic Decklink SDI card with the Intensity Pro card in my Mac Pro.

Why?

Originally Posted by mgoorevich

I installed the Decklink SDI card in order to output picture (via SDI) to our mixing stage "Cristie" projector, while a permanent installed Intensity Pro card should output HDMI signal to the studio LCD TV.

Does your Decklink card not have an HDMI output?

Originally Posted by mgoorevich

The problem is when I have Decklink installed in the machine, I have no way to output HDMI to my studio TV.

So the Intensity Pro does not work with the Decklink installed?

Originally Posted by mgoorevich

When I pull out the Decklink card, everything works fine. It seems like two BM card interfere with each other.

That does not surprise me.

Originally Posted by mgoorevich

Has anyone succeeded to use both cards together?

I don't have both, so I have not tried this.

Originally Posted by mgoorevich

Or is there a way I can choose in software what card I want to use at the moment?

Why do you need to choose which one to use?

Originally Posted by mgoorevich

...Decklink SDI also sucks because it messes up with bluetooth peripherals and I can't use my mighty mouse.

Have you tried a wired mouse with a USB extension?

Originally Posted by mgoorevich

But this is a known BM problem although unsolved.
Any ideas how can I use both cards together without connecting a TV to the analog out on Intensity Pro but HDMI?

My idea is to use the HDMI output of the Decklink, if your Decklink has an HDMI output.

[BobbyDazzler]

I would have thought that ProTools could only address 1 BM card at a time.
Get a Decklink HD Extreme, it has more outputs.

[mgoorevich]

Originally Posted by BobbyDazzler

I would have thought that ProTools could only address 1 BM card at a time.
Get a Decklink HD Extreme, it has more outputs.

Yes, it looks like that.
I just have those two cards and thought I can accommodate them both to my needs.
In fact, they work really good but not together.

Jonathan, I want only use one card at a time but without puling / installing it in the machine.
The Declink cards I have is DeckLink SDI which has NO hdmi output. Thus I am using HDMI port available only on Intensity Pro.

My ideal solution would be a DeckLink Studio card with corresponding SDI out and HDMI out ports. Probably the way to go...

[Chief Technician]

Originally Posted by mgoorevich

Jonathan, I want only use one card at a time but without puling / installing it in the machine.
The Declink cards I have is DeckLink SDI which has NO hdmi output. Thus I am using HDMI port available only on Intensity Pro.

Thanks for the clarification. Hopefully you can find a solution that works for you. I have used the DeckLink HD Extreme 3D to send video via SDI and HDMI simultaneously. It does work, and the user did not report any problems when we did this.

[mgoorevich]

Also what official BM support says:

It is possible to use multiple Blackmagic cards in 1 system, as the driver supports this. However you will need software that is designed to work with multiple Blackmagic cards. Our standard supported software, such as Blackmagic Media Express, is only designed to use 1 capture card at a time.
When installing multiple cards, there is no way to tell Media Express which card to capture or playback from, as the software is only designed for 1 card. This is also common to other applications such as Apple Final Cut Pro or Adobe Premiere Pro.
Software from companies such a Softron or Tools On Air are designed specifically to use multiple Blackmagic cards.
You can check that both your capture cards are installed, by looking for the drop down box in the Blackmagic Control Panel that allows you to choose hardware settings between each card

So it's Pro Tools who will not let to choose what PCIe card to output the signal (or both).