HD 10.3.10 PCI Overflow with Blackmagic Decklink Mini Monitor

[rantanplan]

Hi there

I was running PT HD3 10.3.10 on Mountain Lions without any issues.

PCI load was not over 15% even when all 3 HD cards (Core + 2 Accel) were heavily in use.

Since I installed Blackmagic Decklink Mini Monitor PCI load is jumping all the time from 35 .. 100%, even if PT is not playing back and / or video output is disabled.

Is this a hardware issue or could it also be a driver or system setting related?

Video playback with Deckling over HDMI is very smooth, as long as it works.

Any help would be much appreciated!

Regards,
Till

[Chief Technician]

What is your playback engine set to? Some of the systems where I work had occasional problems with video playback, especially when using TL Space. Contrary to what the Reference Guide says, you may want to use the fewest number of DSP chips for a given voice count and see it that improves your situation. For example, when my employer's systems were HD2|Accel, they were set to 2 DSP, 96 Voices.

[rantanplan]

Chief Technician,

thanks for your hint!

I will check this on Monday. Not sure, what settings I tested with.

Regards,
Till

[rantanplan]

Well it seems to be the other way round: Now I'm using 96 tracks on 6 DSPs without the PCI overflow error.

The the PCI gauge meter is still jumping between 12... 90% all the time (playing or not).

And the mix and edit window is quite unresponsive and stutters.

Without the card, everything is really smooth.

I can work with it, but it is quite frustrating...

I think it is a bus / motherboard issue. Looks like some of the DPS-cards and the decklinks card are on the same bus. And there is no way to change it (Accel / Core cards are PCI(-X) and there are only 3 PCI slots.

Regards,
Till

[Chief Technician]

Are you using TL Space in any of these sessions?

[rantanplan]

Originally Posted by Chief Technician

Are you using TL Space in any of these sessions?

Nope.

But it is in the plugin folder... I'm using Altiverb for my later sessions (film surround mixing).

[rantanplan]

Moving all the Digidesign cards to my old Magma PCI extender made the problem even worse...

PCI gauge on 100% as soon as I load a session.

[Chief Technician]

My employer never ran v10 TDM on Mountain Lion, and his HD systems were only two cards (Core+Accel). The problem could be with Mountain Lion, or it could be using that second Accel card. I don't have much else to suggest here.

[rantanplan]

I think it's really a hardware issue.
The PCI-X cards share the same bus with PCIe, and the Decklink card seems to make too much traffic.

Is there something like PCI Latency Tool for OS X?

Regards

[Chief Technician]

Originally Posted by rantanplan

Is there something like PCI Latency Tool for OS X?

Not that I am aware of. Early model Mac Pros (1,1 and 2,1) have a utility where you can set how many lanes are used by a slot. On newer Mac Pros, this is automatically done by the OS.