MediacoAB Posted October 9, 2012 Report Share Posted October 9, 2012 Hey folks, I'm looking at adding an additional capture card to our existing rigs. We have a Decklink SDI single channel cap card in each of our display PCs and we're looking at adding another Decklink Duo for a total of 3 SDI input channels. My question is, does anyone see any problems with that? We're using ASUS Sabretooth X58 motherboards with Sapphire HD 6970s. Also, as a side question, has anyone had any luck reducing live source frame latency to the screen with blackburst sync from switching/camera control to the cap cards? We just got a new sync generator but we haven't had the chance to test it out yet. Thanks, Ron a.k.a MediacoAB 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator jfk Posted October 10, 2012 Moderator Report Share Posted October 10, 2012 Hey folks, I am looking at adding an additional capture card to our existing rigs. We have a Decklink SDI single channel cap card in each of our display PCs and we are looking at adding another Decklink Duo for a total of 3 SDI input channels. My question is, does anyone see any problems with that? We are using ASUS Sabretooth X58 motherboards with Sapphire HD 6970s. It should be possible. The BlackMagic Design drivers are a bit of a challenge, seems newer is not always better, and the combination of BMD driver, motherboard vendor / BIOS version and WATCHOUT version can be a bit tricky. I would only attempt this with lots of time to work through the tweaking and testing, you do not want to be finding anomalies on show site - find and fix them in pre-site testing. Be very aware of PCIe x4 (and higher) slots that may step down to x1 function depending on slots chosen, other PCIe cards in the system, mb bios settings. The Decklink SDI requires one PCIe x1 slot. The Decklink Duo SDI requires one PCIe x4 slot. The stepped upgrades are bit of a barrier to simply using one DeckLink Quad SDI, which requires just one PCIe x4 slot. Also, as a side question, has anyone had any luck reducing live source frame latency to the screen with blackburst sync from switching/camera control to the cap cards? We just got a new sync generator but we have not had the chance to test it out yet. Thanks, Ron a.k.a MediacoAB No, providing a reference signal to the capture card will not reduce delay. If anything, it adds to it ever so slightly, as the captured signal is 'shaken' to match reference. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dataton Partner Walter Posted October 10, 2012 Dataton Partner Report Share Posted October 10, 2012 Question @ jfk You mention "If anything, it adds to it ever so slightly, as the captured signal is 'shaken' to match reference." But given the fact that the camera's CCU is using the same reference, am I right that though this addition of delay would not occur, it won't contribute to a lesser delay either? (No so theoretical effect at all?). What relation is there between the clock of the capturecard and that of the graphicscard? Any? Does either influence the other? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MediacoAB Posted October 11, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 11, 2012 @jfk Thanks for the advice, I'll post my test results later on for anyone interested. I was hoping sync would shave a little latency off the capture, we're sitting at about 3 frames, and at least it should the channels locked together. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonas Dannert Posted October 11, 2012 Report Share Posted October 11, 2012 @MediacoAB: This is as to be expected, it will be hard to get any lower latency, on a frame-based capture solution in a standard computer/PC. /jonas 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luisobesso Posted December 29, 2013 Report Share Posted December 29, 2013 Hi, i need to know what is the best diver version for a decklink duo capture card with watchout 5.5.1. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonas Dannert Posted December 29, 2013 Report Share Posted December 29, 2013 Normally, use the latest version, if you're not have any explicit reason for not to. We do not verify any driver from third parties, WATCHOUT only requires them to be installed, configured and work properly in Windows. Latest version at the moment is Desktop Video 9.8, can be found here: http://www.blackmagicdesign.com/support/ http://software.blackmagicdesign.com/DesktopVideo/Blackmagic_Desktop_Video_Windows_9.8.zip /jonas 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Leong Posted December 30, 2013 Report Share Posted December 30, 2013 I recently had the chance to install a Datapath E2 (x4 slot or higher) with a Decklink Studio (x1 slot) in a Gigabyte mobo for a client. Initially, the 2 would not co-exist, Updated the BIOS, Datapath drivers (v6.10 to v7.5), and the Decklink driver to v9.8 solved the problem somewhat, but the 2nd Datapath input could not start and had a 'problem' as reported by Windows. This problem was eventually traced to a shared IRQ in each of the card's driver Resource tab. They were sharing IRQ 16 which probably caused the 2nd Datapath input to be non-functioning. Since Win 7 does not allow the user to manually force an IRQ (unlike Win 98 and XP), the only solution was to use another slot, which happened to be a PCIe x8 slot. However, per manufacturer of the mobo, "when this x8 slot is populated, the x16 slot occupied by the graphics card, would drop to x8' (since the Z68 chipset only had 16 PCIe lanes available). We had no choice as the client wanted to use both cards in the one pc. But it solved the IRQ sharing problem with the Datapath occupying IRQ 17 after the slot change, and the 2nd Datapath input was shown (and tested) as working, as were all other capture inputs. So check your motherboard manual for PCIe slot sharing and how each slot affects another. This becomes more critical if you are using a chipset other than the X79 (LGA 2011) which has 40 PCIe lanes versus 16 lanes for the other chipsets. Thomas Leong 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vollmers Posted January 11, 2014 Report Share Posted January 11, 2014 Why not use a Decklink Quad instead? Best regards Christian 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Leong Posted January 12, 2014 Report Share Posted January 12, 2014 Why not use a Decklink Quad instead? Best regards Christian Wasn't available when the client bought his stuff back then (from another supplier from another country). cheers, Thomas 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.