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No Extended Desktop still a huge problem
I’ll continue to keep this issue at the forefront by telling our Extended Desktop story…
Our studio has had equipment tied to Grant since before the BlackMagic days. We currently have 6 workstations with DeckLink HD cards, 2 MultiBridge Units, 1 VideoHub and several video converters. I have been stuck in upgrade limbo ever since the drivers came out at the end of last summer (in the US) that broke Extended Desktop compatibility.
The Extended Desktop feature has been an integral part of the workflow of our studio for many years! Of course we use our Blackmagic gear to layoff to HD and SD decks and to view previews in After Effects or FCP, but it is the other things that the Extended Desktop provide that we have wrapped our entire studio pipeline around. We operate in a small, open, “bullpen” style office that serves multiple purposes – animation/compositing workstations, client bay, presentation area, meeting area, lounge, conference room, machine room. We have 3 large LCD screens hanging throughout the office that are all fed by SDI cables from the video hub. This way, any of our workstations can use any one of these room monitors and can route to them directly from their computer.
When clients come in, we will throw up a 16×9 PDF on one of the big screens and run through our design presentations. We post web presentations for clients and the entire office will look through it on one of the big screens while we talk to the client on the phone. One of our animators might throw a couple of 1/2 sized quicktimes on the the big screen to show us what they have worked on for the day. The monitors are used daily to stream internet radio stations as background music for the office and (in addition to the music) we keep the browser on the Extended Desktop so we can all see what song is playing. I sometimes mirror my main working screen to one of these monitors so I can show a software program I am working in and explain a new software feature to the staff. I also mirror my main working monitor to the extended desktop so clients can see what I am doing in a program while they watch from the couch and help me make decisions on the fly (especially in 3D programs which don’t output to the card directly). I might throw a finder window over to the Extended Desktop to explain a folder structure to my client or staff before giving them a disk of elements. My staff will throw a web browser on the Extended Desktop and play youtube and hulu clips during lunch for everyone to see. These are just a few of the ways we use it. The brilliance of the system is that any computer in the office can do any of these tasks with a simple VideoHub route and anything from the computer can be placed on the extended desktop and be put up on our presentation/room screens.
In short, we use the Extended Desktop all the time. The entire workflow of our office will change if I upgrade to the latest version of drivers and this feature is disabled. I understand there are technical reasons why you removed it. Please work around these issues and bring back this feature for those of us who heavily rely on it.
Thank you,
Marco Bacich
https://www.drivestudio.com -
12 Replies
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Hi Marco,
Thanks for the very helpful feedback. We’re monitoring this very closely and though I can’t promise anything concrete right now, all I can say is that we’re hearing this loud and clear.
regards
Kristian Lam
Blackmagic Design -
Thanks for the response Kristian. I desperately hope you guys bring this back.
Marco Bacich
https://www.drivestudio.com -
Brigning back the feature would be excellent news. We have 3 workstations that are used with the extended desktop all the time. It’s an essential part of our workflow too. We’re now in upgrade limbo (still in widows XP and on old drivers… so no new Media Express player either).
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I miss it too !
what about writing a little extra app or pref pane to switch on & off the extended Desktop function, ?to exclude it from the drivers !
i really hope someone solves this problem if blackmagic does not react
, im not a programmer but cant imagine it that hard to do
could this be done with the SDKs that are out ?peter
Peter Schroeder
Director /Editor -
i totally agree with that: please bring the extendend desctop back as soon as possible.
beleave it or not. the extendend desctop function was the main reason for me to buy a decklink again ( extreme3)it is really a bad idea to remove a killerfeature that is so important for a lot of customers.
Decklink Extreme3 (
Sony Digibeta DVW-A500P and DVWA510P
nvidia gtx 260
ASUS P5WDG2 WS Professional
8GB RAM
QX 6850 quadcore extreme
Xp Prof. 64-BIT s
all patches and updatesAdobe Creative Suite Production Premium CS4 -
Oh bugger. If Only I’d known this before doing a software update.
Does anybody know how to revert to the old software?
Imagine putting your car in for a regular service, only to find afterwards that they took the power steering away, no explanation, fore warning or remedy.
Perhaps it is for legitimate reasons.
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I would really like to know this too. I would also like to know if that version works with Snow Leopard.
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The ability to turn on and off Extended Desktop was there before. It was in the Blackmagic Design pane in System Preferences. All you had to do was restart the computer. Not a big deal. I had no issue with restarting when about to use Color or any other non-Extended DesktopNow-compatible software. Now I have to find another solution to replace my Multibridge Pro 2 unless this gets resolved very soon.
It really makes no sense at all why the feature was removed. And since a major feature was removed I feel like I should get a partial refund on my investment.
-Mike
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hi
still no extended desktop !?
are there any news ?a tool to mirror one monitor would also be ok.
i still miss this function very muchcome on guys@ blackmagic – do some magic and bring back the function !
its been over a year now ! do you still hear us ?an extra software tool would maybe be better if you cant incorporate it with the drivers
awaiting your answer / response
thx
peter schroederPeter Schroeder
Director /Editor
Macpro 2x 3,2 Quadcore , os 10.6.2 FCP 7.01 8GB Blackmagic Decklink HD -
Extended Desktop still not coming back after more than a year!
Can believe a serious company remove a so usefull function used dayly by customers : Autodesk Maya progressive rendering How? Modulo 8 for live cant used anymore for me .
I contact BlackMagic design twice and they have still the same boring answer..not sure its coming back
Just pay developpers to do this original feature coming back or refound clients
BlackMagic is playing with the time…My last blackmagic card for sure if nothing change from Blackmagic support
I will buy Aja or Matrox even more expensive card or sdi adaptor
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