Blackmagic SDI to Fiber mini-converter

[Denis Warburton]

Hi Todd,

For your application, it sounds like you may have better luck with the offerings from either AJA or Telecast Fiber.

AJA’s FiDO converters are closest in price point to the Blackmagic devices, and offer single strand transmission in an LC connector. At a higher price point are the Miranda (formerly Telecast) Rattlers, which can nominally go 20km, which feature ST connections. If you go the AJA route, I’d recommend contacting AJA to determine the receiver sensitivity, so you can properly calculate your optical budget.

Cheers,
Denis

[Todd Thayer]

Thanks Denis,

The advantage of the BMD is it’s already bi-directional. I can set up embedding and dis-embedding and get audio, intercom etc.

I’ve spoken with AJA, all of these guys act like fiber is some kind of magic. I wish they’d just release the info on the SFPs and let us use them as we see fit. As it is I’ll probably buy a couple of SFPs and do some testing…

Thanks again,

Todd Thayer
Executive Director
CAPS

[Bob Zelin]

Hi Todd –
I am confused. Doesn’t Blackmagic Design provide you with the SFP when you purchase the SDI to Fiber mini converter ?

The SFP they provide will allow you to run up to 82,000 feet at 3gig, which I assume is long enough for you with a standard LC connection. They won’t sell you the mini converter without the SFP, so you can save money by trying to purchase an equivalent Finisar. Isn’t is cheap enough already ?

” It’s capable of switching between SD, HD and 3Gb/s SDI video formats; and with optical fiber input/output LC type connections at a 10-bit rate, enjoy long cable runs up to 147,000 ft (44,805 m) in SD, and up to 82,000 ft (24,993 m) at 3Gb/s SDI. Moreover, 3Gb/s SDI technology is fully compatible with all your studio and field SD and HD SDI equipment.”

Bob Zelin

Bob Zelin
Rescue 1, Inc.
maxavid@cfl.rr.com

[Todd Thayer]

Bob,
The theory is nice, I wish they’d provide a tick more info – we know it’s MSA compliant, but I don’t know if it’s a SMPTE SFP (for video) or a standard data SFP (we have gear that uses both).

If I had the budget, I’d buy a couple of each and test… it’s a bit ridiculous though that they won’t provide the details.

I did have a good exchange with AJA yesterday and I think they realize what I’m trying to get at. They’re checking with their supplier to see if they can source bidi or CWDM versions. (For the record, AJA is non-MSA – BMD is MSA compliant – at least with the information I have to this point.)

Thanks for the feedback.

Todd Thayer
Executive Director
CAPS

[Kristian Lam]

Hi Todd,

They are SMPTE compliant SFPs.

regards

Kristian Lam
Blackmagic Design

[Todd Thayer]

Kristian,

Thanks for the information. As I mentioned, it would be helpful if you had information to source compatible SFPs for folks who have existing dark fiber infrastructure. For instance, we have a municipal area fiber network with 40+ nodes, and it would be nice to consider your gear in the next round of planning / deployment.

Thanks again,

Todd Thayer
Executive Director
CAPS