DNxIO

[Robert Ober]

I too am interested in this.

Wish someone trustworthy (few are these days) would post a review. One interesting difference besides codecs between the two is the BMD version reportedly has two Thunderbolt 2 ports and the Avid one has only one. Somebody please prove me wrong!

Y’all take care,
Robert

Robert A. Ober
IT Consultant, Vidcaster, & Freelancer
http://www.infohou.com
Houston, TX

[Michael Phillips]

Other than a press release of Fotokem committing to them, I do not believe anyone in the public has seen it in use yet as it is not yet available. My guess is Q3 – when in Q3 is unknown but I would think before IBC or IBC at the latest.

I don’t know about the difference in Thunderbolt between the two. The FAQ only seems to reference a single Thunderbolt 2 connection:

Q: How does Avid Artist | DNxIO connect to a host computer?
A: DNxIO will connect to a host computer via a Thunderbolt 2 connection or a PCIe connection to a HIB card in the host.

https://avid.force.com/pkb/articles/en_US/FAQ/DNxIO-FAQ

BMD Tech sheet shows 2 connectins:
https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/ultrastudiothunderbolt/techspecs/

But I would have to think, that there is not a remanufacturing of the I/O box in this case, so I am going to “assume” (for now) that DNxIO has the same.

Michael

[Robert Ober]

[Michael Phillips] “But I would have to think, that there is not a remanufacturing of the I/O box in this case, so I am going to “assume” (for now) that DNxIO has the same. “

Yep, that is my hope.

Any chance you can call somebody and get one for review? I would very much like to see you put it through it’s paces.

Thanks,
Robert

[Michael Phillips]

I don’t know if I would be the best person to review this as it doesn’t really fit my workflow that much. This is more a machine room class type product with lots of signals. My only signal need is output for monitoring I am not capturing any signal based anything, much less at 4K. My world is file based – all resolutions. The on-board monitor is a confidence monitor (for a machine room) to know that a signal is passing through. It has been started that none of the frame rate conversions are handled in hardware so that will continue to be a function of Avid’s mix & match. For me, the Ultrastudio 4K (not the extreme) is a much better fit at a much better price.

According to the FAQ, a lot of functionality is still yet to come, but that anything specifically added would be part of Avid’s Open IO which means other products in BMD lines would benefit as well as any other third party card. In my world, Resolve is an important component, thus the reliance on BMD I/O. Fusion will grow in my workflow but for now the connector is not important due to the offline/online nature of the work I do.

Michael

[Robert Ober]

[Michael Phillips] “Resolve is an important component, thus the reliance on BMD I/O.”

Right. To be clear, the Avid version will be supported in Resolve according to the specs. It is unclear about the BMD versions DNxHD/HR support. I am wanting the output for monitoring 4K, the input for streaming 4K, and hopefully some acceleration for 4K on my laptop.

I suggested you review it due to your better than average Avid/technical knowledge and your apparent trustworthyness.

Take it EZ,
Robert

[Eric Santiago]

I have the UltraStudio 4K and I can stream 4K easily.
However our issues is that it doesnt play nice with a RED ROCKET.
Now were getting to that point where it doesnt make sense to use the ROCKET (unless were doing mass transcode) since I dont think Resolve/Avid is utilizing it in the new Mac Pro (according to some reliable sources).
Even Avid tech support replied that they do not support the ROCKET but I requested an official statement since a lot of their marketing and tech pages suggests it does.
Now as far as two Thunderbolt 2 ports on the UltraStudio 4K, I wonder if that was for video input?
I dont have a camera that does that but curious of thats the case.

[Michael Phillips]

Most third parties are taking advantage of the GPU debayer of the R3D files that has been available in their SDK reducing the need for a ROCKET card in many situations.

[Robert Ober]

[Eric Santiago] “Now as far as two Thunderbolt 2 ports on the UltraStudio 4K, I wonder if that was for video input?
I dont have a camera that does that but curious of thats the case.”

I have not tested one but as I understand it the capability is the same as the BMD mini recorder I have. One connects the camera to the UltraStudio and then the Thunderbolt to the computer and appropriate software can record or stream the signal from the camera. I use my mini recorder with Wirecast.

How are you doing UHD streaming? Using a vendor that supports UHD streams?

And as far as RedRocket, what I read is that it may help somewhat on big jobs but most folks seem to be abandoning it as MP indicated.

Thanks Folks,
Robert

[Eric Santiago]

[Robert Ober] “How are you doing UHD streaming? Using a vendor that supports UHD streams?”

Sorry Robert wrong choice of words.

I meant to say that Im viewing 4K via US4K.

In regards to the ROCKET, yes it is a fact that you dont need it if you have nMP with D700 and super fast RAID.
However for me its ability to spit out dailies that helps.
For the studio it doesnt sound like it does anything.
And I still cant get an official word from Avid support on where it helps in Avid MC.
I thought it on their website that it helps in Transcoding and more?

[Michael Phillips]

RED ROCKET accelerates decode for a transcode. It does not accelerate playback. It also kicks in when rendering an R3D file, but only as a function of a decode, same as a transcode.

Michael