Issue with Decklink SP card- for Luke

[Luke Maslen]

Hi Robin,

Firstly, does the G4 have dual processors? What speed is it’s CPU, eg 1.25 GHz?

Secondly, did you previously use the DeckLink SP in this same G4 with Panther and Final Cut Pro HD 4.5? If so, did it suffer from the same problem?

Thirdly, what other PCI cards do you have in your G4?

[Robin] “When I capture I get a clean signal on the SDI output.”

Do you also get a clean signal on SDI output when you play back the captured material?

[Robin] “when I am in FCP, I get horizontal flickery lines over the screen. The image itself looks stable to me (doesn’t look like it’s a sync issue) but there are all these fast moving white lines flickering across the image.”

Does this mean that during capture, the SDI output looks fine but the computer monitor shows these flickering lines?

Once the video is captured and you play back the video, do these lines appear on either or both of the computer monitor and the SDI output?

Regards,

Luke Maslen
Blackmagic Design

[Robin]

Oh my god, from your response I explained that really really badly!

Here’s my answers to your questions:

Firstly, does the G4 have dual processors? What speed is it’s CPU, eg 1.25 GHz?

A:Dual 1.25 G4 1MB L3 cache 1.25GB DDR SDRam

Secondly, did you previously use the DeckLink SP in this same G4 with Panther and Final Cut Pro HD 4.5? If so, did it suffer from the same problem?

A: Correct. Same problem. It’s pretty much always had this problem.

Thirdly, what other PCI cards do you have in your G4?

A:ATY Rage128 Graphics card (2 computer monitors) and this one pci10b5,a100 which I assume is the decklink.

[Robin] “When I capture I get a clean signal on the SDI output.”

Do you also get a clean signal on SDI output when you play back the captured material?

A: No only when FCP is in capture mode does the SDI output become clean. As soon as I view timeline or viewer etc. I get the interference.

[Robin] “when I am in FCP, I get horizontal flickery lines over the screen. The image itself looks stable to me (doesn’t look like it’s a sync issue) but there are all these fast moving white lines flickering across the image.”

Does this mean that during capture, the SDI output looks fine but the computer monitor shows these flickering lines?

Once the video is captured and you play back the video, do these lines appear on either or both of the computer monitor and the SDI output?

A: Ok, I’m capturing from a UVW1800 BetaSP deck. The computer monitor is always fine. The issue is only on the Broadcast monitor using SDI output. During Capture all screens are fine. During playback the SDI signal on the broadcast monitor has the crazy lines. It doesn’t affect the capturing, it’s just that I can’t use the SDI output when I’m editing (which is a shame). So I am currently using the composite out of the decklink which is limiting when it comes to grading and detailed work.

Hopefully that explains things.

P.S. Hurry up with the Multibridge (drooling profusely)!

[Luke Maslen]

Hi Robin,

Thank you for your comprehensive reply. Are you able to borrow any model of DeckLink card and try it in place of the one you are using now? Even a replacement DeckLink SP would do. It doesn’t matter if the card is a base model DeckLink which only has SDI output as you just need to test the SDI playback of the card. If another card shows the same problems, the the problem is not with the DeckLink SP card. If the other card does not show problems, then it seems likely that the problem is with the SDI output of the DeckLink SP. However I would be surprised if such a problem only occurred on playback. I would expect it to happen during both capture and playback so I am puzzled.

You mentioned that your only PCI cards are the ATI graphics card and the DeckLink SP card. Presumably that means you are not using a SCSI or Fibre Channel card for a disk array? If so, maybe your problem is related to using uncompressed 8 or 10 bit files on the internal hard disk of your G4. If that is your only option for storage, please try capturing using a Blackmagic NTSC or PAL JPEG easy setup and then play back the video. Does it suffer from the same problem? If not, then the issue is most likely related to the lack of a disk array. However if the problem continues, then disks are not the source of your problem.

Regards,

Luke Maslen
Blackmagic Design

[Robin]

When I bought the card some time ago, I had it replaced by you guys, but that didn’t make any difference. I don’t think there is a problem with the card. Also I dont think it would work in capture if there was a problem with the hardware.

I have a Raid consisting of 4 ATA drives raided together.

I’ll try the 8-bit Jpeg thing and see if it works, but I’m pretty sure I’ve tried that…

Is there any reason why the same project would require different disk speeds to put out analogue or sdi?

[Oliver@ppm]

Hi Robin,

I have exactly the same problem with my Blackmagic SP Card and my monitor. The output on the monitor works fine during the capture-process. But when I want to display the same clip in the timeline (with Premiere Pro) I get these fuzzy black lines!

Maybe you found a solution for the problem.

Bye Oli