Monitoring out with new Mac Pro?

[Mathieu Ghekiere]

I think most of your examples work.

Aja has the T-Tap, which is about 180 dollars or something. It works, you just need to download their Control Panel software, and it appears under the FCPX preferences, we use it often for clients.

To be honest, with the new Mac Pro I *think* (but I”m not sure) you can use the HDMI output that’s on the machine itself, as an output in FCPX.
Again, I could be wrong. But could be you are limited to 8-bit then, while the Aja and Black Magic solutions work in 10bit.

[Mitch Ives]

[Mathieu Ghekiere] “To be honest, with the new Mac Pro I *think* (but I”m not sure) you can use the HDMI output that’s on the machine itself, as an output in FCPX.
Again, I could be wrong. But could be you are limited to 8-bit then, while the Aja and Black Magic solutions work in 10bit.”

Thanks Mathieu… I’ll look at the T-tap.

As for the Mac Pro, HDMI, haven’t gotten it to work yet. It appears to be tied to the monitor display circuit. Anything attached to it, seems to adjust the main monitor resolution as well. I may have forgotten to check the display prefs… perhaps mirroring is on… I’ll check that.

Mitch Ives
Insight Productions Corp.

“Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfills the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things.” – Winston Churchill

[Bret Williams]

On the HDMI out, from what I’ve seen the HDMI has to be on and functioning as an extended desktop (not mirroring), then launch FCP X and it will see it. It’s not as true as a BMD or AJA device. It is operating in computer monitor type color space. For example, I can hook it up to the DVI port (with an HDMI adapter) on my flanders scientific, but I have to switch the input mode of the DVI to RGB, not YUV. If I hook up a BMD device like my ultra studio via HDMI to this same DVI port, it operates as YUV. Also, it’s still functioning as a computer monitor. You can run your mouse over the image while it’s playing. I don’t think it will support interlaced.

But that’s just my experience using the HDMI port on my 5770 GPU on my old (2006) mac pro. The nMP may work differently, but from what I’ve heard from users it doesn’t appear to.

[Bret Williams]

Why the t-tap over the BMD mini-monitor? Isn’t the t-tap nearly twice as much? And Resolve support is a plus.

[Mitch Ives]

[Bret Williams] “The nMP may work differently, but from what I’ve heard from users it doesn’t appear to.”

Actually, it appears to work differently. Using the MacPro HDMI, I get AV Output grayed out (unavailable) in FCP X… even with mirroring off. It basically acts like a second computer monitor.

I did discover something interesting though. Using a $25 Thunderbolt to HDMI cable (Rocketfish) that we had laying around for laptop presentations, seems to work. Plugging the HDMI monitor into the TB output makes the AV Output option in FCP active. I can then get it to work as a preview monitor without affecting the computer monitor.

It would seem to me that Apple could make the HDMI port on the new Mac Pro work this way if they wanted to. Perhaps an OS update or a minor change in FCP X to recognize the HDMI port on the new Mac Pro? This would seem to be a “no-brainer” and something Apple might want to do… and fairly quickly.

Mitch Ives
Insight Productions Corp.

“Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfills the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things.” – Winston Churchill

[Mathieu Ghekiere]

Resolve support is indeed a plus.

But the OP was asking for advice, and he had already the Black Magic Monitor listed, so I thought I would give an extra option, and one that I have personal experience with, works perfectly.

There are some differences though. One of them being the T-Tap works with 2K and does resizing if necessary.

https://provideocoalition.com/atepper/story/ultrastudio_mini_monitor_competition_to_ajas_t-tap

[Bret Williams]

Apple does advertise that it works as a video out on the nMP. So I think something is weird on your system. As long as the TV/Monitor is on (and set to HDMI input) and you can see the extended desktop, it should work. It is not supposed to be a broadcast video out like Aja or BMD. That’s a whole different type of HDMI. It’s supposed to be like the FCP 7 desktop preview is my understanding.

it’s working as an extended desktop on my system. The flanders monitor is a second computer monitor. But when you launch FCP X it covers that with the output from the app.

I’m using a PC 5770 that has an HDMI. It’s flashed to mac. So it’s amazing that it supports the function at all. Especially on a 2006 MacPro that’s been jury rigged to run Mavericks and 10.1. All just for amusement. I don’t use that system to edit anymore. I use an iMac with an ultra studio express.

[Jari Innanen]

I use straight HDMI out as a third monitor on my rMBP. From the FCPX 10.1. manual:

View playback on an external monitor using HDMI
If you’re using Final Cut Pro 10.1 or later on a 4K-capable Mac with an HDMI port, you can play 4K or HD 1080 video on an external video monitor connected to the HDMI port.
For a list of compatible Mac computers, go to https://support.apple.com/kb/HT6057.
1 Use an HDMI cable to connect the external (HDMI) video monitor to the HDMI port on your Mac,
and make sure the monitor is connected to power and turned on.
2 To configure the HDMI monitor, choose Apple menu > System Preferences, and click Displays.
3 In Displays preferences, set the HDMI monitor to be a secondary display.
4 Select Scaled, and in the list that appears, select 4096 x 2160, 3840 x 2160, 1080i, or 1080p.
Note: You may need to press the Option key while you click Scaled to see additional resolutions for the HDMI monitor.
5 To select the monitor in Final Cut Pro, choose Final Cut Pro > Preferences (or press Command- Comma), click Playback, and choose the HDMI monitor from the A/V Output pop-up menu.
6 In Final Cut Pro, choose Window > A/V Output.
The Viewer contents appear on the HDMI monitor. Viewer features (such as onscreen controls
and the title-safe and action-safe overlays) can be viewed only in Final Cut Pro. Note: Video and audio are synced at the video frame (not audio sample) level.

[Mitch Ives]

Thank you for this. I had everything except #5. Now it works…

Been up too many hours. Shouldn’t drive when you’re tired and probably shouldn’t post either…

Mitch Ives
Insight Productions Corp.

“Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfills the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things.” – Winston Churchill

[Glenn Grant]

Bret,

Does this work with two other monitors attached or only one? I can’t seem to get the HDMI to work on my 5770 also flashed for Mac.

Is it limited to 2 monitors total?