Moving to HD What board?

[Bob Zelin]

get the AJA I/O, the AJA Kona 2, and the AJA K-Box. This will cost you under $5000 for everything, and you will be able to do EVERYTHING – no excuses.

Bob Zelin

[Bob Zelin]

EXCUSE ME – I AM A FOOL and I have given you incorrect information. If you get the Blackmagic HD Pro card for PCI-X, and use this in conjunction with the Multibridge Extreme (not with the PCI-e card of course), you will be able to do everything. When you eventually get your Quad or Mac Pro with PCI Express, you then use the PCI-e bridge and will be able to use the Multibridge Extreme with the 4 lane PCI Express card. This will not be a waste of money.

Sorry about that mis information.

bob Zelin

[Ed Stevens]

Thanks much. It sounds reasonable

[Ed Stevens]

I am confused. I looked at the Multibridge PRO or EXTREME and they
connect via a PCIe card. Am I Missing something? Can it connect to the
HD Pro PCIx? Could I use the Multibridge Pro?

[David Baud]

Actually I am in a similar situation than you are Ed.

So far the research I have done on Blackmagic website tell me that Multibridge Pro is not compatible with PCI-X G5 computer.

So what I am looking at right now is the Decklink HD Pro PCI-X card which has a video component output, which will allow me to monitor the signal into my CRT monitor. To connect to my HDTV (1080p and down compatible), I would get the HDLink monitoring converter.

Now I have not resolved yet the issue of audio monitoring: from the Decklink HD Pro PCI-X card you get 2 SDI output (with audio embedded) and the AES/EBU compatible with S/PDIF digital audio; so what kind of mixing board could get this digital inputs AND some regular XLR inputs AND still have XLR outputs to my Mackie HR824 powered speakers?

Also keep in mind that Decklink HD Pro PCI-X card does not have any video/analog input available; I guess I will keep my Decklink Extreme card around for needs!

Anyway I am also interested to any feedback on this configuration from people with similar configuration or in the “know”

Thank you,

David Baud
KOSMOS PRODUCTIONS

[Igor Babic]

Ed and David, read carefully what Bob has said. He is telling you that you use HD Pro PCIx as an interface card to Multibridge as a standalone converter because your current Mac not support PCIe interface card for Multibridge and when you buy your new Mac you can then just put PCIe interface supplied with your Multibridge in it and you will then have two HD capable machines with all connections that you will need in a real world editing suite. I hope that this helps. My world is PC and I have HD Extreme PCIe( before that my machine was heaving SD Extreme PCIx, PC is easier because they have both slots )
I hope this helps.

[David Baud]

Thanks for your reply!

I guess what I don’t understand is how do you connect a Multibridge to the DL HD Pro PCI-X card?

Thanks,

[Igor Babic]

In this scenario it works as a stand alone converter and with DL HD pro is conected thru SD/HD SDI. What goes in Multibridge goes out on all outputs as I understand. Try to ask support at blackmagic.com about specifics, they are exellent in support. There is also lots of stuff on their web site in documentation, and they update this all the time. Hope this helps.

[Luke Maslen]

Hi Ed,

We have a board that has all that i/o for PCI Express computers but not for PCI-X. The card is named the DeckLink HD Extreme and costs $995. The card works in the newer G5’s with PCI Express and also the Mac Pro and of course in Windows PC’s with PCI Express.

Seeing as though you have a PCI-X G5, you could get any PCI-X SDI card and then connect it via SDI to the Multibridge Pro or Multibridge Extreme. These external boxes can act either as standalone convertors or as capture playback cards when connected via PCI Express. So if you are not in a position to upgrade to a PCI Express G5 now, you could use a PCI-X DeckLink card and connect it to a Multbridge. The Multibridge would convert between analog and SDI and the DeckLink card would capture the SDI signal from the Multibridge. At a later stage when you upgrade to a PCI Express G5 or Mac Pro, you could leave the DeckLink card behind in your older Mac and simply plug the Multibridge Pro (or Extreme) straight in to the PCI Express slot of your new Mac.

A new DeckLink HD Pro PCI-X card plus a Multibridge Pro would have a combined cost of $3090. However I noticed a DeckLink HD Pro PCI-X on eBay for $700 so you might be able to get this down to $2295.

Something to consider is whether the cost of the additional card required for the PCI-X G5 could instread be put towards an upgrade to a Mac with PCI Express.

I hope that isn’t too confusing 🙂

Regards,

Luke Maslen
Blackmagic Design

[David Baud]

Yes it does.

Thank you

David