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New Multibridge Pro – Questions…
Hello everyone… new to this particular thread but have already received some really helpful info from reading through previous posts. I am about to start cutting a feature on Wednesday and want to make sure I have my rig up and running properly before then, so any help/feedback you may be able to give will be much appreciated.
First off:
MacPro 3Ghz Quad-Core
OSX 10.4.9
4GB RAM
Radeon X1900
Multibridge Pro
G-Speed 3TB RAID
2x 24″ Dell Monitors
42″ LCD for external preview
FCP 5.1So I installed DeckLink 6.1 update from the BlackMagic website and everything seemed fine. I was reading through the manual though and came across some items that got me a bit worried… in the “Testing your Installation” section of the first thing it lists is to go to the Displays preference pane and look for an extra display represented in the Arrangement tab. Now I already have two monitors hooked up and I can see both of those, I do not however see the supposed third monitor which should represent the Multibridge. Point number 2. in testing is to go to the Sound preference pane and click on Outputs to see a Multibridge option. DeckLink Audio is not listed in the Output tab. Also, DeckLink appeares in the preference panes but everything under settings is greyed out. Is this because there is nothing hooked up to the Multibridge yet?
Now the Manual consistently refers to Multibridge Extreme (not Pro) are these procedures specific to the Extreme model?
Also, two questions in regards to my workflow… I will be capturing from an HDCAM deck from 1080p source footage. I want to capture into DVCPROHD at 720p. Will this work efficiently on the Multibridge Pro? Also, can I then rout external preview to my 42″ LCD via the HDMI out?
I thought I had done all the proper research into this product and workflow, but these innaccuracies in the testing have made me question my setup… any help will be GREATLY appreciated.
Best,
Todd
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4 Replies
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Seems like there’s something in the startup procedure not working as it should be.
First power down on the mac and the Multibridge. Then make sure the cable is connected to the PCIe extender in the Mac (not via USB), powerup the Multibridge first, then powerup the mac.
If everything is stil greyed out in the prefs.pane, the Multibridge’s hardware is not recognised by the mac.
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if that happens, same procedure, but now with only a USB cable between the MB and the Mac, it should ask to update the firmware, update it and reboot. Now powerdown everything. Then connect it to the PCIe extender and see if it likes to update the firmware again. If it asks you to do so, do so. After the update reboot the Mac. Now everything should work.
Lars
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Thanks for the input Lars, I rebooted and updated the firmware (which said it would update to allow Multibridge to act as a standalone converter).
I still am not seeing a third “display” on the arrangement tab of the display screen and there is still no option on my sound preference to output sound through the MB. Is this normal?
Also, I was just told by my deck rental house that the the BlackMagic box sometimes has issues with frame accuracy. Has anyone on here cut and onlined (HDCAM shoot > DVCPRO capture > HDCAM online) through the Multibridge? Any issues? I just want to make sure I’m aware of any issues now so I can adjust/protect for them from the start.
Thanks!
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So with the help of Sean and Carlos over at BM I got this fixed…
So for anyone who might come across this same problem, it had to do with the PCI slot that the card was in. Because default from the factory the MacPro is set to have PCI slot #3 at only 1x rate, it was not recognizing the PCI card. We went into Hard Drive>System>Library>Core Services and then used the “Expansion Slot Utility” to select a different allocation of speed to the PCI slots. We selected the second one down making PCI slots 3 and 4 run at 4x speed. Problem solved!
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Hi Todd,
That’s great news. For future reference, please refer to Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger, Mac Pro Configuration. This includes the necessary PCI profile information to ensure there is enough bandwidth on each slot for the Multibridge Pro to work.
Regards,
Luke Maslen
Blackmagic Design
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