No component output to NTSC monitor with HD Pro and 5.0 driver

[Luke Maslen]

Hi Bryan,

Please go to the System Preferences and click on Blackmagic DeckLink. Look at the setting for video output. My suspicion is that it is set to NTSC/PAL which is composite analog output. Please ensure it is set to Analog Y, B-Y, R-Y for component analog output. Does that help? If not, use the DeckLink Uninstaller from the DeckLink 5.0 disk image. Then reinstall the drivers and see if it is working again as something weird might have happened when updating to all the latest software.

Regards,

Luke Maslen
Blackmagic Design

[Bryan Keith]

First of all, thank you for the quick response.

When I go to the preferences, under the output setting, the only option I have is analog y, b-y, r-y, so that is obviously what it is set to.

I have uninstalled and reinstalled to no avail. It’s weird b/c if I go back to the original driver (v 4.4 I believe), it works fine. But as soon as I reinstall the 5.0 driver, I loose output to the monitor. Any more thoughts?

[Luke Maslen]

Hi Bryan,

I just double-checked with my DeckLink HD Pro Single Link card and it definitely offers a choice of composite or component output for SD and I don’t know why you don’t have that option too.

I would like to check a couple of things.

[Bryan Keith]

-Firstly, how many BNC ports do you have on your DeckLink card. The DeckLink HD Pro Single Link should only have 2 BNC ports.

There are two BNC ports on the back.

-Secondly, open the Blackmagic DeckLink preferences and you should see some text Video Settings for your DeckLink … . What name does it give for your model of DeckLink card?

It says “Video settings for your Decklink HD Pro. I took a screengrab that shows when i am selecting the video output option, the only option available to me is the “analog y, b-y, r-y” option. Here’s a link that screengrab.

https://homepage.mac.com/bryankeith/PhotoAlbum107.html

-In the System Preferences, click on Displays and then on the Arrangement tab. Does it show a display representing the output of your DeckLink card or is this missing?

yes, a second display is shown. I actually get desktop display on the ntsc until I open Final Cut, then it goes black. What’s interesting is that if I change the desktop b/g in the desktop and screensaver prefs, the cinema display changes, but the monitor b/c doesn’t ever change. Not sure if that is a clue or not.

-If the DeckLink card is represented here, follow the Tiger instructions in the technical note
Can a SD monitor be used with DeckLink HD and Mac OS X?.

I have followed all of these directions and have also downloaded the 5.0 driver from your site. The biggest question I have is why would I not have those composite/component options in my blackmagic preferences? And why would it work for me fine when using the old 4.4 driver but not with the 5.0 driver?

Again, thanks for your help.

Bryan

[Luke Maslen]

Hi Bryan,

Thank you for your comprehensive notes and screenshot which I think provides the clue to the weird problem.

Your screenshot shows an interface from a very old set of drivers, possibly DeckLink 4.4. If that is the interface that is showing up when you install the DeckLink 5.0 drivers, then clearly something is going wrong for the old interface to be displayed. My guess is that there is some caching issue which is causing this.

When the DeckLink HD Pro Single Link was first released, we had not advertized composite analog video output support and this feature was added later. The fact that the DeckLink 5.0 drivers are not showing the option to select composite output adds further weight to the idea that some cached information is causing this problem. This is a real possibility as Mac OS X caches driver information, and PrefPane information, to make it quicker to load.

The older DeckLink 4.x drivers are not built for Final Cut Pro HD 5.0 and so that is why video output would fail with in FCP even though you get a desktop output.

So here are a few things to do. Firstly, can you please confirm you are using an Admin account? This should not be necessary but should guarantee that any changes you make will be accepted. By contrast, a “Managed” account with “Some Limits” might not allow you to make changes to preferences.

Secondly, using the latest DeckLink 5.0 disk image, use its uninstaller to remove the DeckLink drivers. Then install the DeckLink 5.0 drivers again. Make sure you do this while logged in to an Admin account. This should help to force various caches in Mac OS X to update so that you no longer see legacy interfaces and options.

Please let me know how you go.

Regards,

Luke Maslen
Blackmagic Design

[Bryan Keith]

Luke,

i did what you recommended and sure enough, I now have the updated driver preferences and I am now getting component output to my NTSC monitor. I appreciate your quick response! You rock. Thanks!!!

Bryan

[Luke Maslen]

Hi Bryan,

Woohoo! That’s great news 🙂 Thanks for letting me know as that was a weird one. Your excellent problem description plus screenshot were what allowed us to eventually work out the likely cause for your problem. It certainly caused some interesting discussion amongst the engineers here 🙂

Thanks for your great quality information and I guess the lesson to learn from this is that it is a really good idea to run the Uninstaller before installing new drivers. In theory that should not be necessary but it clearly helps avoid some weird caching issues and so is worth doing as it is only one extra step and there is no downside 🙂

Regards,

Luke Maslen
Blackmagic Design

[Bryan Keith]

I had actually used the uninstaller in previous attempts. What I did this time was uninstall, then restart the computer and then install the new driver. Not sure if the restart was the trick, but I think you guys are correct about the caching theory.

thanks again for the help. I’m certainly feeling good about my decklink purchase if I know you guys are on top of this stuff.

Bryan

[Luke Maslen]

Hi Bryan,

That’s really interesting and you’re absolutely right that a restart might have been necessary to solve this apparent caching problem. I don’t know why it only affected you but it’s great that it’s all working now and I’ll keep an eye open for any similar problems in the future. Your feedback has been very helpful and may well help other customers in the future.

Regards,

Luke Maslen
Blackmagic Design