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OT: Thunderbolt and Displays Question – Need Assistance/Advice Please!
So i just picked up one of those 1tb Lacie Littlebig Disk Thunderbolt drives for a project i have coming up where ill be working in two different bays, both with a similar almost identical setup. Ones my home office and the other the director’s studio.
Heres the first issue I’ve ran into.
I have the i7 iMac with Dual Thunderbolts ports. Prior to getting the littlebigdisk i was using both ports, one to a Intensity extreme box from Blackmagic, the other port is hooked up to Asus 24 inch monitor display via a generic MiniDisplay to HDMI converter. Worked just as it should. Pleased as punch
Now the first thing i tried to do when i got the LBD, is daisy chain the Asus monitor from it using the same generic mini display to hdmi adaptor, leaving the Intensity Extreme on its own TB port. Should be cool right?. Nope, while the monitor does display an image, its like someone put one of those “solar negative” type filters on it. The disk still reads fast, 160ish write/180ish read but obviously i can’t use the monitor this way.
Now when i tired to give the monitor its own TB port and daisy chain the Intensity Extrme to the LBG, this works as expected, except i lose performance on the disk. Writes drop to 110ish and reads drop to 150ish. Im hoping i can avoid this slow down cuz I’m doing multi clips in Media Composer and every bit of juice helps.
Is it the generic adaptor maybe? I bought this thing before Thunderbolt was on the market for an old laptop. Is it the Lacie? Does the external monitor have to be actual TB to work off a chain?
With hopes i purchased a more modern display adaptor from mono price, that says thunderbolt support. I just think its weird my current adaptor works straight to the IAMC but not from the Lacie.
Any insight or help is appreciated. I know this isn’t the right forum, but you guys know your stuff and this place is the most helpful place on the net right now. Searching google came up with nada.
Neil Goodman: Editor of New Media Production – NBC/Universal
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27 Replies
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Not that I have definate examples or documentation that I can point you to, sharing bandwidth on Thunderbolt can quickly reduce performance on devices as I believe it is only a x4 speed.
Michael
Michael Phillips
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Thanks mike that’s why I wanted to daisy chain the monitor instead of the I/o box.I figure the monitor uses less bandwidth and speed tests prove that, but the image is compromised.
Neil Goodman: Editor of New Media Production – NBC/Universal
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Is the Asus for GUI or video?
You are using thunderbolt for displayport, so you can’t daisy chain from it.
A thunderbolt monitor would allow daisy chaining, and the monitor typically has to be the first device in the chain.
Supposedly, Asus has shown a TBolt monitor.
What if you switch the disk and the Blackmagic device?
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I’m daisy chaining my cheap Acer monitor off my Pegasus using a Mdp to dvi adapter whilst the second port is hooked up to my extreme. I got the cable on amazon for $10 or something.
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[Jeremy Garchow] “Is the Asus for GUI or video?
You are using thunderbolt for displayport, so you can’t daisy chain from it.
A thunderbolt monitor would allow daisy chaining, and the monitor typically has to be the first device in the chain.
Supposedly, Asus has shown a TBolt monitor.
What if you switch the disk and the Blackmagic device?
“This is just for GUI and my second monitor. I have a client screen for full screen. Im not trying to daisy chain from the monitor. The Monitor is the last in the chain, or would be if it worked, but my image is distorted.
Neil Goodman: Editor of New Media Production – NBC/Universal
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[Bret Williams] “I’m daisy chaining my cheap Acer monitor off my Pegasus using a Mdp to dvi adapter whilst the second port is hooked up to my extreme. I got the cable on amazon for $10 or something.
“
thats why I’m thinking this should just work with the mini display to HDMI cable i have. Its should be the same thing as your doing. Im hoping except minus the DVI, the new adapter i ordered hopefully will work as it said thunderbolt support, while came out way before TB was around. So we’ll see.Till then I’m taking a wee performance hit by having the extreme end of chain off the LAcie LBD.
Neil Goodman: Editor of New Media Production – NBC/Universal
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Have you tried with a different mini display port > HDMI adaptor? I know when the standard came out one could run into issues with these. It might even be worth trying mini display port > VGA if your screen allows it. I think these adapters always are “active” which is a good thing.
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[Neil Goodman] “This is just for GUI and my second monitor. I have a client screen for full screen. Im not trying to daisy chain from the monitor. The Monitor is the last in the chain, or would be if it worked, but my image is distorted.”
Ok. I guess I was thrown as you’re using hdmi for it. Maybe try a dvi converter?
Can you switch the LaCie and blackmagic or does the blackmagic not have pass through?
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I have no problems using an older Mini Displayport Apple monitor on the same TB port as a LaCie TB Raid and a Matrox MX02 on the other TB port.
The first time I did this it did not work with the MX02 and Raid on the same TB port. It was a little tricky to get it to work, I thought I had a bad cable for a while. It took a few restarts but now it works fine. This reminds me a bit of the days of SCSI when certain devises did not like others and it was very picky with cables and positions in the chain as well as the ID numbers.
I have actually stopped using the second “bin” monitor now. I got a neck ache from too much real estate and I find the 27″ screen to be all I need in fcpx. I do all my monitoring on a HD SDI monitor on the left side of the IMac and there is a client plasma screen above my iMac. I often do my initial rough edits w/o the external monitors on, this seems very comfortable, but as I refine the edits and grade the HD SDI monitor is a must. And the HDMI is also nice to monitor even w/o a client as you review the project.
My MP setup is very similar with a 30″ single monitor and SDI and HDMI monitors as well.
Olof Ekbergh
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Hey Neil —
Maybe it’s your adapter. I don’t have the LBD, but I have a pegasus raid, and I daisy my secondary monitor off it. I use the apple displayport->DVI converter, which is directly plugged into the 2nd thunderbolt port on the back of the pegasus RAID and it works like a charm without any slowdown.
Your setup sounds identical except for the older generic adapter.
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