Revisit multiple Decklink Intensity cards in Mac Pro

[Joshua Helling]

Yes you can do this. The problem before was that we always could install two cards, but most applications would only see the first card. (including our control panel).

With the old Intensity boards this was not a problem as there were no settings to configure.

Later on (I think over a year ago now) we added the ability for our control panel to see multiple cards as well. There should be a drop down in which you can select which board you want to control.

After that, you need a software that will capture from two sources. There are several and we don’t make any specific recommendations, but you can use softtron amongst other softwares to do this.

Be aware that NO software that Blackmagic Design bundles is capable of capturing from two sources simultaneously. That includes On-Air, which would only capture 1 stream.

Sincerely,

Joshua
Director of Support
Blackmagic Design Inc.

[Graham Jones]

Hi,

thanks so much, that’s great news!

Do you know if any of the software that can capture two streams simultaneously is on Mac? Or could I just use two apps at the same time, like Final Cut and OnAir, or Final Cut and Premiere (each capturing one stream)?

Thanks,
Graham.

[Joshua Helling]

Newp..you cant do it with two instances of the same app. They will both look for the first card. They don’t have any logic to cascade cards tat are in use. If they did you would never be able to switch from one application to the next (like from FCP to Color).

So…it would have to be an application that actually has logic to detect more than one card. As I mentioned Softtron is one. And there are heaps of them out there, but mileage my vary.

Sincerely,

Joshua
Director of Support
Blackmagic Design Inc.

[Graham Jones]

Hi,

Bummer. Can you please indulge me and let mw know what some of the other software options are? Softtron’s seem overly expensive for what they offer, and ScopeBox looks cool but it isn’t clear if they support capturing via HDMI at all.

Other than those two, a Google search on various related terms came up empty.

Thanks,
Graham.

[Graham Jones]

Hi,

also, what about having a Decklink Studio and a Blackmagic Intensity in the same system — does that change the scenario at all? Could FCP record from the Decklink Studio and OnAir record from the Intensity at the same time?

Incidentally, I downloaded the trial of ScopeBox and it didn’t work very well. I’m downloading the demo of the Softron one now.

Thanks,
Graham.

[Graham Jones]

Hi,

Hmmm… no way I’m going to spend over $1000 on the Softron one — spartan, clunky, and doesn’t work very well. I’d rather just put that $1,000 into a second Mac Pro.

Unless you have some answers to my other questions…?

Thanks,
Graham.

[Joshua Helling]

Apparently one of the PM’s informed me that I was mistaken. And you can infact run two copies of Media Express with two cards and capture 2 streams (so long as your computer can handle it).

Sincerely,

Joshua
Director of Support
Blackmagic Design Inc.

[Graham Jones]

Hi,

whew, thanks so much! That’s great! I’m guessing that would apply also to a Studio and an Intensity in the same system?

Thanks,
Graham.

[Kristian Lam]

Hi Graham,

The requirement is that you use the latest version of Media Express which has an option to run in the background.

The cards in your system will enumerate in a fixed order but you can’t tell Media Express to address a specific card. It will pick the card which shows up as the first input/output device in your system. The next instance of Media Express you open will then pick up the second card.

Of course, the limitation here is that there’s no elegant way of capturing 2 streams simultaneously. You’ll have to start capture in one instance of Media Express, then go into the next instance and start another capture.

regards

Kristian Lam
Blackmagic Design

[Graham Jones]

Hi,

thanks! Luckily, that fits my need perfectly. Both streams are HDMI, same settings, so whichever card starts first doesn’t matter. Also, I will be doing long takes, so once I start the recording I won’t have to keep switching it on and off.

Thanks again,
Graham.