[Christopher Savo]

Hey Korkie,

Sorry for my delayed response. I am very bad about checking my Personal e-mail at times. If you are uisng the Blackmagic mini converter that I linked above I can guarantee you that NO MATTER what a tech from Blackmagic tells you it will not work reliably with a computer. I was only successfully able to get the mini converter to work for about 5 minutes when I first bought it and I was told that was a fluke because possibly at that point my computer was not sending out a copyrighted signal.

If you were to ask me I would recommend going away from Blackmagic completely for this conversion. Since I last posted I have returned the Blackmagic DVI Extender and successfully setup my system using the Matrox unit that was recommended by others above. It really is a great unit with many features and things none of the Blackmagic or Kramer products had and I especially love the fact that it is has options for either Stand Alone or computer control (In this case I guess you really do get what you pay for). I do have some other Blackmagic converters in my system working great, just not one to convert a computer signal.

Hope this response helps!

Chris

[Christopher Savo]

Hi All,

I am having issues very similar to the entire discussion above and wanted to get a little clarification/ask for some advice on what I need to get in order to correctly output a new iMac through SDI.

Here is a little info on my setup:
Switcher: Grass Valley Indigo with the HD-8 Acapella Upgrade (Basically its just the Indigo controlling the Acapella routers 8 HD SDI inputs).
Computer: iMac 13,2 – Late 2012 ( https://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/imac/specs/imac-core-i7-3.4-27-inch-aluminum-late-2012-specs.html )

I first bought and tried the Blackmagic HDMI to SDI mini converter ( https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/miniconverters/ ) only to then after the fact find out that it couldn’t be used with computers or DVD Players due to copyright (so the Blackmagic tech told me). He told me to get the DVI extender ( https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/dviextender ) as it would work to output the computer correctly to SDI. With the DVI Extender I had to unplug and re-plug in the input cable EVERYTIME in order to get the signal to show up.

I am on the phone now with Blackmagic and they are sending me another DVI extender to make sure it’s not an issue with this unit, but I honestly don’t have high hopes for it.

I have seen the Matrox Unit that is recommended ( https://www.fullcompass.com/product/400199.html ) here also recommended other places. I am wondering if a the Kramer VP 482 will work to do the same thing and if anyone has any experience with this unit ( https://www.fullcompass.com/product/449648.html ). It’s only a little less than the Matrox Unit in price, but it uses HDMI (which is the signal format I am using so 1 less adapter would be good) and when your working for a Non Profit that doesn’t like to spend money every penny counts.

Thanks in advance for your help/advice!

Chris Savo