[Mike Jackson]

Thanks for the detailed response Luke, I do appreciate it.

I was not trying to dis Black magic’s excellent products… I like what I see, and that’s why I bought one in the first place. I think I was mostly put off by the gleeful tone in the initial post / press release – *I* sure would’ve liked to buy the dual link HD card for $1495! 😉 I also would’ve liked to be able to sell my single-link for $1200 or so, to offset the purchase of a multibridge, whenever it’s ready.

If you can help me get better performance out of the software downconvert, that’d be great. I’ve just downloaded the new drivers, but I haven’t had a chance to test them yet… I’ll send off an e-mail to tech-support when I get the chance.

BUT – I stand by my comment about the difference being less than clear when I made my purchase. The support note you mentioned (Software and hardware down conversion with DeckLink cards) was posted AFTER I bought my card. Specifically, it was posted shortly after I had an e-mail conversation with someone at BlackMagic, and they said I had a good point and would see if the difference could be made more clear on the website. You really get a massive performance difference between software and hardware downconvert, and that would’ve tipped the scales on my purchase.

All that being said, I look forward to the multibridge, and I’m glad to know the PCI-X card is still coming!

[Mike Jackson]

Well, to be fair, I’ve gotten great tech support so far… and the card I have has met my *minimum* requirements fairly well. But my search for a single-card SD / HD solution was a nightmare, and it looks like my only option will be to buy a Kona or hope for the multibridge PCI-X adapter… But either way, I’ll be dropping another couple of grand at least, and my resale value on my current card has vanished. And knowing that the vastly superior dual-link card is now the same price I paid for my single-link in MID-JUNE really sticks in my craw.

I always expect computer gear to depreciate rapidly, but the current cycle seems especially brutal. I just switched over to Final Cut from Premiere, and after spending $12,000 plus on my new system (including a firewire / analog adapter and Behringer Ultramatch Pro, accessories I wouldn’t have needed with the multibridge), I now find that both my card and my G5 (if the PCI-express rumors are true) are turning into legacy products. After three months! Arg.

Anyway, all would be forgiven if there was a trade-up or discount program for Blackmagic upgrades. 😉

[Mike Jackson]

“Now is the time to move to HD!”

Well, that’s great… but what about those of us who already did?

I just bought the single-link HDPro at the beginning of the summer, as a stop-gap until multi-bridge ships… for a lot more than $1495. Since Black Magic has no upgrade or trade-in program, my only hope to defray the cost was to sell my card when the multibridge shipped.

So what’s happened instead? No multibridge for my Mac for the forseeable future (since it’s been announced that the PCI express adapter isn’t a priority), and the card I *have* has been devalued to the point where I’d be lucky to get $500 for it.

Add to that my constant frustration with the rarely mentioned secret weakness of the single-link card, the software (rather than hardware) downconversion. I’m using a 2.7Ghz G5 with 2.5 gigs of Ram and it *still* chokes on the downconversion. Not good – The dual-link board is a vastly superior product, not that I knew that when I made my purchase. “Ha ha, I don’t need 4:4:4!”.

So here I am, having dropped a fair bit of coin on a card that doesn’t really fill my needs, and my only replacement options are multibridge (which I suspect may never be compatible with the current generation of Macs), or paying the same full price for the dual-link card and taking a financial bath in the process.

It all makes the new Kona LH look awfully good.

Seriously guys – An upgrade program would make a big difference to me right now. I don’t like being ‘angry customer’.

[Mike Jackson]

Problem solved, by the most responsive tech support I’ve ever encountered. Usually I have to wait days, Blackmagic got back to me in a couple of hours, on a Saturday. Wow.

Anyway, in case it’s of use to anybody, here’s what fixed it:

2. Reinstall the BMD drivers:

If you are having problems with Final Cut Pro HD and your Decklink card:

1. Uninstall the Decklink software. The Decklink Uninstaller is “hidden”
in the Installer folder that you downloaded from the Support area of the
Blackmagic Design Website. (You will find it at the very bottom of the
folder, all the way over to the right. It is “hidden” so that people do not
inadvertently rid the system of the Decklink drivers.)
2. Repair your Disk Permissions on the System Drive of your Macintosh.
If you have never repaired disk permissions, this may be a somewhat lengthy
process. You will find the Disk Utility in the Applications
Folder>Utilities>Disk Utilities. Repair Permissions is one of the Tabs.
3. Close all applications and shut the computer off. You will restart it
soon. But you are to shut it off so that no power is going to the system
and the cards installed in the system.
4. Now restart your system and find the folder with the Decklink
Installer software. Install the Decklink installer.
5. Repair your Permissions again. Now it should be easy to find the Disk
Utility and it should repair Permissions in no time.
6. Shut down your computer one more time and wait about 15 seconds before
turning it on.
7. Restart your computer. Load Final Cut Pro. In over 90% of the time,
this will fix any Final Cut Pro issues with regard to resolution, time code,
audio, and or sync issues.
8. Note that the Easy setups have been prepared for you so that all of
the appropriate settings are correctly configured. Changing any portion on
your own may mis-configure the setting and may create problems for you.
9. Rarely you will find that you will have to throw away your preferences
and relaunch Final Cut Pro. That was an older method of “cleaning up” FCP,
but today, repairing permissions usually solves any internal FCO
“confusion.” On that rare occasion when you might have to “trash” your
preferences, you might want to go through steps 1 through 7 again.