Black Magic Design Support

[Giani]

Hi Eric

I was thinking of using some of the black magic design thunderbolt video interfaces and wondering if they are supported in Magic?
https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/it/pro ... hunderbolt

I would use the 4k station or the monitor/receiver for both capturing live camera feeds via HD-SDI, and also sending the main magic output window via HD-SDI to a LED screen processor, and the user interface via the other HD-SDI output to a monitor.

Thanks!

[Magic]

Hey Giani, good question and good timing . As a result of some of the discussions on here regarding Blackmagic products (such as this topic: http://magicmusicvisuals.com/forums/vie ... ?f=4&t=133), I contacted Blackmagic, and they were kind enough to loan me a unit to test with. I've just begun to play with it, and hopefully it won't take me too long to understand how it works.

For Mac though, there is an existing workaround, which might end up being the best solution anyway. You can download Black Syphon (http://vdmx.vidvox.net/blog/black-syphon) and then just use the Syphon functionality in Magic to send and receive from the Blackmagic device.

Does that help?
Eric

p.s. One thing to keep in mind is that sending Magic output via any kind of intermediate video device might incur some frame delay... just something to be aware of...

[Giani]

Nice one

Did they give you a Thunderbolt Ultra Studio 4k 2?

I'm thinking of getting one of those so would be great to know how it performs as both capture and output via black syphon.

Thanks!

[Magic]

The model they gave me is the Intensity Extreme (Thunderbolt), but I think all their models use a similar software interface. So they should all behave more or less the same, at least as far as compatibility is concerned. Not sure about performance though.

Eric

[Giani]

Hi Eric, wondering if you ever had a chance to test the video capturing compatibility and performance of the Motu HDX-SDI?
http://www.motu.com/video-products/hdx-sdi-thunderbolt

seems like it could be a better VJ tool than the Black Magic unit as this would also allow 16 audio input channels on top of the video capture.

thanks!

[Magic]

Haven't used that one unfortunately. Sounds interesting though. But software compatibility might be an issue since it's not a Blackmagic device.

Btw, the Intensity Extreme seems to perform well with Black Syphon at 720p60. It uses only about 6% CPU on my 13" MacBook Pro.

Eric

[Giani]

Thats great thanks for sharing the results! I look forward to playing with one of those

[Giani]

Hi Eric, another question Re Black Magic

beside the video capture, will the 16 channels from the AES SDI audio input of their products work?
https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/it/pro ... hunderbolt
can receive LTC, and analogue audio, but also 16 digital via SDI, so wondering if it can also be used as audio interface for magic

thanks!

[Magic]

I can't really tell from their tech specs unfortunately. If the device presents itself as a standard audio device it will work. To get multi-channel input on Windows though, it would need to have an ASIO driver.

[Giani]

Ok no worries thanks, I'll try to find out from them. If you are still in touch and have direct line of communication perhaps squeeze the question in there if its not too much trouble. I noticed it takes a wile for their support to get back!

thanks!

[Magic]

Sure I'll see what I can do.

What I can tell you is that the Intensity Extreme Thunderbolt doesn't even show up as a sound device on OS X (in System Preferences). On Windows it shows up in Magic but not the Control Panel, which means it has an ASIO driver, but no inputs are available.

Since most of the Blackmagic devices seem to use the same DeckLink drivers, I'd guess that they aren't compatible with the standard sound functionality in OS X or Windows, but obviously I'm not sure.

The impression I get from talking to the Blackmagic people is that they really want software developers to use their SDK, which means all software has to have custom support specifically for Blackmagic. I understand that they do this for performance reasons, but unfortunately it means their hardware isn't out-of-the-box compatible with all audio/video apps.

Hope that helps a little bit.

[Giani]

ah right, ok so do you mean that the audio inputs they have on the intensity extreme will only show up in supported software like say Final Cut, but they will not show up as a system audio device that can be used in OSX?

Shame, it would make it an ideal multi purpose Audio/Video interface to cover both capture and audio reactivity into one... A bit like the Motu HDX-SDI, but there is the other way around, audio is generally supported, video capture is not!

[Magic]

ah right, ok so do you mean that the audio inputs they have on the intensity extreme will only show up in supported software like say Final Cut, but they will not show up as a system audio device that can be used in OSX?

Yup that's exactly right.

Shame, it would make it an ideal multi purpose Audio/Video interface to cover both capture and audio reactivity into one... A bit like the Motu HDX-SDI, but there is the other way around, audio is generally supported, video capture is not!

I know. It's frustrating when hardware doesn't conform to operating system standards. Hard to understand sometimes why these kinds of decisions are made by the manufacturers.

[Giani]

Hey Eric, I just got the Ultra Studio 4k, i don't seem to get it as a device option in the the video cap module. Its read fine in resolume so everything is installed and the unit works fine. Any suggestions?

thanks!

[Magic]

Yeah, unfortunately Blackmagic hardware isn't compatible with the VidCap module, either on OS X or Windows. Right now, BlackSyphon is the best way to get Blackmagic input into Magic on OS X.

The technical details are that Blackmagic only supports Quicktime for generic video capture, but Quicktime has been deprecated since OS X 10.7, and it doesn't support 64-bit. The new OS X video framework is called AV Foundation, which is what Magic uses. Blackmagic devices don't work with AV Foundation.

It's possible that one of the reasons Resolume isn't available in 64-bit is the lack of Quicktime support. But I can't say for sure obviously.

Perhaps sometime soon Blackmagic will update their drivers to work with AV Foundation. But eventually I am hoping to do a native Blackmagic capture module, which will use their SDK and thus bypass the need for an OS X video framework.

Eric

[Giani]

aha, ok great thanks for letting me know. Do you have an idea of when the native BM module might be available?

[Magic]

I don't really know unfortunately. Probably not before the end of the year.

[Giani]

Ok all good, black syphon will keep us going till then

[Reigel]

May I ask how things are now? I am Win 8.1 x64 and can't access my BM Intensity Pro 4K. Would be perfect if that worked.
Which workaround do You propose?

Best
Reinhard

[Magic]

Have you tried my BlackSpout utility (viewtopic.php?f=6&t=201)? It's a standalone program for capturing BlackMagic input, which sends its video to Magic via the SpoutReceiver module. Let me know how it works for you.