BlackMagic DeckLink Mini Monitor

[Claire]

I am thinking of supplementing my Storm 3G card with a BlackMagic Mini Monitor to have true progressive 25P output. Can anyone using this hardware with Edius confirm this is possible?

It might sound like a strange request but there are seemingly two modes, in it's menu you can set either 25P or 25Psf output. Well I don't want progressive frames split into fields inside an interlaced stream, that what I have to suffer with my Storm 3G, even my WD Live hub player has true 25P progressive output.

Only I have read conflicting statements about this BM card and it's important for me.

[Claire]

Thanks for the only reply More4K. I have to update to Edius 7 to use the BM card so it becomes an expensive solution to get "real" 25P. Oh well, I will back up my drive and try the Mini Monitor with the demo version first, just in case...

[David Clarke]

I have tested this with a broadcast Panasonic monitor and the mini monitor does output proper 25P from EDIUS. You need to change a tick box in the Blackmagic control panel which is not there on the Intensity range.

[Jerry]

I think it would be possible. I have a Storm 3G and an Intensity Shuttle installed together. Granted this is not exactly the same, but the same driver class is used.

[NakedEye]

More4K is right with regards to your monitor and its settings. If you just have an HDTV then often the film mode is only for 24p source. The intensity and some other models only did psf at 25 and there has been some debate on this over the years.

Best
Dave.

[Claire]

My monitor accepts 1080 50i,50P,60i,60P and 24P no problem. It's not a broadcast monitor, just an extremely nice high end Panasonic HDTV, with a lovely IPS LED panel and nice semi pro gamma options.

Pressing the info button on the remote tells me what type of signal is coming in, "P" or "i". My personal work is all progressive,25 or 50, I never shoot interlaced.

When I'm playing films shot with my EX1R via my WD Live TV Hub the tv detects "P" which it is and there are no artifacts. When I play the same file from Edius via my Storm 3G the tv detects "i" and I get "line twitter" as a result of splitting to fields. When I play my 50P stuff from my TM900 camera both Edius with the Storm3G AND my WD Hub show it properly, as "P".

So my 50P stuff is easy to monitor perfectly, it's just that the 25P from my EX1R camera is not. My monitor is not the issue for me, yes if it were a broadcast monitor with "film mode" I would probably not need a BM card but hey there is some price difference between the two! Wow, I am after a lower cost approach, poor me.

Hope that explains some things here.

[Claire]

Sorry about the delay getting back to this thread, in the end I went ahead and bought a BlackMagic Mini Monitor card.

Unfortunately my Panasonic HDTV won't accept it's 25p output, only if I set the BM card to "use pulldown format" do I see a picture, but in a 50i stream, the same as my Storm 3G does, complete with line twitter artifacts presumably caused by my HDTV attempting to deinterlace.

So that was a disappointment, though it was cheap and at least it has given me true 24P (23.98) output, something my Storm 3G can't do either.

Hmm, i'm stuck now, when I copy 25p work to my WD TV Live Hub Media Center I can view twitter free in true progressive on my HDTV. This is an option in the WD box, progressive or interlaced. Now if a consumer box like this can do it, wonder why Storm3G and BlackMagic Mini Monitor can't?

[Adbear]

When you have the WD box connected to the TV and playing one of the 25P files does the TV report it as 25P

[Claire]

it says

"1080P / 50 Hz input Wide"

while in Edius using Storm 3G or BM card it says

"1080i / 50 Hz input Wide".

[Adbear]

If the WD says 1080p 50 then that would imply it's doubling the frames before output, whereas the BM card doesn't do that, when you set it to 1080p25 it outputs at 1080p25

[Claire]

deleted, (error)

[Claire]

I didn't say the tv reports "1080p 50" (when connected to the WD box playing a 25p file). It says "1080P / 50 Hz input Wide".

There is a subtle difference here.. To be sure it's more usual in video circles to express such details as "1080/25p" or "1080/50p", but if you think about it the tv is reporting correctly the frame size (1080) followed by the format (P) followed by the frame rate (50Hz).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1080p

"1080p (aka Full HD/ FHD and BT.709) is a set of HDTV high-definition video modes characterized by 1080 horizontal lines of vertical resolution[1] and progressive scan, as opposed to interlaced".

[Jerry]

Claire,
Have you run the EDID Monitor program found either in your start menu or under tools in Edius. This will tell you what resolutions and frame rates your monitor can handle.

If you have tested this then, have you changed your frame rate setting to 24, not 23.98, and unchecking the Use Pull Down box while using the BM card?
I have an Intensity Shuttle and I get 24p output without the pulldown in both 8 and 10bit project settings. My monitor reads out as 1080p. It will not do it at 23.98.
The Storm will not use 24p at all.
Also, since you are in PAL land, try setting the Storm 3g to 50p without the pulldown and see what you get. My Monitor says 1080p. Will the WD run 50p material?
It's worth a try.

[David Clarke]

Unfortunately I have seen TV that report things in stupid ways or actually incorrectly. I have one monitor that reports 25P 1080 footage as 24P - but I know the device is outputting proper 25P.

Adbear's comment is a good assumption based on the fact that the TV is not working with the Mini monitor, but it may not be right. What does the TV say if you output 25 frames interlaced? Or output proper 50P from the Storm 3G?

[Adbear]

So what does the TV report when you feed it a 24P signal from the BM card?