Mpeg2 -> Mac Mini -> Aja (SDI) -> Teranex 2D -> H264

Hello everybody,

we've got a 2 day trial of the Teranex Processor and running into some issues regarding our workflow. I am working for a music channel in the Netherlands and all our contents comes from the big major labels delivered in a very weird muxed mpeg2 format. ffmpeg can handle it pretty fine but most other transcoders have always problems reading it. I decode all files now to ProRes422 and play them out via our Aja io NX over SDI.

The SDI out gets connected with the SDI in of the Teranex processor. If i connect one SDI out of the Processor to our Blackmagic Smartview, I can see the transcoding happen. The next step i want to take is to record the outgoing signal again into our mac mini but as soon as i connect the Thunderbolt cable, the Mini seems to take over the Teranex processor. I can't playback anything anymore over SDI and cant also change the INPUT. When i tap on the INPUT button, it blinks a couple of time and that was it.

Video gets played when using the MediaExpress Suite from Teranex but not from SDI. In log and record I can start recording and see that the Process is writing to a file but all that coms out is black. So it definitly doesn't capture the SDI IN. Is there anything I am missing? I guess the Thunderbolt connection is the issue. But how would I record/talk to the box otherwise?

Before you say RTFM .. i did I followed all steps but with no results..

Any help is really appreciated. I am also very confused why all Settings are greyed out in System Preferences -> Blackmagic. I can't set input, can't set output, can't set input processing, can't set output processing.

Markus

P.S. What we actually want to achive:

Batch encode 30k+ files with the Teranex2D processor + batch encode new incoming files immediately after arrival (Watch Folder / Scripts). We need mp4 files and .ts files so would buy more than 1 processor.
It is also of interest to me to know if there exists an SDK with which i can talk to the Processor.
If i would need more hardware to accomplish my goal please mention it. Our whole pipeline is now software base and we have great results but the realtime encoding + the incredible good NTSC->Pal conversion of the Teranex2D is really awesome

Update:

We can now record the SDI signal on a different Macbook through Media Express. So this works quite fine (the trick was to use another mac for recording than for playing out the SDI signals). Only problem is that the resulting video file is incredible large (uncompressed mov 8 bit/10bit). The guy who gave us the trial said we can transcode to H264 but I can't find the option to set it. Is this actually possible?