Output to External Monitor

Is there a way I can output a video signal to my external monitor in either HD or 4k? I have a 4k TV hooked up via HDMI that I use with Premiere, but I don't see any options in Resolve to output to my tv.

You need a playback interface that will work with your machine (PC or Mac). Look here for one to meet your needs: https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products#

Why do I need to buy additional hardware when the hardware I have is already capable of delivering a video signal to my tv?

Why do I need to buy additional hardware when the hardware I have is already capable of delivering a video signal to my tv?

Why do I need to buy additional hardware when the hardware I have is already capable of delivering a video signal to my tv?

Because reasons!

Why do I need to buy additional hardware when the hardware I have is already capable of delivering a video signal to my tv?

To expand on this. The worms being Microsoft/Apple/Nvidia/AMD.

You can't rely on their complex interactions and self interested tweaks to produce colour accurate images.

Blackmagic I/O devices cut as much of that as practical away, hopefully.

I think you can look at it a couple of different ways:

1. BMD could probably allow you to route a full screen image to a 2nd or 3rd monitor. It wouldn't be accurate, but for some users it would be good enough to get through what they need, even if when they display it elsewhere, the image might differ a bit.

2. BMD is first and foremost a hardware company. They have to make money somewhere (just like Apple) and you could look at their entry-level video interfaces like a small price for their apps. Something like the Decklink Mini will run you about $150 and it seems quite reasonable for BMD to expect their users to make that purchase.

Either way, if you're looking for an accurate way of looking at your footage on an external monitor, going through the computer graphics won't get you there.

*cringing* So what options does BMD have for me to output a 4K signal to my TV from my new MacPro?

Michael, I think one solution is the Ultrastudio 4K box. The general reason for going through an external box or internal card is that BMD supports 10bit graphics and Apple is still limiting their display signals to 8bit. This is illustrated on page 13 in the Configuration Guide published yesterday.

You may be able to use an Ultrastudio Mini Thunderbolt to HDMI or 3G SDI converter depending upon your grading monitor's inputs.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

The UltraStudio Mini will probably have to work. its only HD and the additional $700 just to do 4k is not worth it.

The o.p. needs a color managed output to do meaningful color correction. This means working outside the operating system, using a dedicated grading monitor calibrated to a known standard (like Rec709). You can't color correct with the GUI monitors because they just aren't good or accurate enough.

Not many people are delivering in 4K anyway. Get the Mini Monitor. It's a fine piece of gear and cheap.

Not to mention most grading monitors are still limited to 3G/HD SDI and not able to take in a 4K 12/6G SDI signal.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I assume the Blackmagic Design UltraStudio Mini Monitor has no impact on FCPX or Premiere output? Other than reducing to HD.

I have to say: I have a retina iMac and a Samsung 56" TV as an external monitor - it's exactly twice the size - and it's astonishing how closely they match. Not surprising as they are both Samsung displays and both use the same graphics card - but it's very reassuring for someone who remembers analog. In any case, since the TV is 4k and I want to view 4k, Resolve's external monitor solution doesn't seem very workable. It seems a waste of a good monitor. FCPX displays 4k over HDMI perfectly well.

I have to say: I have a retina iMac and a Samsung 56" TV as an external monitor - it's exactly twice the size - and it's astonishing how closely they match. FCPX displays 4k over HDMI perfectly well.

Are the monitors calibrated to a specification? It really doesn't matter if they match if they're not calibrated. Everything you do will only look "right" on them. Premiere and FCPX can show 4K over HDMI but the signal goes through a GPU and the OS color settings that can add changes that shouldn't be there. An I/O device will bypass those and get a clean uncompressed signal out of the software straight into the monitor.

Here's a short podcast about this issue: https://soundcloud.com/mixinglight/mail-bag-ep1-part2

I also want to output to external monitor, but from my laptop.

What are the BM portable options? And will the Intensity Shuttle USB 3.0 work?

Are the monitors calibrated to a specification? It really doesn't matter if they match if they're not calibrated.

I enjoyed the podcast, thanks - and I do agree with you. However, it's context dependent. I'm not a colourist. I don't have clients who want to pay for perfect calibration. Because it's digital, it's almost perfect, and that's good enough. Having my iMac and TV match straight from the factory is a bit like the 4 iPads mentioned in the podcast. There is an OS involved on Mac, but it's a colour managed system.

I've resigned to buying the ultrastudio mini monitor and expect to have to manually swap cables to work in Resolve. Sometimes perfection is too much - and convenience is not enough.

I've resigned to buying the ultrastudio mini monitor and expect to have to manually swap cables to work in Resolve. Sometimes perfection is too much - and convenience is not enough.

And I would add, "but you have to do what it takes to get the job done." Read p. 588 of the v12 manual: "Limitations When Grading With the Viewer on a Computer Display."

I also want to output to external monitor, but from my laptop.

What are the BM portable options? And will the Intensity Shuttle USB 3.0 work?

I use the BMD Thunderbolt UltraStudio Mini Monitor with
MacBook Pro Mid 2015. It works like a charm via the SDI or HDMI out

Thanks man .. I already got the USB version of UltraStudio and it is working fine

Read p. 588 of the v12 manual: "Limitations When Grading With the Viewer on a Computer Display."

That's a great note. Very clear.

For what it's worth, I just spent hours and hours trying to get the Ultrastudio Mini Monitor to work without any luck. Everything works unless it goes through the box. Then nothing works. A dismal situation.

For what it's worth, I just spent hours and hours trying to get the Ultrastudio Mini Monitor to work without any luck. Everything works unless it goes through the box. Then nothing works. A dismal situation.

That's frustrating! It's possible the Desktop Video driver you have is not working with your operating system. I would check that. The BMD support people are very good with this, and one way I was able to diagnose issues early on with the MiniMonitor was to try Blackmagic Media Express, which access the MiniMonitor directly. If you still can't see anything with this, then there could be a hardware issue, a driver issue, an OS issue, or several of the above.

It can work, and when it works it works very well.

That's a great note. Very clear.

For what it's worth, I just spent hours and hours trying to get the Ultrastudio Mini Monitor to work without any luck. Everything works unless it goes through the box. Then nothing works. A dismal situation.

You posted earlier that you are using a 4K TV. I would suggest that as the issue. You may need to check if the Samsung TV has support for HD signals. Also some TV's require Resolve output setting to be PsF as they don't like a progressive signal. I also have a 5k Retina iMac and use the Mini Monitor without issues feeding an HD monitor with SDI, and HDMI to a Sony HD TV.

that sucks. me to I have two mini monitor, one for the mac TB and the other pci, and I never had a problem...

Ah, that's got to be the problem: it's a 4K TV and it doesn't like the incoming signal. Get an HD TV and see if that works. I'm 99% sure the MiniMonitor only supports HD.

Ah, that's got to be the problem: it's a 4K TV and it doesn't like the incoming signal. Get an HD TV and see if that works. I'm 99% sure the MiniMonitor only supports HD.

yeah, but a 4k tv should be able to get a HDMI single link signal, otherwise nobody can see any channels at home.

Thanks for all the help, guys! I'm encouraged to figure it out. FWIW, I've tried Media Express, FCPX, Resolve; updated BMD software; tested all cables.

I think I might actually dive into some sarcastic troubleshooting as that has worked in the past: after about 6 hours trying to get a VCR to talk to a computer over Firewire, having run out of sensible things to try, I tuned the channels on the VCR. The Firewire worked instantly.

So the first thing I'm gonna do is find an arial and tune it; and the second is connect the TV to the internet. (I didn't do this because I reject the cost/benefit analysis of the internet of NSA things.) If that fails, the next likely culprit is copy protected HDMI which I know I have: if I drag a browser window with Netflix on it to the TV, it gets scrambled. (I've noticed idle Vimeo videos also get scrambled.) It could have something to do with that: I find as computers become less troublesome, the remaining problems typically have to do with licensing and copy protection. Thanks again! I'll post the solution.

Not sure if that will help, but maybe you need to try older drivers. From my experience, the latest drivers/softwares are not necessary the best or most stable!

In my case, the 7 latest drivers of UltraStudio SDI did not work .. I had to rollback to 7 versions, from version 10.6.2 to version 10.5 of Desktop Video in order to get a working UltraStudio SDI in my system.

Maybe it is worth it to give it a try ...

Many consumer TVs will only accept interlaced signals at certain frame rates. As you're UK based and you've been trying to push 25p into it, this may be your issue. I have a few a good Sony consumer TVs knocking around and they will not accept 25p or psf, they will only work with 50i.

You can probably get 24p in there but I don't expect you're working with 24p material. A broadcast monitor would accept 25p.

As someone's already mentioned, the Mini Monitor it will only output HD, so in your case you probably need to be outputting 1080i50 if you're working with 25p.

I created two tutorials which attempt to explain the whys and attempt to offer some affordable solutions on how to get yourself set up with a basic calibrated monitor (using the excellent DisplayCAL) set up without breaking the bank.

It's not perfect, and the information that I offer is heavily simplified due to time constraints and...well..I'm not as smart as some of these folks who do this professionally, but hopefully it helps a bit in understanding why Resolve pushes one to using a proper video interface and monitor solution:

Part 1:

and Part 2:

I was able to:
Tune the TV channels using a bit of wire as an arial cable - result!
Connect TV to the internet.
Connect a Canon DSLR via HDMI - instantaneous!
Flip all the input switches to try to make the DSLR fail. Nothing would fail. No input settings prevented DSLR from working. I think they are cosmetic labels to ID peripherals. When connecting a Mac or DSLR, the image appears within a second and info about the signal is displayed a second later.
Connect a different Mac to TV via HDMI - instantaneous!
Connect a different Mac to TV via Mini Monitor - failed
Re-tested HDMI cables again. All good.

Found in the manual bit saying the TV accepts NTSC, PAL, interlaced or progressive, from SD to 4096x2160.

Tested drivers:
10.6.4
10.6
10.5.4
10.5.2 (supplied with device)
10.4.3
10.3.7
It would be helpful if at some point there was some kind of signal, even a glitchy one.

UPDATED:
I've also given my Mac user account admin privileges to reduce any issues installing.
Done Safe Boots to clear caches and reset Mac.
Deleted Media Express preferences.
Tested across all 4 HDMI ports on TV (they are slightly different)
Did I mention updating the firmware on the TV?
I've been using FCPX to test interlaced timelines as cameras all shoot progressive.
I only have one Mini Monitor and one TV, which makes testing pretty difficult.

Watched the videos on calibrating. Amazed how much the price of calibration has dropped. I'd definitely like to calibrate my monitors.