HDFury - Downscale 4K output for HD Monitor

I'm working with 4K timelines and 4K footage in Resolve. I want to use my decklink card to output to an HD monitor, however as the decklink card is just a video card and doesn't have a GPU it doesn't scale down 4K to HD and so the 4K video appears on my HD monitor as just a centre crop. I know I can go into Project Settings and change the Image Scaling Output Resolution to HD, however I'd rather not do this as I'm concerned when it comes to export as 4K, unless I change this setting back before export, then is may cause issues (plus I may also want to use a splitter on my decklink HDMI output so I can have one output going to a 4K monitor and another output going to an HD monitor in which case I would need the Output resolution to be 4K).

So, I bought a HDFury Linker which is meant to scale a 4K input down to an HD output. I've just tested it and having tried every setting it doesn't seem to do anything. I still just get a centre crop of the 4K image on my HD monitor. Has anyone else any experience of using this downscaler? Or any idea why this downscaler, which is meant to work for other 4K outputs to scale down to HD (like the PS4) may not work with the 4K output from a decklink card? Thanks.

Hello,

Which Decklink card do you have? Which OS? Which version ?

Here UHD project setting, UHD video format, Scale entire image to fit image, Output Scalling: Match timeline Setting

An HD monitor behind my Decklink: Automatically the image is in HD, down 4K to HD hardware.
Try the latest version of Desktop Video 10.11

Hi, thanks for the super quick response!

I've got the DeckLink Mini Monitor 4K, Windows 10 (64 bit).

It's a UHD project, UHD timeline, and I have 'match timeline setting' ticked, and 'scale entire image to fit' selected.

So you're using the same settings, and it will output to your HD monitor downscaled? Are you using a hardware downscaler? If I just output direct from my decklink then as I say it doesn't downscale atall, which is understandable since the card is just a video out and not a scaler. But I was hoping with the HDFury Linker which is specifically meant to downscale 4K to HD (or UHD to HD) that this would work, but apparently not for some reason.

When you mention Desktop Video, isn't that just for viewing outside of Resolve? What I really want is to be able to view my UHD project in Resolve on a HD reference monitor.

Thanks.

DeckLink Mini Monitor 4K has scaler, but it only supports HD to SD scaling. Only more expensive models have scalers with UHD to HD support.

HDFury has to work- whatever you do with its settings has nothing to do with Decklink itself.
You simply don't set it properly or signal which HDFury box is getting is already "messed up".

Is your project and Video Monitoring set to UHD (so Decklink sends 1:1 UHD signal) and then Linker to scale and fit to HD frame?

Thank you! My Video Monitoring wasn't set to UHD. So even though my timeline format was set to UHD and output scaling was set to 'match timeline settings' I didn't have my video monitoring set to UHD (it was just set to HD). Thanks!

Now my next issue seems to be that even though my timeline frame rate and my playback frame rare is set to 25 (which matches the source footage) - the only way I can get a display on my reference monitor is by setting the Video monitoring to 24 (so if I set my video format to UHD 2160p 24 or 4K 2160p 24 it shows up on my reference monitor, but if I set it to match my framerate UHD 2160p 25 or 2160p 25 it doesn't display on my reference monitor and just shows "Unsupported Signal" on the screen - even though I'm matching my video format to my frame rate). Is there something obvious that I'm doing wrong? Thanks again.

If you have older monitor then 25p may not be supported.
In this case set Video Monitoring to 25psf (if still not good then to 50i).

You're right, it is an older monitor. I've tried it with an HD timeline and it will display 1080 25psf and 50i but not 25p.

So whilst I can choose 25psf or 50i for 1080, I can't see those options for UHD or 4K in Video Monitoring? The only choices seem to be UHD 25p or 4K 25p? No psf or i options?

There is no interlaced UHD/4K, so this means PsF has no place to exist. There are only progressive UHD/4K standards defined .
PsF is SDI technology which is a way of passing progressive signal "packed into interlaced one" which is used in older equipment. It's a legacy thing.

It's not a problem for you as 25psf will give you proper progressive end result on your monitor.

Hi Andrew, thanks for that explanation. So I'm just wondering what I can do? Since Resolve doesn't offer UHD 25psf as an option in Video Monitoring, that means I only have the option of setting UHD 25p, which once it has gone through the HDFury becomes HD 25p, which my reference monitor is unable to accept?

Do I need to find some way of converting that HD 25p signal I'm getting out of the HDFury to HD 25psf so the monitor can accept it?

Unfortunately you got the wrong I/O device then (or the wrong monitor). Those from BM can turn progressive into PsF via SDI. Im not familiar with the HDFury, but maybe there is a setting for this too?

Ah, the Decklink Mini 4K has both an HDMI output and an SDI output. So if I'm understanding you correctly, if I use the SDI output, then even if Video Monitoring is set to UHD 25p in Resolve then it will be a UHD 25psf signal being output from the SDI on the decklink?

In which case if I pick up a SDI to HDMI hardware converter then this will give me a UHD 25psf signal, that I can then feed through my HDFury to convert the UHD 25psf to HD 25psf which my monitor can accept? Does that sound like it should do the trick?

Forget about UHD and PsF- there is no such a thing.

PsF is only SDI thing. Linker outputs HDMI only, so it's different thing. If your monitor doesn't support 25p over HDMI you need to have box which can convert UHD 25p into 50i HD or 25PsF SDI.

Would this work?

'Blackmagic Design Mini Converter SDI to HDMI 6G'

Could I take the UHD 25p SDI output from my Decklink Mini 4K card (which if I understand correctly will be PsF as it's SDI), and feed this into the Blackmagic Design Mini Converter SDI to HDMI 6G, which apparently as well as being an SDI to HDMI converter is also a scaler. Would the HDMI output from this effectively be HD 25PsF and something that would work with my monitor that can accept HD 25PsF over HDMI?

The above idea means I wouldn't need the HDFury as the Blackmagic Design Mini Converter SDI to HDMI 6G would handle the scaling.

Thanks for your help - if the above wouldn't work in your opinion, or if there is a simpler way then please let me know. Thanks.

We've used the Decklink SDI 4K Pro successfully for a couple of years now. It is fast 12G and has the UHD > HD scaling built in. We run 4K SDI #1 direct to our Client TV and down-scaled to our calibrated HD Rec.709 Grading monitor direct from SDI #2. Works a treat!

Would this work?

'Blackmagic Design Mini Converter SDI to HDMI 6G'

Could I take the UHD 25p SDI output from my Decklink Mini 4K card (which if I understand correctly will be PsF as it's SDI), and feed this into the Blackmagic Design Mini Converter SDI to HDMI 6G, which apparently as well as being an SDI to HDMI converter is also a scaler. Would the HDMI output from this effectively be HD 25PsF and something that would work with my monitor that can accept HD 25PsF over HDMI?

The above idea means I wouldn't need the HDFury as the Blackmagic Design Mini Converter SDI to HDMI 6G would handle the scaling.

Thanks for your help - if the above wouldn't work in your opinion, or if there is a simpler way then please let me know. Thanks.

There is no such a thing like PsF over HDMI.
25PsF SDI signal is translated for HDMI either to 25p or 50i depending on converter/settings. You monitor most likely needs 50i.
What is your monitor?

This converter may work- it all depends if you can force it to output HD 50i instead of p in case of UHD 25p input. There seems to be no specific setting for it, so I rather think output will be p which is not good. You may want to ask BM support.
You rathe need 1 converter, just correct one. You need one where you can specifically set HD output to be PsF (or 50i on HDMI) in case of UHD 25p input.
UltraStudio 4K Extreme 3 has such a specific setting for its SDI HD downconverted output. Maybe DeckLink 4K Extreme 12G can do it or mentioned 4K Pro (which is discontinued) also, but manual for it doesn't exist. Again- question to support or to Craig to check if downconverted HD signal is PsF or p.

Thanks for your help - in the end I just bought a new 4K reference monitor - makes life easier than trying to downconvert the 4K signal to HD and convert the frame rate!

If anyone has any ideas on an ongoing problem I'm having with trying to apply a LUT only to the reference monitor so it doesn't affect the UI or scopes I'd appreciate any input. I've calibrated my reference monitor but it requires a LUT to be applied, but adding the LUT to the reference monitor also affects the UI and scopes, even when 'no LUT' is selected for those. That ongoing thread is here - viewtopic.php?f=32&t=74894&p=418913#p418913

Try playing with User/Playback Settings.