Teranex Mini 12G Support In Development

We own many of the Blackmagic Teranex Mini 12G converters such as the 12G to Quad Link and 12G SDI to Audio De-embedders.

We have struggled over the last year or two with these devices and finally put in the effort to diagnose each and everyone one, while keeping Blackmagic in the loop.

Here are our findings, confirmed by Blackmagic support. Please let me know what you all have found and if your results differ.

All of our Teranex Mini 12G converters do not actually support 12G. We are unable to send any of these boxes DCI 4K at 23.98p or 24.000p while sending 4:4:4. (4:4:4 over a single link is the key.)

After running further tests and connecting our I/O devices (Blackmagic Design DeckLink 4K Extreme 12G Capture & Playback Card) directly to the convertors using short 12G approved cables we discovered this.

Blackmagic Support has confirmed this is a known bug and that they are working on, but have yet to release an estimated fix. To reiterate, this means that their 12G rated boxes do not support 12G and have sold thousands of these items, which are currently mislabeled.

Please share your thoughts and experiences with these devices as this post is in direct response to their support technician's request that I make such post.

Well- BM has to really end those stories with features which are only on product page, but not in actual product. They loose so much credibility because of all such a cases.
You can always send it back and demand money back- you have all rights do so in this case (well- depending where you live ).

Yes, it's quite unfortunate. However, there doesn't seem to be an adequate alternative to this. They need to solve this issue. Full stop.

What do you use it for? As converter or LUT box?

We do a lot of 4K work.

3840x2160 and 4096 x 2160 at 23.976p and 24.000p.

We have a few BVM X300's, 4K TV's, and 4K projectors. All of these devices require quad link or HDMI (Hence the 12G to HDMI) and we purchased these devices in order to avoid have dozens of unnecessary SDI runs.

If you want decent 12G to HDMI converter get Aja one:
https://www.aja.com/products/mini-converters/hi5-12g
or 4x 3GSDI to HDMI 2.0
https://www.aja.com/products/mini-conve ... #techspecs

both also allow for custom HDR flagging if needed.

Teranex Mini sounds good if it only worked When you do have money you should test things first as buying cheap can actually cost you lot more. Not that I have much against BM converters (used them), but AJA is proven and when you want reliability (and have money) then it may be better choice.

It's funny that you mention the AJA 12G to HDMI. We have that as well and are experiencing a similar issue. Are you not?

Have you tried it with other than BM 12G product? Maybe someone doesn't follow 12G standard properly. Have you talk to AJA support? Do you run latest firmware? I had no issues with AJA previous converters.

That's exactly what I think is going on. Unfortunately none of our AJA I/O cards support 12G. Somewhere in the process BMD and AJA disagreed on what 12G actually means.

Well- now there is proper standard for 12G, so both companies need (should) follow it

Apantac has now interesting converter- HDMI 2.0 to DP 1.2 (one of the first one the market). Useful for those with HDMI 2.0 output, but "computer" monitors, like Eizo without HDMI 2.0 port, but with DP 1.2.
https://www.apantac.com/products/crescent/HDMI-DP

Well we have the Teranex Optical to HDMI and HDMI to Optical. (Which do both share a SDI in / out besides optical)

And i can say that 12G-SDI 3840x2160P50/59.94 works perfect!!!
I do admit when using a Phabrix QX 12G that the 12G-SDI is missing some payload ID's But that is almost with all BMD hardware when running 6G or 12G.

I have tested 4K DCI in the past. And i noticed a color shift in the HDMI output and a different color shift on the LCD panel..

So yes some modes do not run as advertised. But broadcast 12G is working without issues.

Not very encouraging news at all. Looks like BM in some areas still runs its "own" 12G spec, even if official one has been there now for quite a time.

Well we have the Teranex Optical to HDMI and HDMI to Optical. (Which do both share a SDI in / out besides optical)

And i can say that 12G-SDI 3840x2160P50/59.94 works perfect!!!
I do admit when using a Phabrix QX 12G that the 12G-SDI is missing some payload ID's But that is almost with all BMD hardware when running 6G or 12G.

I have tested 4K DCI in the past. And i noticed a color shift in the HDMI output and a different color shift on the LCD panel..

So yes some modes do not run as advertised. But broadcast 12G is working without issues.

Question for you, Daniel, since you mention that you have the Teranex Optical units. Is it possible to use them with only SDI/Optical and not utilize the HDMI port? I know they are advertised as HDMI converters (to/from SDI&Optical), but I only want to convert from/to SDI, not HDMI.
I know I can use the Mini Converter Optical Fiber 12G for this same purpose (and cheaper), but I'd prefer the Teranex mini due to better cooling (higher ambient temp) and also because of the XLR ports (meaning I don't need to buy another mini converter to de-embed my audio).
My goal is to come out of my existing SDI gear (ATEM 4K and 40x40HUB), convert to fiber for a few hundred feet, then convert back to SDI (with separate XLR audio).

Thanks!
Tim

Well we have the Teranex Optical to HDMI and HDMI to Optical. (Which do both share a SDI in / out besides optical)

And i can say that 12G-SDI 3840x2160P50/59.94 works perfect!!!
I do admit when using a Phabrix QX 12G that the 12G-SDI is missing some payload ID's But that is almost with all BMD hardware when running 6G or 12G.

I have tested 4K DCI in the past. And i noticed a color shift in the HDMI output and a different color shift on the LCD panel..

So yes some modes do not run as advertised. But broadcast 12G is working without issues.

Question for you, Daniel, since you mention that you have the Teranex Optical units. Is it possible to use them with only SDI/Optical and not utilize the HDMI port? I know they are advertised as HDMI converters (to/from SDI&Optical), but I only want to convert from/to SDI, not HDMI.
I know I can use the Mini Converter Optical Fiber 12G for this same purpose (and cheaper), but I'd prefer the Teranex mini due to better cooling (higher ambient temp) and also because of the XLR ports (meaning I don't need to buy another mini converter to de-embed my audio).
My goal is to come out of my existing SDI gear (ATEM 4K and 40x40HUB), convert to fiber for a few hundred feet, then convert back to SDI (with separate XLR audio).

Thanks!
Tim

teranex mini optical to hdmi will:
take sdi input, send it through optical and hdmi
accept optical input and send it to hdmi, looping to optical