Blackmagic Forum

So I have the DeckLink Mini Recorder and have had very little luck so far.

I am use to cards working pretty much plug and play but from what I now hear and see BM cards are finicky as hell to get working.


I have 3 devices that I want to use it with.

A7s camera, HDMI laptop and a PS3.

So the PS3 is not going to work at all by the looks of things due to HDCP :/

But the camera should and did work once, and so should the laptop?


The only time I have ever got the camera to work was when using vMix, but I no longer have it so am stuck with other software like BM Media Express, xSplit and Livestream studio. All don't work.

I have the camera set to 1080i and 1080p but nothing. None of the "project video formats" worked, I tried them all.

Same with the laptop, laptop set to 1080i and again none work.

I know the HDMI out works on both devices, they work on a TV and other capture cards.

help?

Thanks

Out of your 3 devices, the camera is the most likely to work. Of the 3 resolutions the A7S can output, the Mini Recorder only works with one of them 1080i60. However, it's very common that when a manufacturer says 1080i60, they actually mean 1080i59.94. So set your camera to that output format.

First things first, go into your computer's control panels (or System Settings, etc) and make sure the Blackmagic control panel is seeing the card (the name of the specific card should appear at the top), and of course make sure the input setting is set to HDMI, etc). If it says "no capture card detected" or similar then there may be a resource conflict on your computer.

Next, open Media Express and under the Device menu, make sure you see your card listed there and that it is selected.

Finally, open Media Express preferences and change between 1080i59.94 and 1080i60 and see if your camera preview shows up under the Log and Capture tab.

Like I said, tried all of them with no luck :/

which PC (brand and model ) are you using?
i had problem with mini recorder with HP workstations Z400,Z420,Z820 and few other commercial HP PC,

try changing the slot and try different firmware ,also do you have another decklink card in same PC?

I built my rig, i7 with MSI motherboard.

Ill try another slot and driver reinstall tomorrow!

Okay so playing with this again.

No luck though. Tried the other slot and older/newer software but nope not having it.

Tried setting the camera in PAL and NTSC but none of the options work. I know the camera is outputting a signal as it works on other devices inducing another capture card of another brand.

IDK what to do now. Probably going to flog it on eBay if I can't sort it by the end of new year's...

Just to touch on some points to help with the troubleshooting:

Does your computer does recognize the Mini Recorder?

You do have the setting for HDMI selected and not the SDI by mistake?

Have you tested the camera to make sure that it's output matches the supported formats on the Mini Recorder? If you're unaware of how to check for that, you can connect it directly to a TV and then hit the info button on the remote to find out the resolution.

Are you running the current firmware for it?

Yes, it lists it in the dropdown in the desktop capture software.

Can't see any settings to select HDMI or SDI.

Camera does work with the capture card. It worked once in vMix.

Camera is also set to resolution and frame rate that is supported.

Got it working. It was set to HDMI in the settings.

Thank you.


I guess the question is now, where is 1080p 25 in external capture software?


Can do it in Media Express but only in that

Hello Team,
I am using Decklink Mini Recorder card in my CPU and PTZ optics camera and i am unable to use video format other then 1080i60p. Its supports only this video format.

I want to use other formats too. How can i? Please help.

Regards,
Raahul S.

PTZ optics cameras have an SDI issue that does not quite work OK with BMD hardware. Most users i see with PTZ optics cameras all have put a Decimator MD-HX or BMD UpDownCross between it.
This is a PTZ OPtics issue!