Old Decklink HD Extreme Linux Driver

The recent DesktopVideo Linux drivers (anything 10.x.x) do not seem to work properly with the old (2006) HD Extreme card, playback drops out totally or is corrupted. Using an old distro such as Ubuntu 12.04 with DesktopVideo 9.8 works normally but 9.8 cannot be compiled on kernels >=4.0. Does anyone have a recent working distro/kernel/driver combination for this old card? I am currently trying to patch the 9.8 driver to build on the later kernels as I can't use the 12.04 distro due to other software requirements.

Regards,

Dave.

After modifying 9.x drivers to compile on 4.x kernels, there is still something missing preventing the older drivers working with the 10.x library. I'm running out of ideas here - it appears the older HD Extreme card has been silently dropped from support.

Does anyone have a Decklink HD Extreme (NOT 3D) working with 10.x drivers?

Regards,

Dave.

[Nicholas Gill]

Hi Dave,

I tested an older DeckLink HD Extreme 3 [1] (not 3D) with Desktop Video 10.9.3 and have confirmed that this does not appear to be a general issue.

I can also confirm that the pre-4K architecture devices continue to be supported by the newer drivers, I recommend contacting Blackmagic Design Support who will be able to provide further diagnosis options.

Out of interest, are the good and bad tests the same hardware environment?

Cheers,

-nick

[1] This device shares the same architecture as the DeckLink HD Extreme, which I was not able to locate.

Hi Nick,

Thanks for looking into this. In my system any driver over 9.5.3 silently fails with the HD Extreme card. This is a clean test system with the following hardware spec:

Intel DP55WG
4GiB RAM
i7 860 CPU
GeForce GTX 650 (using 16 lanes)
Decklink HD Extreme (using 4 lanes in 4x slot)

Working:
Ubuntu 12.04 LTS
Kernel 3.13.0-32
Desktop Video 9.5.3
Media Express 3.1 (2012) (Output 1080i/50)
Testpattern (from SDK 9.7) (Output 1080i/50)

NOT Working:
Ubuntu 16.04 LTS
Kernel 4.8.0-36
Desktop Video 10.9.3 -Detects and can configure card
Media Express 3.53 - Silent fail - plays in preview but no signal on SDI monitor
TestPattern (SDK 10.1.1) Silent fail - using -d 0 -m 5 scheduled and completed frames increase, dropped=0 no output (or signal)
BlackmagicFirmwareUpdater status [DeckLink HD Extreme] 0x0b OK

Same system as above but swap HD Extreme for HD Extreme 3d+ - all working
Media Express 3.53 - Plays in preview and on SDI monitor (HDSDI 1080i/50)
TestPattern (SDK 10.1.1) - using -d 0 -m 8 works as expected (1080i/50)
BlackmagicFirmwareUpdater status [DeckLink HD Extreme 3D+] 0x4b OK

Please would you confirm the exact Linux spec you have working with the HD Extreme card because my system will not output any video to the card beyond driver 9.5.3. As tested, the system is confirmed working with the later card so cannot be an issue with hardware/driver/software.

Can I test anything else?

As for contacting support, I tried but have had no response as yet.

Regards,

Dave.

[Nicholas Gill]

Hi Dave,

Based on the description given that behaviour is indeed unusual, I do recommend following up with the experts in Blackmagic Design Support, who will be best able to assist.

The configuration tested:
Ubuntu 16.04
DeckLink HD Extreme 3
Desktop Video 10.9.3
Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD5

Cheers,

-nick

Hi Nick,

What kernel version is the test system running? I would like to test with the same then give the support email another go.

Regards,

Dave.

FWIW, I just ran a DeckLink HD Extreme 3 for a full weekend on 10.9.3 drivers (with Debian's 4.9.0 kernel) with no problems whatsoever.

Yes, that's what I've found. Later cards (still pre-4K architecture) work fine with 10.x drivers, 4+ kernels on Ubuntu and Fedora in the same test system. It's just this early generation HD Extreme card which refuses to work. My other cards (Decklink SDI, Decklink Optical Fibre and HD Extreme 3D+) all work as expected in the same hardware/software environment.

Regards,

Dave.