- Posts: 32
- Joined: Sun Jul 08, 2018 2:20 pm
- Real Name: Anton Kuznetsov
The need for a Decklink is often confusing for new users and we were all new users once. The 'Decklink' interface in all it's various guises, (PCIe or Thunderbolt versions) effectively guarantee that you see a genuine Video signal on your Reference Monitor, not your Computer's interpretation of a Video signal. If you were to connect your Reference Monitor directly to your GPU as Gamers do for example, your pictures are likely to be influenced by your Computer's fixed or user configurable GPU settings.
The next part of the equation is your choice of Reference Monitor and how it is Calibrated. Most Computer Monitors are not suitable for Commercial colour grading but as true SDI 'Video' Monitors are often too expensive for freelance, semi-pro and hobby Resolve users, some high end 10bit IPS PC monitors can be accurately calibrated to say, Rec.709 either internally, if they have hardware 3D LUTs built in or externally through additional devices. On theses monitors, Display Port is commonly used and sometimes HDMI 2.0 and above inputs can be employed successfully.
After you decide which Decklink solution suits your Delivery Market and your Budget, your choice of Reference Monitor will depend on whether you need to Monitor in 8bit, 10bit, sRGB, Rec.709 and/or in either 4:2:2 or full RGB 4:4:4.
As an example, we see full 10bit RGB 4:4:4 from a Rec.709 calibrated IPS Computer Monitor using a 12G speed Decklink SDI 4K Pro card in conjunction with an SDI to Display Port converter. Our particular Decklink 4K Pro card (recently superseded by the new 8K model) has two SDI outputs: #1 > 4K and #2 with hardware downscale from 4K to HD. This allows us to grade 4K material on our calibrated native HD monitor whilst directing the 4K timeline feed from SDI #1 to a big 4K 'client' TV.