DECKLINK... I don't understand...

Hi, I don't understand what Decklink is... Is it a graphic card? I mean. Does it have GPU on board, computational power, polygons, Open GL and all that stuff there? Or is it just a way of producing HDMI and SDI ports? If it is the latter.. how can it give 10bit output (for example for HDR) if the original graphic card of the computer is not HDR capable? Does HDR output just need a proper output port or does it need an HDR card? And if it needs just a port, will USBC-HDMI (4k HDR) dongle adapters (much cheaper than Decklink) work on a computer that has Thunderbolt3 ports (thus all the necessary bandwidth) ?

most of computer video out are not a corrected video out. It's a word's play.
A GPU computer can have different video output but often are not rec 709 or rec 2020 calibrated, not allow to work at correct frequency for video, not right kind of video (progressive or interlaced), miss frame or interpolate during output.
In a few word, are not video (broadcast) output but only a video (graphics) output.
Many software today support second/third monitor by computer card, but cannot manage correctly to view external signal on video monitor, for quality / color accurancy etc like can do with a dedicated video output like declink or similar.
When you use a video card to output signal often the same GPU cannot accelerated internal vfx of software, or you have strange problems of compatibility, crash etc.

Thanks... So Decklink helps a computer to get Broadcast resolutions/standards etc.. I owned an older BMD device I was using exactly for that.. to enable (for example during live events) any PC to have 1080i resolutions to connect it to my ATEM TVS. So I understand the concept.

So.. having agreed that Decklink is NOT a graphic card, then I should be able to obtain HDR10 (That is Rec2020, 10bit within HDR10 protocol) whith any computer (regardless of graphic Card) that has the right output ports (for example HDMI 2.0 or DP 1.4) or at least a port that can be converted (For example Thunderbolt3 / UsbC with dongle adapter).

This morning, just after I wrote this post, I got delivered a UsbC - DP 1.4 cable so I connected it to my "old" iMac 2017 computer (that officially by Apple is NOT HDR but should have all the required bandwidth in TB3).

Once I connected my BenQ PD2700U 4k (60hz, HDR10) this is what I get from the Display option in OSx and the proprietary "Display Port" software (see photos).

So.. Am I working in HDR now? is there a way to test inside Da Vinci? Some color bars or something similar that will let me be 100% sure?

Thanks for any help.

M

A Decklink or Ultrastudio does not use the computer's graphics pipeline in any way. It is connected to the pc using pure computer bit bandwidth not a display format. It directly takes video from your timeline and decompresses it to uncompressed SDI or HDMI, 8/10/12bit TV standards for display on a true reference video monitor not a pc one. In other words it takes your video bit for bit, without any further coloration, so that if you apply grading, luts etc. you can be absolutely sure of the image you are seeing, as long as the monitor you are using is able to be calibrated to accepted broadcast and cinema standards.

You can also capture pure unadulterated video (such as legacy videotape) with most of these devices too, where the reverse is true: uncompressed SDI/HDMI to whatever codec you will edit with, though this is a less common usage these days since we import from cards normally.

You can can calibrate a pc monitor connected to your graphics card but this is a far more complicated and variable thing than using a proper hardware input output device. The professional accepted norm for online and grading is to use a device like a Declink not a graphics card.