New Propresenter Church Setup

We have a smallish church and we're trying to upgrade our propresenter setup for a better overall live performance. We currently have an M1 Mac mini with a single camera input. We then output a single VGA video feed to a splitter for both our main display as well as a rear wall stage display. Obviously with a single feed, those are both displaying the same thing. We're also streaming directly to YouTube from propresenter.

Our pastor would like to add a couple monitors out in the lobby to display an announcement loop or even the video feed from the camera.

At the moment I'm looking at the DeckLink Duo 2 and a thunderbolt enclosure. That would hopefully give me separate outputs now to our two projectors and a single feed to the monitors in the lobby. Thats where my question comes in. If I'm sending a single SDI feed to the TV's, I assume I need to convert to HDMI at the TV? What converter should I use to convert to HDMI for the first TV and then still continue on to the second TV? Or am I thinking about this wrong?

Hey John,

I might suggest looking at either Decimators for the SDI to HDMI conversion or AVUE. They both have solid reliability for what you are trying to do and depending on the model you get can be plug and play.

We use the Decimator MD-LX for converting SDI to HDMI and you can power the converters via the USB port on the TV. This make it a lot easier to hook them up with out needing extra power for the converter. You can also extend the SDI from a single converter to the second TV.

Link to Decimator MD-LX on Markertek - https://www.markertek.com/product/dec-m ... -converter

Hope this helps.

Peace, Pete

We have a smallish church and we're trying to upgrade our propresenter setup for a better overall live performance. We currently have an M1 Mac mini with a single camera input. We then output a single VGA video feed to a splitter for both our main display as well as a rear wall stage display. Obviously with a single feed, those are both displaying the same thing. We're also streaming directly to YouTube from propresenter.

Our pastor would like to add a couple monitors out in the lobby to display an announcement loop or even the video feed from the camera.

At the moment I'm looking at the DeckLink Duo 2 and a thunderbolt enclosure. That would hopefully give me separate outputs now to our two projectors and a single feed to the monitors in the lobby. Thats where my question comes in. If I'm sending a single SDI feed to the TV's, I assume I need to convert to HDMI at the TV? What converter should I use to convert to HDMI for the first TV and then still continue on to the second TV? Or am I thinking about this wrong?

If you want separate stage display (for musicians), a projector out, and a tv out for the lobby, the decklink duo will work fine. Check this thread for how users got it to work with their M1's: https://forum.blackmagicdesign.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=129431.

If your goal is only to get lobby tv's up and running for minimal cost, I'd suggest you just get an HDMI to SDI converter, instead of the decklink duo.

In either case, you will need to get SDI to HDMI converters. As Pete mentioned, the Decimator MD-LX is one option. It's slightly more expensive than the Blackmagic SDI to HDMI option. I recommend you do not go with the cheaper option you may find on amazon. I've used those, but they have their problems.

Blackmagic option: https://www.amazon.com/Blackmagic-Design-Micro-Converter-Supply/dp/B08P3V7X3S/
Cheap option that has problems: https://www.amazon.com/Converter-embedder-Support-Detection-Loopout/dp/B087D69VLP/?th=1