Recommendations for Thunderbolt Expansion Systems for Blackm

Hi everyone,

I’m planning to use the Blackmagic Design DeckLink 8K Pro G2 Capture Card with my laptop and am considering an external Thunderbolt expansion system to make this possible. Can anyone recommend a few reliable options?

I’ve been looking at the “Thunderbolt 3 to Full-Height/Half-Length PCIe Card Expansion System” as a potential solution. Does anyone have experience with this or other similar products?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Best,
Kim W

It's doubtful you'll get full bandwidth for that card with a laptop via Thunderbolt 3. You'd be better off with an Ultrastudio 4K Mini, which works great with them.

It's doubtful you'll get full bandwidth for that card with a laptop via Thunderbolt 3. You'd be better off with an Ultrastudio 4K Mini, which works great with them.

Thank you for the previous suggestions! I’m looking to use the Blackmagic Design DeckLink 8K Pro G2 Capture Card with my laptop through an external Thunderbolt expansion system. I specifically need 3 to 4 UHD 30fps inputs, including one input from an ATEM PROG out. This setup will be used with my vMix system.

Does anyone have any recommendations or experience with reliable Thunderbolt 3 expansion systems that can handle this kind of input setup?

I specifically need 3 to 4 UHD 30fps inputs, including one input from an ATEM PROG out. This setup will be used with my vMix system.

As I say, it's really doubtful that TB 3 will have the bandwidth; that's why there are no TB Ultrastudio solutions like that Decklink.

We've used the Sonnet system for our Decklink for ages without problems. They're not cheap but then nothing which works is.

We've used the Sonnet system for our Decklink for ages without problems. They're not cheap but then nothing which works is.

Which model are you using? I think I'll go with the one you recommend. Sometimes, I just need 3 FHD inputs and 1 FHD output, which should work fine for my needs as 4K is not always necessary.

Looking forward to your recommendations!

This is the one that I use. I've not used it with UHD video and always on a Mac but we've never had any issues with it.

https://www.sonnettech.com/product/echo ... rview.html

Thunderbolt is not enough to run 8k. I asked chatgpt to explain why number wise and here is what it said. It also underemphasized that a lot of the thunderbolt bandwidth is reserved for a display port connector.

Let's break this down step-by-step, focusing on the technical limitations of Thunderbolt 3 or 4 ports in relation to the DeckLink 8K Pro running at 8K60 (8K resolution at 60 frames per second).

Technical Perspective
DeckLink 8K Pro Requirements:

The DeckLink 8K Pro card is designed to handle 8K video at 60 frames per second, which requires significant data bandwidth.
8K60 video typically requires around 48 Gbps of data throughput.
Thunderbolt 3/4 Specifications:

Thunderbolt 3 and 4 ports provide a maximum data transfer rate of 40 Gbps.
This 40 Gbps bandwidth is shared across all devices connected via Thunderbolt, including video, data, and other peripherals.
PCIe Lanes and Bandwidth:

The DeckLink 8K Pro uses PCIe lanes to connect to the system’s motherboard. It requires an 8-lane (x8) PCIe 3.0 slot.
PCIe 3.0 x8 provides a theoretical maximum bandwidth of 63.04 Gbps (8 lanes × 7.88 Gbps per lane).
Comparison and Limitation:

The 40 Gbps bandwidth of Thunderbolt 3/4 is significantly lower than the 63.04 Gbps provided by a PCIe 3.0 x8 slot.
This means that Thunderbolt cannot handle the full data throughput required for 8K60 video, as it falls short by approximately 8 Gbps even under ideal conditions.

No mac except suped up old mac pro's can do PCIe directly on the motherboard, so naturally none can achieve the speeds for one card to support 8k out on thunderbolt. You could provide 2 different devices and compile the output on multiple thunderbolt ports by splitting the signal into quadrants and do 8k out on the 4 4k signals but you cannot do it on one thunderbolt connection or enclosure. So for example two devices that could both output two 4k on 2 enclosures would work.

Thats right with UHD at 60fps .. If U want to work with UHD at 30 fps , then U need half bandwidth .. And That SONNET will be OK .. It have 4 lanes PCIe (int TB3) and internal connector is PCIEx8 ..