Decklink HD Extreme

We have 3 Mac Pro systems with Decklink HD Extreme cards running Mac OS 10.6.7, Avid MC 5.5.3. We upgraded TWO of these machines to Mt. Lion 10.8.1 and Media Composer 6.03, which Avid recently certified to run with Mt. Lion. The system in our edit seven would not run Mt. Lion so we upgraded to Lion 10.7.4 with Avid 6.03. We updated the drivers for the cards to the latest available 9.6.2. All 3 cards have stopped working properly. Video output and audio stutter badly if they play/display at all. We removed the Decklink cards so that we could get Avid to work as it was defaulting to use the cards.

Can anyone help us trouble shoot these issues and resolve the problem as classes have begin here and our students already have projects they are working on. Here are the raw specs on our Mac Pro systems.

Robert Levine
Director of Production Support
FSU Media Production Program
rlevine@fsu.edu
850.644.9577

Edit suite 5

Model Name: Mac Pro
Model Identifier: MacPro3,1
Processor Name: Quad-Core Intel Xeon
Processor Speed: 3 GHz
Number of Processors: 2
Total Number of Cores: 8
L2 Cache (per Processor): 12 MB
Memory: 8 GB
Bus Speed: 1.6 GHz
Boot ROM Version: MP31.006C.B05
SMC Version (system): 1.25f4
Serial Number (system): G8815127XYL
Hardware UUID: BAC3E547-FB30-5D71-8969-DA2A7CB2CA0C

Edit Suite 6

Model Name: Mac Pro
Model Identifier: MacPro3,1
Processor Name: Quad-Core Intel Xeon
Processor Speed: 3 GHz
Number of Processors: 2
Total Number of Cores: 8
L2 Cache (per Processor): 12 MB
Memory: 8 GB
Bus Speed: 1.6 GHz
Boot ROM Version: MP31.006C.B05
SMC Version (system): 1.25f4
Serial Number (system): G8815124XYL
Hardware UUID: 59FF7C81-5200-5A1D-A45F-332F87E693DB


Edit Suite 7

Hardware Overview:

Model Name: Mac Pro
Model Identifier: MacPro1,1
Processor Name: Dual-Core Intel Xeon
Processor Speed: 3 GHz
Number of Processors: 2
Total Number of Cores: 4
L2 Cache (per Processor): 4 MB
Memory: 4 GB
Bus Speed: 1.33 GHz
Boot ROM Version: MP11.005C.B08
SMC Version (system): 1.7f10
Serial Number (system): G873522XUPZ
Hardware UUID: 00000000-0000-1000-8000-0017F20D87E8

[Joshua Helling]

We've had similar reports of this. We haven't tested that board in a long while (it's been EOL for several years now). I'll see if I can have someone test an original Decklink HD Extreme on Mountain Lion and confirm it.

I'm not sure if it is something we will be able to fix if it is an issue and you might have to continue using the older OS.

Appreciate the info. Staying with older OS is not an option. To move forward with Avid and the 6.x series you have to be on Lion or MT. Lion. If you do get an opportunity to test with this card we'd appreciate hearing the results. Perhaps it might be a simple fix. Thanks again.

Robert,

I just upgraded my MacPro with Decklink HD Extreme PCI to Mountain Lion and came to the same conclusion. It isn't working anymore. The good news is that I got it to work again!!! After installing from my original disk and downloading 6.8.8 and 9.6.2 from the website with no luck... I downloaded and installed 7.3 and then low and behold my decklink HD extreme is back up and working again. Which is amazing because I use it to color correct my footage and don't know what I'd do without it. I hope this helps you as well.

Decklink_7.3.dmg in the archived software section.

Sean

Yes. I also had a problem with my DeckLink HD Extreme card.

I upgrade my OS X on Version 10.8.1. and I lost sound completely

I stil haven't got it.

I don't wanna go on a old OS X, because I paid 19.99$ the nevest OS X, and the reason is why I go to the newest one is the Pages 4 program that I need badly and it doesn't work with the oldest OS X version.

Please Blackmagic give us some upgrade.

Dario Hacek
Croatia

Dario,
Have you tried uninstalling your BlackMagic software and then reinstalling 7.3? That's what worked for me.

Yes I tried a couple of times but still nothing.

You know I don't use video output with my DeckLink HD Extreme card, I use only audio XLR or Canon cabels which goes into my professional active M-audio speakers. Until I upgrade my OS X to 10.8.1 I still have my sound when I uninstalled it and installed it again, but when I install the latest upgrade for my new OS X from apple site I cannot brig back my sound back

My original Blackmagic cd with drivers on when I want to install Media Express Mac it says THE BLACKMAGIC DRIVER THAT IS CURRENTLY INSTALLED IN YOUR SISTEM IS NOT COMPATIBLE WITH MEDIA EXPRESS. PLEASE INSTALL THE LATEST VERSION OF THE BLACKMAGIC DRIVER. I think when I haven't got this Blackmagic Media Express I will not going to have any audio (sound in my speakers). I thing that my new OS X needs the latest
DeckLink 7.9.6 driver. I try to find it tomorrow somewhere.

Thank you for trying to help me.

Blackmagic please help if you can. I am very new in all this.
I order you're camera and I't still havent come here in Croatia
I hope It will come soon

[Joshua Helling]

Well, that card has not really been tested in a number of years. So it's really hard to say what might be going wrong here. Specifically that board is NOT certified to run with Avid 6.x so we cannot guarantee it to work, though I would be interested in knowing if it works with Media Express.

So on the current driver I'd ask that you check Media Express functionality with the Decklink HD Extreme.

On the older driver I'd expect you to have to use an older version of Media Express as that driver will NOT support Media Express 3

[Sarah Jones]

The DeckLink HD Extreme legacy card does not appear to work with the newer drivers that would be certified with Mountain Lion (Desktop Video 9.6 and above). On these versions, the card shows up as available hardware, but nothing will output from it in Media Express. Rolling back the driver to an older version proves successful on the card, however older drivers are not certified on Mountain Lion and may not function fully. As a note, Desktop Video 8.0 on 10.6.8 does appear to work, but without systematically rolling through every driver we wouldn't be able to say what may or may not work on that older card.

Did Blackmagic deserted "Decklink HD Extreme"?

Will not work the card in above 9.6.6 driver?

[Kaspar Ko]

The Decklink HD Extreme is from 2006 which has not been tested for a very long time. The current model is the Decklink HD Extreme 3D+ and will soon be followed by the Decklink 4k Extreme. The current card does work with the Desktop Video 9.6.4 driver.

The original Decklink HD Extreme from 6 years ago is the one that is being referred to in this post. Don't worry the Decklink HD Extreme line isn't going anywhere.

We´re seeing the same problem with multiple cards on both Mac OSX 10.7.4 and Windows 7 64bit. The latest driver that appears to work on both systems is the 9.5.3 driver. The problem is that these drivers doesn't work with Premiere Pro CS6 or Final Cut Pro X, too many bugs!

My question to Kaspar and the other BMD representatives is if you're planning on digging up an old card and testing it, or if the solution is for everyone to replace their old cards? I understand that 6 years is a long time to support a card, but it would be fantastic if it turned out that only a small software tweak was needed to keep them going a little longer...

[Joshua Helling]

We'll have to ask development but I would strongly doubt it. The issue is that while it might just need a small firmware change to work, the firmware for those cards has not been touched in YEARS. Meaning it automatically means it's no small task. And then that firmware would have to go through a testing cycle and that takes up a lot of QA time.

So it's not just a simple matter. We have verified this in house (as we do still have these boards in our labs here) and found the same thing you guys are seeing. So its not a matter of digging up the boards.

Again, we'll talk to the Product Manager, but I am not sure.

Hi, i'm having this exact same problem except i'm working with FCP7, FCX & Premiere Pro.
I've just done a fresh install of mountain lion and all my other software.
I have Video & Audio coming through the decklink HD extreme card but it is very stuttery and had a weird digital grain flicking through it. Thats with the latest drivers installed, i've tried many different versions of desktop video and while some of the older legacy ones 7x&8x work better.... they are not supported with mountain lion or FCX & Premiere pro so the results are less than required.

Is there going to be a fix for this or am i going to have to fork out a few hundred dollars for a new card??

thanks,
Scott.

[Joshua Helling]

Scott,

After talking to the Product Managers. This is not something we're likely to fix. That board was discontinued years ago. Long before that OS or current versions of those NLE's were released.

As a rule, we do everything in our power to keep our boards running on current software (even our discontinued ones) for as long as we can, but there comes a point where the software simply evolves beyond the product.

just for the record i have the decklink hd extreme 2 working in a Mac Pro 2.1 (late 2008) 3ghz x 2 with 8 gigs of ram Lion 10.7.5 and media composer 6.5.2

while not as snappy as my iMac /intensity extreme combo, its working pretty good . not sure just how different the Deckling hd extreme 1 and 2 are.

If anyone is interested, I tried a few drivers and the last version to work on OS X 10.8.2 is 9.5.3. Which is what I have been using since upgrading to Mountain Lion.

Hello,

I'm having similar problems with my DECKLINK HD EXTREME 2

MacPro 3.1
ML 10.8.2
DeckLink Extreme 2 (SDI+HDMI)
Resolve 9.0.4
Desktop Video 9.5.3 ( I tried 9.6.9 too )

This setup was stable, but one day crashed.

I think it started to crash when I updated iTunes to 11.0.1 . Since then it was stable.
First failed the sound. Then it began to crash the video output from Resolve, and finally it was impossible to work properly with the card attached to the mac.

I tried anything; Changing the slot, changing graphic card, downgrading and upgrading Davinci or Desktop Video panel... The only solution I found to have my computer stable is erasing the iTunes LIBRARY. Yes. Since I erased the itunes library my Mac runs stable.

Now I get output image from FCPX or After Effects. But I still don't get any image from Davinci.
As you can imagine I really need to SEE Davinci Resolve's SDI output.

GOOD NEWS!

Everything is fine again thanks to Davinci's 9.1 update!
I also updated Desktop Video again to 9.6.9

Thank you BM.

Hello,

I'm having similar problems with my DECKLINK HD EXTREME 2

MacPro 3.1
ML 10.8.2
DeckLink Extreme 2 (SDI+HDMI)
Resolve 9.0.4
Desktop Video 9.5.3 ( I tried 9.6.9 too )

This setup was stable, but one day crashed.

I think it started to crash when I updated iTunes to 11.0.1 . Since then it was stable.
First failed the sound. Then it began to crash the video output from Resolve, and finally it was impossible to work properly with the card attached to the mac.

I tried anything; Changing the slot, changing graphic card, downgrading and upgrading Davinci or Desktop Video panel... The only solution I found to have my computer stable is erasing the iTunes LIBRARY. Yes. Since I erased the itunes library my Mac runs stable.

Now I get output image from FCPX or After Effects. But I still don't get any image from Davinci.
As you can imagine I really need to SEE Davinci Resolve's SDI output.

UPDATE:

Bad news.
Now I'm as I was before I updated Resolve... I have to deselect Decklink Extreme 2 from Resolve if I don't want to see how my mac crashes.

:´(

GOOD NEWS!

Everything is fine again thanks to Davinci's 9.1 update!
I also updated Desktop Video again to 9.6.9

Thank you BM.

Hello,

I'm having similar problems with my DECKLINK HD EXTREME 2

MacPro 3.1
ML 10.8.2
DeckLink Extreme 2 (SDI+HDMI)
Resolve 9.0.4
Desktop Video 9.5.3 ( I tried 9.6.9 too )

This setup was stable, but one day crashed.

I think it started to crash when I updated iTunes to 11.0.1 . Since then it was stable.
First failed the sound. Then it began to crash the video output from Resolve, and finally it was impossible to work properly with the card attached to the mac.

I tried anything; Changing the slot, changing graphic card, downgrading and upgrading Davinci or Desktop Video panel... The only solution I found to have my computer stable is erasing the iTunes LIBRARY. Yes. Since I erased the itunes library my Mac runs stable.

Now I get output image from FCPX or After Effects. But I still don't get any image from Davinci.
As you can imagine I really need to SEE Davinci Resolve's SDI output.

The Decklink HD Extreme is from 2006 which has not been tested for a very long time. The current model is the Decklink HD Extreme 3D+ and will soon be followed by the Decklink 4k Extreme. The current card does work with the Desktop Video 9.6.4 driver.

The original Decklink HD Extreme from 6 years ago is the one that is being referred to in this post. Don't worry the Decklink HD Extreme line isn't going anywhere.

can you tell me when you stopped testing the Decklink HD extreme 1 ? . with what driver /OS / FCP combination will the card work ?

i am looking for a Stable setup for Final cut Pro 7 . install it on a clean drive . its not stable on 10.6.8. it has not been stabel for quite some time . lots of crashes

and what can i do to get it working with FCP X ? . it does not work on Mountain Lion . 10.8.2
will this work with 10.7.5. ? with 9.5.3.
I have seen an output o FCP X, but dont remember which OS ,
Lion was very slow on my system so I updated to Mountain Lion , and now no more Video Output
Please Help

I have been reading this forum to see what other folks with the same setup as I have come up with. It's funny that there are mixed results. Ok, here goes. I have a Decklink HD Extreme card that was in my G5. Worked perfectly. I used it for color correction out of Final Cut Pro 6 and monitored it on a Sony Broadcast Blue Gun monitor, along with using a Tektronics waveform monitor. All nice.

I upgraded and got a MacPro 3.1 2008 model, Quad-Core Intel Xeon, 2.8 GHz. Running Mountain Lion 10.8.3. I put the BM card in that and tried it out using the latest drivers from BM on BM Media Express and Final Cut Pro 7. Everything was viewable through my external Sony BVM. I also have Adobe CS6 and cannot view externally in Premiere Pro CS6 or After Effects. No response from Adobe on why that doesn't work. I am reading that BM doesn't want to go back on older products like mine, but has anyone found a way to make it work on Adobe CS6? Or do I have to spend the 300 bucks on a new BM card just to view on my Sony blue gun monitor?

Any help would be appreciated.

Hi Jimmy,

It matters in which order you install the software.
If you installed the decklink drivers first and the adobe software later, maybe you have to
install the BM drivers again or try an older version. (as mentioned in earlier posts)

Regards, Jaap Kok

Thanks Jaap, I will check that out. One other thing if you don't mind. I will be replacing my current Nvidia GPU with the Nvidia Quadra 4800 in the first slot. Which slot does BM like to have the Extreme card in? I have a MacPro 3.1(the later one that accepts this Quad card.

Jim

Hi Jimmy,

Usually slot 3 or 4 is fine, since your BM card is running at PCI x4.
Just double check that your graphics card slot is running at x16 and your BM card at x4 in the
slotconfiguration-utility. (http://support.apple.com/kb/ht2838)

Regards, Jaap Kok

Hi Jimmy,

Usually slot 3 or 4 is fine, since your BM card is running at PCI x4.
Just double check that your graphics card slot is running at x16 and your BM card at x4 in the
slotconfiguration-utility. (http://support.apple.com/kb/ht2838)

Regards, Jaap Kok

Thank you for the valuable link.