{"id":9,"date":"2007-10-13T02:08:51","date_gmt":"2007-10-13T09:08:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hd4pc.com\/techblog\/2007\/10\/13\/blackmagic-hdlink-video-hub\/"},"modified":"2010-07-29T22:40:03","modified_gmt":"2010-07-30T05:40:03","slug":"blackmagic-hdlink-video-hub","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hd4pc.com\/techblog\/2007\/10\/13\/blackmagic-hdlink-video-hub\/","title":{"rendered":"Blackmagic HDLink & Video Hub"},"content":{"rendered":"

Besides their Mac and PC compatible I\/O components, Blackmagic makes a couple of\u00c2\u00a0utility devices\u00c2\u00a0that greatly increase the options available to a\u00c2\u00a0small post facility in\u00c2\u00a0using SDI video gear.\u00c2\u00a0 Technically, the Multibridge<\/a> used to fall into this category as well, until they added PCIe support to it, totally extending its functionality.<\/p>\n

The HDLink<\/a> is a small box that converts HD-SDI video signal to DVI or HDMI, for monitoring video signals at full resolution with a computer LCD screen or projector.\u00c2\u00a0 It supports regular 1080 and 720 in most variations, and RGB 444 over dual link SDI.\u00c2\u00a0 It also has stereo sound output for audio monitoring.<\/p>\n

These HDLinks are in widespread use at a number of the facilities I work at, and at under $500, they are within the reach of independent editors or anyone else who needs an economical solution for monitoring SDI.\u00c2\u00a0 They do get hot though, so they should be powered down when not in use, and they don’t last forever.<\/p>\n

The new HDLink Pro <\/a>adds 3Gb\/s SDI for 2K support on a single SDI cable, but\u00c2\u00a0lacks dual link support, which is still the most popular RGB standard.\u00c2\u00a0 It also adds 6 Channel Audio de-embedding to analog RCA ports for 5.1 surround sound monitoring.\u00c2\u00a0 I have not yet had the opportunity to try one of these out yet, but I look forward to doing so as I find myself doing more 2K work,\u00c2\u00a0especially now that I\u00c2\u00a0have a 30″ LCD to connect it to.<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0Separately but related, Blackmagic’s Workgroup\u00c2\u00a0Video Hub<\/a> is a 12×24 SDI router.\u00c2\u00a0 It supports SD and HD, but currently not the 3Gb\/s SDI standard that Blackmagic has been rolling out this year.\u00c2\u00a0 With a bit of creativity, it can easily support dual link connections, but that lowers the number of devices you can connect by half.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0All patching is controlled\u00c2\u00a0in software via USB, which is\u00c2\u00a0connected to a single system, that hosts a network utility to share control with all users.\u00c2\u00a0 Their utility for patching as well designed and fleshed out at this point.\u00c2\u00a0 You can also patch through a built-in downconverter to SD, and it has a Still Store, ideal for color bars or logos.<\/p>\n

We use these at three facilities I work at, and\u00c2\u00a0they bring a dramatic increase to the flexability and efficiency\u00c2\u00a0of\u00c2\u00a0your workflow.\u00c2\u00a0 They are not economical for use by a single individual, but will be well worth it in work areas shared by 3-10 people.\u00c2\u00a0 They greatly ease the sharing of high end video equipment.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0For example,\u00c2\u00a0I can output any edit workstation’s SDI playout to either: a projector on an HDLink, an LCD on an HDLink, an HD CRT, our vectorscope, or any combination thereof.\u00c2\u00a0 Using a Video Hub\u00c2\u00a0<\/a>can have a\u00c2\u00a0significant effect on your environment if you frequently find yourself reconfiguring your peripherals when switching between different projects.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Besides their Mac and PC compatible I\/O components, Blackmagic makes a couple of\u00c2\u00a0utility devices\u00c2\u00a0that greatly increase the options available to a\u00c2\u00a0small post facility in\u00c2\u00a0using SDI video gear.\u00c2\u00a0 Technically, the Multibridge used to fall into this category as well, until they added PCIe support to it, totally extending its functionality. The HDLink is a small box […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[16,12],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hd4pc.com\/techblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hd4pc.com\/techblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hd4pc.com\/techblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hd4pc.com\/techblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hd4pc.com\/techblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.hd4pc.com\/techblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":122,"href":"https:\/\/www.hd4pc.com\/techblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9\/revisions\/122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hd4pc.com\/techblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hd4pc.com\/techblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hd4pc.com\/techblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}