Converting to HD-SDI

[ajmaudio]

I should be more clear.. sorry.. its not the delay.. I find it very acceptable for what we do. What I am experiencing is dropped frames resulting in jerkiness etc. It will happen for a few seconds out of every minute and then clear up. For instance.. If I am using 2 lfg cards, of the eight inputs at any one time there is likely one that will briefly have some frame loss... it will clear up and then reappear elsewhere within a short time. This happens with or without any other playback load on the machine. The GPU usage is minimal also... it seems to be a buffer issue similar to the problems with the later generation od Black Magic hd extreme cards if that helps describe it any.

[prodigal2]

It sounds like a timing/sync issue...

How are your feeds being routed before they come to the Catalyst, and what are they? Do you have a switcher sending auxes to you? If so it may be worth checking the cards on the crate, check they have timed outputs and not just monitor outputs.
Also is the glitching consistent across all your 8 inputs, as such a thing can be? Also do you have any Digital to Analogue converters in your system?

I know its more questions than answers, but quite often the issues arise upstream from the Catalyst.

cheers
Phil

Philip G Haynes
Live Visual Design and Direction

[samsc]

noone seems to have asked the fundamental questions with video input ....

so i need to ask them-

what camera source ntsc or PAL?

what refresh rate and frame rate are you running the screens at?

what frame rate is catalyst set to playback at?

I should be more clear.. sorry.. its not the delay.. I find it very acceptable for what we do. What I am experiencing is dropped frames resulting in jerkiness etc. It will happen for a few seconds out of every minute and then clear up. For instance.. If I am using 2 lfg cards, of the eight inputs at any one time there is likely one that will briefly have some frame loss... it will clear up and then reappear elsewhere within a short time. This happens with or without any other playback load on the machine. The GPU usage is minimal also... it seems to be a buffer issue similar to the problems with the later generation od Black Magic hd extreme cards if that helps describe it any.

[ajmaudio]

Thanks for the continued support Richard.
The cameras are all professional and are going through GV DAs.
The LED is Barco SLIGHT with LED PRO controllers running DVI from Cat to Led Pro

I'll try what you suggest as soon as I can. Could be a bit before I get to try this. Wish this was not the case. It seems like this would fix it. Any other thoughts on this subject?

[ajmaudio]

on a side note... if you wanted to take the time to explain precisely how that few seconds of jittery video happens I would love to hear it from you Richard. The concept is simple enough however I am curious as to what happens with the buffers or whatever it is at that precise time. Understanding is power

[Mr_P]

Have you tried testing with a single source connected to a Distribution amplifier and gradually increasing the connections to the 8 inputs to see what happens - feeding all 8 inputs with the same source gradually?

Simon

[ajmaudio]

the cameras hit a DA and then straight into the cat. No digital to analogue conversions or anything like that. Very simple setup. With it being digitized I don't even think the cameras were getting reference. with it being digitized can it really be a sync issue? The problem generally only affets one input at a time and it jumps randomly among them. As for the other question I haven't progressively gone from one input to 8 but I have used as few as maybe 4 and it has absolutely no affect on the issue. So am I to take it that you guys are NOT having this issue? If not I would really appreciate some help getting it lined out! I really don't think its a bandwidth thing on the pci bus or anything but as of yet I have not come to any conclusions and have suspected driver/buffer issues.

[Mr_P]

can you confirm the specification of your MacPro and its hardware version. (Model Identifier). Can you create a system profilie and post it here. (see catalyst menu)

I've sucessfully run 3x LFG4 cards with 12 inputs connected to cameras with no problems - that was on a 2007 3G 4core MacPro

What other hardware do you have installed? Are you running remote desktop or anything similar at the same time as Catalyst? What HardDrives and Graphics cards do you have?

Can you confirm the version of LFG4 driver you are using - and MacOS version.

Try un-installing the driver (see below) and both cards.
Reset the system PRAM (apple+option+P+R) at re-boot
(check your settings afterwards)
Shutdown - and install only 1 card and install the driver below (if Leopard)
test with a blank - new catalyst show - to see what happens.
connect video inputs 1 by 1
if all ok - shutdown - install the 2nd card - and repeat tests

Correct driver for Leopard is: 'LFG Direct Driver 2.0.Leopard.dmg'
LFG Driver:
http://homepage.mac.com/simonpugsley....0.Leopard.dmg

from Active Silicon Documentation:
Uninstalling the Video Driver (VDIG)
You will need to know the root/Administrator password to perform a driver uninstall.
1. Open up a terminal window from a 'Finder' window:
Run '/Applications/Utilities/Terminal'.
2. Type the following commands exactly as shown:
sudo rm -rf /Library/QuickTime/lfgvdigx.component
sudo rm -rf /System/Library/Extensions/cdapci.kext
sudo rm -rf "/Library/Documentation/Active Silicon"
exit
3. Then close the terminal window, shutdown and restart the computer.


Do get back to me with the information requested - and let me know if you are still having issues.

Regards

Simon

[ajmaudio]

cant make a profile for a few days but its a late 2008 8 core 3.2ghz, 10GB ram, 8800gt, OCZ vertex ssd for content, and there is nothing else running such as remote desktop.. the only other thing would be the DMX>Artnet. We use an Enttec ODE plugged into the primary ethernet controller. As i said gpu and cpu usage are very low. Is the driver posted on the AS site teh same as the one you posted? It appears to be. Also.. I assume the LFG Direct API has to be enabled in preferences of Cat and it is.

[SourceChild]

Simon's method is best. I have done this method dozens of times.

Its time consuming but it's the best and only way to resolve issues with capture cards. (Also the same method for the Phoenix Cards with the exception of the driver file.)

I have still seen this happen regardless of any troubleshooting. I am dealing with this very issue in fact in a nightclub. Fortunately I am the only one who notices but it still drives me nuts.

My speculation is electrical noise and subtle phasing problems which cause the digitizer to perceive a drop. I can't confirm this but nothing else makes much sense.