Decklink Duo

[samsc]

you are touring flight cases full of equipment...

stuff comes undone-as it always done-

if the driver isnt seeing the card - it means you have an intermittent problem with the hardware- the hardest thing to ever trace.


it gets banged around- as it always has gone in rocknroll touring.
rocknroll touring is really harsh on equipment.
the power systems we use on shows are really harsh- all these cables and power surges from all the systems.
and in the ten years i have been doing it - its a miracle the macs stand up so well-

your cards have been reported to have failed in exactly the same way - this just doesnt happen by chance- electronic failure are random.

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as a software developer im usually the first in line for the blame when something goes wrong - but when the issues are resolved - its almost never my problem.
But in the first instance its always my fault - and i accept total responsibility.

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active silicon make hundreds of cards - decklink/aja - tens of thousands- its an entirely different game

at least active silicon answer email-

i have never ever had an email response from either aja or decklink on technical issues. ever.

i spent 5 days - 5 days - trying to get a decklink intensity card to work last month - and in the end i gave up-
My AJA kona LHi crashes my machine completely if left on all day- doesnt survive a basic soak test. thats without my software running -

so the grass isnt any greener. its best to have someone with to work through technical problems.

as we need stuff fixed fast in this business.

Thanks for everyones posts.
Something you all should know is that we always ensure the Video PPU and and the Catalyst servers are on the same supply, I am a qualified electrician and I am fully aware of Potential Difference created between 2 different power supplies and the damage it can cause.

I would like Active Silicone to be more proactive in getting to the bottom of this with us. They know that we have 5 servers with 2 cards in each.
For the record.... a rogue machine has to be ruled out as we have suffered failures on a number of the machines.

I agree that opto isolation would help the cause in insuring a voltage free ground, but I'm sure in this case we have other issues. XL video are looking into this, but of course they see this as protecting someone else's kit.
How do we explain the intermittent comings and goings of the card and driver recognition for example. How come the Decklink HD3 worked straight from the box with no change of mains powers supply, and therefor the same possible potential difference as suffered by the AS cards, are they more hardy to it?

Whatever the resolution from AS, there hardware must be as durable as that from Kona or Decklink, we all agree on this right? I know that there is some flakiness with drivers sometimes from both of these manufacturers....


Thanks again for everyones input.
Oli

[samsc]

It worked very infrequently and when it did, all it took to cause failure was tiny movement of one of the BNC cables going into the Mac.

this indicates a connector or cable problem-

suggest someone tries to repeat this with either the macs or a set of cables.