BMD decklink 4k dual monitor SDI issue

pveal

pveal

Well-known member
Hello all,

I was wondering if anyone has direct experience with using the Black Magic 4k mini monitor to output to two monitors. I am asking as I was advised that the SDI output of this card does not support 4k: to quote the advice I received from someone I respect highly, on another forum:

"The Decklink Mini Monitor 4K has 12G HDMI and 6G SDI. It means that the SDI is 1080p60 RGB 10-bit, not 2160p30 10-bit RGB."

As far as I understand it, 6G SDI supports 4k up to 30 fps, so I am confused by this advice.
Anyway, this confusion aside, has anyone successfully used the BMD 4k mini monitor to connect to two 4k monitors (converting the SDI to HDMI with a black magic bidirectional box)

(Davinci Resolve being used on a M1 ultra studio, monitors LGC2OLED and LG32EP950 so both HDMI input)

Thank you.
 
Both outputs support 4K, but maybe check the BM manual to see if you can use both at once for 4K because sometimes hardware limits its top specs to one output and not all when using simultaneously (not saying that BM does that, just saying).
 
NorBro said:
Both outputs support 4K, but maybe check the BM manual to see if you can use both at once for 4K because sometimes hardware limits its top specs to one output and not all when using simultaneously (not saying that BM does that, just saying).
Click to expand...

Thanks NorBro,
Yes you are correct, both HDMI and SDi output 4K, thanks.
The SDI is 6G and limited to 422 YCbCr with the 12G HDMI being capable of full RGB. I think that's why I was being advised re limitation of 6G. It threw me a bit.
Cheers!
 
Thanks for your feedback Norbro.

Going back to the setup that I have and its possible limitations: The idea here is to have 2 4k monitors fed via decklink from a sonnet echo express III pci housing.
I'd like to use another free slot for Cache, or forego the 3 slot sonnet and just get a one slot housing. Trying to decide based on this issue.
The decklink will be in one slot leaving 2 slots free.
At present, the Resolve Cache is a 2tb external Nvme just attached into a free thunderbolt port from the mac.
I am trying to figure out if it would be possible to use one of the free pci slots and have the cache housed in the sonnet in the form of a PCI ssd.
I have a feeling that it would max out the bandwidth of the mac's thunderbolt 3 output. According to calculator, to run a monitor at the specs required are 16 Gbit/s.
Have any of you guys tried this? Shoot the idea down if I'm clearly confused re bitrate etc. Thanks.
 
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