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kgoodyer  
#1 Posted : Wednesday, June 29, 2016 5:20:50 AM(UTC)
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Hi Guys

I have a VMIXv16 Box, that's been ruining solidly 24x7 since last November.

Core: i7-5820K, ASUS X99 Delux, 16GB DDR4
Gfx: NVIDIA GeForce GTX960 (4GB GDDR5)
I/O: 2 x Decklink Quad (8 Inputs)
1 x Decklink Duo (2 Outputs)
1 x M-AUDIO M-TRACK EIGHT (8 x ASIO Audio Inputs / 8 x ASIO Audio Outputs)

When I run VMIX v17 on this box, BOTH of the external outputs die after approximately 5 minutes.

The Dropped Frame Rate accelerates to show EVERY frame is being dropped.

I don't have a clue as to where to start to look, reverted to v16 and all is fine.

Help!!
admin  
#2 Posted : Wednesday, June 29, 2016 8:34:03 AM(UTC)
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Can you confirm the very latest vMix 17 is installed? (17.0.0.92)
Some bug fixes to Decklink output have been added and we have been running 24x7 tests in our lab without issue so hopefully it is just the older version being used.

If not, then go to Settings -> About and click Send Support Report so we can investigate further.

Thanks,

Martin
vMix
admin  
#3 Posted : Wednesday, June 29, 2016 8:42:37 AM(UTC)
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(Also make sure latest Decklink drivers are installed)
kgoodyer  
#4 Posted : Thursday, June 30, 2016 6:45:33 AM(UTC)
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VMIX 17.0.0.92
Decklink 10.6.8 (upgraded from 10.5.4) along with card firmware as required by driver
Running at 720p50

VMIX 16
No input on Decklink 4.4 (Quad #1, Port 4) - not an issue on 10.5.4 Decklink drivers.
Decklink inputs 1.5 thru 4.8 (Quad #2, Port 1 - 4) flashing with black at a frequency of approx 1hz - not an issue on 10.5.4 Decklink drivers.
Both outputs error free

VMIX 17
Ext 1 - (Deklink 1.9 - Duo, Port 1 ) Output OK - Zero dropped frames
Ext 2 - (Decklink 2.10 - Duo Port 2) 100% Dropped frames after a few seconds of running - VMIX reports due to source not CPU/HDD
Unable to stop EXT, any attempts to stop EXT causes VMIX to lock, unable to close, or stop process in Taskman - reboot only way out.

Limping through today's production without camera 4. using VMIX 16, when we go off air at 01:30am (British Summer Time) I will load up VMIX 17 and send support report.

Outside broadcast hours I can arrange remote access through team viewer or VNC if you want to delve in deeper.

Thanks for your help. All The Best

Keith
admin  
#5 Posted : Thursday, June 30, 2016 8:28:10 AM(UTC)
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Hi Keith,

There might be a firmware/driver mismatch at work here that I have seen on systems with multiple Decklink cards.
The fix is usually to:

1. Remove all cards and boot windows
2. Shutdown and install first card and boot to windows, it should prompt to upgrade firmware
3. Repeat step 2 for the second card

This should get everything back in order.
As for the black frames and Duo port 2 issues, if the above doesn't work, try playing out and capturing using Media Express, I suspect
you should see similar results.

Why the output works fine on vMix 16 is due to how it sends out the video and audio frames.
It used to send them manually, ignoring the Decklink clock which provides spurious readings on some systems leading to 100% dropped frames.

Unfortunately this approach cannot maintain perfect sync and can drop frames under heavy CPU, so in order to provide a much better experience
for the majority of users it was rewritten in vMix 17.

The downside is now if the decklink clock goes haywire, it will no longer work properly, but hopefully the install steps I provided above will
fix things in your case.

Regards,

Martin
vMix

kgoodyer  
#6 Posted : Thursday, June 30, 2016 3:25:01 PM(UTC)
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Martin

Thank you VERY much for your suggestions. Makes perfect logical sense. When I upgraded the Decklink Drivers I had two small anomalies which did concern me.

Firstly only 9 of the 10 Decklink channels seemed to have upgraded fully. I had 10 x Blackmagic Decklink SDI, 10 x Blackmagic Audio, but only 9 Blackmagic Decklink WDM Streaming and one 'unknown device) which had managed to end up in the 'Sound, video and game controllers' - not in 'Other devices' where unknown devices usually end up. I uninstalled the 'Unknown Device', rebooted and it picked it up and appeared to install the missing bit of the driver.

The second issue was the checkbox for 'Always Trust Software from Blackmagic Design' had to be clicked on every instance of the install - believe me hitting YES on 30 drivers was very frustrating. Not seen that before on properly signed drivers.

That saying I have been using Decklink cards since the very first PCI versions, and probably have at least 100 of them in daily use around my facility, so have experienced all sorts of oddities with them over the years.

I will strip down the box overnight, and follow your suggestions, and report back.

Thank you once again for your help! There was concern when I first proposed moving to a software based vision mixer in a professional environment, but the last six months have proved all the sooth sayers wrong. In truth VMIX has been more stable (and more flexible) than any hardware vision mixer I have had responsibility for.

All the best

Keith
kgoodyer  
#7 Posted : Friday, July 1, 2016 3:50:00 AM(UTC)
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Hiya Martin

Did as you suggested and still have exactly the same issues as far as VMIX 17 is concerned. Got the system to send you a report. Haven't sent you my serial number, but shout if you need it. Going to try and put some new Decklink cards in it (one by one) which have not had their firmware updated Yet with the hope that managed driver/firmware will help.

However VMIX 16 is now perfect. So guessing there is an issue unique to V17

Thanks

Keith
admin  
#8 Posted : Friday, July 1, 2016 5:13:20 AM(UTC)
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Can you test using Media Express? I assume the output issue is the only problem now with 17?

If so, then it could be a faulty clock issue, so testing Media Express will help isolate it.
kgoodyer  
#9 Posted : Friday, July 1, 2016 11:53:15 AM(UTC)
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Martin

I checked all the inputs with Media Express, but ran out of time to check the outputs. I will do that as soon as they get off air tonight (1:30am BST). If I do see the same issues with Media Express on the outputs do you have any ideas for work around or solution I could try overnight?

Sorry if I seem a bit hasty, but I have a whole new production starting 10:00am BST tomorrow that was based on features only available in V17. I can just about do it with V16, but will have to bring in an extra Graphics Operator to run the CG outside of VMIX.

One option maybe to abandon the Decklink SDI outputs, and use NDI to send to an NDI Connect Box with a separate Decklink Duo to do the rendering.

All The Best

Keith

UPDATE (1:30am BST)

Your suspicions were absolutely right. Media Express seems to be unable to playout files to Decklink Card 3 (The Decklink Duo). It seems to be rendering at about 1 frame every 10 seconds - both channels on the duo are the same. So I can confirm this is a Decklink Issue - Ideas (especially as you guys are in the same time Zone?)



UPDATE (7:00pm BST

Went for the NDI to a separate NDI connect box, with a Decklink Duo option - Worked well, the only issue I have is now my engineering team want to rip out the 7Km of SDI copper in my building, and replace it all with a a single IP fibre ring. Not sure what the price of scrap copper is these days.

If anybody ever questions the viability of NDI in preference to SDI tell them to talk to me.


Still like to get the SDI outputs working, as will be handy for hooking up legacy monitors in the studio etc.

Keith
kgoodyer  
#10 Posted : Tuesday, July 5, 2016 3:23:49 AM(UTC)
kgoodyer

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Hiya Martin

Any updates or suggestions on this issue. The only thing I can think of doing is replacing the Duo card with a 'Virgin' one out of the box, and hoping it will see it as a new device and try update its firmware and install the correct drives.

All The Best

Keith
AElli  
#11 Posted : Tuesday, July 5, 2016 5:11:32 PM(UTC)
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I'm getting a problem with 17.99 I've just swapped out my duo2 for a STD decklink SDI card. (Temp. Needing the duo2 for another project ) I cant update to 10.6.8 as my PC runs win7 32bit and the BMD only installs on 64bit. Any ideas as a workaround ??.
Before I could copy the installed folder from another 64bit pc, as it was just the installer that ran 64bit, but that doesn't seem to work. Now vmix is crashing 10s after starting.

A.
kgoodyer  
#12 Posted : Wednesday, July 6, 2016 3:05:35 PM(UTC)
kgoodyer

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The truth is you have to be 64bit now, I can think of a couple of work arrounds, but both require you have a second 64bit machine, unless you have a spare - its bite the bullet, format, and install a 64bit OS.

I cant think of much else - Sorry

Keith
kgoodyer  
#13 Posted : Wednesday, July 6, 2016 3:09:26 PM(UTC)
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Martin

A good chat with Blackmagic, has confirmed what we suspected, whilst I am now running 10.7 black magic drivers, it appears the Decklink Duo across all 10 channels, the duo card is refusing to update its firmware. Their suggestion was to put it in another 'virgin' PC, install 10.5.4 then upgrade to 10.7, and then put the Duo back in my VMIX frame - although I got to say we are all happy using NDI as the link between our studios and our MCR.

Thanks for all your help with this. Ill update this post once I have tried this fix.

Keith
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