One of the big issues we have in the control room right now is this:  How to scale DVI video from our Keynote and Pro Presenter systems to HD/SDI, add sync to it in the process, and not break the budget?

Why is this a hot issue right now?

Pro Presenter:  Our CG computer is using a Blackmagic DeckLink HD to genlock the system’s output and send it to our switcher in HD/SDI.  I would LOVE to move to version 3 of Pro Presenter (we’re using it in other locations and it rocks), but because there is no way to get it to utilize the DeckLink’s HD/SDI output, I’m stuck using version 2, which, while it is still nice, is miles behind version 3 in terms of functionality and ease of use.

Keynote:  We use Keynote to put graphics (announcements, message notes) up on the screen, keyed over live video by our switcher.  We’re using a Blackmagic product here as well (a Multibridge Pro) to output HD/SDI from the computer, sync it, and feed it to the switcher.  The problem here is that since the Multibridge doesn’t support Core Image, Keynote has to be set up to do software rendering…. at 1920×1080.  This leads to very slow slide changes and makes it impossible to do any sort of smooth transitions or motion graphics on the slide.

Note that this is NOT a knock on Blackmagic Design products.  They are what they are, and they do exactly what they’re designed to do (and they do it well).

I’m looking to bump things up a level in terms of functionality and user-friendliness.  I’ve found 2 items so far that can make this work, and there’s a good chance we’ll get to trial both of them:

Miranda DVI-RAMP 2:  I’ve had my eye on the DVI-RAMP 2 for some time now, and we will actually have a demo of it showing up next Thursday.  The unit is capable of scaling and converting from DVI to HD/SDI.  The unit can also sync to a reference signal and act as a frame sync at the same time.  As an added note, the DVI-RAMP 2 is platform-independent.  Mac, PC, whatever; as long as it’s DVI, you’re good to go.

Matrox MXO: I just stumbled onto this piece of gear a few days ago.  The MXO has got the same basic principle as the Miranda unit, except that it will only work on Macs (which is fine for us).  The one thing that catches my eye is the fact that the MXO is about 22% of the cost of the DVI-RAMP 2.  Does that mean it’s only 22% as good?

Any video people reading this that have gone down this road before?  I’d love to hear any thoughts you have on this matter and what you’ve done to get around it.

I’ll post more on this as things pan out.