Blackmagic Design DeckLink Mini Monitor 4K PCIe Playback Card, 6G-SDI

This card is the best BM card I have used, mainly cause it works. I have tried several other BM cameras and cards, usually disappointed by the results or lack of function. This card however works in Sierra, works with 4K out of Resolve, even 1080p on my 4K TCL monitor looks great. A big surprise is that it works with FCP 7, yes FCP 7 options for BM playback show up in FCP 7. I dumped my old AJA Kona 3 card, with much hesitation, but very happy so far. I would recommend upgrading old HDMI cables when you switch things out to a HDMI 2.0 or higher compliant cable, just to keep things up to date going forward.Very happy with the price of under $200, considering how well it looks on playback, and have high hopes with this and Resolve 14.

It was easy to install. Works perfectly for video playback out of Pro Tools in a Mac Pro 2019 on Catalina. Install the card, download and install the drivers, and done. It took a total of 7 minutes.

I went with the cheaper Decklink card because I only need a single pure hdmi out to be able to verify or use for grading.Be VERY aware of your motherboards Pcie capabilities along with how many lanes your CPU can even handle. 90% of mother boards with multiple Pcie slots do not all full lane use between Pcie. This playback only card requires only 4 lanes. Anything with more than one playback or record will require at least 8 full lanes pcie.Word of advice, if you don’t know what you are doing or don’t already have the rest of the signal chain already “pure”, don’t even bother getting this card since it won’t be doing it’s purpose. It is like ASIO for audio. Either ASIO 100% through or not at all.

Works great easy install. Priced well

This is basically the only way to get the correct colors out of a Mac. Use this in conjunction with an external PCIe enclosure, connect it to your Studio or MacBook with Thunderbolt and then run an SDI cable to a high-quality, color-accurate calibrated reference monitor.

I haven't figured out if it is this card, the program (VMIX) or the adapter at the other end, but there is a compatibility problem with the Audio. I bought this to provide an extra output from VMIX. It is transported across the building as SDI. At the other end it is converted to HDMI and feed a Samsung monitor. Video is fine, but audio is badly distorted. I can feed the SDI from another interface and it is fine, but that interface isn't visible to the computer VMIX is running on, so isn't a complete end to end test. I have used two different SDI to HDMI interfaces at the monitor end (one by Black Magic) and both produce the same distorted audio on the monitor. My past experience with Black Magic's products is that while they are very cost effective, they are very particular and unforgiving about the protocol, and the company doesn't care. They blame the other end, rather than trying to make their product more versatile.

This is required if you want Resolve to output your playback monitor a HDMI or SDI monitor. It works flawlessly on Windows 10 CU with Resolve 14 beta 3 with the latest drivers. Supports HDMI 2.0a with HDR as well.PROSOnly way to output to SDI or HDMI monitor in ResolveSupports other NLEs such as Premiere ProWorks pretty much out of the boxNo real heat output.CONSFor what it is, a bit overpriced.

So what is this thing and why not just use the an extra port on your GPU? The main reason is, it passes a clean feed of video straight to your monitor. Period. It doesn't let the operating system get in the way an much around with the signal, it is a clean perfect passthrough. Unless you are color grading HDR video, you probably won't need it. If you are on Windows, working with HDR (and in Da Vinci Resolve) this will help maintain your sanity.