PVC on the Apple Studio Display being limited to a single frame rate

Allan Tépper at the Pro Video Coalition has an article on how the Apple Studio Display is locked into one frame rate 60 FPS making it unsuitable for many video formats.

I am not going to get a Studio Display, it is way too much for what it is, and I would rather have 4K than 5K anyway, but saying that the 60 FPS doesn’t bother me at all as for any video I use an external monitor through a Black Magic UltraStudio 4K. I don’t have a studio monitor, but a Samsung that I have corrected to the best of my ability, but in some ways that is better. As a perfect display leeds to correction like the last season of Game Of Thrones, so dark it is hard to even see.

Updated version of Sofi Marshall’s Ultimate Real-Time Workflow for those with a video output box

So I have written about Sofi Marhsall’s Ultimate Rea-Time Editing Workflow (That Won’t Break the Bank) and just wanted to give a little Update on how i have updated that workflow because of my setup, and the difference for me is that I run a older Blackmagic UltraStudio 4k as my video out, which I run to a Samsung HDTV.

I followed her instructions and got a BlackMagic Web Presenter, but got the UltraHD version so I can do 4K video, and it does seem to work just fine with either the front or back USB C unlike the older version she used.

And because I am not using USB-C to HDMI cable for my setup, which is also going to eat up a more of your video ram (displaying as a second monitor. Instead I ran a BNC Cable from my UltraStudio 4k into my BlackMagic Web Presenter, while my Samsung is running out of the HDMI out of the UlraStudio 4k. Sofi’s version is setting up the web presenter as a second monitor, but I am already using a second monitor on my computer, and would rather run the direct output from my UltraStudio from Premiere (or DaVinci or AVID) into my Web Presenter, and you don’t need to setup the web presenter as a second monitor.

My Web Presenter lives on top of my UltraStudio 4K (the Emotive is a DAC I use for listening to music off my computer) someday I will get a rack mount to put them in.

Whatever you are playing back shows up on both monitors for me, and I can see on my TV, which is the black line at top with the power cable running down the wall, and the usb cable to the computer allows the web presenter to act as a USB web cam.

Premier Video Output Settings

Premiere Pro Menu > Preferences > Playback
My playback settings set to Blackmagic Playback with Disable Video Output when in background disabled!
And the Blackmagic playback setup settings for my UltraStudio 4K

So in Premiere I am playing back through Blackmagic playback via my UltraStudio 4K, and I have disable video output when in background (which I usually have checked, disabled, so the signal keeps going to the webcam constantly.

Now again differing from Sofi Marshall here I have the audio setup differently, as she is using Loopback to send the audio to the Web Presenter, but I am using Premiere Pro directly. I am still using Loopback, but differently as I will show.

So for Premiere Pro I go to Premiere Pro > Preferences > Audio Hardware to setup direct audio to the UltraStudio 4K.

Premiere Pro Menu > Preferences > Audio Hardware
Audio Hardware Preferences, default output to Blackmagic Ultrastudio 4k and Map Output to Blackmagic Playback
Default Output selections, I actually usually use Edirol UA-1D which I have an optical cable coming out of to my Edirol and an Emotica AMP for my Speakers as well as a FireStone Audio Headphone amp, and use blackmagic to show sound sync on my TV, but I can live with the sync being the same as the computer monitor most of the time, but for this I use send the audio to the Blackmagic UltraStudio 4k.

I then follow Sofi Marshall’s directions on creating Loopback Device 2, which combines the iMac Microphone (her external microphone) and the audio from the Web Presenter.

I have created my mic for zoom, the “Mic & web Presenter” with the External Microphone and the audio from the Web Presenter 4K combined.

So here is my loopback microphone setup so my cut can be shown with audio and they can here the microphone.

Now since I am running the audio directly to monitor my audio for me it would be coming out of my TV which would then show up in my microphone, so I can’t have that, so I must mute my HDTV, and I want to hear my edit through my headphones. My headphones are running through my Edirol though could be just the headphone jack, so I have made a loopback to send Premiere to my Edirol.

I have also made a setting for DaVinci exactly the same but with DaVinci.

These send my audio from Premiere or DaVinci to my headphones. Now we need to setup zoom.

Zoom Menu > Preferences
Zoom Preferences ? Video for Camera I have selected my Web Presenter 4K as the video, with original ratio and HD.
And Zoom Preferences for Speaker I send the audio to my Edirol (which could be headphone jack) and for the microphone I select Mic & Web Presenter which I created in Loopback.
And make sure to turn on High-Fidelity Music Mode and Stereo Audio.

Now you can do a zoom using my video out from Premiere and Web Presenter. Thanks to Sofi Marshall, as I would have never done this without her.

Blackmagic replaces the loud and hot Ultrastudio 4K with the mini

Blackmagic has replaced it’s Ultrastudio 4K with the Ultrastudio 4K mini, for the same price of $995 with an upgrade from Thunderbolt 2 to 3, and a headphone jack with volume, an sd slot and a usb port as well moving from 6GB SDI to 12GB and a much smaler form factor!

Damn! I want one! I have an Ultrastudio 4K, and while a powerful machine, I mean it plays back anything I send to it, but it is thunderbolt 2 (so requires a thunderbolt 2 to 3 adapter) and it gets hot, I mean real hot, and it’s fans are so loud! It is painfully loud!

Too bad their isn’t an upgrade path!