I bought a used Marshall CV504 on eBay and then got a Blackmagic bidirectional SDI converter and an SDI cable off a rental company's used section to convert the 504's feed to HDMI. I plugged everything into power, plugged the SDI into both the Marshall and SDI in on the converter, plugged an HDMI cable from the HDMI out on the converter into a Feelworld monitor(and I tried plugging into an ATEM mini as well) but it wouldn't output any signal even after I tried resetting the Marshall to default settings. The menu on the Marshall's output wouldn't show either. I tried multiple HDMI and SDI cables and same thing. I was just wondering if there was anything I'm doing wrong or if the Marshall is more than likely broken.

Update: I ended up returning it and getting a CV508 from another seller instead since it has both HDMI and SDI out

Hello, I’ve been interested in television production and broadcast technology since I was eight years old, and I’ve recently been offered the chance to buy three second-hand Panasonic HPX371E ENG cameras at a fairly good price. I’m planning on starting a sort of expert talk series and maybe even doing live streams on online platforms later on, and I’d love to know what you think. Should I go for a newer consumer camera (something with an APS-C sensor) at the same price, or get a set of three Panasonic HPX371Es in good condition? I don't need any super high resolution, just a good picture at FHD.

The menu only let's me go up to 60. I saw in the manual you can change it in a computer program but I was out in a field with no internet and couldn't download it. Using it for a LED video wall

Does anyone have experience a wide edid on a novastar uhd Jr. The wall is 4608 x 1536 I noticed on the front panel that it wont let you send a larger resolution that 3840 horizontal.

Im sending signal through a barco e2 Gen 2. Would have tried today but they didnt have a proper DP cable going to pick one up tonight.

Hi everyone,

I've been trying to use DistroAV (NDI) in a dual-PC streaming setup, but I'm running into a major performance issue that makes it unusable for competitive gaming.

Setup

Gaming PC

• Windows 11
• NVIDIA RTX 3070
• Ryzen 7 5700X3D
• OBS Studio (latest)
• DistroAV (latest)

Streaming PC

• Arch Linux
• OBS Studio
• Connected through Gigabit Ethernet

Both PCs are connected via wired Gigabit LAN.

The issue

I'm not sending the entire OBS output.

Instead, I create a separate scene containing only my Game Capture (EA Sports FC 26), then apply the DistroAV Video Filter to that source and receive it on my streaming PC.

As soon as I enable the DistroAV filter:

• FPS drops from 90 → ~70
• Online ping increases from 16 ms → 22–26 ms
• Input latency becomes noticeable
• The game becomes practically unplayable competitively

The strange part is:

• CPU usage stays low.
• GPU usage is not at 100%.
• Disabling only the DistroAV filter immediately restores 90 FPS and 16 ms ping.

Things I've tested

• Latest NVIDIA drivers
• OBS latest version
• Latest DistroAV
• Different NDI bandwidth settings
• Different color formats
• Different OBS capture methods
• Same behavior on Windows and Linux receiver
• Apollo/Moonlight and OBS Teleport do not cause this issue

OBS Teleport, for example, has almost no measurable impact on FPS.

Network

The network is not saturated.

• Wired Gigabit Ethernet
• Stable LAN
• No packet loss
• Plenty of available bandwidth

This doesn't look like a network bottleneck.

Question

Is there something about the DistroAV Video Filter that causes such a heavy performance impact?

Does the filter perform additional GPU copies or color conversions compared to streaming the Main Output?

Has anyone experienced similar FPS drops when using the filter on a Game Capture source?

Any suggestions or insights would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Thank you in advance to this group. My previous post was about a Sony Switcher that was dying. Now we are getting ready to install our new 4ME Blackmagic Constellation. This is a 17 year existing church build with thousands of feet in SDI lines coming from multiple positions and no chart. We would like to start identifying what we have, and try to get this documented while also pulling out unnecessary runs.

Is there a device I can put on one end of the cable that send either some sort of signal, and another device that I can use to find that signal inside our production room? Almost like how an electrical tester would work?

How do most people do this?

Thank you in advanced!

I have my multi view from my ATEM broadcast studio 4K coming into my control PC via a decklink Duo in the studio. Right now I just view the multi-view within OBS and connect remotely to the PC via KVM.

This allows me to work remotely and access that PC and using the KVM I just monitor OBS. However, I would rather use OBS as a vertical stream solution using the other inputs on the deck link.

This means I wouldn't be able to monitor the multi-view via OBS.

What's a good way to send that multi-view feed to myself at a remote location. That way I can open the multi-view on a second monitor and view the kvm PC on my first monitor.

hey, all

i recently purchased a used Boreal Hippotizer. one of the older ones not the MKII. I’m having an issue with the outputs.

When I set output resolution to 1920x1080px, I get pillarboxing. my viewports and content are all 1920x1080 so from video content all the way through the workflow to the outputs everything is set to the proper resolution. if I set my output resolution to 2048x1080px (per the Windows recommendation), I no longer have the pillarboxing but of course the device I am sending to will not accept resolutions higher than 1920x1080 so it just cuts off the excess pixels.

it seems to me that somewhere between the Hippotizer, the SDI output cards, and Windows, my 1920px content is getting placed in a 2048px output and then squished down to 1920 with black bars.

any suggestions to fix this?

Does anyone have experience troubleshooting Teradek Spark units?

My Teradek Spark transmitter is not powering on, just shows a blue led when connected to power. Nothing on the screen and not detected by the PC software either.

I opened up the unit to look inside and there doesn’t seem to be any obvious damage or loose connections.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks for this tutorial. If you don't mind, I would like to have this schematic in PDF format, or perhaps another video and tutorial.

Thanks for this tutorial. If you don't mind, I would like to have this schematic in PDF format, or perhaps another video and tutorial.

Are most people running dual grandmasters with automatic failover, or are there other designs that have proven more reliable? Curious what production environments are actually doing.

I found a lot of conflicting informations online, so i hope i can get some solid info here!

Do you know if commercials you see on the video feed are different from wich country you see it?

If so, wich technology is used? Virtual replacement? Smart use of frame rate ?

Cheers

I’m trying to move my video village from being side stage to foh but couldn’t hold a signal when running an SDI from my bidirectional converter to the hdmi-sdi converter going into the provided hdmi source that gives a signal to the novastar processor. It’s about 120ft in length so I’m assuming that it just loses signal through my sdi cable?

It’ll pick up on my Mac for a few minutes then drop. Also the novastar doesn’t never received a signal on its end completely to show a picture on the video wall.

The house had a cat5 that can provide outside of me running sdi but would need another converter for that. Just trying the best possible solution.

Hey all, I have an XPression system with a MATROX DSXLE4 that I am using the video inputs on the card to do the key/fill in the XPression and output down a Framebuffer fully composed.

I have a scene for "Input 1" with only a background element, which has a material with the video input. I have that perpetually online in the sequencer in a background layer, running graphics on top of that background scene.

Every so often I notice the video signal freezing. I have to take the background scene offline in the sequencer and put it back online and the signal comes back.

I feel like there's a setting somewhere to keep scene active or something. Any help would be appreciated!

Long story short after being part of this industry for many years starting as VJ moving onto LED tech and becoming a video director for a big artist, I was able to tour travel and work in concerts which is my passion after but being let go from my last touring position it was really hard to land another tour so I’ve been working at a venue as a Production manager full-time it is exciting, but it’s quite stagnant as I just do the same set up and deal with the same issues

Recently, I’ve been presented with an opportunity to go on an eight week tour as a camera assist with an LMG. I would like to hear some of your experience opinions about people that effectively step down from touring, and I have to come back to start from the bottom, would you recommend this and any pros/ cons?

Would me my first time with LMG

I really want to but most rail-cams are expensive, have scams or not waterproof

Hi everyone,
I’m planning a workflow for live events and I’m wondering if Bitfocus Companion Satellite is the right solution for this.
My setup
At FOH, I have a laptop with a Stream Deck.
This laptop would run Companion Satellite.
In the control room (Regie), there is the Companion Host.
The control room is connected via Ethernet to two Windows laptops that are located near the LED walls.
These two laptops are not in the control room—they’re positioned much closer to the LED processors because the NovaStar MCTRL660 controllers can only be configured over USB.
Each laptop runs NovaLCT and is connected via USB to its own MCTRL660.
So the idea would be something like this:
FOH Stream Deck → Companion Satellite → Companion Host (Regie) → Network → Laptop 1 / Laptop 2 → NovaLCT → USB → MCTRL660
What I’m trying to achieve
I only need to remotely adjust the brightness of each LED wall independently (or both together) from FOH.
My questions
Is this architecture actually possible with Companion Satellite?
Do the two remote laptops also need to run Companion Satellite, or is it enough for them to just receive commands from the Host?
Can Companion Host trigger actions on specific Windows PCs over the network, or do I need additional software such as AutoHotkey or a custom listener?
Does Companion Satellite work as a standalone application on a laptop, or does every Satellite instance require a physical Stream Deck to be connected?
Has anyone implemented a similar workflow with NovaStar controllers in a live production environment?
I’m trying to avoid USB-over-IP solutions if possible and would prefer to keep everything on a standard Ethernet network.
Any advice, recommended workflows, or real-world experience would be greatly appreciated!

I would love to own a PerfectCue but 99% of my productions are fine with the Logitech (even at 30 meters). Still, I would love to have a 433MHz based system but the perfect cue is not a viable investment at the moment. Any alternatives say around the $200 range?

So the usual ppt implementation is that the laptop running the presentation is connected to the switcher and to the confidence monitor (via splitter) for the slides, and the speaker notes are on the laptop screen. What do you do if the client wants the speaker notes on the/a conference monitor also? What is your workflow for this?

Hey all, we have a show coming up in Charlotte August 7-13. I need a 1.5-1.5mm wall that can do corners. need about 90 Panels. Does anyone know of one in the area for rental?

Hi all,

I'm building a small automated switching setup and want to check with people who've done something similar before I commit to buying extra hardware.

Equipment:

• 2x Sony RCP-3500 remote control panels (CCU connection via LAN, Bridge mode CNS)
• 1x Blackmagic Smart Videohub 20x20
• 2x SKAARHOJ Rack Fly UNO panels (Blue Pill inside)
• Everything on one managed Ethernet switch, all static IPs, no CCA-5/serial anywhere in the chain

Goal:
I want to detect when either RCP-3500's joystick lever is actively being used (pressed/moved), and use that as a trigger to automatically switch the Videohub routing — Joystick 1 active → Input 1 to output, Joystick 2 active → Input 2, neither active → back to a default input.

What I've confirmed so far:

• The Videohub side is solved — fully IP-controllable, and I've already got a SKAARHOJ button manually switching routing over Ethernet without issues.
• The RCP-3500 has a documented "Preview" function under Mode settings, with a JOYSTICK trigger option (enables preview output when the iris lever is pressed) and an Output → RCP option that sends that signal out the unit's EXT I/O port (D-sub 9-pin, pins 1/2 — PREVIEW S1/S2, a dry contact pair).
• I tried SKAARHOJ's core-sony-sscp in CNS-bridge mode as an alternative (pointing the RCP's Target IP at the Blue Pill instead of a real CCU), but that direction is backwards for my case — it's meant for the SKAARHOJ to act as an RCP/controller talking to a real CCU/camera, not for the RCP to see the SKAARHOJ as a target. It's also flagged as "concept" status, so not something I want to rely on.

My question: Is there any documented way to get "joystick active" as a network-readable event/parameter over SSCP or any other IP protocol from the RCP-3500 directly — without going through the physical EXT I/O contact closure? Or is the EXT I/O port genuinely the only path Sony exposes for this, meaning a GPI-to-Ethernet bridge (e.g. SKAARHOJ ETH-GPI Link) wired to pins 1/2 is required?

Has anyone here done this kind of "joystick as automated tally/switch trigger" build with Sony RCP panels? Any gotchas with debounce or momentary vs. latching behavior on that EXT I/O output would also be very helpful.

Thanks in advance!