Blackmagic Design DeckLink Mini Recorder (BDLKMINIREC)

Unlike the Black Magic intensity shuttle, this little PCI card just works... all the time... no problems.With the portable versions of the same interface there are frequent connection issues. Sources get lost, it misidentifies them in OBS... etc.This little guy just works. It's been crucial for me for running my DSLR as a camera for teaching my students during COVID. I'm also considering building a computer with the multi-input version for my church to do live-streams.Yeah, it's not the best overall value, and you can find cheaper solutions. But you're paying for Black Magic and as I tell my children: Don't buy cheap tools that break -- buy the right tool once.WOULD BUY AGAIN

I work as a Multimedia designer and operators for events, some clients need to have High Definition video input from HD Camera.so thats why i need this Blackmagic Decklink Mini recorder to capture SDI feed to my computer.The card can capture High Definition Video without any problem and any laggy picture.very recomend this card for pre production and post production video

I like this card because it works for capturing hd video from a camera. It can capture it so you can see it in real time on your computer, play it, and record it. Aside from this, it doesn't do much more. What I mean is you don't get support for other things you might want to do.I wanted to use this with Skype, but after trying for a few hours, I gave up on it. You can't use it with Skype unless Skype natively recognizes the video. I used an hd sdi camera (with resolution of 1080p), because the black magic card has input for both hdmi and sdi. For my camera, Skype would not natively recognize the video, except when I use a third party program like manycam to connect the video to Skype. But to unlock manycam's hd features, you need to buy the pro version which costs $50. In addition, manycam's "hd" viewing video is very grainy, so even when I see it in Skype, it's very grainy as well, so a degradation in picture quality, although it does work. (as a side note, I'm thinking that maybe Skype doesn't support hd too well anyways because of internet bandwidth and not hardware, but this may or may not be a factor).What I like about this card is that it does recognize an hd video signal as long as it matches the configuration of the card's resolution and frame rate. For example, 1080p 30 fps. It can go from 1080p to 720p at varying frame rates, ntsc or pal. I emailed Black magic about compatible cameras and they responded:"We unfortunately do not have the compatibility listed or categorized by camera. Instead it is basically organized by supported resolutions and frame rates.Your camera basically has to support one of the following resolutions and frame rates......720p50, 720p59.94, 720p60, 1080PsF23.98, 1080p23.98, 1080PsF24, 1080p24, 1080PsF25, 1080p25, 1080PsF29.97, 1080p29.97, 1080PsF30, 1080p30, 1080i50, 1080i59.94 and 1080i60."note: I'm not absolutely sure if this list is completely inclusive, but this is the list given to me in email for sure.If your resolution or frame rate is not listed, maybe it could still work but it's a hit and miss. Notice the resolution quoted to me is all hd and not sd. What I'm saying is just because your camera is not on the list doesn't mean it absolutely will not work, I tried a camcorder and it wouldn't work but all of a sudden it did (I don't know why), but the camcorder was built for uploading through hdmi and not streaming so it was a waste of money. The camcorder's resolution and frame rate was 720p at 29 fps and somehow the setting for the capture card was set at 1080i at 59.94 fps and an image came up for uploading from camcorder to computer (no other setting would work). My camcorder was only built for uploading and not streaming so it was a waste of time and money. Don't know how camcorder image for uploading from camcorder to computer came up, or what this means, but a fluke of nature, I don't know.So this capture card comes with a basic play and record software, but whether you want to use other software, it's totally up to you. There is no support for making this software work with Skype, 3rd party software and such. Or if there is support for it, you have to research it on your own. So therefore anything you do outside of the card and accompanying software is totally up to you. So it's not like you plug in this card, and you can plug and play with Skype and stuff like that. You have to research it. You have to make it work.This is why I gave it 4 stars, because it captures my hd video, but outside of that, it doesn't appear to me to do much more.

Our need was to work with LiveStream "Producer" application and most importantly, multi bitrate encoding (think YouTube where you can choose HD, 640, 320 etc). Our initial test was with an i5 (Dell 3040, half height card) with an SSD. While this worked for HD alone (or combo's of lower resolutions) the desired HD plus 3 lower streams at once would max out the processor. We switched to an i7 (Dell 7040, SSD, half height card) and had no problem. This seems like very good value to me as it meet our needs completely.

Dude this is so cool! Using it with my Mac Pro 2019 and it’s awesome. I’m using the HDMI input and you need to install the software they have and that will let you select the port you need. Other than that it’s pretty simple. I will normally record with QuickTime. I tried there provide recorder and it’s awful can’t even listen to the audio while it’s recording. Then I tried OBS and that files took forever to render in Final Cut and the Audio would drift over time. I didn’t have any issues with QuickTime. Other than every now and then the recorded video would have a couple seconds missing. Haven’t figured that one out yet. Oh and every now and then whenever I got to record a clip and I haven’t recorded anything in a while the computer will freeze then restart and the recording will work after that. So I’m guessing a driver needs updating or something.

It's difficult to get this device to match up to the incoming signal at times. It's very particular about what signals it will accept. Once it's working it works great though.

On the support page. Select Capture and Playback to view downloads and tech data.On the left side under Latest Downloads you'll want to download and install the Desktop Video 10.4.1 software package.It contains the drivers you need. And they got the Mini Recorder working.Runs with camera hdmi output at 1080i 24p and 60p from a Sony a7s recording in AVCHD 24p and 60p.PC is a hp Elite HPE 580t, I7 950 quad core, 8gb ram 1066mhz, 250 GB 7200 rpm, NVIDIA GE FORGE GT420.Motherboard Pegatron IPMTB-TK TruckeeIn media express, while capturing at 1080p 24p, the video only displays if the camera record button is depressed.When you stop camera record, media express goes black.In media express, while capturing at 1080i 60p, the video displays the camera hdmi output with or without the record on the camera being depressed.Perhaps the camera hdmi output defaults to 1080i 60p, if no video recording overrides it.