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xMac Pro Server Config

floriankuenzifloriankuenzi
in MAIN
Hello,
I use millumin as a media server to play media during corporate event. It's an excellent tool, I really like to work with it and i thank Millumin's team for that software.
To be fast and efficient, we are purchasing a New Mac Pro with the xMac Pro server from Sonnet : 

What i need to do in most events is 
- 3 projector blending connected in HD-SDI (1080p). 
- 1 screen monitor connected in HD-SDI with a converter to HDMI (1080p)
- 1 Input RealTime HDMI of a PowerPoint

I don't want some flying box. We need all in the xMac Pro Server box. That's why we are looking for PCIe cards.

I like to work with the brand AJA, but it's not necessary. I found these card's:
- AJA Corvid 24 https://www.aja.com/en/products/developer/corvid24 (for the output SDI)
- AJA Kona LHi https://www.aja.com/en/products/kona-lhi#/overview (for the input HDMI)

1) Do these cards work well with Millumin? 
2) How many frame delay there is (estimation) for the input? is that possible to use it for video live you think?
3) Which other cards do you advise me to work well with Millumin?

Thank you for your help and work

Cheers
Florian

Comments

  • antoineMantoineM
    Hello @floriankuenzi,

    We haven't  tested  such cards.
    - Millumin should support AJA inputs cards through the QuickTime component furnished by AJA. 
    - Outputs cards won't be recognised unless we implement the SDK from AJA which is planned. However we haven't release date for this functionality.
    - Usually such cards have a delay of 120ms (to be confirmed by AJA).
    - Millumin supports BlackMagicDesign cards natively. So you will be able to use input/output cards from them.

    Regards,
    AntoineM*
  • floriankuenzifloriankuenzi

    Hi, 
    Thank
    you for the answer. I think I have found which cards of blackmagic I can use.
    Could
    you confirm me these cards are compatible with Millumin.

    Thank
    you,

    When I will receive every stuff and test it, i will make a post with the result.

    Florian

  • antoineMantoineM
    Hi, @Floriankuenzi,

    The Decklink cards are natively supported by Millumin.
    You could see this post for acquisition benchmark.

    Regards,
    Antoine M*
  • dnnydnny
    Hi Florian.

    Now that you have worked with the setup, how does it feel? anything you would chance? I would like to hear some comments as I have "similar" system.

    I started building a Millumin/Qlab setup. My main purpose for this is video playback for corporate events, simple loops and backgrounds, but I need multiple DVI outputs. We are usin a Barco E2 and Barco Folsom for mixing and pip making so I have no inputs to Millumin.

    Here is the setup
    Mac Pro 3.0GHz 8-core 
    64G RAM, 1TB SSD
    Dual AMD FirePro D700 GPUs

    some pictures here:

    Because Mac pro can only support two DVI connectors with passive adaptors there is six Apple thunderbolt to dual link DVI adapters.
    To manage edid information, to keep screens in place even something is unplugged and pugged back in, to disable hdcp and to duplicate the output for own monitoring purposes there are six Lightware da2dvi-dl edid managers+ distributors. I like to use the DVI distros, I sometimes use the other output for my own monitoring or for a backup system.


    For sound I have very minimal interface, Digigram UAX220v2 (stereo in/out + headphone monitoring)

    There is a StarTech USB32HDDVII usb3 to dvi adapter that is for Millumin/qlab control window, so ideally I could have six outputs to projectors + one for own monitor. I have tested this and it seems to be working.


    There is a 5V 30A (40A if cooled) power supply that feeds the Apple dual link adaptors and the edid managers. All have their own fused outputs. + 12V psu for fans and voltage monitoring.

    There is two fans to cool the edid managers and splitters.

    Temperature of the machine is not rising over 70 degrees, even all the cores are running at 100% for two hours.

    I have been really pleased about this setup, except for the mounting of the edid managers, the edids are very hard to change. Thats not mostly a problem because we a running 1080p@50 all the time, but when there is a need for something more special in means of resolution its really hard to change the edids because the boxes have the edid switches inside the setup.

    PostBox makes really nice looking Mac Pro enclosure:

    Thanks for reading this far.
    Daniel
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