MOTU HD Express and Trash Can?

[hamburski]

So I want to start sending video out to a dedicated monitor. I'm running DP 9.5 on a late 2013 Mac Pro trashcan and OSX 10.12.6.

According to the manual, MOTU's HD Express would allow me to do this. But a look at the info on the MOTU site indicates I'd connect HD Express to my computer via an included (with the HD) PCI card. But my understanding is that you can't install a PCI card on a trashcan?

I'm not super hip to opening up and installing stuff on my machine (obviously) so I could have most or all of this wrong. I'm not married to the idea of the HD Express, but it's half the cost of the least expensive AJA device I could rummage up online, and Black Magic seems to have discontinued their simplest option. Most everything seems to be overkill for my purposes; I don't need to import anything, just send out video. Any insight on this would be most welcome!

[mikehalloran]

Specifications Mac/Win

Supports Avid Media Composer 6.5 on Mac OS X and Windows 8/7/Vista (no current support for versions of Media Composer later than 6.5)

Supports Final Cut Pro 6.0.5 or 7.x on Mac OS X (no current support for versions of Final Cut later than 7.x)

Supports Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 or CS5.5 on Windows 8/7/Vista (no current support for versions of Premiere Pro later than CS5.5)

What are the system requirements for the HD Express?
System Requirements for the HD Express

The HD Express has the following system requirements:

Available PCI-Express x1 slot or ExpressCard/34 slot
Large hard disk drive (preferably at least 500 GB)
CD-ROM disc drive for installation
For Mac OS X:

Multi-processor or multi-core Intel Mac
1 GB of RAM; 2 GB or more is recommended
Mac OS X version 10.6.8 - 10.9.5 (no current support for 10.10 or later)
For use with Final Cut Pro 6.0.5 or later; Final Cut Pro 7.0 or later is recommended on Mac OS X v10.6 - 10.9.5 (no current support for versions of Final Cut later than 7.x)

For Windows:

Intel Core 2 Duo, AMD Phenom II, or equivalent 64-bit processor; multiple processors or multi-core processor required
2 GB of RAM; 4 GB or more is recommended
Windows 8, Windows 7, or Vista, 64-bit versions only (no current support for Windows 10)
For use with Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 or CS5.5; version 5.0.3 or later required (no current support for versions of Premiere Pro later that CS5.5)

An old product supporting old applications.

[mikehalloran]

Even though the DP 9 manual mentions them, none of the MOTU video products will work for you. The installers were last updated in 2014. From the Downloads page:

MOTU Video Installer

Installs latest drivers and software for all MOTU video products
Supports Mac OS X version 10.6.8 - 10.9.5 (no current support for 10.10 and later)

[mikehalloran]

External GPUs can be made to work in OS 10.10–10.12.

https://www.imore.com/how-set-your-mac-external-gpu

https://9to5mac.com/2017/04/11/hands-on ... l-drivers/

High Sierra includes native support for external GPUs. The developer toolkit has been released but, to my knowledge, no products have been released to support it yet.

https://www.theverge.com/2017/6/5/15743 ... -wwdc-2017

If these new products support Thunderbolt 2, they should work with the current Mac Pro when they become available.

I have no idea if MOTU can use the new toolkit it to breathe new life into the HDX-SDI Thunderbolt (I’m guessing probably not)

http://motu.com/newsitems/motu-thunderb ... io-is-here

[hamburski]

Most interesting; thanks for so much info on this, Mike. I had no idea it was so messy to work this out. I currently have two monitors running on Thunderbolt adapters out of my trashcan. I borrowed a friend's old Black Magic Express box (I think that's what it was called), which DP 9 recognized, and got picture to a tv screen via HDMI that way but there was drift between the movie window on my computer monitors and the playback on the tv. Not just offset, which I could have adjusted for within the Black Magic software, but drifting out of sync. Not useful, but it was great to have picture filling a screen without having to doink with it with the mouse every time it popped up. Curious why this is so hard to sort out when one of the big appeals of DP is its functionality when working with picture...

[mikehalloran]

I believe the issue is with Apple and Intel. The new toolkit shows that these issues are being resolved as both move to support VR. Apple is clearly betting on virtual reality being the Next Big Thing and the indications are that this will trickle down to better support for mundane 2D AV.

MOTU is apparently sitting it out for now where external video and the Mac are concerned. Hopefully, this will change soon.

I will be interested in seeing what lies in store for NAMM in a few weeks.

[hamburski]

Is there any reason this Black Magic Ultrastudio Mini Monitor wouldn't do the trick?

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/contro ... sku=892451

Or the AJA T-tap?

https://www.amazon.com/AJA-T-TAP-Portab ... BKOLL3J3K6

[HCMarkus]

Can you just use DP's Movie Window and drag it to your third monitor, connected via Thunderbolt, then make "full screen"?

With my 5,1 Mac Pro I am able to use the DP Movie Window in a separate monitor without any additional hardware... During scoring work, I've got DP running a Consolidated Window in my main 4k HDMI display (via Display Port to HDMI Active Converter) with video only in the Movie Window in my secondary display connected via DVI.

[hamburski]

Yes, if I could get the mac to see my third screen. I'm using older monitors that require converters to connect via Thunderbolt, which may be part of my problem?

But even if I could, that feels pretty clunky when I'm working with clients.

[HCMarkus]

Yes, if I could get the mac to see my third screen. I'm using older monitors that require converters to connect via Thunderbolt, which may be part of my problem?

But even if I could, that feels pretty clunky when I'm working with clients.

You might want to look around MacRumors.com in the Mac Pro Forum... lots of folks using multiple monitors. Good info may be found there.

Don't know why it would feel clunky. When the Movie window is in Full Screen mode, all you see is video on that monitor.

[mikehalloran]

Yes, if I could get the mac to see my third screen. I'm using older monitors that require converters to connect via Thunderbolt, which may be part of my problem?

But even if I could, that feels pretty clunky when I'm working with clients.

You need HDMI monitors. These are ridiculously cheap these days and is the adapter, as low as $5 on Amazon. If using older monitors, the savings on your electric bill will pay for the new ones.

Depending on the resolution, the current Mac Pro supports three to six monitors.