About Blackmagic Desktop Video Software --------------------------------------- The Desktop Video packages provide capture and playback support for a large range of Blackmagic Design PCIe and thunderbolt products including the DeckLink, Intensity and UltraStudio product lines. What's New in Desktop Video 10.9.11 ---------------------------------- * Ensure video output preference is correctly restored on startup. * Fix build issue on Linux 4.15 kernel. * General performance and stability improvements for all models. Fixes and new features in Media Express 3.5.5: * Ensure Media Express remains responsive when capturing UHD modes. * Improve compatibility with MFX files recorded with Blackmagic Design HyperDeck Studio Mini. * Correct color saturation issue introduced in Media Express 3.5.4. * Improve compatibility with third party applications with files containing more than two audio tracks. * Correct occasional issue seen when capturing PsF formats to H.265 files. * Add support for VITC timecode when capturing SD formats with UltraStudio Mini Recorder. * General performance and stability improvements. Minimum System Requirements --------------------------- Basic system requirements: * 32 bit x86 running Linux 2.6.18 or higher * 64 bit x86_64 running Linux 2.6.18 or higher A 64 bit kernel and ample memory is strongly recommended. Thunderbolt Hotplug Requirements -------------------------------- Thunderbolt devices cannot be plugged in hot on kernels earlier than 2.6.30. Supported kernels older than 3.12 require an extra step after plugging the device in. You must tell the kernel to rescan the PCI bus using the following command: # sudo sh -c 'echo 1 > /sys/bus/pci/rescan' Kernel 3.12 and later support hotplug without the need for any extra steps. Supported Distributions ----------------------- This release has been tested on: * Ubuntu 14.04, 16.04, 16.10 * Debian 7 - 8 * Fedora 24 - 25 * CentOS 6 - 7 Several different package formats are supplied: * Native package (.deb) for Ubuntu and Debian based distributions. * Native package (.rpm) for RedHat and Fedora based distributions. * Tarball and packaging files for custom installation. Software Dependencies --------------------- The Desktop Video packages require some additional libraries and packages: * dkms * Linux kernel headers/source (for currently running kernel version) All packages above are included in most modern distributions. Consult your distributions documentation for more information. CentOS distributions do not ship with dkms. http://linux.dell.com/dkms/ provides RPMs, DEBs and source packages for dkms. Alternatively, the dkms package can be installed from the RepoForge/RPMForge repository (See http://wiki.centos.org/AdditionalResources/Repositories/RPMForge). Installing Desktop Video Software --------------------------------- There are four packages provided that you can install: * desktopvideo: This package includes the driver and firmware utility. This package is required. * desktopvideo-gui: This package includes the graphical control panel used to configure the device and a firmware update available notification. * mediaexpress: This package includes Media Express, a simple capture and playback utility. Ubuntu and Debian based distributions The deb packages are located in the deb/i386 and deb/amd64 directories. Installation from Graphical User Interface Double click on the desktopvideo package. Click the install button and follow the prompts. This can then be repeated for the desktopvideo-gui and mediaexpress packages if desired. Installation from Command Line At the command prompt type: # sudo dpkg -i desktopvideo_*.deb Or, to also install the control panel and Media Express, type: # sudo dpkg -i desktopvideo_*.deb desktopvideo-gui_*.deb \ mediaexpress_*.deb Then fix up any missing dependencies with: # sudo apt-get install -f RedHat or Fedora based distributions The rpm packages are located in the rpm/i386 and rpm/x86_64 directories. Please apply all system updates before installing the packages. Installation from Graphical User Interface Double click the desktopvideo package. Click the install button and follow the prompts. This can then be repeated for the desktopvideo-gui and mediaexpress packages if desired. Installation from Command Line At the command prompt type: # sudo yum install --nogpgcheck desktopvideo-*.rpm Or, to also install the control panel and Media Express, type: # sudo yum install --nogpgcheck desktopvideo-*.rpm \ mediaexpress-*.rpm If upgrading from an older version of the driver, you will need to reboot in order to load the new module. Creating your own .deb or .rpm packages The packaging files used to build the .deb and .rpm packages can be found in the other/x86_64 and other/i386 directories along with the binary tarballs they use as source. The examples below build the 64-bit desktopvideo packages. Building a set of .deb packages To build these packages you need to have debhelper and devscripts installed. # mkdir desktopvideo-deb # tar zxf other/x86_64/desktopvideo_*_amd64.debian.tar.gz \ -C desktopvideo-deb # cp other/x86_64/desktopvideo*-x86_64.tar.gz desktopvideo-deb # cd desktopvideo-deb # debuild -us -uc -b Building a set of .rpm packages To build these packages you need to have rpm-build and chrpath installed. # mkdir desktopvideo-rpm # ( cd desktopvideo-rpm && mkdir BUILD BUILDROOT RPMS SRPMS \ SPECS SOURCES ) # cp other/x86_64/desktopvideo*.x86_64.spec desktopvideo-rpm/SPECS # cp other/x86_64/desktopvideo*-x86_64.tar.gz desktopvideo-rpm/SOURCES # cd desktopvideo-rpm # rpmbuild --define "_topdir ${PWD}" -bb \ SPECS/desktopvideo*.x86_64.spec The same process can be used to build the 32-bit or Media Express packages. Other Linux 2.6 based distributions (Experts Only) No native package exist to support these distributions at the time of writing. It is however, possible to install the driver manually by downloading the tar.gz archive. Before you begin, ensure that your system satisfies external dependencies listed above in "Software dependencies". The files are structured in the binary tarball as they should be installed. It is suggested that you look at the provided rpm spec file or the debian rules file for any assistance required. Before getting started, you should take note of the following: * If your system places its 64-bit libraries in lib64, there are a number of additional changes required. You can find these in the install section of the provided x86_64 spec file. * If you want to install into a prefix other than /usr, you will have to make the same set of changes as above for lib64. Frequently Asked Questions -------------------------- * How do I check that the driver/device was loaded successfully? You can check that your computer find your device by entering the following from a terminal: # lspci | grep Blackmagic 02:00.0 Multimedia video controller: Blackmagic Design Device a11b You should see entries like the above if the device was recognized by the system. To test if the driver is loaded properly, type: # lsmod | grep blackmagic blackmagic 2082944 1 If you get no output, that means that the driver is not loaded. * How do I update the firmware on a device? The device's firmware can be updated with the BlackmagicFirmwareUpdater. See the man page for instructions and examples on how to use the utility. * The driver crashed my system Look for kernel output messages in dmesg and /var/log/messages. * The package installed, but the driver was not loaded Try the following command: # dkms status -m blackmagic[-io] -k `uname -r` blackmagic, 10.1.2, 3.5.0-27-generic, x86_64: If the status is 'installed', then the module is installed, but probably not loaded. It can be loaded with the following command: # sudo modprobe blackmagic[_io] If the status is 'added', then the module failed to build. You can issue the following command to manually run the build and use the output to determine the problem. # sudo dkms build -m blackmagic[-io] -v 10.1.2 A common cause is a version mismatch between the installed kernel image, and the kernel source/headers. If they do not match, simply bring either the source/headers or the image version up to date, and reboot your system. Once the system is back up, the driver should be built for you at startup. If the status is 'built', then the module has been built, but not installed. You can issue the following command to manually install and use the output to determine the problem. # sudo dkms install -m blackmagic[-io] -v 10.1.2 --all Known Issues ------------ * Incompatibility with small memory and/or 32 bit systems Sufficient memory must be available to the driver to support the number of devices installed and their frame buffering requirements. A 64 bit system with adequate memory is strongly recommended. In some configurations, reserving more memory at boot for vmalloc may be necessary. More memory can be allocated by adding 'vmalloc=' option to the kernel command line. e.g. vmalloc=256M * Driver fails to build against certain version of linux-rt Some versions of the linux-rt patchset may be incompatible with the driver. * ASPM with some PCI-e cards Some PCI-e cards (1x lane cards) do not function properly by default when ASPM is enabled. When in this state, the device will be listed in lspci and the BlackmagicFirmwareUpdater status will report version ff. To work around this please add kernel boot parameter "pcie_aspm=off" to your boot loader. Additional Information ---------------------- Please check www.blackmagicdesign.com for additional information on third party software compatibility and minimum system requirements. Some applications may use third party code under license. For details please refer to the included "Third Party Licenses.rtf" document. © 2018 Blackmagic Design Pty. Ltd. All rights reserved. Blackmagic Design, Blackmagic, DeckLink, Multibridge, HDLink, Videohub, and "Leading the creative video revolution" are trademarks of Blackmagic Design Pty. Ltd., registered in the U.S.A and other countries. Updated February 09, 2018.