[Released] AVPro DeckLink - Broadcast video input and output for Unity

Latest Version 1.7.6 - Released 22 September 2019

Unity solution for capture of output of HD/4K/8K video streams using DeckLink capture cards.

Platforms current supported: Windows XP and above (32-bit and 64-bit)
Unity versions supported: 5.1 and above
Required Desktop Video version: 11.1.0

Features include:

• NEW Unity 2019 support
• NEW DeckLink 8K Pro support
• NEW Ancillary data support
• NEW Timecode support
  
• Free watermarked trial version available
• Broadcast standard video input and output
• Up to 8K video input
• Automatic video input mode detection
• Supports multiple inputs
• Up to 8K video output
• Low latency output
• Alpha channel output supported
• Internal and external keyer supported
• Support for 10-bit HDR standards BT.2100 and BT.2020
• Stereo (3D) support
• IMGUI and uGUI support
• Material mapping support
• High performance
• Easy to use
• Includes example scenes
• Include drag and drop components
• Unity 5.1 and above supported
• Genlock pixel offset support
• Unity audio source and audio listener support for audio input and output
• Full duplex card support
• Configurable duplex options
• Multi-object component editing
• Supports both capture and playback from/to multiple devices.

Documentation and Downloads available on our web page.

Download the free Unity package HERE

We would love to hear your feedback.
Email unitysupport@renderheads.com or reply to this thread.

Asset Store Link

Thanks,

 

We have submitted the asset to the store... Just waiting for the approval process to complete

 

AVPro DeckLink is now live at the Asset Store

 

Great work !

 

Thanks amignon ., glad you like the plugin!

 

Hi All,

FYI we're working on some updates to the plugin. We had some feedback that the output had a bit too much latency so we're cutting that right back to make it super responsive.

Thanks for all of the feedback so far!

 

Version 1.0 Released!

Changelog:

• Reduced latency for outputting video streams
• Linear colour space support
• Device explorer option for DeckLink components
• Improved device and mode selection
• Icon update
• Added support to offset genlock
• Minor bugfixes

 

If anyone has any feedback for us on the trial version, it would be great to hear
Download the free trial Unity package HERE

 

Does this asset support NVIDIA's DVP extensions?

http://www.nvidia.com/object/quadro-digital-video-pipeline.html

 

Hi igierardstimulant

Thanks for posting! This plugin unfortunately currently only supports BlackMagic DeckLink capture cards.

 

Hello!
I only started to use AvProDeckLink (trial versioan). I use Unity 5.4.0f3 (32-bit),
And when i play any demo I had this mistakes (file with mistakes attached).

Thank you

 

Hi,

It looks like Unity is trying to use the 64-bit plugin for a 32-bit app. Try clicking on the 64-bit plugin (AVProDeckLink.dll in the Plugins/x86_64 folder) and in the Inspector window make sure it is set to 64-bit (x86_64), and then do the same thing for the 32-bit plugin (AVProDeckLink.dll in Plugins/x86) but set it to 32-bit.

Hopefully that will do the trick. We'll see if we can make this automatic in the next release.

Thanks,

 

This likely answered my question, however, DVP is a technology that the DeckLink hardware supports but will only be used if the software also supports it. Basically DVP allows for direct capture card to GPU communication bypassing most of the CPU path. Right now only Quadro GPUs support DVP. NVIDIA makes a compatible capture card but the BalckMagic cards are supposed to be compatible as well.

 

AndrewRH, I already did it. In inspector it was ok 64- x86_64 and 32 - x86!
I installed 64 bit and it was worked. But i need to 32 bit. Do you have some another idea?

And the secod question - there is one line, which moving from up to down (file attached).

Thanks

 

I see, thanks for the info Is this by any chance the same as the DirectGPU feature specified in the DeckLink SDK? The plugin indeed does not support this currently. It's currently not high on the priority list, however, depending on interest, we may move it up. AndrewRH may be able to give you more information on this.

 

Hi karpenkoivan

In the AVProDeckLink assets folder, go to Plugins/x86_64 and select the AVProDeckLink file in there. Uncheck the x86 option under platform settings (we will update this for the new version) so the compiler doesnt pickup that plugin for x86 builds. Then go to Plugins/x86 and select the AVProDeckLink object inside, and then make sure that is checked for x86 and unchecked for x86_64 under platform settings. This should then enable you to compile for both 32 and 64 bit. If you are using the 32bit editor, please make sure that editor in the x86_64 file is unchecked and is checked in the x86 file.

The horizontal line that you see is a watermark for trial versions, it gets removed after purchase.

Hope this answered your questions, please don't hesitate to let us know if you have any more!

 

SunriseRH, thank you for your answer.
If I understand you right. It will be like this. But it doesn`t work whatever. Have you got some ideas what is it?

 

And now I have this mistakes.

 

If you are using the 32 bit editor, the editor checkbox should be checked in the x 86 plugin, and unchecked in the x86_64 one (it's currently the opposite for you at the moment). After you applied the changes, you should restart unity for the plugins to reload.

 

SunriseRH, I am sorry, but I did it. I use 32 bit. And have checked x 86 and unchecked x86_64.

 

Just above that in that same window, where it says select platform for plugin, check the editor box. Also uncheck the editor box in the corresponding section in the x64 plugin.

 

Hi,

I see the problem - you need to have the editor checkbox ticked as well:


Then in the editor tab it should be set to Windows x86:


We'll correct these missing 32-bit settings in the next update of the plugin.

Thanks,

 

SunriseRH, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!
Sorry for my stupid!)

 

Glad you fixed your issue We will update the settings in the next version to ensure this isnt an issue anymore. If you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to either post here or email us.

 

Hi, sorry if this has been asked elsewhere, but couldn't find anywhere:
What are the advantages of using AVpro Deck Link instead of AVpro Live Camera?
we already have AVpro Live Camera which we use with intensity pro HD and 4K cards. It works well up to UHD. The price of the two plugins is quite a jump for essentially the same thing (as far as I can tell). We're interested in AVpro Deck Link, so please explain what the advantages are.
The AVpro Deck Link demo did automatically select the correct input format, which has been an issue for us with Live Capture. So that's one good selling point, what else?...

 

Hi ModuLight,
Good question! AVPro DeckLink is built using the native DeckLink SDK, whereas AVPro Live Camera is more general and is built on Microsoft DirectShow and is more of a general camera input plugin, without any decklink specific features. This means that the AVPro DeckLink plugin has a lot of advantages:
+ Automatic input mode detection
+ Lower latency
+ Better performance
+ Output support - so you can send Unity content out to the DeckLink card
+ Supports keying modes for output - so you can composite Unity rendering over a DeckLink input stream in the Output
+ Genlock features
+ DeckLink audio support (input and output)

So the two major differences are the better input handling, and the output rendering. Output rendering is very useful for broadcast and other media cases. Basically this asset is aimed at professional broadcasters or anyone who wants to get the best results from AV capture, compositing or rendering.

Thanks,

 

Hi Nathan,
The decklink version definitely ticks the right boxes for us, so we'll be using it in the near future. Thanks for the quick reply!

 

Hi all

Just released version 1.1 on the asset store. It includes the following:

Features

• Audio input and output support, integrated into Unity’s audio system
• Support for full duplex cards, allowing for simultaneous capture and playback on supported devices
• Multi-object editing
• Updated DeckLink SDK to 10.8

BugFixes

• Fixed native plugin settings
• Fixed colour space build bug
• Fixed warning messages when switching devices and modes using the explorer
• Buffer info now shows correctly in output and keying demos
• Switching devices in output and keyer demos now works properly
• Fixed output demo explorer to now correctly display the mode and device currently in use

If you would like to test out the plugin, we have a fully featured watermarked trial version here.

Asset Store Link

Thanks,

 

SunriseRH and AndrewRH hello again.
Now, I am starting build my programm and have some mistakes. Can you help?

Thanks

 

Hi Karpenkoivan

This was a bug in our plugin. We fixed it in the latest version, which can be found here.

Hope this helps

 

Great plugin! Much lower latency on Decklink SDI. Better performance and less drop frames compared to DirectShow! Auto detect works like a charm.

Will be testing SDI output in the near future.

I know it's a complete different story, but native Mac Decklink SDK plugin version would be awesome

 

Any plans for a Mac version?

 

There is talk internally about this We've had a few requests so this definitely increases the chances.

Thanks,

 

Hi, loving the plugin, works perfectly.
There is one problem we're facing although not directly an issue with the plugin: We are using a DUO 2 card and need to have it setup as 4 inputs. Easy to setup via the Desktop Video Setup app, but need to do it every time the PC starts, which isn't an option for this project.
Is it possible to set the card input modes via AVPRO Decklink, or would I need to implement something myself using the BlackMagic SDK?
Thanks!

 

Hi ModuLight, glad you are enjoying the plugin By setting the device up as 4 inputs, are you perhaps referring to the configurable duplex mode that duo and duo 2 cards support? If so, there is unfortunately no way to currently configure this within the plugin itself and thus you will need to configure this outside. However, this is a good suggestion and we will definitely be looking to add this in a future version!

 

Hi, yes I need to set the Duplex mode on the Duo 2 card. It would be great if this is something you can implement in the future. Thanks

 

We're working on this now

 

Excellent! Good timing, we really need this feature for our current project. Thanks!

 

Hi, trying to get audio from one of the decklink inputs to be passed to the unity audio listener, but get an error whenever I uncheck "mute audio" in the decklink input script.
Windows 10, Desktop Video 10.8.2, Decklink mini recorder 4K
help please!

ArgumentException: length
System.Array.Copy (System.Array sourceArray, Int32 sourceIndex, System.Array destinationArray, Int32 destinationIndex, Int32 length) (at /Users/builduser/buildslave/mono/build/mcs/class/corlib/System/Array.cs:971)
RenderHeads.Media.AVProDeckLink.DeckLinkInput.Process () (at Assets/AVProDeckLink/Scripts/Components/DeckLinkInput.cs:93)
RenderHeads.Media.AVProDeckLink.DeckLink.Update () (at Assets/AVProDeckLink/Scripts/Internal/DeckLink.cs:517)

EDIT: noticed that it works normally over SDI, but with HDMI input selected I get the error. Video also seems to stick if mute is unchecked, but other video inputs are unaffected.

 

Hi,

Thanks for posting this issue. Will check it out and get back to you

 

Hi ModuLight,

I was unable to directly replicate this issue (tested using both Intensity Pro and DeckLink SDI), but I managed to generate the same error message by changing some buffer sizes . Working on a fix right now, it will be out in the next release. The video sticking might have something to do with the exception being thrown as well.

 

Thanks so much for looking into the sound input problem. Note that the issue was only when using the hdmi input, not SDI.
Any timeline for when the fix will be available? Also waiting with bated breath for the ability to control the card duplex settings. Thanks for all your help!

 

Both the fix and the ability to configure the duplex mode should be out later today, or at the latest early next week. With regards to the HDMI input, I'm not sure if it is a purely HDMI input thing because I tested an input video stream using an intensity pro and encountered no problems.

Either ways it should be fixed now, although if you still experiencing issues please don't hesitate to let us know

 

Hi All,

AVPro DeckLink version 1.2.0 has just been released! (pending Asset Store review)

You can find the updated version on the Asset Store and the free trial version / demos on our website.

Changes include:

Features

• Support for playback on multiple devices
• Configurable duplex modes

Bugfixes

• Fixed audio buffering bug that would cause exceptions to be thrown at times.
• Output demo now correctly shows target frame rate

Thanks,

 

Hi, I couldn't get the new duplex settings feature to work. I added one DeckLinkSettings script to the scene, specified the device names for each of the 4 channels of the Duo2, set each one to half duplex (as I want 4 inputs from the duo2 card). But only get channel 1 & 3 as if the card was still in full duplex mode. Checking the desktop video setup app I can see the duplex modes have been set by the plugin, but for some reason not getting video on channels 2 & 4. Disabling the settings script and playing the unity editor again allows me to see all 4 inputs. So the plugin is half working, setting duplex is ok, but still no input. Any help much appreciated.
Windows 10, Unity 5.4.2f2, Desktop Video 10.8.2, AVPro DeckLink 1.2.0
1x DeckLink Duo2, 2x DeckLink Mini Recorder 4K

 

The audio fix has stopped the error, and I can now get audio. Thanks!
But am getting a LOT of noise on the captured audio. I verified the audio is being captured correctly and at normal levels using Media Express. Changing the unity audio settings to "best latency" helps, but it's still too noisy. Trying to get the audio from a DeckLink Mini Recorder 4K. Thanks!
Windows 10, Unity 5.4.2f2, Desktop Video 10.8.2, AVPro DeckLink 1.2.0
1x DeckLink Duo2, 2x DeckLink Mini Recorder 4K

 

Hey ModuLight,

Going to look into how to get the settings to reflect without requiring a restart. With regards to the noisy audio, do you perhaps have some examples of expected audio, and the audio that you got from the plugin? I verified on my machine that the audio is somewhat noisy, however, I got the same amount of noise from MediaExpress.

Another thing to note is that the latency settings is mainly for reducing the latency of the audio from the capture card.

 

Hi, not working with that machine again until next week, so can't get you audio samples. But the audio in media express was noiseless. Unity on "best latency" was bad (lots of pops and jumps), other unity sound settings were terrible (Darth Vader talking through a tin can). Sorry I can't be more help until next week.

 

Aha no worries, that is quite descriptive So would you say that the "noise" is less background noise but rather more sort of discontinuous/distortive? If so this is definitely a good starting point

 

Yea, definitely not background noise. More like a sample rate or buffer issue maybe.