Help with Magewell USB Capture HDMI 4K Plus in Resolume Avenue

[Lumenarius]

Thanks again Zoltan.

I would classify it as going blank. Just a black screen. Not the "no signal" display either. Just blank.

The USB Capture Source is still present as a clip but it is missing the resolution and is just blank/black. Not sure if that helps classify the issue. See attached image from client. This is what it looks like after re-opening Avenue and encountering the issue.

As for restart that is more rare, sometimes about once a week. Else, they just close the applications and then open them the next day.

[Zoltán]

Doing a proper shutdown at the end of the day might be an idea to try.
Drivers and software can get confused when running for a loong time.

[Lumenarius]

Thank you for the continued tips.

However, given this has been tried, and the error still persists, and is having to be dealt with multiple times a week, I don't think that is the core issue.

I have overseen installations that run continuously for weeks and the show file did not ever "decay" or cease to perform correctly.

[vejas]

I am just to suggest what I would try in your situation.

Have you tried to create a new admin user on the mac studio and check if other programm are running in background (like madmapper, since I've seen it in the dock another workaround could be capture throught it and sending in ndi to resolume, if the card remaing stable in madmapper, it's just a one shot solution but it cannot be definitive since it will introduce lag and couldn't be client friendly but it's a test i would ran to to limit the issue)

It's the same happen with Arena? (try the demo version and see if the behaviour is the same)
(I know that the driver are the same etc... and it doesn't make a lot of sense, but sometimes most of the solution doesn't or at least I cannot explain why if I do everything correctly it doesn't work while if I some changes I've made sometimes that shouldn't be related it, as read in the manuale and from the common knowledge, that's why I know it's science but sometimes I like to think more as alchemy )

[cat]

Is the device getting hot? If it is try putting a heatsink on it. Can you try a different device (or the same device but different one) ? It could be a hardware problem

[zgorzelec]

I´m having a similar / the same issue with a Magwell USB Capture HDMI interface. Many times when I reopen Resolume, the icons for this source are grey instead of green and do not have a connection to the USB Capture interface. I usually go to "sources", select the Magwell icon and drop it onto the grey icons. Effects and Midi controllers remain, just the source is somehow "updated". Really annoying, especially when you have many instances of this source but for me the only solution.

[cat]

Could there be a ground loop happening? I had a capture card go down when a bnc plug touched some ducting which was grounded elsewhere, in that case, it was fatal to the hardware, but maybe a lower voltage difference but be at play? Is the output of the server eg the led rack/video processors/projector on the same ground?

[Lumenarius]

Thanks for chiming in Cat.

I honestly think this is a factor for there is a serious static electricity effect happening at this venue.

It's all on astro turf, on a roof, and everyone is discharging static electricity when they touch anything metal.

We have been told the electricians have looked into it and there is nothing to be done.

The only other electronics that have issues on site are the speakers which have a very low hum and no "ground lift" devices have been able to fix that.

As of right now we are having the client simply reset the comp and drag in a new USB Capture Source onto the deck and it seems to work fine.

We may upgrade this in the future to another capture device but that is where it is at now.

[Lumenarius]

Following up on this Zoltan.

The computer is on for days at a time and only restarted every week or so.

We ended up replacing the Magewell with a BlackMagic UltraStudio 4K Mini which so far has solved the issue of the Magewell losing contact and needing to be reinitialized. So much nicer to have it just work and for the live input to be stable over time.

I did some deep research and it appears that the BM 4K Mini makes a connection with the Mac Studio at a much deeper level via the USB C Thunderbolt 4 cable. This combined with a real SDK, that Resolume utilizes, and it appears for now to have been solved.

However... it introduces its own issue. The new issue is that when you do restart the Mac Studio it will boot to a black screen on the main desktop monitor because the BM 4K Mini does not do well when rebooting while still plugged in. When I remotely log in to the computer over the internet the Mac Studio *thinks* it is actually connected to the BenQ monitor. It shows it in the monitor layout just fine. But the BM hangs up on handoff and so the main desktop monitor is just black. Not no signal. Just black...

The other screens that are connected (x2 DataPath Fx4 via HDMI to Apple Digital AV adapter) do work just fine. After playing around with connections the issue is that whichever monitor has the Dock and Menu won't boot right.

I tried every firmware from the current 15.4 down the chain back to 14.1 and none of them fixed this issue.

The only thing that fixes this is to manually and physically unplug the USB C cable from the BM to the Mac Studio. Boom. Fixed. Re plug, good as new. Works great.

Notable that power cycling the BM from the IEC connector does not work. Only the Thunderbolt 4 USB Cable. Yes it is certified. Tried others as well. Same result.

Kind of ironic and funny, given the initial problem, but overall NOT DESIRED. I tested this whole setup thoroughly on my Mac M4 Laptop and never had this issue. Only on Desktop Mac machines. Such is AV tech life...

I spoke with x2 BM reps and they had never seen it before. Been about a week and have not heard back from them after supplying logs and all that. I will update if and when I do hear back.

I think there are a few scripts to try that will auto run on boot to force a "re-handshake" after login and I think that will fix it but I need to try more first.