Blackmagic Videohub & RS422

I've talked about BlackMagic's router range - the VideoHub before but never installed one of the larger 72x144 models.
They are very thin! Where you'd expect the cables to terminate at the back of the bay these have to be long enough to terminate at the front of the cabinet.

Here are a few notes relating to it - it's amazing that you can buy a 3G-capable HD-SDi router (with RS422) for around ten grand. To do the same with Probel et al would be north of £50k. However - there are a few things you lose with your budget router.

• Remotes control - although in the past I've mentioned how the VideoHub can't do the TX/RX crossover that all 'proper' matrices do (i.e. they know how to handle controlled/controlling devices) they have introduced this in v.4.3 of the control software (that runs on a USB-attached Mac or PC - can can even re-share control over a network so you can run the same control applet on your Avid/FCP workstation). In v.4.2 you had to declare what a device was - either a 'deck' (a controlled device) or a 'workstation' (a controller). This falls down when you think about doing two-machine front panel editing between two VTs - the recorder becomes the controller and so you have to go into the labels menu and temporarily declare that VT a 'workstation'. The reverse is true if you want to run your Avid in VTR-emulate mode (when the timeline can be controller like a piece of video tape). We thought 4.3 was the answer to all our RS422-payers but it doesn't work that well - and when it gets it wrong you have to keep making and breaking the route in the hope that it gets it right. So - we're sticking with v.4.2 (BlackMagic s/ware archive in the title link).
  
• Touchscreen - our customer wanted a touchscreen to control the software which works quite well - I'd recommend at least a 19" 1280x1024 res screen as a 17" is fiddly.
  

Of course - in a non-TX environment these things may not matter. It really is a very good deal!