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Other Blackmagic DeckLink Quad HDMI Recorder users here? Annoying clicking sound from the card itself (not fan) normal?

aBavarian Normie-Pleb
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Go to solution Solved by LaFemmeEnVert,
10 minutes ago, aBavarian Normie-Pleb said:

Now I feel stupid:

 

- Stopping the fan (with your finger) does not change the clicking sound in any way.

 

- Unplugging the fan leads to the sound completely disappearing.

 

What's up with that?!

 

Have seen (and heard) many, many PC case fans from cheap to expensive and never experienced such fan behavior.

in the professional video products world blackmagic is like the budget product manufacturer  *wink*, and was reading some forums were people are complaining about them using cheap poorly designed noisy fans

 

some people say they disconnect the fan off their cards and run the hardware fine

other people say they look for a replacement fan

Posted

Hello everyone,

 

long-time watcher, first-time poster here.

 

A short while ago I jumped to Blackmagic hardware (PCC 6k and the Blackmagic DeckLink Quad HDMI Recorder) since by specs their products look very promising while not costing thaaat much.

 

I'm pretty annoyed by the DeckLink Quad HDMI Recorder, a component on the PCB is always making a very noticeable clicking sound, ALWAYS as soon as the AIC is powered on. Tested systems with different PSUs (Seasonic) and without any HDMI cables plugged in.

 

I've made a short recording of this sound; does anyone know if this is supposed to be normal? The sound does NOT come from the small fan on the chipset itself. As far as I can tell after a short period of time, other than that the capture card functions properly.

 

Thanks for your input!

 

Regards,
aBavarian Normie-Pleb

Blackmagic_DeckLink_Quad_HDMI_Recorder_Non-Fan_Clicking_Component_Sound.mp3

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16 minutes ago, aBavarian Normie-Pleb said:

Hello everyone,

 

long-time watcher, first-time poster here.

 

A short while ago I jumped to Blackmagic hardware (PCC 6k and the Blackmagic DeckLink Quad HDMI Recorder) since by specs their products look very promising while not costing thaaat much.

 

I'm pretty annoyed by the DeckLink Quad HDMI Recorder, a component on the PCB is always making a very noticeable clicking sound, ALWAYS as soon as the AIC is powered on. Tested systems with different PSUs (Seasonic) and without any HDMI cables plugged in.

 

I've made a short recording of this sound; does anyone know if this is supposed to be normal? The sound does NOT come from the small fan on the chipset itself. As far as I can tell after a short period of time, other than that the capture card functions properly.

 

Thanks for your input!

 

Regards,
aBavarian Normie-Pleb

Blackmagic_DeckLink_Quad_HDMI_Recorder_Non-Fan_Clicking_Component_Sound.mp3 810.03 kB · 7 downloads

Contact BMD support.  Return, replace, rma the device.

yeah what would i know about cameras or cinematography compared to you tech people.  i've only done this work for nearly 20 years, won a few awards, worked in over a dozen different countries and a few multi million dollar projects

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Sounds like something on the card is loose, maybe heat sink or one of the fan wires and when the fan spins fast it’s shaking

yeah what would i know about cameras or cinematography compared to you tech people.  i've only done this work for nearly 20 years, won a few awards, worked in over a dozen different countries and a few multi million dollar projects

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Sorry, forgot to mention: I also checked the capture card attached to a PCIe riser cable to be able to visually inspect it from any angle and nothing is loose :(

 

But yeah, I'll contact the retailer on Monday and try to have it replaced.

 

Do you also have this model?

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10 hours ago, aBavarian Normie-Pleb said:

Sorry, forgot to mention: I also checked the capture card attached to a PCIe riser cable to be able to visually inspect it from any angle and nothing is loose :(

 

But yeah, I'll contact the retailer on Monday and try to have it replaced.

 

Do you also have this model?

how about the card itself shaking and hitting something inside the case?

I have other decklink cards

yeah what would i know about cameras or cinematography compared to you tech people.  i've only done this work for nearly 20 years, won a few awards, worked in over a dozen different countries and a few multi million dollar projects

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Can definitely answer NO, really nothing is loose.

 

After testing multiple different computer systems to check that it's not an effect caused by some PSU issue I took the DeckLink Quad HDMI Recorder to an external Thunderbolt 3 box (AKiTiO Node Titan) where the capture card is the only component in a neat, tidy case and the annoying sound is unchanged:

 

 

Blackmagic_DeckLink_Quad_HDMI_Recorder_Non-Fan_Clicking_Case_View.jpg

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2 hours ago, aBavarian Normie-Pleb said:

Can definitely answer NO, really nothing is loose.

 

After testing multiple different computer systems to check that it's not an effect caused by some PSU issue I took the DeckLink Quad HDMI Recorder to an external Thunderbolt 3 box (AKiTiO Node Titan) where the capture card is the only component in a neat, tidy case and the annoying sound is unchanged:

 

 

Blackmagic_DeckLink_Quad_HDMI_Recorder_Non-Fan_Clicking_Case_View.jpg

definitely return the card to the vender and get a replacement
listening to the audio again, it really sounds like som,ething is loose and rattling somewhere.  maybe faulty fan  have you tried disconnecting the fan cable and see if the noise disappears?  maybe the fan spinning is hitting the fan cable that is beneath

 

my decklink cards are 8K pro and mini monitor, only the 8k pro has a fan and it doesnt make this noise

yeah what would i know about cameras or cinematography compared to you tech people.  i've only done this work for nearly 20 years, won a few awards, worked in over a dozen different countries and a few multi million dollar projects

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I think it is a variant of "coil whine" that is more commonly known from dedicated graphics cards when they calculate a very high number of frames per second.

 

Hopefully this is just an unlucky "quality variation" from manufacturing and not something that affects this model in general.

 

I also hope that these red sharpy markings on the outer edge of the PCB weren't made by Blackmagic Design's QC test at the factory and they decided to ship this unit anyway.

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Small update:

 

The retailer accepted my RMA request (sent my short recording with it) and promised to send another new unit as soon as possible. Will report back then if the issue is gone then or if this might haunt this specific DeckLink model in general (*fingers crossed*).

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Well, this sucks.

 

Received my replacement unit today (new, sealed) and this one also has this clicky sound.

 

When carefully touching the heatsink you can even feel the vibrations caused by this clicking.

 

The new card also has similar red markings on the edge of the PCB, if it wasn't properly sealed I would have guessed that my first one was sent back to me.

 

:(

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20 minutes ago, aBavarian Normie-Pleb said:

Well, this sucks.

 

Received my replacement unit today (new, sealed) and this one also has this clicky sound.

 

When carefully touching the heatsink you can even feel the vibrations caused by this clicking.

 

The new card also has similar red markings on the edge of the PCB, if it wasn't properly sealed I would have guessed that my first one was sent back to me.

 

:(

did you get any reply from blackmagic?

yeah what would i know about cameras or cinematography compared to you tech people.  i've only done this work for nearly 20 years, won a few awards, worked in over a dozen different countries and a few multi million dollar projects

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Have not contacted them yet since I hoped this was a random defective unit.

 

But I've heard from "EposVox" that he has two of these capture cards and they don't make this sound. His units also don't have these red markings on the PCB you can see on the photo I posted before.

 

Will contact BMD next.

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2 minutes ago, aBavarian Normie-Pleb said:

Have not contacted them yet since I hoped this was a random defective unit.

 

But I've heard from "EposVox" that he has two of these capture cards and they don't make this sound. His units also don't have these red markings on the PCB you can see on the photo I posted before.

 

Will contact BMD next.

let me ask again, have you tried this: disconnecting the fan, the yellow red black cable connected to the white connector?

 

you should contact them asap, they reply within 1-2 days.

yeah what would i know about cameras or cinematography compared to you tech people.  i've only done this work for nearly 20 years, won a few awards, worked in over a dozen different countries and a few multi million dollar projects

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Now I feel stupid:

 

- Stopping the fan (with your finger) does not change the clicking sound in any way.

 

- Unplugging the fan leads to the sound completely disappearing.

 

What's up with that?!

 

Have seen (and heard) many, many PC case fans from cheap to expensive and never experienced such fan behavior even from defective ones.

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10 minutes ago, aBavarian Normie-Pleb said:

Now I feel stupid:

 

- Stopping the fan (with your finger) does not change the clicking sound in any way.

 

- Unplugging the fan leads to the sound completely disappearing.

 

What's up with that?!

 

Have seen (and heard) many, many PC case fans from cheap to expensive and never experienced such fan behavior.

in the professional video products world blackmagic is like the budget product manufacturer  *wink*, and was reading some forums were people are complaining about them using cheap poorly designed noisy fans

 

some people say they disconnect the fan off their cards and run the hardware fine

other people say they look for a replacement fan

yeah what would i know about cameras or cinematography compared to you tech people.  i've only done this work for nearly 20 years, won a few awards, worked in over a dozen different countries and a few multi million dollar projects

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dont get me wrong, their products have improved over the years but their cooling fan choices leaves a lot to be desired.  we have a videohub in a rack case that makes a lot of noise.  fortunately the rack case is almost completely enclosed with other hardware so the noise is more like a loud whisper when we stand next to the case and a short distance away it is not noticeable.  and we are never placing that case near mics or cameras when we use it for production.

yeah what would i know about cameras or cinematography compared to you tech people.  i've only done this work for nearly 20 years, won a few awards, worked in over a dozen different countries and a few multi million dollar projects

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15 minutes ago, aBavarian Normie-Pleb said:

 

someone replacing the fan on a decklink card

https://forum.blackmagicdesign.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=107148

 

AND WRITE TO BLACKMAGIC TELLING THEM ABOUT THE FAN, SUBMIT A COMPLAINT

yeah what would i know about cameras or cinematography compared to you tech people.  i've only done this work for nearly 20 years, won a few awards, worked in over a dozen different countries and a few multi million dollar projects

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Now for me the only mystery that remains is these red sharpie markings on the PCB. Did BMD maybe mark all units with this shitty fan model?

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3 minutes ago, aBavarian Normie-Pleb said:

Now for me the only mystery that remains is these red sharpie markings on the PCB. Did BMD maybe mark all units with this shitty fan model?

where did you buy the card from? B&H?

not sure about those markings, I think I have seen similar markings on other pcb cards from other than blackmagic.  i don't know why they are marked

 

write to blackmagic, video record the noise the card makes and put it on youtube perhaps and include the link to the video in the message.  complain to them about this problem

yeah what would i know about cameras or cinematography compared to you tech people.  i've only done this work for nearly 20 years, won a few awards, worked in over a dozen different countries and a few multi million dollar projects

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I'm from Germany and bought my unit at the rather large retailer "Musikhaus Thomann".

 

But yeah, will make a short video about it, especially showing that stopping the fan doesn't change the sound might be important.

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1 minute ago, aBavarian Normie-Pleb said:

I'm from Germany and bought my unit at the rather large retailer "Musikhaua Thomann".

 

But yeah, will make a short video about it, especially showing that stopping the fan doesn't change the sound might be important.

ok I know thomann

yeah what would i know about cameras or cinematography compared to you tech people.  i've only done this work for nearly 20 years, won a few awards, worked in over a dozen different countries and a few multi million dollar projects

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