Top 20 most technical issues for Digital Voodoo cards

You too can be a Digital Voodoo OS X Tech Wizard by remembering these points:

1. When using the D1 64 AV or RT to capture and playback audio (or when using the Iridium AV to playback audio) make sure it is selected for input and output in the Sound Panel of the Mac’s OS X System Preferences.

2. If you hear pops and clips while digitizing audio or laying out to tape, connect a blackburst generator to the genlock input. Make sure it is turned on and connected to all video devices that accept genlock. (D164RT does not require genlock)

3. If you use a Midiman Flying Cow to convert AES/EBU to analog and back, set it to EXT and connect the Word Clock connector from the Digital Voodoo audio cable to the Flying Cow’s S/PDIF In.

4. When using a GeeThree Stealth serial adapter or equivalent, make sure to install the software too. Stealth software is downloadable from www.geethree.com. Stealth serial cards are only qualified for Quicksilver G4’s. They are not recommended for the new Mirror Door G4 series. Be sure to check the qualified components.

5. Make sure the deck control cable supplied with the Digital Voodoo card is connected between tape deck and the serial port and that the deck is turned on when digitizing from the tape deck. Make sure that it is selected in the Device Control Presets of the Audio/Video Settings of FCP or from the preferences Window in Media Transfer.

6. Multiple SCSI drives must be striped using a third party vendors striping or RAID software or the OS X Disk Utility.

7. You should turn off mirroring on desktop to play out real-time effects on the Digital Voodoo cards output. (6.x drivers only.)

8. Turn off mirror on desktop when "Printing to Tape." This will avoid audio clicks and pops and other potential problems.

9. Running D164 Lite or D164 Full cards with Panther and 7.x Digital Voodoo drivers requires a firmware upgrade. Your firmware must be later than v27, otherwise your desktop will be overwritten by black.

10. Select your SCSI disk array when digitizing footage using Digital Voodoo’s Media Transfer application or FCP. Do not select the system drive or the desktop.

11. If using Media Transfer to capture DV footage, turn the camera ON before launching Media Transfer.

12. When using Media Transfer to reverse field dominance, hold down the Option Key and select QuickExport from the File Menu. You must press the Option key before the menu drops down, otherwise QuickExport will display "To DV Movie" instead of "Reverse Fields".

13. If you use an Iridium AV or any of the cards that can have Key output, make sure that the Key out is not the only output connected between the card and broadcast monitor. (You will otherwise see just a black screen.)

14. When using After Effects 5.5 with any of the Digital Voodoo cards, make sure that Digital Voodoo SD Real-time Output RGB NTSC or PAL is selected to output the Composition Window to the broadcast/video monitor.

15. To relaunch the Digital Voodoo Feature Control Panel, quit the FCP from the menu or use Apple-Q and relaunch it.

16. The video output connector on the Digital Voodoo 64 AV and RT cards is the BNC next to the DB 15 audio connector.

17. The Genlock connector on the Digital Voodoo AV and RT cards is the BNC furthest away from the DB 15 audio connector.

18. Select Arrangement from the Displays option of the System Preferences menu to position the Digital Voodoo card to the left, right, top or bottom of the VGA monitor. Also make sure your monitors are set to millions of colors!

19. Make sure that you have a frame rate of 29.97 when working with NTSC video. Use a Frame Rate of 25 when using PAL video.

20. Use Drop Frame Code in NTSC.

If you know these 20 items, you will know almost 100% of the answers to the technical questions we get about Digital Voodoo cards.

If these 20 common questions do not answer your query, first contact your re-seller as they will be familiar with your system set up. If they can’t help you, register your card and contact us at support@digitalvoodoo.net. Please attach an Apple System Profiler with your querry. This will help us help you much faster.