Hyperdeck Multichannel Playout
The Blackmagic Design HyperDeck Plus HD
The Blackmagic HyperDeck disk recorder is an essential component of any video production system. It can either serve as a source of prerecorded video content, stingers, advertisements, commercials and even graphics.
While photographing pictures of a HyperDeck Plus HD for my website, I was reminded that SDI is capable of carrying a standard 16 mono channels. As a fully functional SDI recorder, the HyperDeck can be configured to record 2, 4, 6, 8, or 16 channels of audio in the order and routing provided by the SDI source, whether that be a switcher, router, or audio SDI embedder.
However, I was curious if the multichannel transmission feature would work in the opposite direction, with the HyperDeck serving as the source of all 16 channels.
After consulting the HyperDeck Plus HD Technical Specification sheet, my theory was proved correct.
SDI Audio Inputs 16 channels embedded audio.
SDI Audio Outputs 16 channels embedded audio.
The question changed from “Is this possible?”, to “How do I make this happen?”
Playing back a video file containing 16 Channels of audio recorded directly from the HyperDeck would be easy. But what about a rendered video from DaVinci Resolve.
I then began experimenting with various export settings, to determine what options and variables were needed in order for the video to be playout compatible and play all 16 channels simultaneously over SDI.
It turns out that the Hyperdeck supported Formats of H.264 SDI (Quicktime), DNxHR (Quicktime or MXF), or ProRes are capable of containing PCM 24 audio, and therefore can be used as vehicles for 16 channel playout. The complete list of compatible formats and parameters can be found at teh bottom of
If you plan on exporting in H.264 for file size and transfer time reduction, you will need to make sure that you select QuickTime as the Format, in DaVinci Resolve. Alternatively you can select the H.264 HyperDeck preset from the video export preset selection menu.
Regardless of which format that you select, you will need either 16 mono audio tracks, or 8 stereo tracks, and to have the following audio export settings selected.
Rendering one track per channel will ensure that the final video has individualized mono channels rather than a poly-channel track.
I checked to ensure that all 16 channels were preserved by adjusting which pair the HyperDeck was monitoring, and I was able to cycle through all 8 different songs that I had used as test sources.
This discovery was quite fascinating., and I look forward to seeing what opportunities and potential situations where it could be used.
