DecklinkPlayer

DecklinkPlayer is a Windows desktop playout tool for Blackmagic DeckLink cards. It is built for quick studio use: browse a media library, preview inside the app, seek, pause, shuttle, play playlists, and output SDI through the Blackmagic DeckLink SDK.

FFmpeg is used only for decoding, probing, preview helpers, and PC preview audio. DeckLink SDI output is handled by the Blackmagic SDK.

Current Stable Output

DeckLink playout is fixed to one clean broadcast output mode:

• Device: selected from the DeckLink card dropdown
• Format: 1080i50
• DeckLink mode code: Hi50
• Size: 1920x1080
• Frame rate: 25 fps
• Field order: upper field first
• Pixel format: uyvy422
• Audio: 48 kHz, 32-bit PCM, stereo embedded in SDI

There is no manual sync control and no DeckLink mode selector. This avoids accidental format drift.

Important Sync Note

For DeckLink output, judge sync using SDI video with embedded SDI audio.

PC audio is intentionally disabled during DeckLink playout because Windows/ffplay monitoring latency can make sync look wrong. PC audio is available only in Preview-only mode.

Features

• Desktop WinForms GUI.
• Blackmagic DeckLink SDK playout with embedded audio.
• Fixed 1080i50 SDI output.
• DeckLink card selector with refresh.
• Preview-only mode when no DeckLink output is needed.
• In-app video preview beside SDI output.
• Vertical left/right audio meters in dBFS.
• Media tree and search, defaulting to C:\casparcg\_media.
• Video and still-image browsing.
• Pause, resume, stop, seekbar, frame step, 5-frame, 10-frame, and 1-second seek buttons.
• Forward and reverse shuttle speeds.
• Playlist playback.
• MediaInfo window.
• Playback logs in a logs subfolder.
• x64-only build.

Requirements

• Windows x64.
• .NET Desktop Runtime 10, unless you publish self-contained.
• Blackmagic Desktop Video drivers.
• DeckLinkAPI.Interop.dll in the output folder.
• Your bundled 64-bit FFmpeg binaries beside the running exe:
  • ffmpeg.exe
  • ffprobe.exe
  • ffplay.exe only for Preview-only PC audio

The app uses the bundled FFmpeg binaries beside the executable, not random FFmpeg from PATH.

Build

Build x64:

dotnet build .\ffmpegplayer.csproj -p:Platform=x64

The build target automatically:

• Closes old running decklinkplayer*, ffmpegplayer*, and ffmpeg processes.
• Removes old timestamped player exe files from the output folder.
• Builds into bin\x64\Debug\DecklinkPlayer.
• Creates a timestamped exe like decklinkplayer_130626_100808.exe.
• Deletes the plain decklinkplayer.exe.
• Starts the new timestamped exe automatically.

Run

Use the latest timestamped exe in:

bin\x64\Debug\DecklinkPlayer

Example:

.\bin\x64\Debug\DecklinkPlayer\decklinkplayer_130626_100808.exe

Basic Use

1. Choose a media library folder, or use the default C:\casparcg\_media.
2. Select a file from the media tree or search results.
3. Select the DeckLink card.
4. Keep Preview only unchecked for SDI output.
5. Use SDI embedded audio to judge lip sync.
6. Use Preview only if you want local preview without DeckLink output.

Keyboard And ShuttlePRO v2 Mapping

The app has keyboard shortcuts that can be mapped from Contour ShuttlePRO v2.

General transport:

• F1 or Esc: stop
• F2: play selected playlist row
• F3: cue selected playlist row
• F4 or Space: pause/resume
• F5: cue next playlist row
• F6: play next playlist row
• Ctrl+Enter: play selected media-library clip
• J: step reverse shuttle speed
• K: 0x pause
• L: step forward shuttle speed

Seek and marks:

• Left / Right: -1 / +1 frame
• Shift+Left / Shift+Right: -5 / +5 frames
• Ctrl+Left / Ctrl+Right: -10 / +10 frames
• Alt+Left / Alt+Right: -1 / +1 second
• I / O: mark IN / mark OUT
• Home / End: go to IN / go to OUT
• F7 / F8: mark IN / mark OUT
• F9 / F10: go to IN / go to OUT

Exact ShuttlePRO ring speed shortcuts:

• Ctrl+Shift+1 to Ctrl+Shift+9: -0.25x, -0.50x, -0.75x, -1x, -1.5x, -2x, -5x, -10x, -20x
• Ctrl+Alt+1 to Ctrl+Alt+9: +0.25x, +0.50x, +0.75x, +1x, +1.5x, +2x, +5x, +10x, +20x
• Ctrl+Shift+0 or Ctrl+Alt+0: 0x

The generated ShuttlePRO v2 profile maps the physical ring to the practical 7-position speeds:

• Reverse: -0.25x, -0.50x, -1x, -2x, -5x, -10x, -20x
• Forward: +0.25x, +0.50x, +1x, +2x, +5x, +10x, +20x
• The farther you rotate the ring, the faster the shuttle speed becomes.
• When the ring is released/centered, the app auto-returns to 0x.

Regenerate and install the profile:

powershell.exe -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\tools\Create-ShuttleProV2Profile.ps1

The script creates ShuttleProfiles\DeckLinkPlayer.pref, backs up the Contour active database, inserts a DeckLinkPlayer profile for decklinkplayer_*.exe, and restarts the Contour helper.

Settings

Settings are saved here:

%APPDATA%\DeckLinkPlayer\settings.txt

Saved values include:

• DeckLink device
• Media root folder
• Preview-only preference
• PC audio preference

The SDI output mode is not saved because it is fixed to 1080i50.

Logs

Playback logs are written to:

bin\x64\Debug\DecklinkPlayer\logs

Log file names look like:

ffmpeg_playout_DDMMYY_HHMMSS.log

Logs include decoder commands, FFmpeg messages, SDK playback status, and troubleshooting notes.

Troubleshooting

• If DeckLink is not installed or not detected, the app remains usable in Preview-only mode.
• If playback cannot start, check that ffmpeg.exe and ffprobe.exe are beside the timestamped exe.
• If Preview-only PC audio does not start, check that ffplay.exe is beside the timestamped exe.
• If SDI sync looks wrong, make sure you are not listening to PC audio while watching DeckLink video.
• If the app asks for .NET runtime, install the x64 .NET Desktop Runtime 10.

Developer Notes

• Main GUI: MainForm.cs
• DeckLink SDK playout engine: DeckLinkSdkPlayer.cs
• FFmpeg command helpers and CLI parsing: FfmpegDeckLink.cs, Cli.cs
• Audio meter control: AudioMeterBar.cs
• MediaInfo integration: MediaInfoForm.cs, MediaInfoProvider.cs
• Media root browser: MediaRootDialog.cs
• Reverse playback/cache: ReverseFrameCache.cs, ReverseAudioChunkQueue.cs
• DeckLink COM interop: Interop\DeckLinkAPI.Interop.dll

The project file is still named ffmpegplayer.csproj for history, but the built app is decklinkplayer.