Blackmagic Design UltraStudio Monitor 3G - External Editing and Playback Monitor Interface

The UltraStudio Monitor 3G from Blackmagic Design lets you see your video timeline in its native format on an external monitor, or lets you play back directly into a video production switcher.

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[Jakenbake]

why has it taken so long to find a video that explains this so well-- everyone just says you need the device then doesn't really mention why. Thank you Doug!

[joseallende]

I really appreciate your explanation and your non-pretentious presentation. You have helped immensely. I've read in other places that I needed this device in order to grade HDR, but no one explained exactly what this device does. You did so now I understand what's going on. Thanks again!

[KrisCortez]

10:40 thanks this solved my issue of a blank screen. Thank you for sharing.

[fusionmayafilms]

Still don't understand or the reason to use this on a macbook, qhen you connect an external monitor you can go to settings and screens and select the color profile for that external monitor, also for when you are editing lets say at 24fps timeline you can tell osx to put the screen and work on 24 fps. So i dont se much point of this device, maybe the SDI output? Or to replicate a signal for various monitors beyond the limitations of outputs and external monitor capabilities of the macbook (or computer), but then is kinda expensive for that purpose no? For example Atomos monitors (an many others) already have Hdmi in and hdmi out to duplicate the signal to another monitor. Also for video playback without rendering, to show the edited video in full screen in davinci resolve for example you just set your 2nd monitor as "clean feed" and it will show full screen video on that monitor. Can some one explain what im not getting?

[jas_bataille]

Excellent presentation, except for a little technical thing : Thunderbolt 3 *is carried by* USB-C, so it is not a regular USB-C cable but it is a USB-C cable carrying the Thunderbolt standard!
Thunderbolt 2 was carried by a MiniDisplay cable, which is even weirder. So "Thunderbolt" is the data-carrying protocol and "USB-C" is the physical cable; "Thunderbolt 3" can only be carried over USB type C cables, as long as those cables are *rated* for TB3 speed! The same way you have SDI cables that are rated from 3G, 6G, or 12G SDI, that are all SDI cables :)

[keithbennett]

Great video thanks. Never knew that my Ben Q editing monitor could be getting weird video from my ASUS Duo Laptop using the video out.

[NeuralabInc]

Hello Doug. Big fan of your channel! I have a BMCC camera with a faulty SDI output and it would cost an arm and a leg to fix + the official service said: "we no longer repair this camera as we do not have most of the parts available for it".... My question is - is it possible to connect the BMCC via its thunderbolt output into this ultraStudio monitor (but the old version, not USBc lookalike connector) and then HDMI output to an Atem mini Extreme in order to see a video signal?

[fotouhi]

Very informative video. Does HDMI out from this device carry audio signals that can be fed into an audio interface or AV receiver for let's say a surround?

[senpera]

Thanks for the video. I am wondering how to avoid image cropping when working on a 4k timeline outputting to a 4k monitor. I can’t find a way for the image NOT to be cropped in.

[jpbersabe]

Thank you for all the info. I have a macbook pro with two external monitors, would I need two of these playback device?

[Pippinthepooch]

Hi Doug, great explanation thanks. I am editing with Avid media composer on Mac Studio m2. I have a question re audio. If I am using the 3G box for an external TV monitor can I also use it to take the audio via an amplifier to passive speakers ? Thank you

[eduardobernal]

Hi Doug,

Such a great video. Thank you for the explanation. I have one question, I'm color grading on the road, with a very simple setup (a macbook pro M1 max and a BenQ SW270c monitor), would I require this device to get a clean rec709/sRGB signal to my BenQ monitor? Or this is mainly for TV monitors? Thanks!

[illatooscurodelvideomaking]

Hi Doug! Very helping video. I have a question about thunderbolt 2. I need to connect to the Ultrastudio thunderbolt 3 a MacBook Pro mid12 that has only a thunderbolt 2 and you said that a thunderbolt 2 dock is what I need. Can I ask you to tell me what dock do you use or what docks you suggest to avoid any troubles? Thank you so much for every video you make. Really appreciate your help!

[negovei]

Hello and thanks for the video . Can I use it with any other player other then final cut or premiere?

[nagual]

I would mention that The UltraStudio Monitor 3G HDMI won't support 4K resolution

[trenillo]

Does the audio pass through this device as well, or just video?

[ahart]

What if you want fullscreen playback of the timeline only - not the actual computer screen?

[VAZZlD]

Great video! Want to ask.. i use a macbook pro m1 and i use a docking station.. do i need to put the monitor 3G before the Signal goes to the dockingstation?

[xacck]

Hey Doug, thanks for the in depth explanation inside this video. The explanation really gave me a rough understanding of the device. I'm still a somewhat-beginner to this world and still figuring out all of the technical bits in creating my setup, so i'm still a little bit lost as to essentially how this device really works and how i could use it for my purposes specifically. I mainly do editing and color grading work on a pretty old Macbook Pro. The main issue i've been dealing with is playing back my footage (whether on the Final Cut/Resolve) onto an external monitor via HDMI output, where the footage is often laggy or choppy. I was wondering whether this is an issue of the GPU being overworked due to the processing for the editing/color grading work and not enough for also displaying onto the external monitor, especially it being a pretty old laptop? And to sum up in context towards this video, would using this UltraStudio Monitor 3G help me solve this problem? (Because i read in other comments that this would, in a way, take some of the workload off of my GPU)

[LarsTepel]

Hi Doug, thanks for Your great and smart videos!!
You mentioned, that the device talks right to the software.
Does that mean, that it does in a way take work from the graphic-card, compared to - say - a usb-c-to-HDMI-Dongle?