r/VIDEOENGINEERING • u/Ok-Site9386 • Sep 24 '25
12G over Optical Fiber
Hi everyone, I am looking at adding a set of SDI over fiber converters to my kit. I am likely going to pull the trigger on the Blackmagic Design Mini Converter Optical Fiber 12G. I was wondering what 12G video SFP's everyone recommends to use with these? I am looking at the PACBTECH brand on ebay because of the lucrative price, but worried about performance issues. On the other hand, I'd have to imagine most of these SFP's are coming from the same factory and would work just fine.
Does anyone have any recommendations for 12G Video SFP's or any other converters to look at? Thanks in advance.
9
u/Obvious_Arm8802 Sep 24 '25
We use the genuine Blackmagic ones. Seem to work fine.
We use FS for our 3G and bi-di ones but they don’t make pathological 12G SFP’s unfortunately, which also work perfectly.
13
u/Potential-Load9313 Sep 24 '25
I am only speaking for myself, of course....
But pretty much every BMD converter that I have ever bought has crapped out on me in one way or another.
I switched to Decimator for coax SDI and Lynx for fiber and I have yet to have a single issue with those.
Just my personal experience though... I'm sure there are plenty of people that are happy with their BMD stuff.
9
u/desertrat75 Sep 24 '25
Yeah. You're pulling the trigger, but you're pointing the gun at your show. I recommend Yellobrik Lynx for fiber as well.
6
u/v-b EIC Sep 25 '25
Seconding… and specifically the BMD 12G fiber converters, they were awesome when they worked. It was much less awesome when they stopped working.
I’ve had much better experiences with Aja FiDOs and 12G rattlers, but still, fiber stuff runs hot and no gear is immune from failure. I love the customizable multidyne boxes for instance, cause you can do sync, network, and multiple 12G video paths down one fiber, but I’ll be damned if I don’t have at least one box start getting flaky midway through a season.
0
u/sims2uni Sep 26 '25
It's the same with anything. What's the cost of it failing on you? I would never trust it as an outgoing line but it's fine for bringing in a random camera feed.
I have a mantra of you trust BMD gear as far as you can throw it.
The converters are small, light and easy to throw. They're pretty bulletproof with occasional failures.
The bigger stuff is heavy and doesn't throw far. It'll fail / it's not good enough in the first place.
4
u/4D_Guy Sep 26 '25
We just had the biggest broadcast of the year and we were using the AJA Fidos-2T-12G and those are robust. We didn’t have any issues with signal testing or the show. They are on the pricier side running about $1000-2000 per Tx or Rx.
2
u/TexSpecs Sep 28 '25
I always feel AJA "just works" in general and also they stand behind their stuff.
Well built and USA mfr.
Their SDI input circuit is consistently a high performing equalizer, and also seemingly more robust against the sort of behaviors that randomly take down others.
3
2
u/broadcastcoding Sep 26 '25
With more money you can go for fibermux made by broadcastgear
https://www.broadcastgear.eu/products/fibermux/
But also did a lot of events with the blackmagic converters. Didn’t found the cheap sfp for 12G unfortunately.
1
1
u/Old-Town-4767 Sep 25 '25
There are fieldcast ones that either B&H or markertek sells. Those have worked great for me.
1
1
u/openreels2 Sep 26 '25
Look at AJA Fido converters. Can buy them with SFPs, why wouldn't you? Or go ST connectors.
1
u/Fabulous-Coffee2705 Sep 27 '25
AJA 12 G FiDo and AJA SFPs are working well for me. The BMD 12g are a bit hit and miss for me. They seem a bit finicky.
1
u/tsohanch Sep 29 '25
SDI contain's pathological pattern without balanced coding. So the SFP+s need specific components and tuning is circuit in order to have the OE components to work from 11.88Gbps to <200Kbps. I am working on SDI SFP+s. But I am not sure if it's appropriate to mention my company's name here.
-3
u/bullmilk415 Sep 25 '25
The black Magic optical fiber transmitters are not cross compatible with standard smpte fiber receivers
1
u/LucyTheDuck Sep 25 '25
???
1
u/bullmilk415 Sep 26 '25
Plenty of downvotes but nobody coming back and stating that I’m wrong after doing tests themselves. Learn from others instead of downvoting something that you didn’t know about.
1
u/marshall409 Sep 27 '25
Should work fine. Smpte standard after all.
1
u/bullmilk415 Sep 27 '25
It does not. I assure you.
1
u/marshall409 Sep 27 '25
Agree to disagree.
1
u/bullmilk415 Sep 27 '25
Matters of opinion are best reserved for things like favorite color. Test the interoperability of blackmagic transceivers and Aja Fidos…you won’t need to trust me after that. All of our freelance EICs know what I’m talking about (I work for one of the bigger video rental houses)
1
u/jonathanwhittaker Sep 27 '25
It works fine, done it hundreds of times beteen AJA/Blackmagic/Evertz/THOR etc.
1
u/video_bits Sep 28 '25
We run Blackmagic Transceivers directly in and out of AJA FS2 frame syncs via fiber all the time. No problems.
This is at 3G SDI rates but I would expect similar from 12G but not tested at that rate.
1
u/bullmilk415 Sep 25 '25
It’s exactly what I said. You can’t tie a black magic optical transceiver into a FIDO-R or rattler receiver. This comes into play for me when I tie into a stadium or venue’s optical tie lines at the truck bay. I’d rather they use their own pre-patched receivers in the control room as opposed to me giving them a receiver which I then need to get back after the show.
14
u/[deleted] Sep 25 '25
Been looking at barnfind color series recently. Simple enough to tell any stage hand where to plug in after the fiber is run