They're Back! - Digital 'sparkle' / artifacts on SDI Inputs and Outputs

L

livewirenow

Member
Hey all,

Just ran an event for a client using one of our TC1 units. Upon review of the recordings we are noticing the digital artifact / sparkle's that seem to have been an issue on SDI inputs across several Tricaster units.

We've seen this issue on another TC1 about a year ago but were able to resolve it via a software update and a CORE update.

I've tried both updates on the current unit that is experiencing the issues but, unfortunately, nothing was resolved.


I've tried different cameras and SDI cables but the issue persists across all SDI inputs. NDI inputs and internal graphics are not affected but the SDI outputs seem to also add the digital noise to the signal. So this definitely seems like an issue with the physical inputs/outputs themselves.


Current software build is:

TC1
Build Number: 8-5-251215C

CORE update was forced from the C:/Program Files/Newtek/Drivers/WDF folder and the unit was allowed to sit for well over 5 minutes powered off after the update process.
 
Last edited:
Vizrt Support came though with a fix. Adding this in case anybody else sees this issue in the future.


Please download and install Core D208 for your TC1, this is known to fix the sparkles.
https://vizrto365-my.sharepoint.com...AEaVGfEW_-SI1CoZN0hIaeAUXuAPE44aplpeI7HNiXJIk

I would also check and see if the NVIDIA driver is set to Max Performance, if it's not then please change it, this is known to also fix issues relating to pictures and encoding.

Let me know if this works.

Best Regards,
Brian
Technical Support Engineer
 
And - once again - we have 'sparkles' back on two of our TC1 units after applying all steps outlined by support above.

I'm not sure if new software updates are also pushing Core updates that bring back the behavior but its extremely disappointing to see these units struggling with the same behavior.

This absolutely ruins all recordings that happen inside of the tricaster and anything that is hooked up to the SDI outputs of the unit. There is no easy way to repair the footage whatsoever because the sparkles are random across the entire frame. Even AI tools can't seem to do anything to remedy this issue in post-production.

I realize they are slightly older units but they should absolutely still be supported and we WANT the ability to apply new updates since they have started to include all of the Live Caller Connect functionality which is extremely useful in our line of work.


Has anybody else seen this? Is there a new 'fix' that is out there that I'm not aware of?

Any and all insight is greatly appreciated!
 
livewirenow said:
And - once again - we have 'sparkles' back on two of our TC1 units after applying all steps outlined by support above.

I'm not sure if new software updates are also pushing Core updates that bring back the behavior but its extremely disappointing to see these units struggling with the same behavior.

This absolutely ruins all recordings that happen inside of the tricaster and anything that is hooked up to the SDI outputs of the unit. There is no easy way to repair the footage whatsoever because the sparkles are random across the entire frame. Even AI tools can't seem to do anything to remedy this issue in post-production.

I realize they are slightly older units but they should absolutely still be supported and we WANT the ability to apply new updates since they have started to include all of the Live Caller Connect functionality which is extremely useful in our line of work.


Has anybody else seen this? Is there a new 'fix' that is out there that I'm not aware of?

Any and all insight is greatly appreciated!
Click to expand...
Hi livewirenow,

I'm sorry to hear you are experiencing this issue (again).
The FW is not being touched by an update, unless you see the same Core updater what you've seen when you forced a core update. Can you please send the last few session run logs to the support team?
Please keep the support ticket open until you find a fix.
In my practice falling back to core d208 always fixed these issues, that's why support suggests it as the first troubleshooting step.
It is also weird you are experiencing issues on both input and output. Usually the outputs are more affected if I recall, but I haven't seen these issues for a while now.
 
Our TC1 is from around 2021. We saw a similar issue after updating to build 8-4-250415 last year. This build resolved the local recording issues that we had been having, which was random frozen video--a show stopper. But the update introduced something akin to these sparkles (which we also had an issue with a couple of years before that).

What we're seeing are random digital dropouts or noise (white and/or black), along with random audio hits that sound like crackle or static. None of these faults were there prior to updating to 8-4-250415.

We're hesitant to update further since we don't want to introduce any more problems, as we use the Tricaster daily for live content. Do you think updating to Core D208 will help with this?
 

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middleton said:
Our TC1 is from around 2021. We saw a similar issue after updating to build 8-4-250415 last year. This build resolved the local recording issues that we had been having, which was random frozen video--a show stopper. But the update introduced something akin to these sparkles (which we also had an issue with a couple of years before that).

What we're seeing are random digital dropouts or noise (white and/or black), along with random audio hits that sound like crackle or static. None of these faults were there prior to updating to 8-4-250415.

We're hesitant to update further since we don't want to introduce any more problems, as we use the Tricaster daily for live content. Do you think updating to Core D208 will help with this?
Click to expand...
Core d208 should fix all these issues, that's what I use usually as a first troubleshooting step, and it fixes issues for most of our customers. Worst case you can always force back a newer core update. The core should only effect the SDI / analogue audio pipeline, but mainly it is responsible for SDI connections.

Audio is coming in embedded or analogue?
 
oh don't roll back the sw completely for 6-0, you can ask support and they will provide the requested core version for you.
But here it is ONLY for TC1 (probably it will work with TC1 Pro too). But ask support for any other model please (especially for TC2).
The password is: Wh@tASunnyD@y2026
 
zmatula said:
oh don't roll back the sw completely for 6-0, you can ask support and they will provide the requested core version for you.
But here it is ONLY for TC1 (probably it will work with TC1 Pro too). But ask support for any other model please (especially for TC2).
The password is: Wh@tASunnyD@y2026
Click to expand...
Not sure why but that link is broken for me? Would love a direct link to the build - already opened a ticket with support but I have a show in the morning and would like to get this rolled back ASAP
 
zmatula said:
Core d208 should fix all these issues, that's what I use usually as a first troubleshooting step, and it fixes issues for most of our customers. Worst case you can always force back a newer core update. The core should only effect the SDI / analogue audio pipeline, but mainly it is responsible for SDI connections.

Audio is coming in embedded or analogue?
Click to expand...
Thanks for the info! Audio is coming in analogue.
 
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