Three Display Support, 4k DeckLink, Assigning Desktops
I'm having an issue supporting three displays on my new Mac Pro (late 2013) running Mavericks 10.9.2. Specifically assigning content to specific monitors. This hardware configuration services my facilities high-end video editing suites. The primary software used is FCP X (version 10.1.1). I would like to assign my displays specific, static Display ID's because the ID's the OS is assigning are not what I want and conflict with output functions of FCP X. Below is an image of how are displays are setup. Currently, no matter which order I plug the display in, or to what Thunderbolt Bus, the display always defaults to this configuration. What I need is Displays 2 & 3 to be switched. After the images are specifics about hardware and setup.
Connected to my Mac Pro are two 27" Apple Cinema Displays (Displays 1 & 3) which are display port, not the new thunderbolt version and a new Sharp 32" 4k Display (Display 2). Also connected to the Mac Pro is a Sonnet Echo Express III-R Thunderbolt 2 Expansion Chassis (http://www.sonnettech.com/product/echoexpress3r.html) that contains an additional SSD drive, Audio Card and most importantly a Black Magic DeckLink Studio 4K card (http://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/decklink/models). The DeckLink card is used in conjunction with FCP X's AV Output Function to output video to my 4K Display over hdmi. The Sharp 4k display is connected via display port to the Mac Pro so it can be used as a traditional desktop display and also connected to the DeckLink card via it's HDMI port so it can also display the output from FCP. Our editors switch inputs on the Sharp 4k display to the DeckLink video input while in FCP, otherwise they switch back to Display Port input so they can watch video from applications like QT Pro, After Effects, motion, webpages, etc.
The issue is that my Sharp 4k display is always assigned as "Display #2" so when I choose the FCP X option to "Show Event's on Second Display" my event window goes to the Sharp 4k display every time (like the bottom left image). This makes it impossible to display my Events on the left Apple Display while simultaneously displaying my Decklink 4k output to the Sharp 4k display. The bottom right image shows the DeckLink output when switched to it's hdmi input which now hides my events. What I want is my Events window from FCP to be on my bottom left Mac Display, the main FCP X window on the right Mac Display and my DeckLink 4k video on the top display.
In iterations of this setup in the past I've had an older Mac Pro (2008). In that configuration there was a Black Magic Intensity Card driving a third display along with the third output (DVI) of our ATI Radeon 5870, in this case a 1080P Samsung TV. Our editors switched the input on the Samsung TV to view either the Mac OS or the Intensity output. In this configuration of hardware, the TV was always Display #3 so we were able to have our video output on the Samsung while utilizing the two apple displays for Final Cut Pro's main window and secondary window. It just always worked, which adds our frustrations when we upgraded to the new Mac Pro and hardware.
Here is what I've tried so far:
- Plugging the displays into the Mac Pro in different sequences. Briefly the 4k display may be desktop 3, but upon restart or an interval of time, it switched to desktop 2.
- A tried plugging the displays into different TB busses on the Mac Pro.
- To have the Sharp 4k display at 60hz I have to use the Sharp's display port, so coming out of the HDMI port on the MacPro is a not an option.
Further avenues of research.
- Is there a command line solution to assigning monitors specific desktops?
- Is FCP going to give us an option to assign windows to Third displays someday, not just the second.
Thank you. Any suggestions would greatly be appreciated. - Steve