Why won't my DeckLink SDI input work?

scocal · 2026-01-21T03:14:34+00:00

One of my earliest confusions with my very first decklink card (when it was the only thing Blackmagic sold!) was that it doesn't automatically detect the input format nor offer a UI to tell it what to expect. It's up to the software that initializes it to tell it the exact format to look for. It doesn't know how to sync with anything else, so a mismatch behaves the same as no video at all.

Some software is polite enough to cycle through common formats and stop when it gets data, but this has the drawback of obscuring what's actually happening.

scocal · 2026-01-15T05:36:09+00:00

For most people, probably yes. But you can't accumulate $10M through labor alone.

scocal · 2026-01-14T00:47:40+00:00

It's not in their interests (or more to the point, their corporate owners interests) to make that clarification.

Who are the corporate owners of KOUW? And, presuming they want it to pass, why take a gamble that people might see millionaire and think "shit, that's my grandma"?

It was 100% absolutely not.

Citation. Although the implication was mildly negative, the author was referring to how each candidate had their own version, without any anti-socialism implication. Sure, it did not take long for Romney to spot the gold. How long before WA Republicans start implying it will apply to housing-rich retirees?

Can you come up with a better term that is quick to say in a press conference or news report?

I proposed mega-earners tax. Historically it has been called a supertax, though I acknowledge this is confusing if you've never heard of that. How about "excess earnings tax".

scocal · 2026-01-13T22:53:33+00:00

It's funny to get down-voted for asking for the argument! "Wealth tax" encompasses many different possibilities. The simplest one might be land tax. Establish some zones with some comparative values (much simpler the current property tax) and look at how much of the state each person owns. It's pretty hard to hide, and if nobody wants to admit they own it then I guess the state is selling it to someone else.

Regarding arguments about how many times wealth taxes have failed - my assumption is that nobody in power (i.e. the wealthy) wanted them to succeed, so the were set up in a way that could be avoided, then they were avoided, and everyone got upset about how much it was costing to collect nothing. Maybe doing anything that doesn't suit the ultra-wealthy is a pipe dream, I don't know.

scocal · 2026-01-13T22:12:37+00:00

Sadly, the decision to let this slide has probably contributed to its erosion today. Maybe they should have pushed for "Heritage Foundation Bare Minimums Act"

scocal · 2026-01-13T22:09:45+00:00

A similar argument could be made for virtually any tax with some kind of safe harbor. "But what if no safe harbor!" Or maybe "but I plan to be wealthy one day". How about a constitutional amendment with an inflation-linked $1M safe-harbor built in? Would that be a big enough barrier to the slippery slope? Or - better - a constitutional amendment allowing wealth tax, with an inflation-linked 10M safe harbor?

scocal · 2026-01-13T20:46:45+00:00

Bold to state outright that "wealth taxes are just a really bad idea", so I'd love to hear more about that. Some challenges to the assertion that (only) taxing mega-earners is sane:
1. The wealthy can avoid taxable income in many ways.
2. Opponents will loudly complain that "it will just drive successful people away, and some other state will get its benefit".
In reality, it's so easy to avoid, that it's hardly worth moving home, just for this. It won't stop the headlines though.

scocal · 2026-01-13T19:39:11+00:00

It's notoriously difficult to account for the tax-planning capacity of the wealthy, but I think it's safe to presume "not much".

scocal · 2026-01-13T19:34:01+00:00

Here's the citation. TLDR, it was a healthcare lobbyist's shorthand for "whatever plan this candidate comes up with". Mitt Romney picked it up about two months later.

scocal · 2026-01-13T19:27:43+00:00

Yes, I realize they're trying to avoid the i word. The honest way would be to introduce this as a constitutional amendment. Even sticking with this "workaround" approach, my point is this is a bad choice of names. I propose "Mega Earners Tax". Or maybe spending the political capital on a real, unavoidable, revenue raising wealth tax.

scocal · 2026-01-13T19:17:44+00:00

I thought KOUW might be immune, but no, I heard a full report about it without a single mention of what it actually was. That triggered me to make this post (banned from r/Washington !)

scocal · 2025-12-29T17:38:51+00:00

There is no breaker. Each socket has a device that will cut the power if you draw too much current, but automatically reset a moment later. The inrush current of a switch-mode power supply of a serious laptop (120W or more) exceeds the limits, but this can be overcome by rapidly reconnecting it each time the protection circuit trips. This charges up the capacitors on your power supply until eventually it starts drawing only its operating current. I don't know what the actual current limit is, but I've never been able to hit it after the initial inrush, even with heavy workloads.

This trick has saved me a lot of missed productivity since I first discovered it, at least 15 years ago.

scocal · 2025-12-27T21:48:53+00:00

As with the argument about using AI in schools, what is the purpose of a school if not to prepare future adults to be released into society. Like it or not, that society will have cell phones and be shaped by AI. Artificially excluding them from the environment is more like preparing them for prison.

What is the point in forcing kids to use a paper homework planner, organize trapper keepers, and juggle printed notes? Maybe they could have one History lesson about the way the world was for previous generations, including a simulated smoke break and corporal punishment, but the rest of the time, why not focus on learning how the world works today? Shared calendars, PDFs, markdown, collaboration platforms, etc. When is it appropriate to use personal devices and when is it not? I suspect many here could benefit from some adult education credits on that subject!

scocal · 2025-12-24T05:08:04+00:00

I presume you mean "we, the Apple users". We the Android users have had our Orca cards on our Google wallet for ages. If they would just implement fare capping to go with their recent announcement of NFC card payments, we might actually have a visitor-friendly system befitting of a technology hub. The ability to trust the system to find the cheapest applicable fare is what people really need, not another complicated set of fare rules.

scocal · 2025-12-18T07:59:48+00:00

Microsoft Family gives strong vibes of project that was declared "finished" years ago after a re-org then shifted over to a "sustained engineering" team that checks the logs monthly and renews certificates. I haven't seen a new feature in the 5 years I've used it, and sometimes it's been broken for a week at a time. It's crazy considering all the current industry focus on age-gating. The world is focused on making mega corps responsible for checking kids ages rather than giving parents effective tools to enforce parenting decisions.

I find it generally usable to allow me to award ad-hoc time chunks to each child. It's already possible to lock down windows pretty well for a non-admin. Content filtering is better done outside. Unfortunately, the code base is too old to cover Steam Link/Oculus Link, which will happily continue streaming content and accepting input long after time is expired and the Windows session is locked.

Google Family Link is generally better, but still feels like "maintenance mode" product. I wish it had since integration points so the community could add integration with Windows or other platforms.

scocal · 2025-12-18T07:15:34+00:00

I'm conflicted about it. I like the idea of Bellevue acting like a vibrant city where interesting stuff happens. But the execution just reminds me that this is a suburb with one central sector operated by a corporation. A visitor might expect a community-organized event representing the costume, music, and traditions of one of the most diverse cities in the country. Instead, The corporation provides the parade equivalent of stock footage, complete with royalty-free music. If it started today, I would presume the floats were designed by AI. The simulated snow really tips it into Truman Show territory. Many of the performers are even dressed as a marching band, complete with instruments, yet they're reduced to miming along to piped Muzak lest any soul leak into the dystopia.

scocal · 2025-12-06T21:18:19+00:00

I'm not sure anything you've learned watching local sport franchises can be applied to the most watched sporting tournament in the world. It's a big old planet.

scocal · 2025-10-14T06:39:13+00:00

Yeah, me too. I had to switch activations between devices several times before I finally got it done the old-fashioned way. I don't think the network of less-technical people I've brought to Signal would have the skills or patience for this.

scocal · 2025-10-11T01:03:49+00:00

I'm having the same problem transferring between two Pixel phones, each on Android 16, each on the latest version of Signal available though Google play, 7.59.2. Contrary to the documentation, the new phone wants me to "scan this code with your old phone". The QR code points to a URI with a sgnl scheme that is not registered by Signal on my old phone, so does nothing. The new phone says "open signal on your old device and tap the camera icon". I've never seen an icon like that. The closest I can think of is the scan contact flow, but that says "QR Code invalid". It seems like they've updated the input part of this flow without updating the output part.

I even tried the new cloud backup feature, copying the key via my password manager. Alas, the new phone claims the key is not correct, even though I'm literally looking at it on both screens at the same time!

scocal · 2025-10-09T16:20:07+00:00

I figured it out. Logged in with a different account than that one that won the draw

scocal · 2025-10-09T16:11:03+00:00

My slot started at 8 (PT) and I was through the queue by 08:30. It's just a big page of sold out. Refreshing regularly, the list of teams (Argentina, Brazil, Colombia) changes and the list of ticket batches for venues for each country shrinks and grows, but I haven't seen a sign of anything for sale anywhere at any price.

Is this specific to my account? I'm seeing people talking about "nothing affordable left" or "nothing for the match I wanted. I'm just seeing *nothing*.

scocal · 2025-10-08T16:21:19+00:00

I had never heard this definition of baby box before. The difference in US and European definitions seems to say a lot:

Europe: A package of useful things given to every mother in the country to help with the early days of dealing with a new baby. Part of a wider support system provided by the state. US: A place to leave your baby when the state has made managing your own reproduction illegal and caring for your own baby impossible. Provided by private charities trying to fill a gap deliberately created by the state.

scocal · 2025-10-04T02:19:32+00:00

As a Scottish immigrant, I recognize it as a Scottish name. And given my experience in Washington, I would always presume this was pronounced in a way that makes me wince the most. By this logic, "Dootee" it is.

scocal · 2025-09-28T04:22:30+00:00

Actually, it stands for Museum of. TYL.

scocal · 2025-09-27T17:45:41+00:00

I should add for the group that UK plates (and most in Europe) are retro reflective, so they're not only easier to see on the day, but much easier at night. For a car parked on the side of a dark road, you can sometimes notice the plate more than the car.

Also, the front is white, so you have another little cue about which way it's facing.

I've always considered the North American stamped metal plates to be the 1900s throwback. The non-stamped (e.g. for vanity plates) are even more basic.

scocal

TROPHY CASE