Hardware
Hardware we build
and test on.
Rytmi is developed and tested on two machines built from off-the-shelf PC parts: a desktop Intel processor, a retail motherboard, standard non-ECC memory, NVMe and SATA solid-state drives, and a Blackmagic DeckLink card. They run Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, with Ubuntu’s own kernel and FFmpeg packages. There is no appliance, and no hardware of our own design.
That is deliberate. Every part in the tables below is a standard product sold through ordinary retail channels, so a failed part can be replaced with one bought from a retailer. And the two machines come from different hardware generations, with different processors, chipsets and motherboard makers, so a result on one can be checked on the other. Because they differ in several ways at once, a difference between them does not point to any one part.
This is not a certified configuration or a minimum specification. The two machines are development benches running a test schedule, and this page says nothing about hardware we have not tried. Everything on this page is as of 29 Sep 2026 unless it carries another date.
The two units
Read from each running machine on 29 Sep 2026, except where a row says otherwise. Cases, CPU coolers and power supplies are not listed, because we have not recorded them from the machines themselves.
The first unit
The machine behind the August 2026 soak.
| Component | What it is |
|---|---|
| Processor | Intel Core i7-12700, a 12th-generation desktop part (non-K): 12 cores, 20 threads (8 performance cores with Hyper-Threading, 4 efficient cores) |
| Graphics | Intel UHD Graphics 770, built into the processor. No separate graphics card. |
| Motherboard | MSI PRO Z790-P WIFI, Intel Z790 chipset, a consumer ATX board |
| Memory | 32 GB DDR5, non-ECC: two Crucial 16 GB DDR5-6000 modules (CP16G60C48U5), one per memory channel |
| System drive | Samsung 980 PRO 1 TB NVMe SSD, with heatsink: operating system and as-run log |
| Media drive | Crucial BX500 2 TB SATA SSD |
| Backup drive | Transcend StoreJet USB disk |
| SDI card | Blackmagic DeckLink Duo 2: four SDI connectors and a reference input |
| Network | Intel I226-V 2.5 GbE on the motherboard; Intel I350-T2 two-port gigabit card; the motherboard’s Wi-Fi, unused |
The second unit
Built in September 2026, with more processor cores and a workstation-class motherboard.
| Component | What it is |
|---|---|
| Processor | Intel Core i7-14700, a 14th-generation desktop part (non-K): 20 cores, 28 threads (8 performance cores with Hyper-Threading, 12 efficient cores) |
| Graphics | Intel UHD Graphics 770, built into the processor. No separate graphics card. |
| Motherboard | ASUS Pro WS W680-ACE, Intel W680 chipset, a workstation-class ATX board |
| Memory | 32 GB DDR5, non-ECC: two Crucial 16 GB DDR5-4800 modules (CT16G48C40U5), one per memory channel Capacity read 29 Sep 2026; the modules are from our build record of 6 Sep 2026. |
| System drive | Samsung 990 PRO 1 TB NVMe SSD: operating system and as-run log |
| Media drive | Crucial BX500 2 TB SATA SSD |
| SDI card | Blackmagic DeckLink Duo 2: four SDI connectors and a reference input |
| Network | Two Intel I226-LM 2.5 GbE on the motherboard; Intel I350-T4 four-port gigabit card |
What each unit does
As of 29 Sep 2026.
- The first unit plays one channel, 1920×1080 progressive at 50 frames a second (1080p50), on one of its card’s SDI outputs. Of the card’s four outputs, three work; the fourth is the known fault below. From 20:17 UTC on 6 Oct 2026 it also plays a second channel, 1920×1080 interlaced at 25 frames (50 fields) a second, top field first (1080i50), on another output, and a third connector is set as an input, for recording tests.
- The second unit plays four channels, each 1080p50, one on each SDI output. On 27 Sep 2026, the last time its cabling was recorded, none of the four outputs had a cable attached; only the reference input did. So what it played then was counted inside the machine, by the engine and the card, and nothing downstream watched it.
- Reference. On 27 Sep 2026 both units took a reference from the sync generator listed under test kit. With the generator at 1080i50 their cards did not lock their 1080p50 outputs; at 720p50 they locked. We switched the generator off the same day, and both units read free-running on 29 Sep 2026. What locking showed, and what it did not cover, is in the archive: genlock, 27 September 2026.
Known fault
- The first unit’s fourth SDI output does not work. It has not worked since the card was fitted, in May 2026. The card’s driver still lists all four outputs, and none of our software on the machine has detected the fault.
- Fix underway. A replacement card is coming back to us from a warranty return. It takes this card’s place, and this card then goes back under warranty itself. Until the swap, the first unit uses three of the four outputs.
Software versions
The operating system, kernel, DeckLink driver and card firmware, FFmpeg and the Intel media driver, per unit, as of 29 Sep 2026; the card firmware was read on 5–6 Sep 2026. Of the versions in this table, the two units differ only in the kernel build.
| Software | First unit | Second unit | As of |
|---|---|---|---|
| Operating system Ubuntu, long-term support release | Ubuntu 24.04.4 LTS | Ubuntu 24.04.4 LTS | 29 Sep 2026 |
| Linux kernel Ubuntu’s own kernel package, generic flavour, as published in Ubuntu’s archive; not rebuilt or patched by us | 6.8.0-134-generic | 6.8.0-139-generic | 29 Sep 2026 |
| Blackmagic Desktop Video The DeckLink driver and SDK library. Blackmagic’s own package, not Ubuntu’s. | 15.3.1a4 | 15.3.1a4 | 29 Sep 2026 |
| DeckLink Duo 2 firmware As Blackmagic’s updater reports it | 0x128 | 0x128 | 5–6 Sep 2026 |
| FFmpeg The libraries the engine links or loads: libavcodec 60, libavformat 60, libavutil 58, libswresample 4. Ubuntu’s own packages. | 6.1.17:6.1.1-3ubuntu5 | 6.1.17:6.1.1-3ubuntu5 | 29 Sep 2026 |
| Intel media driver The VA-API driver for hardware video decode on the built-in graphics. Ubuntu’s own package. | 24.1.0+ds1-1 | 24.1.0+ds1-1 | 29 Sep 2026 |
Everything in this table except Blackmagic’s driver and the card’s firmware is Ubuntu’s own package, as Ubuntu publishes it. The FFmpeg versions are the ones the engine uses: on the first unit, read from the libraries the running engine has loaded; on the second, from the libraries its engine binary resolves to on that machine. Other Ubuntu packages, which this table does not list, are not all at the same revision on the two units.
As of 29 Sep 2026, both units had run the same Rytmi source since 18 Sep 2026, each built on its own machine. That stopped on 3 Oct 2026, when the first unit took its first newer build; it has taken others since, while the second unit still ran its 18 Sep build when we last read it, on 6 Oct 2026. Setting a machine up for Rytmi also changes some operating-system settings; those are part of how we install Rytmi, and are not listed here.
Test kit
The instruments we test the two units with, and what each is for, as of 29 Sep 2026.
| Instrument | What it is | What we use it for |
|---|---|---|
| Sync generator | Blackmagic Mini Converter Sync Generator: six analogue reference outputs, blackburst or HD tri-level | Genlock. It fed both units’ reference inputs on 27 Sep 2026, and was switched off the same day. Blackmagic published no accuracy figure for it when we checked on 16 Sep 2026; the offset we measured is in the genlock entry. |
| Audio check | Blackmagic Mini Converter SDI to Audio, which takes the audio out of an SDI signal as analogue; a Steinberg UR22mkII USB audio interface, recording at 48 kHz; Genelec 8030A monitor loudspeakers | Measuring and hearing the audio on an SDI output from outside the engine, such as a test tone’s level. Last shown working on 16 Sep 2026, reading a 1 kHz test tone off an SDI output. |
| Picture monitor | An SDI monitor from Blackmagic’s SmartScope range | Looking at the picture on an SDI output. |
We use these by hand, for checks. On 29 Sep 2026 neither unit had a recorder on its SDI outputs, so the other figures on this site are measured inside the machines themselves.