Pro Tools 9 SDI video options

I've been mixing tv commercials and smaller film projects at a facility where we run Pro Tools 9 on a ~2011 8 Core Mac Pro with dual video monitors connected through the standard Mac video card. We generally run a lo-res reference video on the second monitor and Pro Tools mix/edit windows are toggled on the other.



There is a 3rd display in the control room, connected to an SDI patchbay in the machine room where the computers live. We want to run our video to that monitor, but are torn between 3 options:



1) Video Out PCIe: We would acquire a Blackmagic DeckLink Mini Monitor card and run video off of the same Mac.



2) Video Slave http://ift.tt/1hdghtF

Which would run off of either an older Mac Mini or a 2-3 year old iMac with some sort of firewire to SDI converter



I use Video Satellite LE and know that it's pretty slick but Video Slave is a cheaper, more attractive option at this facility.



3) Video Slave running on a new Mac Mini with a Blackmagic UltraStudio Mini Monitor.



The question is, does anybody run video out PCIe with a similar setup? Is HD video available? How smoothly does it run?



Does anyone run Video Slave or Virtual VTR on an older Mac Mini or iMac? Is the performance okay?



Can anyone think of a firewire to SDI video card or option that might fit this purpose?



Any help would be greatly appreciated.



Thanks!