Blackmagic Design on Thursday introduced their DeckLink Extreme video capture card for professional video editors working with Apple’s newest Power Mac G5 systems. The new DeckLink Extreme is a PCI Express (PCIe)-based version of Blackmagic’s video capture card. The US$895 card uses a one-lane interface running at 2.5 gigabits per second (Gbps), more than six times the speed of FireWire-based solutions, according to the company.
DeckLink Extreme PCIe can capture 10-bit uncompressed SDI video and works with decks like Digital Betacam, D5 and D1. It features 24-bit balanced analog audio through XLR connections and SPDIF/Unbalanced AES audio output, “black burst” genlock input and RS-422 serial remote deck control.
Apple’s new dual-core Power Mac G5 systems incorporate a revised motherboard architecture that eschews the AGP and PCI-X interfaces found in earlier models for PCIe, a faster, serial architecture that has gained traction in the high-speed PC desktop computer marketplace. Blackmagic is one of the first vendors to announce Macintosh support for a PCIe version of their products — the company manufactures video capture boards used by video professionals, post-production shops and others.
DeckLink Extreme PCIe offers full support for QuickTime-based Mac OS X applications like Final Cut Pro HD, Shake, Photoshop, DVD Studio Pro, After Effects, Motion, iDVD and others.
The DeckLink Extreme PCIe is available now and works with G5s and Windows XP-based systems.