Blackmagic Design on Friday announced Decklink HD Studio and Intensity, two new video capture and playback cards that support High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI). Both cards are Mac and PC compatible and will go on sale in mid-October; Decklink HD Studio will cost $995, and Intensity will cost $249.
HDMI is an uncompressed digital video format that has emerged as a standard on new High Definition TV (HDTV) hardware. It combines video and audio on a single digital interface and supports High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) and other features.
DeckLink HD Studio is a PCI Express-based card that supports both HDMI and analog component video, allowing capture from HDMI cameras and decks as well as analog decks and set top boxes. It provides HDMI and analog playback and switches automatically between HD and Standard Definition (SD) video.
DeckLink HD Studio supports 10bit capture and playback and 14-bit digital to analog conversion. It works in 1080i, 720p and NTSC/PAL video formats, stereo balanced XMLR analog audio in/out, two channels of AES/EBU unbalanced audio in.out, RS-422 remote deck control and genlock HD/Tri-sync reference input.
Software drivers included with the card enable it to support video capture and playback for Final Cut Pro and Shake. It also works with Photoshop, and with custom plug-ins, Adobe After Effects, Autodesk Combustion and other applications.
Intensity
While Decklink HD Studio is aimed at post processing companies and professionals who need HDMI video capture and playback, Intensity is aimed squarely at consumers who are buying video cameras equipped with HDMI video connections. The $249 PCI Express card features two HDMI interfaces and is Mac and PC-compatible.
Intensity switches automatically between 1080HD, 720HD, NTSC and PAL video standards. The media files created with the Intensity card are also compatible with Blackmagic’s higher-end equipment, like the DeckLink and Multibridge card series.
Like the DeckLink products, Intensity files are compatible with Final Cut Pro, After Effects, Photoshop, and any QuickTime-based software application.
Also included is Blackmagic’s On-Air 2.0 software, designed to help users capture live performance events using two HDMI video cameras.