Blackmagic Design are known for providing extremely flexible production and post-production tools at very affordable prices, enabling filmmakers to expand their creativity even further. The Cinema Cameras from Blackmagic revolutionized the world of filmmaking by giving indie filmmakers 12bit RAW capture and ProRes/DNxHD recording for well under £3K with the Blackmagic Cinema Camera, the 4K Production and Pocket Cinema cameras. The newer URSA and upcoming URSA Mini are set to add even more options such as anamorphic modes and slow-motion to professional and enthusiast camera folk. Blackmagic Design today announced DeckLink 4K Extreme 12G - Quad SDI, a new mezzanine card that lets customers connect Ultra HD and 4K equipment that use quad link 3G-SDI connections to their computer through their existing DeckLink 4K Extreme 12G video capture and playback card. The DeckLink 4K Extreme 12G - Quad SDI mezzanine card is available now for US$75 from Blackmagic Design re-sellers worldwide. DeckLink 4K Extreme 12G has native 12G-SDI connections for working with the very latest high frame rate 4K equipment over a single, high speed SDI cable. Older, first generation monitors and projectors have quad link 3G-SDI connections that require 4 SDI cables. The new DeckLink 4K Extreme 12G - Quad SDI mezzanine card bridges the gap so customers can now have both high speed 12G-SDI connections and four 3G-SDI connections, all on the same card. Decklink 4K Extreme 12G Quad SDI Now with DeckLink 4K Extreme 12G - Quad SDI a colorist working with DaVinci Resolve in a grading suite or theater can directly connect to older monitors and digital cinema projectors that have four 3G-SDI connections, without needing to buy additional external converters. In addition to Quad SDI support, the DeckLink 4K Extreme 12G - Quad SDI card also adds a built in hardware down converter for outputting 1080p60 video from 12G-SDI 2160p60 sources. The new Quad Link SDI mezzanine card fits in the mezzanine slot on the DeckLink 4K Extreme 12G, replacing the standard HDMI card that normally occupies the slot. The mezzanine card is easily replaceable and can be installed directly by customers. Installing the Quad Link SDI mezzanine card gives customers quad link 3G-SDI capture and playback on their DeckLink 4K Extreme 12G card. The DeckLink 4K Extreme 12G capture and playback card onto which the Quad SDI mezzanine card gets installed is an extremely fast, 8 lane PCI Express Generation 2 card that lets customers capture and playback dual stream video at resolutions up to 2160p60. This super fast, high performance card allows dual stream 3D, as well as the capture and playback of simultaneous fill and key, even when operating in Ultra HD at 60 frames per second. Also released today is Desktop Video 10.4.1 software update. This update supports DeckLink 4K Extreme 12G - Quad SDI, and also adds 12-bit RGB 4:4:4 support for 2160p30, keying in 1080p60, and deep color support. “DeckLink 4K Extreme 12G is our most advanced PCIe capture and playback card for high end digital cinema users,” said Grant Petty, CEO, Blackmagic Design. “Now customers that need to work with first generation Ultra HD have a future proof solution that works with both older equipment and the latest 12G-SDI gear! The new Desktop Video 10.4.1 adds even more capabilities to the card many people already have, giving them dramatically better color and more capabilities than ever before!”

Availability and Price

DeckLink 4K Extreme 12G - Quad SDI is available now for US$75 from Blackmagic Design resellers worldwide. Desktop Video 10.4.1 software update can be downloaded free of charge from the Blackmagic design website. UK Pricing has yet to be finalised, but based on the USD price, the new card will be priced accordingly.