Products: Blackmagic Design DeckLink SDI

Blackmagic Design knows it has to keep upgrading its gear on a regular basis to stay in the sweet spot it has as a favorite low-cost supplier to the post market.

It was no surprise that at January's Macworld Expo, the Aussie company came up with another member of its popular DeckLink line: DeckLink SDI. Listing for a modest $395, this latest model card offers 10-bit SD/HD-SDI capture and playback with pro features including black burst/HD tri-sync reference input and RS-422 deck control.

A replacement for the original SD-only DeckLink model, the PCIe-type card (with a one-lane connection, which means it works in the lowest cost PCIe-based computers) includes eight channels of embedded SDI audio support, so all video and audio connections can be made with a single BNC-type SDI video cable.