The Pro Capture Quad SDI Card from Magewell is a normal-profile PCIe Gen2 x4 card that allows for capturing 4 channels of SDI input. The card supports multiple color sampling modes, 10- and 12-bit color depths, up to 8 audio channels at 48 kHz, and output resolutions up to 2048x2048 with frame rates up to 120 fps. The card is also capable of numerous video processing features, including cropping, scaling, de-interleaving, aspect ratio conversion, color format conversion, video frame rate conversion, and video OSD composition.

Pro Capture Quad SDI Card supports multiple cards per system and unlimited output streams with independently adjustable parameters per stream. Additional features include ultra-low latency, timestamp and A/V synchronization, and LED status indicators. The card supports both Windows, Linux, and Mac operating systems, multiple APIs for Windows and Linux, and provides Windows SDKs for easier integration.

• Integrated cable equalizer supports cable lengths of up to 755' for HD signals
• Supports SD/HD/3Ga/3Gb/3Ga-DL/3Gb-DS standards
• Supports 2K (2048x1080) mode
• Supports RGB 4:4:4, YCbCr 4:4:4, YCbCr 4:2:2 color sampling
• Supports 10/12-bit color depth
• Supports extraction of SMPTE 352 payload identifier
• Supports up to 8 audio channels at 48KHz
• Supports extraction of audio formation information & channel status data
• Limited support for 3Gb-DS, only the first stream can be captured
• Limited support for 3Gb-DL:
  • 2K YCbCr 4:2:2 10-bit 1080p 50/59.94/60 stream is captured as 1080i 50/59.94/60
  • Other modes fully supported
• Limited support for the first link of dual-link interfaces:
  • YCbCr 4:2:2 10-bit 1080p 50/59.94/60 is captured as 1080i
  • YCbCr 4:4:4 10-bit is captured as 4:2:2
  • RGB 4:4:4 is captured as R/B sub-sampled

• Two video processing pipelines with approximately 180MP/s processing bandwidth for each
• Supports full 10-bit video processing
• Video cropping and scaling
• Video de-interlacing (wave, blend top & bottom field, top field only, bottom field only)
• Aspect ratio conversion
  • Automatic or manual selection of input and output aspect ratios
  • Three aspect ratio conversion modes: ignore (anamorphic), cropping, or padding (letterbox or pillarbox)
• Video color format conversion
  • Automatic and manual selection of input/output color formats, quantization ranges, and output saturation range
  • Supports RGB, YCbCr 601, YCbCr 709, YCbCr 2020 color formats
  • Limited or full quantization range
  • Limited, full, and extended gamut saturation range
• Video frame rate conversion
• Video OSD composition
  • PNG OSD image of up to 2048x2048
  • Dynamic loading of RGBA OSD image via SDK

• Supports multiple cards plugged into one system
• On-board rotary switch to set card number, with 16 positions from 0 to F
• System hardware device tree will display “01: Pro Capture AIO” when rotary switch is set to 1, and so on
• The video and audio device names displayed in your software will include the card number (set by the rotary switch)

• Unlimited output streams for any one input channel
• Independent cropping, aspect ratio, color format, resolution, frame rate, de-interlacing, and color adjustment settings for each individual stream

• Latency of 64 video lines
• Partial notification mode in SDK

• Hardware-based 100ns high-resolution clock
• Audio frames (192 audio samples) & video frames are stamped with hardware clock
• Hardware clock can be synchronized across cards (via SDK)

• Supports auto detection of Intel tiled GPU surface
• Supports DirectGMA for AMD video adapter chipsets
• Supports GPUDirect for NVIDIA video adapter chipsets
• 400 MB/s per channel DMA bandwidth in a PCIe 2.0 system
  
• 200 MB/s per channel DMA bandwidth in a PCIe 1.0 system

• Pro Capture SDK for DirectShow for easy integration (Windows)
• Pro Capture SDK for DirectKS for maximum flexibility & performance (Windows)

• All options can be controlled by three levels of registry key: global level, product level, and device level
• Video, audio, crossbar filter names can be customized via registry keys

• Multiple cards in one system can be upgraded simultaneously
• Cards can be upgraded without a system power shutdown when it is not in use
• Supports Safe upgrade
  • If power off or system breakdown occurs when the firmware is being upgraded, it will automatically restore to the initial version (only available for firmware version 1.21 and above)

Related Questions and Answers

Q: 1. Is the BNC connector the standard size for SDI or is this the mini bnc connectors?

A: As per manufacturer, it has standard size BNC connectors.

Q: 2. Can I drop this directly into my custom PC's motherboard without the Sonnet Chassis?

A: Yes, the Blackmagic Design DeckLink Quad 2 8-Channel 3G-SDI Capture & Playback Card is compatible with PCIe 2.0.

Q: 3. Does this process/Encode video. would this be less of a burden on a computer if it had to separate capture cards for each video. Does the board do any processing of the video. or does the computer GPU and CPU still have to process the video? I want to use this for live streaming I have a 10th gen I7 with 80+ gbs of ram with 6gb graphics card Nvidia p1000 Laptop. Just want to make sure it can Work. I use OBS

A: The Blackmagic Design DeckLink Quad 2 is a capture card and it does have some processing capability. which is listed below. Processing Colorspace Conversion Hardware based real time. HD Down Conversion Built in, high quality software down converter on playback and capture. Down converted SD selectable between letterbox and anamorphic 16:9 styles. HD Up Conversion Built in, high quality software up conversion from SD to 720HD or 1080HD on capture. Selectable between 4:3 pillarbox, 14:9 zoom and 16:9 zoom. Cross Conversion Built in, high quality hardware cross conversion from 720HD to 1080HD on playback, 1080HD to 720HD on playback. Real Time Effects DaVinci Resolve, Final Cut Pro X internal effects. Adobe Premiere Pro CC Mercury Playback Engine effects. Avid Media Composer internal effects.

Q: 4. I see this card uses PCIe 2.0 8x. Will it work if used in a PCIe 3.0 4x slot (8x mechanical)? Will there be any bandwidth limitations?

A: It will not properly work in anything less than an 8 lane generation 2 slot.

Q: 5. Does the card support Resolume Arena software?

A: According to Resolume, their Area software will work with the Blackmagic Design DeckLink Quad 2 8-Channel 3G-SDI Capture & Playback Card B&H # BLDLQ2.

Q: 6. Well, ATEM from Blackmagic doesn't seem reliable from reviews and weak point is ATEM doesn't convert frame rates. Now the Question is - Can I use this card to capture 8 input and use it in any of Live Streaming software like Wirecast as switcher? Is there any software like that? The thing is I'll carry a laptop anyway with ATEM so instead will make a good mini tower PC and will have no problem of storage and RAM.Thank you.

A: The latest ATEM Television Studio 4K Pro does accept any HD or UHD resolution and frame rates on input. The Quad 2 would work for your purpose assuming you have 3rd party software to run it and a qualified computer. Blackmagic does not make switching software for this card.

Q: 7. is this card capabile of recording from 4 sources and ouput on 4 other? i mean i wNant to use this one in oun out in loop.

A: It will not provide a loop output by itself. Your software would have to read an input and drive the output in this case. Blacmagic software provided will not do this.

Q: 8. Hello, I'm wondering if this card can input and record 8 1080p cameras feeds at the same time? if not, is there any available (a single card or 2 cards). was looking to go 4k recording of 6-8 cameras at the same time but 1080p is okay for now because of the 10k budget.

A: The Decklink Quad 2 is capable of recording up to 8 3G SDI signals at one time. You would need to run 8 instances of Media Express or use 3rd party software. You would also need a proper computer capable of this level of performance.

Q: 9. Can you tie two of the outputs together for key and fill, while still using the other channels independently for ins and outs?

A: Yes, you could set the I/O to KEY or Fill for two of the 8 ports when using the Blackmagic Design DeckLink Quad 2 8-Channel 3G-SDI Capture & Playback Card, and the rest could be normal SDI video outputs or inputs.

Q: 10. can I capture 4 hd signals and reproduce all 4 signals at the same time in a 4k multfield?

A: Yes, you can captures 4 HD signals with the Magewell Pro Capture Quad SDI Card and reproduce all 4 signals at the same time in the multi view window of the capture or streaming software you are using.