11 September 2015
Blackmagic Design didn’t have a press conference today at IBC, and given the handful of announcements that was a sensible decision. The Decklink Quad 2 did catch our eye and, if supported by software vendors this could allow a slew of small form factor products using just one PCI Express card to deliver 8 SDI inputs/outputs. On the Decklink Quad 2 each SDI port can be used for either input or output, so you could have 7 inputs / 1 Output, or 4 inputs / 4 outputs etc, giving great flexibility from one card.
The Decklink Quad 2 will be vailable in November for $995. More info here.
Press Release:
IBC 2015, Amsterdam, Netherlands – September 11, 2015 – Blackmagic Design today announced DeckLink Quad 2, a new high performance capture and playback solution that puts the power of 8 DeckLink cards onto a single circuit board that plugs into a single PCI Express slot. Designed for developers and OEMs, DeckLink Quad 2 is the ideal solution for media play-out servers, multi screen digital signage servers, real time processors and more. DeckLink Quad 2 will retail for $995.
DeckLink Quad 2 will be demonstrated on the Blackmagic Design IBC 2015 booth in Hall 7, Stand H20.
This new model of DeckLink Quad 2 features 8 independent 3G-SDI connections so it can now work in high HD frame rates and it supports SDI formats in SD and HD up to 1080p60. Each SDI connection is completely independent, meaning that each of the 8 connections can input or output entirely different video standards and content streams, all at the same time. DeckLink Quad 2 can also capture and playback at the same time, and also includes a reference connection for black burst/tri-sync. Developers can use the SDK to configure the eight SDI connections to be any combination of inputs and outputs.
Featuring the latest, high performance 8 lane generation 2 PCI Express, DeckLink Quad 2 takes up only one single PCI slot in the computer, which makes it the perfect solution for system integrators and developers that need completely customizable, flexible I/O configurations on a single card. DeckLink Quad 2 appears as 8 independent SDI cards to the host computer, even though it only uses a single PCI Express slot and is ideal for use in servers that need to handle multiple video streams for both simultaneous capture and playback.
“Developers building playback servers have been asking us for ways to reduce equipment size,” said Grant Petty, CEO, Blackmagic Design. “The new DeckLink Quad 2 is exciting because it’s like getting 8 independent SDI capture and playback cards in one! Best of all, the new SDK lets OEMs and developers control each SDI connection independently for incredible flexibility. This means customers can have any combination of inputs or outputs and for example they could have 8 inputs or 8 outputs or 1 input with 7 outputs or simply 4 inputs and 4 outputs. It’s really their choice and they can use the one card even when the systems they are building could vary from customer to customer.”
Availability and Price
The new DeckLink Quad 2 will be available in Q4 from US$995 from all Blackmagic Design resellers worldwide.
