There are many great reasons why DeckLink cards have helped introduce thousands of people worldwide to the incredible quality of broadcast video.

Uncompressed Video

Formats such as DV use video compression for smaller and easier to manage files but which sacrifices image quality. Uncompressed video capture of perfect quality is now easy thanks to modern, faster hard disks. Uncompressed video won’t suffer from generation loss and always looks amazingly clean and sharp. Uncompressed video also renders faster as you don’t waste CPU time with video compression. Now 100% of your CPU time can be used rendering your effects!

Move between Standard Definition and HDTV

DeckLink cards support dual rate SDI so you can instantly switch between SD and HD. This is ideal for modern workflows where HD may be a smaller part of the market for most people. Most people run standard definition for 80% or more of their work, but need high definition capability for specific spots. With SDI products, such as DeckLink cards and Blackmagic converters, you can immediately switch over to HD when a job comes along. Full resolution video is supported from standard definition SDI using 720 x 486 for NTSC and 720 x 576 for PAL, and the HDTV resolutions of 1280 x 720 for the 720p HD standard and 1920x1080 for the 1080 HD standard. All downstream converters and routing switchers available from Blackmagic Design will automatically switch between standard definition and HD, making the changeover incredibly fast and easy. That’s perfect so you can take on HD jobs as and when they come along, keeping your equipment productive with standard definition work.

Higher Color Resolution and Flexibility

SDI doesn't use compression so you can record video to any kind of broadcast or high end consumer deck, completely independent of the tape format. Unlike DV which only has 4:1:1 color sampling, with 1-red and 1-blue video sample per 4-luma samples, SDI is usually 4:2:2 and has twice the color resolution.

SDI supports 8 and 10 bit video interchangeably with all DeckLink cards supporting 16 bit rendering where possible so full bit depth is always preserved. SDI video is also very flexible as all equipment connects together using simple coax BNC cables up to 100 meters or 300 feet apart. Although SDI was previously expensive, Blackmagic Design has single handedly changed the industry making it more affordable for everyone.

Connect to Everything

SDI enables every kind of video equipment, including all tape format decks, monitoring and distribution, to be easily connected for maximum compatibility. No matter what the tape format, you'll find a compatible deck model with SDI connections. SDI has absolutely no latency, so unlike FireWire, you get an instant response when editing. SDI also allows direct monitoring with all good video monitors having SDI input options or use SDI to DVI-D converters, such as Multibridge or HDLink, for digital LCD monitoring.

Audio perfectionists will appreciate the massive multi-channel audio capability of SDI, enabling DeckLink Studio and DeckLink SDI cards to capture up to 8 channels of audio. That’s great for 5.1 and 7.1 surround sound work. As with uncompressed video, all audio is digital so there's no generation loss of any kind, and all with perfect AV sync! There are thousands of SDI based products in the industry today which are fully compatible with DeckLink cards.

High Quality Analog Monitoring

DeckLink Studio supports full component video connections with 3 BNC cables connecting Y, R-Y and B-Y color channels. This provides the highest quality analog video monitoring, combined with high quality digital to analog converters for incredibly clean HD analog video. DeckLink Studio's digital to analog output uses active electronic filtering, so get higher quality than common external digital to analog converters. High bit depth conversion combined with active video filtering handles fine HD image detail much better than passive filtering.