Black Magic Design have some exciting new products we are announcing at IBC 2006 in Amsterdam, and we think these new products are some of our most exciting yet, as they make high-end television even more affordable and exciting!

Introducing Intensity

Intensity is a product we have always dreamed of making.

You might have noticed that the latest HDV cameras are allowing higher quality at low cost, however the problem is HDV video compression is too heavy. Most people who want to use HDV cameras for high-end work suffer quality issues because the compression is so tight.
The latest HDV cameras such as the Sony HDR-HC3 change all this because they include HDMI video out connections.

HDMI is totally uncompressed, and is similar to HD-SDI in quality. For less than $1,500 you can get a video camera that features a high definition uncompressed video output similar to HD-SDI in quality. That's really amazing.

Intensity is designed specifically for cameras such as the Sony HDR-HC3, Sony HDR-UX1, or Sony HDR-SR1 and is the world’s first high definition HDMI editing card. It features HDMI capture and HDMI playback at uncompressed or professional compressed quality for only US$249.

Intensity plugs into Windows XP, Windows 2003 Server, or Mac OS X PCIe systems, and is compatible with Adobe Premiere Pro, Apple Final Cut Pro, After Effects, Photoshop with included plug-ins, and more. You can use any DirectShow or QuickTime based software, so you can use almost any software you want to.

Intensity will capture and play back with uncompressed video for incredible quality. You can even choose a professional compression such as our new full resolution JPEG codec on Windows, or DVCPRO HD on Mac OS X when Final Cut Pro is installed.

Unlike anything before it, Intensity will finally allow anyone to take advantage of uncompressed video quality. It will be exciting to see how people use it!

Intensity will be available from October 15th for only $249.

http://www.blackmagic-design.com/intensity

On-Air 2.0

With Intensity, capturing from HDV cameras via HDMI is great quality because you capture uncompressed video direct from the CMOS imaging sensor. So we wanted to go even further with this idea, and allow live mixing between two low cost HDV cameras for live events using our popular On-Air software.

On-Air 2.0 is a big upgrade, and allows two Intensity boards to be plugged into Apple Mac Pro systems. Then you simply connect two cameras, such as two Sony HDR-HC3 cameras, to the HDMI inputs on the Intensity cards, run On-Air 2.0 and you instantly have a complete production studio all in full resolution HDTV!

Two Intensity boards are less than $500 total, so this is an incredibly affordable solution. Imagine filming weddings, music videos, religious events, corporate videos or really any kind of live event, in real time. There is no more fun and exciting way to do video production!

Real time production saves huge amounts of editing time, as essentially your edit is completed the moment the event is finished because it's all mixed live. On-Air 2.0 also takes care of capture to disk and you can choose uncompressed or professional compressed video.

One of the most exciting features of On-Air 2.0 is you don't need to worry about genlock, as On-Air 2.0 auto-synchronizes the cameras automatically, so you don't need expensive genlock cameras. Any camera with HDMI out will do.

On-Air 2.0 will be included with all Intensity boards free.

http://www.blackmagic-desigh.com/intensity/on-air

Introducing DeckLink HD Studio

With the introduction of HDMI capture and playback using Intensity, we also thought it would be exciting to do a fully featured HDMI capture playback board with all the power features of a traditional DeckLink HD series board.

DeckLink HD Studio is a new model which includes HDMI capture and playback, as well as combining analog component, AES audio, balanced analog audio, RS-422 deck control and genlock/tri-sync input. DeckLink HD Studio includes the same powerful features of DeckLink HD Extreme, however instead of being an SDI-based product, it's HDMI-based instead.

This board is HDMI in and out, but with all the analog, audio and control features included.

For users who want more professional features than Intensity, then DeckLink HD Studio is ideal, as it connects to a wide range of equipment, such as HDMI and analog cameras and televisions, as well as hardware such as Betacam SP decks.

DeckLink HD Studio will be shipping in two weeks at RRP$995.

http://www.blackmagic-design.com/decklinkhd

DeckLink 5.7 for Windows

Lastly for this IBC, we have an exciting new update for DeckLink users working on the Windows platform. This update features an Online JPEG codec that's full resolution HD which eliminates a lot of the problems with using other compression codecs, while allowing you to finish work to broadcast standards when disk speeds and capacity are tight. Online JPEG is really good for long form work such as episodic television production.

Online JPEG is a free update and is included in DeckLink 5.7 for Windows. This update also has new firmware for the DeckLink HD PCIe series cards that upgrade the cards to true 64-bit PCIe.

I hope this update has been useful, and if you’re visiting IBC in Amsterdam, please drop by our booth to see these new products, and chat with out engineering team. We have more engineers at IBC than ever before, so let us know what features you might like to see included in future software updates.