Magewell Electronics

Newest Pro Capture models each support two simultaneous 4K sources at full 60fps with outstanding flexibility and performance

Supporting the accelerating adoption of 4K video in professional production and A/V workflows, Magewell today announced two powerful, dual-channel 4K models in its popular Pro Capture family of PCI Express capture hardware. The new cards will make their industry debut in the Magewell booth (N1039) at NAB Show New York, taking place October 18-19 in New York City.

Magewell’s Pro Capture cards cost-effectively deliver reliable, high-quality video and audio capture for end-users, systems integrators and OEM developers. The newest models continue these benefits while enabling the capture of two channels of Ultra HD video with embedded audio on each single card.

Unlike competing multi-channel offerings that limit 4K capture frame rates to just 30 frames per second, the new dual-channel Pro Capture 4K cards support video resolutions up to 4096x2160 at full 60fps over high-speed PCIe 3.0 x4 bus interfaces. The Pro Capture Dual HDMI 4K Plus features HDMI 2.0 inputs, while the Pro Capture Dual SDI 4K Plus flexibly supports single-link 12G-SDI, dual-link 6G-SDI or quad-link 3G-SDI connectivity.

Further differentiating the dual-channel 4K Pro Capture models from competitors, both inputs can be used simultaneously with independent resolutions, frame rates and processing settings. Each source channel can also be routed to multiple software applications in parallel, again with varying capture parameters for each program.

Like all Magewell Pro Capture cards, the new models perform functions such as high-quality up/down/cross-conversion, image adjustments and graphic overlay in an on-board FPGA with zero impact on the host system CPU. This maximizes processor availability for third-party software – already a significant resource savings given the quadrupled processing requirements of 4K video compared to HD formats, and doubly beneficial when processing two Ultra HD sources at once.

“With our new dual-channel 4K cards, Magewell is helping make multi-input 4K capture and production more practical and affordable,” said Fei Ma, Chief Technical Officer at Magewell. “We’re pleased to combine our proven 4K capabilities with higher capture density, all without sacrificing the high performance, flexibility and rich feature set customers expect from our products.”

Multiple 4K Pro Capture cards can be used simultaneously in the same system, further increasing multi-channel capture density. Magewell’s universal Pro Capture drivers support Windows, Mac and Linux operating systems, and offer broad compatibility with popular encoding, streaming, live production, web conferencing, lecture capture, medical imaging and virtual reality (VR) creation software. Meanwhile, a comprehensive SDK enables third-party developers to directly leverage the cards’ advanced feature set in their own custom solutions.

In addition to their NAB Show New York premiere, Magewell will showcase the new dual-channel 4K Pro Capture cards in booth 311 at Streaming Media West (November 2-3 in Huntington Beach, California) and booth 619 at Government Video Expo (November 29-30 in Washington, DC). For more information about Magewell, please visit www.magewell.com.

About Magewell – Founded in 2011, Magewell focuses on the core technology of video and audio processing. With guiding principles of continuous innovation and providing customers with outstanding support, Magewell has earned a strong reputation for the exceptional quality, performance and reliability of its I/O devices. Distributed globally, Magewell products are used in a wide array of professional video applications including broadcast, live event streaming, medical imaging, lecture capture, surveillance, video conferencing, gaming and more. For more information, please visit www.magewell.com.