14 DAY TRIAL // While black magic, sometimes known as dark magic, is magic that draw on malevolent powers, BlackMagic Design Inc. doesn't have anything evil to it. In fact, BlackMagic Inc. is a company that manufactures high quality video cards and converters for the post production and television broadcast industries. Founded by some of the world's leading editors and engineers belonging to the post-production industry, the company has offices in Netherlands, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia, while the corporate headquarters are located in the United States.
Obviously, I won't be telling you stories about the company, but I will concentrate on one of its hot products instead. Less than 3 days ago, BlackMagic Design announced the DeckLink HD Studio, a product they claim to be "the world's first capture and playback card to support both HDMI and analog component video".
DeckLink HD Studio is able to capture video from HDMI cameras or decks, as well as analog decks and set top boxes, while HDMI and analog playback allows connection to a wide range of video monitors, big screen televisions and video projectors for incredible quality client monitoring. DeckLink HD Studio is also able to switch instantly between HD and SD so you can work with almost any deck, camera or monitor.
Grant Petty, BlackMagic Design's CEO, said that "As the first video capture card to capture uncompressed High Definition video from the HDMI output of cameras, as well as analog component, DeckLink HD Studio creates new, low-cost opportunities for editors using Macs and PCs for post production", so let's see how low are the costs implied by using this device...
DeckLink HD Studio has a recommended retail price of 995$, and is fully compatible with Adobe Premiere Pro, Apple Final Cut Pro, Adobe After Effects and Adobe Photoshop, as well as any DirectShow or QuickTime based application.