News

September 15, 2013

Blackmagic Design announced three new models of Mini Converter designed to ease the transition into Ultra HD workflows and to allow lower cost Ultra HD studios to be built. These new models are fully compatible with SD, HD and Ultra HD equipment and automatically switch between video formats. The new Mini Converter Optical Fiber 4K, Mini Converter SDI to HDMI 4K and the Mini Converter SDI Multiplex 4K will retail for 475 EUR each.

The new Ultra HD Mini Converters with 6G-SDI will be shown on the Blackmagic Design IBC 2013 booth in Hall 7, Stand H20.

Mini Converter Optical Fiber is a new optical fiber bidirectional mini converter that includes 6G-SDI and 6 Gb/s optical fiber for automatic switching between all SD, HD and Ultra HD television standards. This model is a more advanced 6G-SDI version of the original Mini Converter Optical Fiber model which operates up to 3G-SDI which will now be reduced to 275 EUR as a lower cost model. Mini Converter Optical Fiber 4K will retail for 475 EUR.

The new model of Mini Converter SDI to HDMI 4K is a SDI to HDMI converter that features 4 SDI inputs that allow support for Ultra HD video inputs using a single link 6G-SDI, dual link 3G-SDI and quad link HD-SDI connections. Although this model allows Ultra HD monitoring using a single 6G-SDI connection, some older equipment still uses 4 HD-SDI connections to connect Ultra HD devices and Mini Converter SDI to HDMI 4K supports these formats using its 4 SDI inputs.

The new Mini Converter SDI Multiplex 4K, features four SDI inputs and four SDI outputs allowing conversion to and from quad link HD-SDI, dual link 3 Gb/s SDI and now single link 6G-SDI video connections. This model can also handle different types of Ultra HD SDI connections as well as performing 4:4:4 Single Link and Dual Link 4:4:4 conversions. This model is perfect for interfacing between the latest 6G-SDI Ultra HD products and older Ultra HD equipment such as displays that use 4 separate HD-SDI connections.

“With exciting new Ultra HD workflows based on 6G-SDI technology and products such as Blackmagic Design’s ATEM Production Studio family of live production switchers, there is a vital need to interface into various types of broadcast systems and between Ultra HD equipment. These new mini converters will now allow 6G-SDI workflows and Ultra HD production to be easier than ever!” said Grant Petty, CEO, Blackmagic Design. “These new converters are fully compatible with other Ultra HD and 6G-SDI equipment from Blackmagic Design such as the new ATEM 1 M/E Production Studio, HyperDeck Studio Pro, UltraStudio 4K and Blackmagic Audio Monitor! Now it’s possible to build a whole Ultra HD production studio at dramatically low cost and with the simplicity of a single BNC connection between devices!”

Availability and Price

Mini Converter Optical Fiber 4K, Mini Converter SDI to HDMI 4K and the Mini Converter SDI Multiplex 4K will be available for 475 EUR in October.

Press Photography

Product photos of the the new Ultra HD Mini Converters, and all other Blackmagic Design products, are available at www.blackmagicdesign.com/press/images.

About Blackmagic Design

Blackmagic Design creates the world’s highest quality video editing products, digital film cameras, color correctors, video converters, video monitoring, routers, live production switchers, disk recorders, waveform monitors and film restoration software for the feature film, post-production and television broadcast industries. Blackmagic Design’s DeckLink capture cards launched a revolution in quality and affordability, while the company’s DaVinci Emmy™ award winning color correction products have dominated the television and film industry since 1984. Blackmagic Design continues ground breaking innovations including stereoscopic 3D and 4K workflows. Founded by world leading post production editors and engineers, Blackmagic Design has offices in the USA, UK, Japan, Singapore, and Australia. For more information, please check www.blackmagicdesign.com.

September 14, 2013

Blackmagic Design announced the immediate availability of HyperDeck Software Update 4.0, a new update for the HyperDeck Studio Pro broadcast recorder. This update adds support for additional Apple ProRes file formats, ProRes 422, ProRes 422 (LT) and ProRes (Proxy).

HyperDeck Studio Pro is being shown on the Blackmagic Design IBC 2013 booth in Hall 7, Booth H20.

HyperDeck Studio Pro customers can already record and playback in uncompressed, or compressed ProRes 422 (HQ) and DNxHD formats. This new software update allows them to use three additional ProRes formats, ProRes 422, ProRes 422(LT) and ProRes 422 (Proxy). These additional formats provide customers with significantly reduced video file sizes while preserving full frame 10-bit 4:2:2 quality.

Customers can choose dramatically longer recording times on the same low cost SSD drives while still recording high quality video in all SD, HD or Ultra HD resolutions. Selecting the type of ProRes format for recording can be set via the built in on screen menus and all ProRes types can be played back automatically.

The Apple ProRes 422 formats are designed specifically for multi-stream playback, minimal generation loss and fast export, making them very popular video file formats for post production and broadcast. All ProRes files recorded with HyperDeck Studio Pro can be opened directly in Apple Final Cut Pro X for immediate editing.

"It’s exciting to be adding more versions of Apple ProRes to HyperDeck Studio Pro, giving our customers the choice to work in an even greater variety of compressed formats to suit their projects and workflow," said Grant Petty, CEO of Blackmagic Design. "ProRes 422(HQ) is an amazing quality codec and incredibly popular with HyperDeck users, now with the extra options like ProRes 422 (Proxy) it’s possible to record over 24 hours of 1080HD video in a single 480GB SSD drive! Combined with the continuous recording technology of the HyperDeck Studio Pro, means you could record for 2 days non stop before swapping out the SSD drives! This versatility combined with cost effective SSD technology makes HyperDeck Studio Pro an even more compelling replacement for aging decks in fast paced broadcast and live production environments.”

About HyperDeck

HyperDeck Studio Pro is a broadcast deck SSD recorder, that let customers record and play back the highest quality uncompressed and compressed video format’s using fast 2.5” SSD’s. HyperDeck Studio Pro records and plays back uncompressed, compressed ProRes or DNxHD formats. HyperDeck Studio Pro features dual SSD slots and a beautiful user friendly VTR style design with function buttons, a control wheel for jog and shuttle, plus external RS-422 emulated control.

The high resolution LCD screen displays timecode and transport information, plus a full color thumbnail preview of the current clip in record and playback. Crystal look buttons give customers full transport control just like a broadcast deck. HyperDeck Studio Pro features single link 6G-SDI giving customers Ultra HD recording and play back from a single SSD!

Availability and Price

HyperDeck Software Update 4.0 is available now for download free of charge from the Blackmagic Design website for HyperDeck Studio Pro customers.

Press Photography

Product photos of the HyperDeck Studio Pro, and all other Blackmagic Design products are available at www.blackmagicdesign.com/press/images.

About Blackmagic Design

Blackmagic Design creates the world’s highest quality video editing products, digital film cameras, color correctors, video converters, video monitoring, routers, live production switchers, disk recorders, waveform monitors and film restoration software for the feature film, post production and television broadcast industries. Blackmagic Design’s DeckLink capture cards launched a revolution in quality and affordability, while the company’s Emmy™ award winning DaVinci color correction products have dominated the television and film industry since 1984. Blackmagic Design continues ground breaking innovations including stereoscopic 3D and 4K workflows. Founded by world leading post production editors and engineers, Blackmagic Design has offices in the USA, United Kingdom, Japan, Singapore, and Australia. For more information, please check www.blackmagicdesign.com.

September 14, 2013


Blackmagic Design announced SmartScope Duo 4K, an updated model of its SmartScope Duo that now includes 6G-SDI for Ultra HD support.

SmartScope Duo 4K is a unique dual rack monitor that allows a range of broadcast accurate waveform monitoring on 2 large 8 inch LCD screens of any SD, HD and Ultra HD video source. SmartScope Duo 4K replaces the previous SmartScope Duo model and is available now for only US$995.

SmartScope Duo 4K will be demonstrated on the Blackmagic Design IBC 2013 booth in Hall 7, Stand H20.

SmartScope Duo 4K features two large 8 inch LCD screens in a compact rack mount design that is less than an inch thick. SmartScope Duo 4K includes powerful image processing allowing each of the two screens to be independently selected between video monitoring and waveform monitoring of any SD, HD and Ultra HD video source. There are 7 types of waveform display that can be selected by the user, including waveform, vectorscope, RGB parade, YUV parade, histogram and an audio scope with 16 channels of SDI audio and audio phase meter.

SmartScope Duo 4K is a perfect solution for general video monitoring as it handles virtually all SD, HD and Ultra HD video standards via its 6G-SDI inputs and all screens can be remotely adjusted via the customer’s Ethernet network. SmartScope Duo 4K can be installed into equipment racks for local monitoring in post production, or for multi monitor video walls in master control rooms or for camera monitoring for production switchers!

One of the main difficulties when installing multiple monitors is attempting to match color settings on all monitors. SmartScope Duo 4K eliminates this problem by connecting to an Ethernet network using the included Mac and Windows software to adjust all your monitors from one central location. This utility also lets customers choose between monitoring video or the various types of scope views.

SmartScope Duo 4K includes full tally features so it is perfect for live broadcasters. Unlike a simple tally light, SmartScope Duo 4K includes tally borders that can be independently displayed in red, green or blue. Each screen features an independent tally in the three colors so customers can signal to the user more information than a simple on air status. Tally is connected via a standard parallel pin connector on the rear of SmartScope Duo 4K and provides full contact closure compatibility with all switcher and automation systems.

"In the past high quality broadcast accurate waveform monitoring has always been extremely high cost and physically large and cumbersome," said Grant Petty, CEO, Blackmagic Design. "We think SmartScope Duo 4K is the perfect solution, as it builds broadcast accurate scopes into the monitor itself, so customers can simply choose between monitoring video, or one of the 7 scope types built into the product! This is the perfect solution for monitoring cameras with our new Ultra HD 6G-SDI based live production switchers!"

SmartScope Duo Key Features

• 2 independent 8 inch LCD displays in a 3 rack unit size chassis, less than 1 inch thick.

• 6G-SDI inputs for SD, HD and Ultra HD monitoring, with re clocked loop outputs.

• Ethernet input with loop output for connecting to computers for central adjustments.

• Tally input for each monitor allowing red, green or blue tally indication.

• Control software panel included free for Windows and Mac OS X.

• Full 10-bit data path and image scaling for high quality displays.

• Idea for use in broadcast, post production and camera monitoring for switchers.

Availability and Price

SmartScope Duo 4K is available now for 785 EUR.

Press Photography

Product photos of the SmartScope Duo 4K, and all other Blackmagic Design products, are available at www.blackmagicdesign.com/press/images.

About Blackmagic Design

Blackmagic Design creates the world’s highest quality video editing products, digital film cameras, color correctors, video converters, video monitoring, routers, live production switchers, disk recorders, waveform monitors and film restoration software for the feature film, post production and television broadcast industries. Blackmagic Design’s DeckLink capture cards launched a revolution in quality and affordability, while the company’s Emmy™ award winning DaVinci color correction products have dominated the television and film industry since 1984. Blackmagic Design continues ground breaking innovations including stereoscopic 3D and 4K workflows. Founded by world leading post production editors and engineers, Blackmagic Design has offices in the USA, United Kingdom, Japan, Singapore, and Australia. For more information, please check www.blackmagicdesign.com.

September 13, 2013

Blackmagic Design announced Desktop Video 10, a major new software update for its UltraStudio 4K and DeckLink 4K Extreme capture and playback products that replaces all processing with a wholly new design. This new software update allows for innovative features such as simultaneous capture and playback and will be available in October free of charge.

UltraStudio 4K running simultaneous capture and playback will be demonstrated with DaVinci Resolve 10 on the Blackmagic Design IBC 2013 booth in Hall 7, Stand H20. This demonstration will show live capture, color grading and then output live on the single UltraStudio 4K.

After 11 years of shipping thousands of capture and playback products for Mac, Windows and Linux, it was time to redesign the firmware and drivers to allow a new generation of features and performance. This new architecture has been designed from the ground up to be optimized for high speed Thunderbolt and PCIe computers and the new emerging Ultra HD television formats that require massive data speeds to support. This new design has also been driven by the needs of high end DaVinci Resolve customers who are working on high end feature films.

The new design replaces the entire driver set and internal processing in the UltraStudio 4K and DeckLink 4K Extreme models. This change is a purely modern design that allows exciting features such as capture and playback at the same time and in different video formats. The new design features almost zero latency, depending on the host computer for the highest performance Direct GPU support.

DaVinci Resolve 10 customers will benefit from the capture and playback support as this lets them capture direct from cameras on set, then grade the live video with multiple nodes of correction and then to output to an on set monitor all live. This makes lighting a film set easy and allows DOP’s, directors and colorists to work together to optimize the film’s look on set. Other features included in Desktop Video 10 for DaVinci Resolve include new frame buffers supporting R10K RGB, 12 bit support, higher frame rates and much more.

OEM developers will also like multiple new features to help support custom system development. These new features include full frame genlock timing, closed caption in all bit rates, automatic input detection support, better CRC input checking, extremely low latency and Direct GPU support, plus the ability to write pixels direct into frame buffers and the ability to write their own custom drivers.

About UltraStudio 4K

UltraStudio 4K, an attractively designed rack mount capture and playback device based on Thunderbolt™ technology developed by Intel® with collaboration from Apple®. UltraStudio 4K instantly switches between all SD, HD and Ultra HD video formats, supports dual stream 3D capture/playback, and includes a modern 12 bit hardware architecture, Dual Link 6G-SDI, HDMI 4K, support for up to 1080p60 and a wide range of SDI, HDMI and analog video and audio connections all for only US$995. UltraStudio 4K is the ideal solution for all post production and broadcast users when working on design, editing, paint, color correction and effects tasks.

About DeckLink 4K Extreme

DeckLink 4K Extreme is a high performance PCIe based capture and playback card that instantly switches between all SD, HD and Ultra HD video formats, supports dual stream 3D capture/playback, and includes a modern 12 bit hardware architecture.

DeckLink 4K Extreme features powerful features such as Dual Link 6G-SDI, HDMI 4K, support for up to 1080p60 and a wide range of SDI, HDMI and analog video and audio connections all for only US$995. DeckLink 4K Extreme is the perfect solution that can be installed inside high performance workstations for broadcast design, editing, paint, color correction, visual effects and more.

“We have been working on this new design for a long long time and its exciting to show it at IBC working with DaVinci Resolve 10” said Grant Petty, CEO, Blackmagic Design. “The previous driver and firmware design for our capture and playback products had served us well over the last 11 years, however it’s now time to start again by throwing away the old code and engineer a totally new design that includes all our exciting ideas into this new design. This new design is a complete reinvention of the desktop video products and is what UltraStudio 4K and DeckLink 4K Extreme were designed for. We have already seeded this update to developers and they are very excited by this update and we think customers will also love it too!”

Availability and Price

Desktop Video 10 for UltraStudio 4K and DeckLink 4K Extreme will be available in October free of charge.

Press Photography

Product photos of the UltraStudio 4K and DeckLink 4K Extreme, as well as all other Blackmagic Design products are available at www.blackmagicdesign.com/press/resources/images.

About Blackmagic Design

Blackmagic Design creates the world’s highest quality video editing products, digital film cameras, color correctors, video converters, video monitoring, routers, live production switchers, waveform monitors and film restoration software for the feature film, post production and television broadcast industries. Blackmagic Design’s DeckLink capture cards launched a revolution in quality and affordability, while the company’s DaVinci Emmy™ award winning color correction products have dominated the television and film industry since 1984. Blackmagic Design continues ground breaking innovations including stereoscopic 3D and 4K workflows. Founded by world leading post production editors and engineers, Blackmagic Design has offices in the USA, UK, Japan, Singapore, and Australia. For more information, please check www.blackmagicdesign.com.

September 13, 2013

Blackmagic Design today announced that DaVinci Resolve 10 public beta is available for customers to download now. DaVinci Resolve 10 is a major upgrade that includes new features for integrating the workflows of multiple different software products used in the film and television industry. DaVinci Resolve 10 has upgraded on set tools, upgraded editing features, support for OpenFX plug ins as well as new tools for delivering final project masters to cinemas. Other changes include the addition of Ultra HD resolutions and additional GPU support on the free of charge DaVinci Resolve Lite edition.

DaVinci Resolve 10 is being demonstrated on the Blackmagic Design IBC 2013 booth in Hall 7, Stand H20.

DaVinci Resolve 10 has been developed to simplify the integration of different software tools used in the film and television industry, allowing timelines to be moved into and out of DaVinci Resolve and other edit software such as Final Cut Pro, Avid and Premiere Pro.

As workflows have changed, more post production is now started on set during the shoot. Lighting and other aspects of the shoot are also often verified based on color correction checks and DaVinci Resolve 10 has new powerful tools to manage this process. The new Resolve Live feature allows color grading direct from the video input live with full creative power such as primaries, secondaries, power windows, custom curves and more. Grades can be stored and then relinked when the camera files are loaded.

DaVinci Resolve 10 includes enhanced editing features and allows online finishing of edits performed in other popular editing software. This means multiple users can submit scenes in large complex jobs from the applications they prefer to use, and DaVinci Resolve 10 can finish online from the original camera RAW files for dramatically better quality than would be available when finishing in a standard NLE software package. If any scene needs additional editing, it can be moved back to the NLE software letting editors use the tools they love.

New editing features include full multi track editing with 16 channels of audio per clip and unlimited video and audio tracks in the timeline. Audio can be synced or trimmed and dragged independently to the timeline. Other new editing features include extensive ripple, roll, slide and slip clip trimming support which display dynamically on the timeline and viewer. The viewer also allows split screen display to show in and out points of adjacent clips.

A good example of the online editing process is when an edit has been completed in Final Cut Pro X that includes mixed frame rates, mixed media types, multiple audio tracks and even color corrections. DaVinci Resolve 10 will support import of that project via XML and will online it including full translation of all these elements while rendering the master from the original RAW camera files. This means that Final Cut Pro X editors can use DaVinci Resolve 10 as the tool to online their work for cinema release and generate the Digital Cinema Package file directly from the camera RAW files.

Editing in DaVinci Resolve 10 also includes a powerful title tool with static, lower third, scroll and crawl titles with multiple fonts, size, drop shadow and XY positioning. Timelines in DaVinci Resolve 10 also include the support of compound clips with multiple elements including multiple video and audio tracks. Also, DaVinci Resolve 10 can be used for stereoscopic 3D projects with full support for left and right eye clips in the media pool and the edit timeline. Using timecode and reel name, DaVinci Resolve 10 will automatically associate the left and right eye of the stereoscopic clips.

Color correction features have been upgraded in DaVinci Resolve 10, including support for industry standard OpenFX plug ins with an unlimited number of plug ins per clip. There are now unlimited power windows per corrector node and the new Gradient PowerWindow™ lets colorists quickly add a gradient across the image. Other new color correction features include copy and paste of tracking data, motion effects including spatial and temporal noise reduction and motion blur effects.

For project delivery, DaVinci Resolve 10 includes full audio track visibility in the deliver window timeline as well as EasyDCP integration so users can render directly from their project timeline into a Digital Cinema Package for release to theaters. Because DaVinci Resolve 10 allows rendering from the camera RAW file directly to the Digital Cinema Package files in the highest quality 32 bit float, there is simply no better quality possible for a cinema release master. Customers simply need to purchase a license from EasyDCP to enable this feature.

DaVinci Resolve 10 also supports additional media types and continues to be the industry leader in file based workflows because it operates with virtually all video file types available. New formats include JPEG 2000 decoding and encoding, AVI clip decoding, playback and more.

“We are extremely excited to have this public beta of DaVinci Resolve 10 ready for download from the Blackmagic Design web site,” said Grant Petty, CEO, Blackmagic Design. “This is an important update for all DaVinci Resolve customers and dramatically boosts the ease of workflow in the television industry. This new public beta is available for high end DaVinci Resolve systems as well as the exciting free of charge DaVinci Resolve Lite edition which now includes support for UHD timelines and rendering. This is an exciting moment for DaVinci Resolve because its the biggest update to a DaVinci product line in 30 years!”

About DaVinci Resolve

Blackmagic Design’s DaVinci Resolve is the world’s highest performance on set, editing and color correction solution for Mac OS X, Windows and Linux computers. DaVinci Resolve supports more real time color correction than any other system because it’s not limited by the performance of the computer it’s running on. DaVinci Resolve eliminates this performance barrier because it’s based on a cluster of high performance GPU cards, so all processing is always real time. DaVinci Resolve has the power of a true real time performance solution so handles complex color grades even when using dozens of primaries, secondaries, Power Windows™, multi point tracking, blurs, and more. DaVinci Resolve provides incredible performance in a low cost solution which can be easily upgraded by adding extra GPUs for supercomputer power to handle 4K resolutions, stereoscopic 3D and real time grading direct from raw camera files such as ARRI RAW, RED RAW and Sony RAW files which can be handled with ease.

Availability and Price

DaVinci Resolve 10 public beta is available now for download from the Blackmagic Design web site free of charge for all DaVinci Resolve customers.

Press Photography

Product photos of the DaVinci Resolve 10, and all other Blackmagic Design products, are available at www.blackmagicdesign.com/press/images.

About Blackmagic Design

Blackmagic Design creates the world’s highest quality video editing products, digital film cameras, color correctors, video converters, video monitoring, routers, live production switchers, disk recorders, waveform monitors and film restoration software for the feature film, post production and television broadcast industries. Blackmagic Design’s DeckLink capture cards launched a revolution in quality and affordability, while the company’s Emmy™ award winning DaVinci color correction products have dominated the television and film industry since 1984. Blackmagic Design continues ground breaking innovations including stereoscopic 3D and 4K workflows. Founded by world leading post production editors and engineers, Blackmagic Design has offices in the USA, United Kingdom, Japan, Singapore, and Australia. For more information, please check www.blackmagicdesign.com.