Blackmagic Design Inc. today announced DeckLink Optical Fiber, a new model of capture card which combines highest quality 10 bit SD/HD-SDI capture and playback with built in optical fiber SDI at an unprecedented low cost of only US$495.

DeckLink Optical Fiber is designed for high-end broadcast and post production customers who are working in large facilities needing lots of creative workstation seats and would like to use both traditional SDI as well as optical fiber SDI cabling. Having optical fiber built directly into the capture card eliminates the cost of using optical fiber technology because no external SDI to optical fiber conversion is required.

Blackmagic Design believes that optical fiber technology allows benefits not possible with conventional copper SDI cabling used today. Optical fiber cable has advantages because it’s commonly available and used in computer networking plus can be installed by electricians. It also has the benefit of much longer cable lengths, plus when video quality increases in the future and SDI data speeds increase, optical fiber cables will not need to be upgraded as existing cables will easily handle much higher speeds.

Until now the high cost of optical fiber has been the conversion from SDI to optical fiber. This has restricted its use to high end broadcasters only. Now with new Blackmagic Design products that have optical fiber SDI built in, such as DeckLink Optical Fiber, the previous high cost of using optical fiber for SDI video cabling has been eliminated. Only now can the true benefits of optical fiber SDI technology be made available to even the smallest television production studio.

DeckLink Optical Fiber uses a SMPTE standard 1310 nm optical fiber laser driver using standard LC type connectors. When using single mode optical fiber cable, DeckLink Optical Fiber passes the SMPTE SDI pathological test up to 25 km or 82000 feet at 3 Gb/s SDI, and up to 45 km or 147000 feet in SD. Optical fiber SDI automatically switches between SD and HD, as it has an identical bit-stream to conventional SDI, with the added advantages of long distances, cost, and future proof data speed capabilities.

DeckLink Optical Fiber includes the highest quality 10 bit optical fiber and 10 bit SD/HD-SDI capture and playback, while also including features high end customers really need, such as black burst/HD tri-sync reference input, and RS-422 deck control. Because DeckLink Optical Fiber features broadcast quality SDI, and can instantly switch between SD-SDI and HD-SDI formats, it’s perfect for connecting to decks such as HDCAM, HD-D5, Digital Betacam and more. DeckLink Optical Fiber is also fully compatible with all SDI based cameras and monitors. DeckLink Optical Fiber includes 8 channels of embedded SDI audio support, so all video and audio connections can be made with a single copper SDI or optical fiber SDI video connection.

“Cabling is an often overlooked but expensive part of a television facility’s construction costs. We think by building optical fiber technology into the video editing system, it’s going to be possible for many more people to take advantage of optical fiber benefits and cost savings,” said Grant Petty, CEO, Blackmagic Design. “We think customers will love this product and broadcasters will also get a solution that lowers the per-seat cost of creative workstations, which is vitally important as broadcasters worldwide continue their upgrade programs from SD to HD.”

DeckLink Optical Fiber features a 1 lane PCI Express connection that works in lower cost computers, while still retaining incredibly high data speeds to the computer, so it’s perfect for HD video and real time effects.

When doing live broadcast graphics work, DeckLink Optical Fiber has a built in SD keyer, that allows RGBA graphics to be keyed over the SDI input in standard definition. This lets broadcasters overlay live titles and graphics all in the one low cost solution.
DeckLink Optical Fiber Key Features

• SDI in and out plus optical fiber SDI in and out.
• 10 bit SDI capture and playback with full HD and SD compatibility.
• SDI switches between SD and HD.
• Built in internal SD keying of RGBA graphics over live video input.
• 8 channels of SDI audio capture and playback in HD and SD.
• Genlock/Tri-Sync reference input for locking card to large systems.
• RS-422 remote control for broadcast decks.
• PCI Express plug in card at 2.5 Gb/s speeds for maximum real time effects.
• Real time effects in Apple Final Cut Pro™ and Adobe Premiere™ Pro.