MOTU is now shipping the HD Express HDMI video interface, a broacast-quality HD and SD video capturing and monitoring device for Final Cut Pro on Mac and Premiere Pro on Windows.

The HD Express HDMI connects to a current-generation Mac or Windows computer via PCI Express and opens the world of HDMI video, the next-generation digital video connectivity standard found on today’s latest HD cameras, monitors and set top boxes. HDMI supports full-raster, pixel-for-pixel digital clarity with no video compression, resulting in stunning image quality and color depth that far surpasses highly-compressed workflows based on DV, HDV, AVC and similar capture codecs.

Users can connect a wide range of video sources, from SD camcorders to today’s latest HDMI-equipped HD cameras, then log and capture clips directly into Apple Final Cut Pro on the Mac or Adobe Premiere Pro on Windows. The HD Express HDMI supports all standard SD and HD video formats up to and including 1080p30 (720p, 1080i, 1080p & 1080PsF).

On many camcorders, HDMI output streams directly from the camera’s image sensor, bypassing the compression chip, allowing the HD Express HDMI to deliver an absolutely pristine, uncompressed HD digital video signal straight from the camera’s imager to the computer with 4:2:2 10-bit color depth and full-raster 1920 x 1080 resolution.

For more convenient capture and editing at a lower data rate, Mac users can choose ProRes or any codec supported natively by Apple Final Cut Pro for maximum CPU efficiency and smooth editing. Windows users can choose among several supported codecs in Premiere, including DVCProHD.

To monitor with the best possible pixel-for-pixel HD image quality, users can connect the HD Express HDMI output to their favorite affordable plasma, LCD monitor or projector via HDMI or DVI (DVI adapter sold separately).

The HD Express HDMI provides legacy analog video connectors for capturing and monitoring component HD/SD, composite and S-Video in 10-bit 4:2:2 broadcast quality PAL or NTSC.

While capturing or monitoring, the HD Express HDMI video console software provides separate color grading controls for video signal input and output. Users can adjust ten different parameters, which together determine an industry-standard color transfer function, as defined by the American Society of Cinematographers Color Decision List (ASC CDL) specification version 1.2.

The HD Express HDMI captures and plays all eight channels of embedded HDMI audio, and it even provides eight channels of analog audio output on convenient RCA jacks, which users can connect directly to powered speakers or a home theater system for full 5.1 or 7.1 surround audio monitoring. S/PDIF digital I/O is also provided, with convenient sample rate conversion on input.

The HD Express HDMI is housed in a compact, half rack-space metal enclosure with removable brackets for convenient mobile operation. The HD Express HDMI is available in two versions: desktop and laptop. The Desktop version includes a PCIe card for connectivity for today’s multi-core Mac and PC towers. The laptop version ships with an ExpressCard/34 adapter for any current-generation Mac or Windows laptop equipped with an ExpressCard slot.

The HD Express HDMI provides the following video connections:

— 1 x HDMI in and out (4:2:2 10-bit, YCbCr or RGB)
— Support for DVI output with HDMI-to-DVI adapter (sold separately)
— 1 x HD/SD component in and out (10-bit, YPbPr or RGB) on RCAs
— 1 x composite in (10-bit) on RCA
— 1 x S-Video in (10-bit) on 4-pin mini-DIN
— 1 x composite in and out (10-bit CVBS) on shared RCA
— 1 x S-Video in and out (10-bit Y/C) on shared RCA

The component section supports both RGB and YPbPr, and it can alternatively serve as CVBS (composite) in/out or even Y/C (S-Video) in/out.

The HD Express HDMI provides the following audio connections:

— 12 channels of simultaneous audio input
— 16 channels of simultaneous audio output
— Supports all standard audio sample rates from 44.1 to 96kHz
— 8 x RCA analog outputs
— 2 x RCA analog input on the front panel
— S/PDIF digital in and out with input sample rate conversion (SRC)
— 8 x HDMI embedded audio in and out
— Front panel headphone jack with dedicated volume control

The HD Express HDMI provides cross-platform operation with Final Cut Pro (6.0.5 or higher) on Mac OS X 10.5 or higher and Adobe Premiere Pro (4.2.x) on Windows 7/Vista.

The HD Express HDMI is now shipping for Mac OS X, with Windows support coming soon. Price is $549.