IBC2006: Blackmagic Intros HDMI HD Edit Card

Blackmagic Design unveiled Intensity at IBC2006 in Amsterdam, its new consumer HDMI capture-playback card that works with HD formats and is compatible with Mac and Windows. The Milpitas, Calif.-based firm said Intensity will permit lower-cost consumer cameras with HDMI video connections "to move beyond the quality limits of HDV compressed video" to uncompressed editing and design.

Intensity is a small HDMI capture-and-playback card that switches between 1080i, 720p, NTSC and PAL. When plugged into PCI Express Windows or Mac OS X computers, Blackmagic said, consumers will realize uncompressed video via HDMI from cameras, decks and set-top boxes--enabling playback to any HDMI large-screen monitor or projector for editing in SD or HD with real-time effects.

The company also introduced other HD-centric products at IBC including DeckLink HD Studio, which supports 10-bit capture/playback and 14-bit digital-to-analog conversion.