Blackmagic Design Announces UltraStudio 4K with Thunderbolt 2 Technology

Blackmagic Design’s newest offering is the $995 UltraStudio 4K, which uses Thunderbolt 2 technology. The UltraStudio 4K is a rack mount capture and playback device based on Thunderbolt 2 technology, which was developed by Intel and used in most Apple computers. Featuring a machined aluminum front panel with an integrated color LCD, video and audio connections include 6G-SDI, HDMI 4K, analog component/s-video/composite, as well as balanced analog and AES/EBU digital audio.

With 20 Gb/s speed of Thunderbolt 2, UltraStudio 4K is capable of capture and playback Ultra HD, 4K, YUV video at 60 frames per second and Ultra HD 4K RGB video at 30 frames per second via the advanced 6G-SDI video connections. The Thunderbolt loop thru allows connection of up to six devices so customers can connect fast disk arrays for massive amounts of video storage with a single Thunderbolt connection to their computer.

UltraStudio 4K handles virtually every television format, featuring 6G-SDI connections that instantly switch between SD, HD, Ultra HD and 4K, making it a possible solution for post production and broadcast users when working on design, editing, paint, color correction and visual effects tasks. UltraStudio 4K is also perfect for 3D workflow as it features both interleaved/side by side and dual stream capture and playback. Interleaved 3D allows the left and right eye to be interleaved as fields into a single video connection and file, so customers can edit using current editing software.

UltraStudio 4K features include:

• Single Link 6G-SDI, Dual Link 3G-SDI connections, supports SD, HD up to1080p60 and 4K DCI.
• Compatible with Mac OS X computers with Thunderbolt 2 and Thunderbolt.
• SDI inputs include full SDI re-clocking for capture from poor quality SDI sources.
• HDMI in and out, supports SD and HD formats up to 1080p60, frame packing 3D and 4K.
• Component analog in and out.
• Component analog switches to s-video and composite.
• Two-channel balanced analog audio in and out. Additional RCA HiFi audio in.
• Two-channel AES/EBU unbalanced audio in and out.
• Timecode in and out on XLR connectors.
• Genlock/tri-sync input.
• Sony compatible RS422 deck control.
• Supports uncompressed 8/10 bit and compressed video capture and playback.
• Supports Ultra HD and 4K DCI capture and playback using new Single Link 6G-SDI or Dual Link 3G-SDI connections and HDMI.
• Capture/playback of side by side, line by line, top and bottom and frame packing 3D via HDMI.
• Capture/playback of side by side, line by line, top and bottom and dual stream 3D via SDI.
• Includes hardware up down and cross conversion on playback.
• Includes hardware SD and HD keying.

Here are all the specs.