LAS VEGAS ? Blackmagic Design, here, introduced Multibridge Extreme and Multibridge Studio at the recent NAB show, offering users all-in-one bi-directional converters capable of instantly switching between HD and SD with PCI Express. The Multibridge easily converts analog equipment to SDI-based systems by converting from digital to analog and analog to digital at the same time. When connected via built-in PCI Express connections that are 25x faster than FireWire-based solutions, Multibridge can be used as an extremely fast capture and playback solution.
The Extreme system supports both analog and digital video conversion in an all-in-one, one-rack unit. The Studio version includes all of the features of the Extreme version in a slightly larger two-rack unit. Studio also includes 12 channels of AES/EBU audio, six unbalanced audio outputs for 5.1 monitoring or combined with an extra four composite NTSC/PAL outputs for dubbing onto multiple VHS or DVD recorders. Studio also incorporates a programmable reference generator with four outputs.
Both the Extreme and Studio systems will be available on Windows XP and Apple Mac operating systems this summer.