Magewell Eco Capture Quad SDI M.2

First introduced at InfoComm 2017, the Eco Capture HDMI 4K M.2 captures one channel of 4K video up to 4096×2160 at 30 frames per second via HDMI, while the dual-channel Eco Capture Dual HDMI M.2and Eco Capture Dual SDI M.2 capture HD or 2K video up to 1080p60 over HDMI or SDI interfaces, respectively. The newest addition to the product line, the Eco Capture Quad SDI M.2, doubles the latter offering’s channel density, capturing four concurrent HD or 2K SDI source signals.

The first four Eco Capture models feature a high-speed PCIe 2.0 bus interface with an M.2 connector and measure just 22x80mm (0.87×3.15in), matching the M.2 2280 size specification. Power consumption by the Eco Capture cards is 30% to 70% lower than Magewell’s Pro Capture cards with similar input signal connectivity and channel count.

Stream replication enables each input channel to be delivered to multiple software applications simultaneously with identical capture parameters, enabling concurrent functionality such as encoding, recording and preview through distinct tools. High-quality video processing functions including up/down/cross-scaling, image controls and color space conversion are performed by the cards’ on-board FPGA, reducing CPU usage, while additional processes such as frame rate conversion and de-interlacing are available in software through the included drivers or third-party applications.

The M.2 Eco Capture models will be available with drivers for Windows and Linux operating systems. OS-native capture APIs including DirectShow, DirectKS, V4L2 and ALSA will be supported, while a comprehensive SDK will be offered for developers to directly access the full feature set of the cards.