The V4HD represents a next-generation leap forward for the groundbreaking and award-winning V3HD, the first ever cross-platform HD FireWire video capture device. The V4HD provides all the same features as the V3HD along with additional new features, including support for full-raster ProRes workflow with Final Cut Pro.

About the V4HD

With one simple plug-and-play FireWire connection, the V4HD turns your Mac or PC desktop or laptop computer into a powerful HD/SD video production workstation equipped with all the video and audio I/O you need.

Connect all your gear, from SD camcorders and monitors to today's latest professional HD cameras, video decks, LCD reference monitors and plasmas – all at the same time, with no cable swapping. Choose your input source, then log and capture HD or SD clips directly into Final Cut Pro or Premiere Pro.

In Final Cut Pro, the V4HD supports full-raster 1920x1080 HD capture and playback using Apple's ProRes 422 codec in both standard and HQ modes. The V4HD is the ideal all-in-one video capture solution for any ProRes workflow.

In both Final Cut Pro and Premiere Pro, the V4HD provides hardware-accelerated capture and playback of DVCProHD, DVCPro50 and DVCPro25 video streams, plus 8- and 10-bit uncompressed SD — all with convenient plug-and-play FireWire connectivity and CPU-efficient intra-frame editing.

The V4HD is ideal for a DVCProHD/P2 workflow because you can immediately play back P2 clips (either imported or ingested) with no transcoding necessary. Conversely, you can connect any SD or HD video source such as an HDV camera, legacy video deck or DVD player and then capture it directly as a DVCProHD clip in Final Cut or Premiere. Many cameras now feed their uncompressed SDI or component output directly from the camera's optics and imager, before compression, for the best-possible picture quality during capture with the V4HD. Need to bring SD material into your HD project? The V4HD even provides hardware-accelerated SD-to-HD up conversion for capturing SD sources in DVCProHD format.

As you edit, monitor your timeline on multiple HD and SD displays simultaneously with the V4HD's hardware-accelerated up-conversion, down-conversion and pull-down insertion or removal. Watch a variety of display formats side by side, from the pixel-for-pixel accuracy of a large plasma screen, to the color-corrected balance of an LCD reference monitor, to the real-world look of a consumer display. Use 32 channels of audio I/O to capture, monitor, mix and master multichannel surround sound for your productions at sample rates up to 192 kHz. Employ Sony 9-pin machine control for advanced Batch Capture and Edit to Tape operations. Keep everything frame-accurate using time code, video reference and audio word clock.

The V4HD delivers all this with one simple FireWire 400 or 800 connection — even to a laptop computer. With the V4HD handling video I/O via FireWire, your laptop's expansion slot can be used for high-performance video storage solutions.

From start to finish, the V4HD streamlines your video production workflow, with unified control over all your video gear from your computer desktop.

• HD/SD FireWire video interface for Mac and Windows — provides HD and SD capture and playback for any current-generation FireWire equipped computer
  
• Plug-and-play connectivity via FireWire 400 or 800 — connects to either a desktop tower or a portable laptop
  
• Supports Apple Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premiere Pro
  
• Captures and plays all standard HD and SD formats up to and including 1080p30 (720p, 1080i, 1080p and 1080PsF)
  
• Full-raster Apple ProRes workflow — supports full-raster capture and playback (1920x1080 and 1280x720) in Apple's ProRes 422 HD codec in both standard and HQ modes. Work with ProRes clips pixel for pixel in full 10-bit 4:2:2 resolution.
  
• Hardware-accelerated DVCPro capture/playback — provides hardware-accelerated capture and playback of industry standard DVCProHD/P2, DVCPro50 and DVCPro25 video streams to/from Final Cut Pro and Premiere Pro
  
• Pristine HD quality and efficient editing — ProRes and DVCProHD formats provide 10-bit 4:2:2 broadcast quality color and CPU-efficient, intra-frame native editing
  
• Captures and plays uncompressed SD — 8-bit or 10-bit NTSC or PAL
  
• HDMI monitoring — connect a large-format HD plasma, reference LCD, consumer DLP or other flatscreen for flexible and affordabl “pixel for pixel” HD monitoring
  
• Broadcast quality hardware-based real time SD-to-HD up-convert — capture SD while working in HD; monitor HD when working in SD
  
• Broadcast quality hardware-based real time HD-to-SD down-convert — capture HD while working in SD; monitor SD when working in HD
  
• Hardware-accelerated 2:3 or 2:3:3:2 pull-down insertion and removal — go between film and NTSC rates in real time, with no rendering required
  
• Comprehensive up/down conversion formatting — anamorphic, pillar box, letterbox, 14:9 pillarbox, 14:9 letterbox and full screen
  
• Simultaneous HD/SD operation — connect multiple HD and SD sources and destinations simultaneously. Switch HD/SD sources on the fly while converting to multiple HD/SD destinations. All outputs are “hot”, regardless of source format.
  
• Two rack space form factor with dedicated connectors — no cable swapping or gangly, inconvenient breakout cables
  
• Stand-alone operation — converts and distributes selected input source to all supported output formats with SD-to-HD up-convert, HD-to-SD down-convert and pull-down insertion/removal
  
• Field upgradable firmware via USB
  
• International auto-switching internal power supply

Workflow

Regardless of whether you work with ProRes, DVCProHD, P2, XDCAM or maybe even just SD, the V4HD can enhance your workflow with unprecedented breadth and depth of features. In fact, the V4HD gives you the flexibility to handle a variety of workflow situations that circumstances — or your clients — may dictate.

New support for Apple ProRes 422

The V4HD builds on the award-winning V3HD by adding support for full-raster 1920 x 1080 HD capture and playback using Apple's ProRes 422 codec in both standard and HQ modes. Ingest any uncompressed SDI or component HD source and then capture and edit in ProRes while monitoring your ProRes timeline in HD and SD simultaneously via the V4HD's hardware-accelerated up- and down-conversion.

The V4HD is the ideal all-in-one video capture solution for your Apple ProRes workflow.

Hardware-accelerated DVCProHD

The V4HD also offers hardware-accelerated DVCProHD capture and playback from Final Cut.

Other workflows

In full-raster mode, the V4HD also allows you to capture and play HD material using any full-raster video format supported by Final Cut Pro with an 8-bit or 10-bit 4:2:2 color space and a compression ratio similar to ProRes (approximately 6:1 or greater).

Designed for Final Cut Pro

Using the V4HD with Final Cut Pro couldn't be easier. The V4HD software installer provides Easy Setup presets, Sequence presets, Capture presets and Device Control presets to get you going quickly. In minutes, you'll be ready to log and capture, edit and monitor your project material.

Device control

The V4HD takes full advantage of Final Cut Pro's device control features via Sony 9-pin device control for batch capture, print to video and edit to tape operations.

Audio I/O

The V4HD provides up to 16 simultaneous channels of audio capture and playback with Final Cut Pro in any of four support audio formats: analog, AES/EBU, optical and embedded.

A unique I/O solution for Premiere Pro

The V4HD represents a truly unique I/O solution for Adobe Premiere Pro CS3 on Windows. No other capture device offers such extensive video I/O connectivity, coupled with convenient plug-and-play FireWire operation and hardware-accelerated DVCPro capture and playback.

Hardware-accelerated DVCProHD

The V4HD is the first and only video capture/playback solution for Premiere Pro CS3 that provides hardware-accelerated DVCProHD (P2) capture from any HD video input, including HD component or HD-SDI sources.

The V4HD dovetails with the new P2 workflow features recently introduced in Premiere Pro CS3, allowing you to immediately play back P2 clips (either imported or ingested) on a variety of SD and HD formats simultaneously, with no transcoding necessary.

Conversely, the V4HD allows you to capture any video source, either SD or HD, while simultaneously employing–hardware-accelerated encoding and up/down conversion, in the following supported formats: uncompressed SD (standard AVI clips), DV, DVCPRo50 and DVCproHD.

Take Premiere Pro on the road

The V4HD is the first and only all-in-one capture/playback solution for Premiere that provides both SD and HD capture over FireWire, for the first time allowing you to build a comprehensive, yet compact and portable desktop workstation based on PC laptops or notebook computers equipped with FireWire, without the need for separate PCI expansion products.

Advanced features

Advanced features include an "Export to Tape" feature that allows you to lay back clips, or an entire project, to a tape deck using the V4HD's extensive machine control features. The V4HD also supports Premiere Pro's Batch Capture features.

Windows support

The V4HD already supports both Windows XP and Windows Vista 32. Support for operation in a Vista 64 environment is on the way, allowing you to run multiple Vista 64 native video applications while still accessing the V4HD hardware from Premiere Pro.

Are you thinking about doing field capture with a laptop — or editing on the go with a laptop-based system? Thanks to FireWire, the V4HD opens the door to a world of possibilities for laptop systems.

All current and late-generation Apple MacBook and MacBook Pro computers are equipped with both FireWire 400 and 800. Most PC laptops are equipped with built-in 4-pin FireWire 400. In both cases, the V4HD gives you plug-and-play broadcast-quality capture and monitoring. With the enormous performance gains seen in laptop technology, these compact computers are now powerful enough to easily capture and play back both HD and uncompressed SD video. You can essentially build a complete capture/edit system that fits in a backpack.

There's another major benefit for using FireWire connectivity to a laptop. Using FireWire for Video I/O frees up the PC card slot on your laptop for professional-grade video storage solutions. Expresscard-based storage solutions offer enough storage space and access speed to support the most demanding HD and uncompressed SD workflows.

Alternately, depending on your workflow, you can daisy-chain a FireWire 800 hard drive on the same bus as the V4HD connected to the computer via FireWire 800. This option offers compact, portable yet large-scale storage.

Conversion and distribution

When you unplug FireWire, the V4HD turns into a complete stand-alone video conversion and distribution device. Use the convenient front panel LCD to choose one of the video inputs on its rear panel as the current video source. This signal is then distributed to all video outputs, both HD and SD, thanks to the V4HD's hardware-accelerated SD-to-HD up-conversion and HD-to-SD down-conversion. If the incoming signal is a film rate (23.976), the V4HD applies pull-down insertion to convert to NTSC.

Front panel control

The V4HD front panel LCD is easy to navigate, so you can get to the settings you need quickly and easily.

There are four main menus: Setup, Video, Audio and CueMix. Press the MENU button repeatedly to cycle through them. Then just use the PAGE buttons to access each setting in the chosen menu. Simple! You can even program the on-board audio mixer from the LCD.

Click here to interactively view the V4HD's basic LCD menu structure. Press the MENU button to view the four menus; press the PAGE buttons to browse the settings in each menu.

Stand-alone audio mixing

As a state-of-the-art video interface, the V4HD offers an unprecedented level of audio features, including a complete on-board 32x32 digital mixer. You can program the mix settings from the on-screen CueMix software and then disconnect the computer and operate the V4HD as a stand-alone mixer. All mix settings are maintained. Need to tweak a mix setting? No problem. You can quickly access the setting in the CueMix LCD menu.

Choose any input as a video source and the signal is distributed to all outputs, both HD and SD simultaneously, via hardware-accelerated up/down conversion. This allows you to work with both HD and SD devices without cable swapping. The HD-SDI and SD-SDI banks supply two mirrored outputs so that you can connect both a deck and a monitor to each bank. Independent banks of HD and SD component are also supplied, along with legacy SD formats (S-Video and Composite).

• 1 x HD-SDI in and out (4:2:2 10-bit) on independent BNC connectors
  
• 1 x SD-SDI in and out (4:2:2 10-bit) on independent BNC connectors
  
• 1 x extra HD-SDI output connector
  
• 1 x extra SD-SDI output connector
  
• 1 x HDMI output (4:2:2 10-bit, YCbCr or RGB)
  
• Support for DVI output with HDMI-to-DVI adapter (sold separately)
  
• 1 x HD component in and out (10-bit, YPbPr or RGB) on independent BNCs
  
• 1 x SD component in and out (10-bit, YPbPr or RGB) on independent BNCs
  
• 1 x composite in and out (10-bit)
  
• 1 x S-video in and out (10-bit)

The V4HD supports the following SD and HD :

SD

576i25 (PAL)
480i29.97 and 486i29.97 (NTSC)

HD

720p23.976
720p24
720p25
720p29.97
720p30
720p50
720p 59.94
720p60
1080p23.976
1080p24
1080p25
1080p29.97
1080p30
1080PsF23.976
1080PsF24
1080PsF25
1080PsF29.97
1080PsF30
1080i25
1080i29.97
1080i30

As a state-of-the-art video interface, the V4HD offers unprecedented audio features, including 32 channels of audio capture and playback (four 8-channel banks), 8 channels of analog, 8 channels of AES/EBU and optical digital, and support for 8 channels of SDI and HDMI embedded audio I/O.

For analog and AES/EBU, the V4HD provides four channels of professional XLR jacks directly on the rear panel. If you need to work with more than four channels, you can connect an industry standard (Tascam format) DB25 to XLR or 1/4-inch breakout cable (sold separately).

Eight channels of optical I/O lets you connect the V4HD to a wide range of audio gear. For example, you can connect a MOTU 8pre interface to the optical input to add 8 microphone inputs to the V4HD for direct multi-channel audio capture on location.

On-board digital mixer

The V4HD is equipped with a complete 32 x 32 on-board digital mixer, allowing you to quickly route any combination of inputs to outputs. This is a bona fide monitor mixer complete with 16 stereo busses, and panning, mute and solo on all input channels. Multiple mix outputs can share inputs, giving you complete flexibility for any audio mixing application. Transfer from any audio format to any other audio format with zero latency.

Embedded audio

The V4HD CueMix audio mixer makes it a snap to embed or de-embed SDI audio — or embed audio in the HDMI output. For example, you can bring in eight channels of XLR analog input and route it to the SDI output bank as you output video to the SD-SDI and HD-SDI outputs as shown in this example. The V4HD has been meticulously engineered to ensure that incoming audio and video remain perfectly in sync, down to the sample.

V4HD audio feature highlights

• 32 channels of simultaneous audio input and output (four 8-channel banks: analog, AES/EBU, optical and embedded)
  
• 8 channels of analog in/out at all standard sample rates from 44.1 to 192kHz
  
• 4 x XLR analog in/out -- 4-channel direct connection without a breakout cable
  
• 8 channels of AES/EBU digital in/out at sample rates up to 96kHz
  
• 8-channel HD-SDI and SD-SDI embedded audio in/out, 24-bit at 44.1 or 48kHz
  
• 8-channel HDMI embedded audio output, 24-bit at 44.1 or 48kHz
  
• 8-channel ADAT optical digital audio in/out -- includes a second bank of optical connectors for 8-channel operation at sample rates up to 96kHz
  
• Front panel headphone jack with dedicated volume control
  
• CueMix DSP™ built-in monitor mixer -- 32-channel, 16-bus mixer for monitoring live inputs from cameras, mic preamps or other audio sources with no delay. Set up send/return loops to digital mixers and outboard audio processing.
• Multiple CueMix DSP mixes -- create 16 separate stereo monitor mixes (8 stereo at 176.4 or 192kHz) for main outs, headphones, outboard gear send/return loops, etc.
  
• Audio delay compensation -- both fully automated and programmable controls ensure that audio always remains perfectly in sync with picture
  
• Audio only mode -- operates as a 32 channel cross-platform audio interface
  
• Stand-alone operation -- mix and monitor with no computer connected

The V4HD provides comprehensive video and audio synchronization features, including time code I/O, video ref with loop through, large front panel time code readout and RS-422 (Sony 9-pin) machine control. Synchronize your V4HD system with reliable performance and fast lock-up times. Perform batch capture and edit/export to tape operations in Final Cut or Premiere with a 9-pin compatible camera or deck connected to the V4HD

• Video reference in / thru — resolve to blackburst, composite or HD Tri-level sync
  
• Time code in and out — generate and resolve to time code in all formats, including LTC, VITC (SD analog), D-VITC (SD-SDI) and embedded (SD/HD-SDI)
  
  
• Time Code I/O RS-422 machine control — control the transports of a connected camera or video deck from Final Cut or Premiere via standard 9-pin protocol
  
• DDS Word clock in, out and thru — continuously resolve to audio word clock from a digital mixer, distribution box or other source at sample rates from 44.1 to 192K
  
• Direct Digital Synthesis — DSP-driven phase lock engine provides ultra-low jitter

Overview

The V4HD provides a full compliment of cross-platform software for intuitive control over its many features. Here is a summary:

• MOTU Video Console software — graphically displays HD and SD signal path and provides complete control of all programmable features and settings.
  
• MOTU CueMix Console software — provides on-screen mixing of all 32 audio channels of analog and digital input and output via graphic mixer with 32 faders.
  
• Cross-platform drivers (Mac OS X, Windows XP, Windows Vista 32)

The V4HD Supports Apple Final Cut Pro 5.1 or higher on the Mac and Adobe Premiere Pro CS3 Version 3.1 or higher on Windows.

The V4HD video console software provides convenient access to all of the V4HD hardware settings. The upper portion of the software provides a graphic representation of the video signal flow through the V4HD, and the lower portion of the window provides various settings accessed via six tabs.

Follow the signal path

The signal path diagram shows the current video source on the left with signal flow going from left to right. The top path represents the HD output of the V4HD; the bottom path represents SD output. Various settings, such as pull-down cadence and up/down-conversion formatting appear as menus directly on the signal path. This gives you intuitive hands-on control over crucial settings in the V4HD.

The V4HD has two modes: playback mode and capture/convert mode. In the example above, The V4HD is in capture/convert mode, so the source menu shows the video inputs on the back panel of the V4HD itself. In this example, the source is a camera sending a 1080p23.976 signal, which the V4HD auto detects and then sends to all HD outputs, FireWire and all SD outputs.

On the SD signal path, you can choose the cadence for the V4HD's hardware-accelerated pull-down insertion (from progressive 24fps to interlaced 29.97fps), as well as the format for the V4HD's hardware-accelerated HD to SD down-conversion.

On the HD signal path, you can choose the format of the HD output, as well as the format for the HDMI output (HDMI or DVI, depending on what you have connected to it).

If you had chosen an SD input from the source menu instead, the HD signal path provides a format menu with similar formatting options for the V4HD's SD to HD up-conversion.

When the V4HD is in playback mode, the signal path diagram looks very similar, except that the source menu simply reflects the video format being played back from your NLE over FireWire.

All of the features in the console can also be accessed from the front panel.

CueMix Console software

CueMix Console provides an intuitive on-screen graphic mixer that controls the 32 channel, 32 bus digital audio mixer in the V4HD. Faders represent input channels. Choose any output pair from the Output menu and simply bring up the faders for any inputs you wish to mix to that output pair. It's simple!

Embedding and de-embedding SDI and HDMI audio streams

The V4HD CueMix Console makes it easy to embed up to eight channels of SDI and HDMI audio, or de-embed eight channels of SDI audio. In the example below, eight channels of analog input are being embedded in the both the SDI and HDMI output of the V4HD. The embedded audio output consists of four stereo pairs, each with the corresponding analog input pairs assigned to it.

All of the V4HD video outputs are always "hot", regardless of the current video source (either your host NLE time line or one of the video inputs on the V4HD rear panel). This allows you to connect a wide selection of monitors and view source material in both HD and SD simultaneously.

Below is an example setup for the V4HD showing a variety of possible monitoring solutions. There are three HD monitors and four SD monitors all connected simultaneously to the V4HD outputs. The V4HD provides hardware-accelerated up-conversion and down-conversion, so you can work with any source (HD or SD) and view it in both formats at any time.

Each monitor represents a class of monitoring solution that you might consider using with the V4HD.

Large format "pixel-for-pixel" monitoring via HDMI

The 50-inch Pioneer plasma is connected via HDMI. This model is the latest Pioneer PDP-5010FD "Kuro", which provides native full-raster 1920 x 1080 pixel-for-pixel monitoring in a large form factor for client viewing. With its pixel-for-pixel HDMI output, the V4HD allows you to choose from a wide range of affordable, yet larger format plasma or LCD monitoring solutions. Full-raster consumer plasmas have come down in price quite a bit in the last year and half, so there has never been a better time to configure your production suite or edit bay with large format pixel-for-pixel monitoring.

SDI Reference monitors

The V4HD has two HD-SDI outputs and two SD-SDI outputs. This allows you to connect both an SDI monitor and an SDI deck at the same time, with no cable swapping.

In our example configuration, the HD-SDI output is connected to a JVC DT-V24L1DU 24-inch LCD reference monitor. You could also connect the new Sony LMD-2450WHD 24-inch LCD reference monitor, the Panasonic BT-LH2600W 26-inch LCD reference monitor or any current generation high-quality reference monitor for accurate color and pixel-for-pixel precision.

Also in our example configuration, the SD-SDI output is connected to a legacy 14-inch Sony BVM broadcast monitor equipped with an SDI input board. If you have legacy monitors that you still use as a reference standard in your facility, you can connect them side by side with current generation plasma or LCD monitoring solutions. In many cases, side by side comparisons can be invaluable in bridging from legacy references standards to new ones.

SD analog monitoring

In addition to the SDI monitoring discussed above, our example setup demonstrates several analog HD and SD monitoring solutions you could also connect to the V4HD.

The V4HD's HD component output is connected to an affordable 24-inch Dell monitor.

The V4HD's SD component output is connected to a 20-inch Sony LMD-2020 SD reference LCD for monitoring accurate color in NTSC or PAL.

The S-video output is connected to a 26-inch Sharp Aquos LCD, and the composite output is connected to 24-inch N-Vidia consumer LCD. Monitors like these are very affordable, and they can prove invaluable in showing how your footage will ultimately look on the types of TVs that viewers actually own.

The V4HD connects to the computer via FireWire (either 400 or 800), and the FireWire ports on the V4HD are used solely for the purpose of connecting it to the computer. FireWire offers many advantages over PCI and graphics card video I/O solutions.
General advantages of FireWire

FireWire is a cross-platform standard on both Mac and Windows platforms. If you or your facility employ both Final Cut on the Mac and Premiere on Windows, you can freely use the V4HD on both types of systems. You can even move one unit between a Mac and PC: just unplug it from one and plug it in to the other. You don't even need to restart the computers.

FireWire is a true plug-and-play protocol. If your workflow requires that you move your V4HD video capture and monitoring capabilities among two or more computers, you can effortlessly do so. The V4HD stands alone when it comes to the flexibility of FireWire because it supports both FireWire 400 and 800 on both Mac and Windows. No other video capture solution comes close to providing the depth and breadth of the FireWire support offered by the V4HD.

Laptop operation

Are you thinking about doing field capture with a laptop — or editing on the go with a laptop-based system? Thanks to FireWire, the V4HD opens the door to a world of possibilities for laptop systems.

All current and late-generation Apple MacBook and MacBook Pro computers are equipped with both FireWire 400 and 800. Most PC laptops are equipped with built-in 4-pin FireWire 400. In both cases, the V4HD gives you plug-and-play broadcast-quality capture and monitoring. With the enormous performance gains seen in laptop technology, these compact computers are now powerful enough to easily capture and play back both HD and uncompressed SD video. You can essentially build a complete capture/edit system that fits in a backpack.

There's another major benefit for using FireWire connectivity to a laptop. Using FireWire for video I/O frees up the PC card slot on your laptop for professional-grade video storage solutions. Expresscard-based storage solutions offer enough storage space and access speed to support the most demanding HD and uncompressed SD workflows.

Alternately, depending on your workflow, you can daisy-chain a FireWire 800 hard drive on the same bus as the V4HD connected to the computer via FireWire 800. This option offers compact, portable yet large-scale storage.

Ingesting video from a camera that has built-in FireWire

Many cameras are equipped with built-in FireWire and connect directly to the computer, allowing you to ingest video directly from the camera. So why would you need the V4HD in this case? Below are several scenarios in which using the V4HD provides significant advantages.

Consolidating your workflow

When you capture output directly from a camera via FireWire, the resulting clips are brought into your NLE in the native format of the camera. For example, if you have an HDV camera, the clips come in as HDV clips. If you are bringing in material shot from two or three different cameras, each with their own capture format, the problem gets even worse because now your clips don't match. The V4HD helps you consolidate your workflow into a single format that you choose. For example, you might decide that you would prefer to work in ProRes in Final Cut. The V4HD speeds your capture process by ingesting any source directly to ProRes format. Just connect the source via SDI, component or any of the other offered on its rear panel, and your resulting clips are captured in ProRes format, without the extra step needed to transcode them.

Capturing uncompressed directly from the camera's image sensor

More and more cameras today provide SDI output straight from their image sensor, before the video signal is processed by the the compression chip in the camera and then streamed to tape, a hard drive or a storage card. If you are shooting in a situation where you can capture directly to your computer (perhaps a laptop), you can essentially capture the raw, uncompressed output from your camera straight into the computer via the V4HD's HD-SDI input and capture it as uncompressed SD or as compressed HD in either Apple ProRes format (in Final Cut) or DVCProHD format (in either Final Cut or Premiere). This is an especially useful capture workflow for HDV cameras because you bypass the HDV compression altogether and instead feed the raw uncompressed output from the camera directly into either ProRes or DVCProHD.

The V4HD provides up to 16 simultaneous channels of audio capture and playback with Final Cut Pro in any of four support audio formats: analog, AES/EBU, optical and embedded.

Black Diamond Award

The V4HD represents a next-generation leap forward for the groundbreaking and award-winning V3HD, the first ever cross-platform HD FireWire video capture device.

When it first shipped in August 2007, the V3HD established many firsts for FireWire video I/O, including HD capture/monitoring via either FireWire 400 and 800, simultaneous output of both HD and SD from any source, hardware-accelerated DVCProHD capture and monitoring, cross-platform operation, 32 channels of audio with on-board digital mixing, SDI and HDMI audio embedding and de-embedding and much more.

In recognition of its many breakthroughs, the V3HD was awarded the 2008 Black Diamond Award by the editorial staff of DV Magazine at the NAB show in Las Vegas in April, 2008.

The DV Black Diamond Award honors new (or impressively updated) products that make their U.S. debut at NAB. Named for the "five-diamond" rating system used in DV magazine product reviews, the Black Diamond Awards are presented to outstanding developers and manufacturers who have helped advance the technological art of production and post.

The Black Diamond Awards are nominated by an impartial jury of industry professionals. Final selections are made by the editors of the Video Division of NewBay Media. To be selected as a Black Diamond winner, the merits of each product or technology are measured on how it serves DV magazine readers.

ProRes

With Final Cut Pro, the V4HD now provides full-raster 1920 x 1080 (or 1280 x 720) HD capture and playback using Apple's ProRes 422 codec in both standard and HQ modes. You can ingest an uncompressed SDI or component HD source and then capture and edit in ProRes while monitoring your ProRes timeline in HD and SD simultaneously via the V4HD's hardware-accelerated up- and down-conversion. The V4HD is the ideal all-in-one video capture solution for your Apple ProRes workflow.

DVCProHD/P2

The V4HD is perfect for your P2HD workflow because it provides hardware accelerated DVCProHD capture and playback with up- and down-conversion. You can import P2 clips and then monitor in HD and SD immediately, without the need to transcode first. Ingest other sources (such as HDV cameras) directly into your timeline as DVCProHD.

Full raster 1080 HD

The V4HD supports full raster 1920 x 1080 (or 1280 x 720) capture and playback with Final Cut Pro. Leading camera manufacturers are now producing HD cameras with full-raster 1080 image sensors that capture stunning image quality. In some cases, the 1920 x 1080 HD signal is output directly from the sensor, before any compression occurs for recording purposes.

The V4HD lets you take full advantage of the quality of this uncompressed output signal by allowing you to capture it with full-raster pixel for pixel precision. The V4HD feeds the full raster signal to Final Cut, where you can log and capture it using any full-raster video format supported by Final Cut Pro, such as ProRes or any other similar format with 8-bit or 10-bit 4:2:2 color and a compression ratio similar to ProRes (approximately 6:1 or greater).

HDV

HDV presents challenges when it comes to native editing. Overcome them by capturing your HDV footage with the V4HD via SDI or component as ProRes or DVCProHD. Then edit with intra-frame speed and stunning 10-bit 4:2:2 quality that holds up during compositing. Deliver in any broadcast quality format you wish.

SD

Are you working mainly in SD? The V4HD lets you capture and play 8- or 10-bit uncompressed SD (NTSC or PAL) in all formats (SDI, component, composite and S-Video). The V4HD serves as a complete I/O solution for any SD workflow.

When you are ready to make the jump to HD, the V4HD allows you to begin work immediately, with no hassles. No swapping PCI cards, no purchasing extra hard drives, no switching to a faster computer. You can begin your HD work right away. In fact, the V4HD allows you to work in both SD and HD simultaneously. For example, you can work with an SD timeline in Final Cut or Premiere, but monitor and deliver your project in HD using the V4HD's hardware-acclerated up-conversion.

Conversely, you can capture and edit in HD, but easily monitor in SD during editing and then deliver in HD when the project is finished. Just connect your HD monitor and HD deck, and you are ready to go.

Red One

If you are shooting with a Red One camera and editing in Final Cut Pro, you may also have chosen to use ProRes as your digital intermediate format. If so, the V4HD provides and economical solution for multi-format monitoring via ProRes. Just choose the V4HD as your output device and go. You can monitor on any connected HD and SD monitors simultaeously.

XD Cam EX

The Sony PMW-EX1 XDCAM EX camera captures stunning full-raster 1080 HD footage. Ingest via the V4HD's HD-SDI input to capture, monitor and edit your full-raster EX1 material as ProRes clips with stunning quality in Final Cut Pro. Or import EX1 clips directly into Final Cut Pro for full-raster monitoring.