The Magewell Eco Capture SDI 4K Plus M.2 can bring high-res video to the PCIe-less boards of the future

Some more compact or embedded systems may lack the necessary full PCIe slot count for everything a builder might want, video or audio capture included. Magewell asserts that its Eco Capture series of capture cards solves at least 1 of these problems, as they have M.2 connections and are designed to fit this standard's 2280 spec exactly. The OEM also claims that this option is associated with reduced latency compared to typical SoC processor architectures

Therefore, they fit in any handy M.2 slot while also providing a PCIe 2.0 bus interface. Magewell's latest addition to this line-up is called the Eco Capture SDI 4K Plus M.2. As the name suggests, it can handle video of up to 4096x2160, yet maintain 60fps, via a 12-gigabit per second (12Gbps) serial digital interface - 12G-SDI, in other words.

The Eco Capture SDI 4K Plus M.2 is a single-channel card, although its series also has dual- and quad-channel models available. However, its speed may mean that only 1 of these new cards is required for any 4K target, monitors and commercial displays included. Its product series has Windows and Linux drivers, although it also supports native interfaces such as ALSA, DirectKS, DirectShow and V4L2.

The new SDI 4K Plus M.2 model will be formally unveiled at Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) 2020 in Amsterdam. This conference is scheduled for February 11 to 14, 2020. However, Magewell also expects to be able to ship these new cards from next January.