Magewell Pro Capture Quad HDMI

Magewell Pro Capture Quad HDMI: Four-Channel PCIe HDMI Capture

The Magewell Pro Capture Quad HDMI fits four independent HDMI capture channels onto a single low-profile x4 PCIe card. At £693, this is a high-density production card. It is built for environments where multiple simultaneous HDMI sources need to be ingested on a single machine and PCIe slots are too scarce to install four separate cards.

Four Independent FPGAs on One Board

Each of the four channels has its own dedicated FPGA. The processing for channel one has no interaction with channels two, three, or four. Every channel independently detects its input format, applies scaling, deinterlacing, and colour conversion, and delivers a clean stream to the host system. All four can operate simultaneously at different resolutions and frame rates. You can also use two or three channels and bring the remaining ones online as your production grows, without any hardware change.

Maximum input resolution per channel is 2048x2160, covering standard definition through to 2K production formats across all four inputs simultaneously.

Who Needs Four HDMI Channels

The Quad HDMI is a specialist card and it is worth being direct about that. Most live production setups do not need four simultaneous HDMI captures on a single machine. But for those that do, the alternatives are more expensive, more complex, or physically impossible in a compact chassis. Typical buyers include:

• Broadcast graphics operators running four-feed ingest into a production workstation for on-screen display and replay
• Live production companies building multi-camera PC-based systems where rack space is the primary constraint
• Cloud production facilities ingesting multiple remote HDMI-converted feeds simultaneously
• Sports production teams capturing multiple angles for simultaneous ISO recording and replay workflows
• System integrators building custom high-density ingest servers where channel count per PCIe slot is critical
• Production studios running four simultaneous output recordings from a hardware switcher

Slot Efficiency in Compact Systems

In a 1U rackmount server with two or three available PCIe slots, the Quad HDMI delivers four capture channels while consuming only one of them. The remaining slots are free for network cards, storage controllers, or additional capture hardware if the workload demands it. Fitting four single-channel cards into the same server is often physically impossible in a 1U chassis, and always more expensive in total. The Quad HDMI resolves both problems on a single low-profile board using a single x4 PCIe interface.

Software and OS Compatibility

All four channels appear as independent capture devices in your production software. In vMix, each channel is a separate camera input with its own configuration. Wirecast, OBS Studio, Adobe Premiere Pro, and FFmpeg all handle multi-device access in the same way. For server-side and automation workflows, FFmpeg paired with the MWCapture SDK provides full programmatic access to all four channels. The card is supported on Windows 10, 11, and Windows Server, Linux 3.x and later via V4L2, and macOS 10.14 and later. The 24/7 duty cycle rating confirms this is a card for permanent broadcast and streaming infrastructure, not occasional production use.

Comparing the HDMI Range

The Pro Capture HDMI at £215 covers single-channel requirements. The Dual HDMI at £400 covers two. This card at £693 covers four. Cost per channel is £215, £200, and approximately £173 respectively, so the economics improve as you move up the range, provided the channels are genuinely needed. If your workflow only uses two channels, the Dual HDMI is the right purchase. If four channels are a genuine operational requirement, this card provides the most cost-effective and space-efficient solution in the Magewell range.

Buying from StreamKit

StreamKit supplies the Pro Capture Quad HDMI as an authorised UK Magewell reseller with the full three-year manufacturer warranty, free UK tracked delivery, and UK technical support. For system integration or large-order enquiries, please contact our team before placing your order. We can assist with multi-channel configuration planning and software integration for your specific production environment.