Magewell Pro Capture Quad SDI

Magewell Pro Capture Quad SDI: Four-Channel Broadcast SDI Ingest

The Magewell Pro Capture Quad SDI puts four independent SDI capture channels on a single low-profile x4 PCIe card. At £693, this is a broadcast-infrastructure card, not a production accessory. It is designed for facilities, OB units, multi-channel ingest servers, and live production systems where four simultaneous SDI signals need to be captured on a single machine with no compromise on signal integrity or processing independence between channels.

Four Independent FPGAs, One Board

Each of the four channels has its own dedicated FPGA processor. The processing for any one channel has no interaction with the other three. Each channel independently detects its SDI input format, SD-SDI, HD-SDI, or 3G-SDI, and applies the appropriate scaling, deinterlacing, and colour conversion in hardware. All four channels can operate simultaneously at different formats and frame rates. The card does not require all four inputs to be active: channels can be brought online as production requirements grow without any hardware change. The 24/7 duty cycle rating reflects the operational expectation for broadcast infrastructure: this card is designed for permanent installation and continuous operation, not occasional use.

Who Uses This Card

The buyers for the Quad SDI are working in environments where four simultaneous SDI feeds are a routine operational requirement:

• Broadcast ingest facilities recording multiple incoming programme feeds simultaneously from SDI circuits
• Sports production teams capturing four camera angles for simultaneous ISO recording and replay
• OB trucks and flyaway systems where PCIe slot count is severely limited and channel density per slot is the primary engineering constraint
• Live broadcast graphics workstations ingesting multiple camera feeds and replay sources simultaneously
• News organisations with multiple incoming live SDI feeds requiring simultaneous recording and monitoring
• System integrators building multi-channel capture servers for broadcast or managed streaming infrastructure

Why Slot Efficiency Matters at Four Channels

In any rackmount server with a finite number of PCIe slots, the Quad SDI is dramatically more efficient than four separate single-channel cards. It occupies one slot instead of four, uses one bracket instead of four, and requires a single set of driver configuration rather than four separate installations. In a 1U server where the physical slot count is often two or three at most, fitting four single-channel cards is not possible. The Quad SDI makes a four-channel SDI ingest system viable in exactly the chassis where it would otherwise be impossible.

The x4 PCIe interface provides sufficient bandwidth for all four channels to operate simultaneously without bottlenecking, even at 3G-SDI data rates.

Software Integration

All four channels appear as separate capture devices in production software. In vMix, each channel is an independent camera input with its own configuration, assignable to any layer or recording output in the session. Wirecast, OBS Studio, and Adobe Premiere Pro handle all four devices independently. For server-side workflows, FFmpeg paired with the MWCapture SDK provides full programmatic access to all four channels simultaneously, which is the common deployment pattern for headless Linux ingest servers running broadcast automation.

OS support covers Windows 10, 11, and Windows Server, Linux 3.x and later via V4L2, and macOS 10.14 and later via the MWCapture SDK.

The SDI Range in Context

The Pro Capture SDI at £215 covers single-channel requirements. The Dual SDI at £400 covers two channels. This card at £693 covers four. Cost per channel is approximately £215, £200, and £173 respectively. The economics favour the higher-channel cards if the channels are genuinely needed. Do not buy the Quad SDI for a two-channel workflow. But if four simultaneous SDI channels are a real operational requirement, this card is the most cost-effective and space-efficient way to meet it with Magewell broadcast-grade reliability.

Buying from StreamKit

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