Magewell USB Capture SDI Plus - 2K SDI capture device over USB
The Magewell USB Capture SDI Plus is a compact external capture card, which allows you to import SDI signal to your computer for recording or streaming. It provides a convenient way to connect cameras, recorders, mixers and other equipment to your computer. It requires no additional driver installation, so it is compatible with various software and web applications on Mac, Windows, Linux and Chrome OS, and works via a simple plug-and-play connection.
It supports SDI on standard BNC input connectors up to 2048x1080 at 60Hz. and has SDI input loop through to connect any 3G/HD/SD-SDI source to the dongle and output it to your computer with embedded audio via a USB 3.0 cable, which is also supplied. The USB port and USB cable are also USB 2.0 compatible. In addition, the device is designed to operate continuously 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
The Magewell USB Capture SDI Plus is a single-channel 2K capture device that connects to your computer via USB 3.0. It features a BNC loop-through input/output, allowing you to view your video on a secondary device while capturing it on your computer. It also has a line audio input for capturing audio directly (without video), or you can de-embed audio from the SDI stream.
Video Processing
- Video processing pipelines with 160 MP processing bandwidth.
- Video cropping.
- Video scaling.
- Video de-interlacing:
- Weave
- Blend top & bottom field
- Top field only
- Bottom field only
- Video aspect ratio conversion:
- Automatic or manual selection of input aspect ratio.
- Automatic or manual selection of capture aspect ratio.
- Three aspect ratio conversion modes: Ignore (anamorphic), Cropping, or Padding (Letterbox or Pillarbox).
- Video color format conversion:
- Automatic or manual selection of input color format and quantization range.
- Automatic or manual selection of capture color format, quantization range, and saturation range.
- Support for RGB, YCbCr 601, YCbCr 709 color formats.
- Support for Limited or Full quantization range.
- Support for Limited, Full, and 'Extended gamut' saturation range.
- Video frame rate conversion.
- Vertical flip and mirror.
Multiple Devices on One Computer
- Support for connecting multiple USB devices to a single system.
- Support for setting the device serial number as the device name displayed in the system using the USB Capture Utility.
SDK
- The USB Capture SDK provides functions including signal status extraction and capture configuration.
LED Indicator
- Status LEDs indicate the operating status of each channel:
- Slow flash: idle.
- On: input signal locked.
- Off: input signal unlocked.
- Double flash: memory fault or FPGA configuration fault.


Data sheet
- Video Inputs
- SDI
- Max. Video Resolution
- 625i / 525i - SD
1280x720 - HD
1920x1080 - HD
2048x1080 - 2K - Data and Control
- USB
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Supported OS
- Windows
- Windows 7/8/8.1/10/Server 2008/Server 2008 R2/Server 2012/Server 2016 (x86 & x64)
- Linux (support x86, x64 & ARM architecture)
- Ubuntu 12.04/14.04/16.04/17.04/17.10/18.04 (x86 & x64)
- CentOS 6.5/7 (x86 & x64)
- Fedora 25/26/27 (x86 & x64)
- Red hat 6.5 and above (x86 & x64)
- Other Linux OS with kernel version 2.6.35 and above
- Mac
- OS X 10.9/10.10/10.11
- macOS 10.12 and above
- Chrome OS
Recommended OS (tested)
- Windows
- Windows 7 Ultimate/8.1 Enterprise/10 Enterprise/Server 2008 R2 DataCenter/Server 2012 R2 DataCenter/Server 2016 R2 DataCenter (x86 & x64)
- Linux
- Ubuntu 12.04/14.04/16.04 (x86 & x64)
- Ubuntu 17.04/17.10/18.04 (x64)
- CentOS 6.5/7.2 (x86 & x64)
- Fedora 25/26 (x64)
- Red hat 6.5 (x86 & x64)
- Mac
- OS X 10.9.5/10.10/10.11.2/10.11.3/10.11.4
- macOS 10.12/10.13.2/10.13.3/10.14.3/10.15
Supported APIs
- Windows
- DirectShow
- Wave API/DirectSound/WASAPI
- Linux
- V4L2
- ALSA
- macOS
- AVCaptureSession
- AudioUnit
Supported Software
- VLC
- VirtualDub
- OBS
- XSplit
- vMix
- VidBlaster
- Wirecast
- Microsoft Media Encoder
- Adobe Flash Media Encoder
- Any other DirectShow/V4L2/AVCaptureSession based encoding or streaming software
Input Interfaces
- BNC
- SD/HD/3G SDI
- 3.5mm audio jack
- unbalanced Line In interface
Host Interface
- USB 3.0
- compatible with USB 2.0
- compatible with USB 3.1 Gen 1
Output Interface
- 3.5mm audio jack
- unbalanced Line Out interface
Loop-through Interface
- BNC
- SD/HD/3G SDI
Input features
- Support for up to 2048x1080 input resolution
SDI Specific Features
- Integrated cable equalizer extending the cable length as follows:
- up to 330m for SD-SDI signals
- up to 190m for HD-SDI signals
- up to 150m for 3G-SDI signals
- Support for SD/HD/3Ga/3Gb/3Gb-DL/3Gb-DS standards
- Support for 2K (2048x1080) mode
- Support for RGB 4:4:4, YCbCr 4:4:4, YCbCr 4:2:2 color sampling
- Support for 10/12-bit color depth
- Support for extraction of SMPTE 352 payload identifier
- Support for up to 2 (mono) audio channels at 48KHz
- Support for extraction of audio formation information & channel status data
- Limited support of 3Gb-DS: only the first stream can be captured
- Limited support for capture of the first link of dual link interfaces:
- YCbCr 4:2:2 10-bit 1080p 50/59.94/60: captured as 1080i 50/59.94/60
- YCbCr 4:4:4 10-bit: captured as 4:2:2
- RGB 4:4:4: R/B sub-sampled
Analog Audio Features
- Extract the embedded SDI audio and output via 3.5mm unbalanced Line out
- Capture analog audio via 3.5 mm unbalanced Line In interface
Video Capture format
- Support for capture resolutions up to 2048x1080
- Support for capture frame rates up to 120fps (Actual capture frame rate can be limited by the USB bandwidth and internal working frequency. Typical capture frame rates on the Intel USB3.0 controller are as follows.)
- 1920x1080 YUY2 (up to 70fps)
- 1920x1080 RGB24 (up to 60fps)
- Support for YUY2 & UYVY 4:2:2 8-bit
- Support for RGB24 & RGB32 4:4:4 8-bit
- The default capture format is YUY2. More capture formats can be set using USB Capture Utility.
Video Processing Features
- Video processing pipelines with 160 Mpixels/s processing bandwidth
- Video cropping
- Video scaling
- Video de-interlacing
- Weave
- Blend top & bottom field
- Top field only
- Bottom field only
- Video aspect ratio conversion
- Auto or manual selection of input aspect ratio
- Auto or manual selection of capture aspect ratio
- Three aspect ratio conversion modes: Ignore (Anamorphic), Cropping or Padding (Letterbox or Pillarbox)
- Video color format conversion
- Auto or manual selection of input color format & quantization range
- Auto or manual selection of capture color format, quantization range & saturation range
- Support for RGB, YCbCr 601, YCbCr 709 color formats
- Support for Limited or Full quantization range
- Support for Limited, Full & ‘Extended gamut’ saturation range
- Video frame rate conversion
- Vertical flip and mirror
Multiple devices on one computer
- Support for connecting multiple USB devices to one system
- Support for setting the device serial number as the device name shown in the system using USB Capture Utility
SDK
- The USB Capture SDK provide functions including signal status extraction, capture configuration and real-time audio & video capture, etc.
Firmware Upgrade
- Multiple devices in one system can be upgraded simultaneously
LED Indicator
- Status LEDs indicate the working state of each channel:
- Pulsing slowly: idle
- On: input signal locked
- Off: input signal unlocked
- Double blinks: memory failed or FPGA configuration failed
Form Factor
- 110.7mm (L) x 56.8mm (W) x 17mm (H)
Accessories
- USB 3.0 cable
Power Consumption
- 5V max current: ~0.5 A
- max power consumption: ~2.5 W
Working Environment
- Operating temperature: 0 to 50 deg C
- Storage temperature: –20 to 70 deg C
- Relative Humidity: 5% to 90% non-condensing
