The Blackmagic Design UltraStudio 4K Extreme 3 is a Thunderbolt 3 and PCIe capture and playback unit for professional post-production, broadcast ingest and live production, moving video and audio between a wide range of sources and an editing, grading or streaming system.

40 Gbps connectivity with broad video and control I/O

A 40 Gbps Thunderbolt 3 connection, alongside PCIe connectivity, links the unit into a desktop or laptop edit suite or a rack-based ingest workflow. Video and audio pass through 12G-SDI, HDMI 2.0 and analogue connections, covering a wide range of camera, deck and monitor sources in a single unit. Reference, timecode and RS-422 ports add deck control and studio synchronisation, tying the unit into an existing facility's timing and automation.

4K capture and playback up to 4:4:4 sampling

Capture and playback cover advanced 4K 60p RGB and stereoscopic ingest, with 4:4:4 sampling for full-colour precision through the signal chain. Real-time H.265 encoding compresses footage as it comes in, cutting file sizes for archiving or transfer without a separate encoding pass.

Multichannel analogue and digital audio

Audio is carried over 4 channels of XLR plus 2 channels of AES/EBU, covering both analogue and digital audio sources alongside the video I/O, so a full production audio chain can be captured in parallel with picture.

Rack-mount build with onboard monitoring and broad compatibility

The unit sits in a 2 RU rack form factor with dual built-in power supplies for redundancy, suited to permanent installation alongside other broadcast infrastructure. An onboard LCD screen gives a preview of the incoming or outgoing signal without a separate monitor, and wide Mac and Windows software compatibility lets it drop into most existing edit, grading and playout applications.