Cobalt Digital Upgrades 9904-UDX ‘Swiss Army Knife’

The support for Level B-DL joins a host of other capabilities incorporated into the card-based, multi-function solution.

“The 9904-UDX series, Cobalt’s must-have problem solver, is found in the toolkit of organizations all around the world,” explained Suzana Brady, Cobalt Digital’s SVP of Worldwide Sales and Marketing. “Now we’ve added even more features and support capabilities that place it in a class of its own – unique in its openGear form factor and at a budget-pleasing price point.”

The 9904-UDX series can now accept 3G Level B-DL in addition to 3G Level A, automatically detect the format and output either 3G Level A or 3G Level B-DL as configured by the operator. In addition, RGB 4:4:4 and YCbCr 4:4:4 formats are also accepted and supported by the built-in framesync as well as all audio de/embed and processing functions.

Prior to the enhancement, the 9904-UDX supported formats: 480i, 576i, 720p, 1080i, 1080pSF, 1080p and provided full up/down conversion between HD/3G, ST 2082 12G-SDI single-wire, and SDM/2SI quad 3G-SDI based formats, with ST 2082 12G-SDI single-wire and quad 3G UHD available at both input and output.

This latest version is already in use at The Foundation, a post-production provider located in Burbank. The Foundation is using the 9904-UDX card to capture a variety of film source material from a DaVinci Resolve as Level-B, process the audio by either delaying, embedding or de-embedding, and sending it back to the Resolve for composition.

John Stevens, Engineering Director at The Foundation, explains, “When using a Resolve in dual output mode, HDR & SDR simultaneously, each output is set to Level B and the audio is only embedded on the first output – the HDR. The 9904 is the only openGear card that incorporates that capability which is a very important feature for us. That coupled with all the formats the Cobalt card supports and its attractive price made it a no-brainer for us!”