Magewell Eco Capture M.2 video capture cards
Designed for use in small and embedded systems where full-sized PCIe slots are unavailable, the Eco Capture family of high-performance, cost-efficient video capture hardware complements Magewell’s flagship Pro Capture series by offering OEMs and systems integrators an ultra-compact, low-latency capture solution with low power consumption for space-limited applications.
Six Eco Capture models each feature a high-speed PCIe bus interface with an M.2 connector, enabling multi-channel HD or single-channel 4K (Ultra HD) capture. The Eco Capture SDI 4K Plus M.2 captures one channel of 4K video up to 4096×2160 at full 60 frames per second over a single-link 12G-SDI interface, while the Eco Capture HDMI 4K M.2 captures one 4K channel at 30 fps via HDMI. The Eco Capture QL-SDI 4K M.2 captures one channel of 4K video at 60 fps over quad-link, 3G-SDI connectivity for compatibility with older 4K source equipment. The dual-channel Eco Capture Dual HDMI M.2 and Eco Capture Dual SDI M.2 capture HD or 2K video up to 1080p60 over HDMI or SDI interfaces, respectively, while the quad-channel Eco Capture Quad SDI M.2 captures four HD or 2K SDI source signals simultaneously. All six configurations also support embedded audio.
Eco Capture cards measure just 22x80mm (0.87×3.15in), matching the M.2 2280 size specification, while their power consumption is 30% to 70% lower than Magewell’s Pro Capture cards with similar input connectivity and channel count. The M.2 Eco Capture models are available with drivers for Windows and Linux operating systems. OS-native capture APIs including DirectShow, DirectKS, V4L2 and ALSA are supported, and a comprehensive SDK enables developers to directly access the full feature set of the cards.
FPGA-based video processing provides high-quality up/down/cross-scaling, picture controls and color space conversion without tasking the host system CPU, while additional processes are performed by software.