SDI-SD/HD System Interconnect

Serial digital interface (SDI) is a family of digital video interfaces first standardized by SMPTE (The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers) in 1989. For example, ITU-R BT.656 and SMPTE 259M define digital video interfaces used for broadcast-grade video. A related standard, known as high-definition serial digital interface (HD-SDI), is standardized in SMPTE 292M; this provides a nominal data rate of 1.485 Gbit/s.

Dual link HD-SDI and consisting essentially of a pair of SMPTE 292M links, was standardized in SMPTE 372M in 1998; this provides a nominal 2.970 Gbit/s interface used in applications (such as digital cinema or HDTV 1080P) that require greater fidelity and resolution than standard HDTV can provide. A more recent interface, 3G-SDI, consisting of a single 2.970 Gbit/s serial link, is standardized in SMPTE 424M that will replace the dual link HD-SDI.

These standards are used for transmission of uncompressed, unencrypted digital video signals (optionally including embedded audio and time code) within television facilities; they can also be used for packetized data

All interfaces for SDI are Bayonet Neill-Concelman (BNC) connectors or mini-BNC connectors.

Dolby Digital 5.1 Support

Dolby Digital is supported in Observer release 5.5 and above. It uses AC-3 encoding to support sample rates up to 48 kHz. Select the AC3 audio profile to setup Dolby Digital on a Blackmagic SD encoder card.