Blackmagic has announced a cross-platform expansion card that enables capture from HDMI enabled camcorders, and output/monitoring via HDMI.

Guess which company just released two HDV camcorders that sport shiny new HDMI output ports? I’ll give you a hint…the manufacturer’s name starts with an “S” and it ryhmes with “pony”…

Now, we still don’t know if the HDR-FX7 and HVR-V1E camcorders output HDMI before HDV compression. But if I had to speculate randomly at this point, I’d guess that Sony got it right and spits out a beautiful uncompressed image from the HDMI port. I seriously doubt that this oh-so-conveniently-timed announcement is just coincidence.

“With Intensity, you can now capture and playback full resolution HDTV uncompressed video…Totally eliminate HDV & DV compression quality problems, and render much cleaner graphics while retaining deeper color and image detail. If you need lower data rate editing, you can also select from a range of professional compressed video capture modes.”

Folks, it sounds to me like you can HDMI tether a camcorder to your PC or MAC with the Blackmagic card installed, and ingest straight-up uncompressed HD. Nifty.

The new card is scheduled to be available October 15th and will cost you around $250.
Thanks, Dan!