Milpitas, CA, USA – July 13, 2010 – Blackmagic Design today announced Smart Videohub, a new professional 16 x 16 routing switcher that’s been designed to be incredibly easy to use so creative staff such as editors, designers and digital artists can install and use without requiring any technical knowledge, is now shipping. Smart Videohub retails for an affordable $2,495, making it an ideal first router for small facilities.

Smart Videohub is a professional 1 rack unit routing switcher with advanced features such as 3 Gb/s SDI, auto switching SD, HD and 3 Gb/s SDI, as well as full SDI re-clocking. Smart Videohub includes attractive crystal look buttons on the front, with 16 buttons for destinations and 16 buttons for sources. All the customer needs to do to change routing is press a destination and then select a source. Because the control panel is built into the front panel, Smart Videohub only needs power to work and no other setup is required.

Smart Videohub’s control buttons are designed for high reliability and the front panel can be removed to allow labeling of buttons. All buttons are illuminated by brilliant white LEDs and when used in dark rooms, all buttons can be backlit so button labels can be clearly seen.

Smart Videohub includes control interfaces for USB, direct ethernet and RS-422 serial. Ethernet control allows direct connection to the computer network and is fully compatible with Blackmagic Design’s wide range of software control panels and the new Videohub Smart Control hardware control panel. This means customers can simply use the front panel control, but then as they expand, they can add software control to computers on their network, and Videohub Smart Control panels throughout their facility as well.

“Even though we have worked very hard to make routing switchers easy to install yourself, Smart Videohub takes ease of install even further, and could not be simpler to install. Just power and go! It’s fantastic!”, said Grant Petty, CEO, Blackmagic Design. “I think if anyone ever wanted a router but could not afford it, or did not know how to install it, then Smart Videohub will be the perfect solution! It’s easy to use as a simple switch box, but it’s a true professional router inside, plus it looks fantastic too!”

Smart Videohub Key Features
• 16 SDI inputs, supports SD, HD and 3 Gb/s SDI.
• 16 SDI outputs, supports SD, HD and 3 Gb/s SDI.
• USB connection for computer control.
• Ethernet direct network connection for control.
• Serial port for router control.
• 12 volt universal power supply included.
• Reference input compatible with black burst and tri-sync.
• Button caps can be removed for easy labeling.
• Buttons are illuminated with white LEDs for highest illumination quality.
• Includes full SDI re-clocking.
• Allows simultaneous SD, HD and 3 Gb/s SDI formats on the router at the same time.
• Includes free software control panels for Mac and Windows.
• Compact 1 rack unit size.
• Fully compatible with Videohub Smart Control.

Availability and Price
Smart Videohub is now shipping for US $2,495 from all Blackmagic Design resellers worldwide.