AJA Io 4K Plus Professional Video I/O

Professional Video and Audio I/O over Thunderbolt 3™ Connected 12G-SDI and HDMI v2.0

Overview

Io 4K Plus is the cutting edge of capture and output hardware available over Thunderbolt 3, offering a full set of professional video and audio connectivity with support for the latest 4K/UltraHD devices, High Frame Rate (HFR), High Dynamic Range (HDR) and deep color workflows. The power of Thunderbolt 3 enables Io 4K Plus to handle a wide range of formats from SD to HD, UltraHD and full 4K with frame rates up to 60p over both 12G-SDI and HDMI 2.0 with single cable simplicity, plus HDR support over both HDMI and SDI for emerging HDR workflows.

Features

• 4K/UltraHD/2K/HD/SD 10-bit I/O up to 50/60p 
• 4x bidirectional 12G-SDI BNC with 16-channel embedded audio 
• 4K/UltraHD HDMI 2.0 I/O with 8-channel embedded audio 
• Two Thunderbolt 3 ports with loop through 
• RGB 4:4:4 12-bit, YCbCr 4:2:2 10-bit and HFR workflows supported 
• 12-bit and 10-bit LUT support (.cube) 
• 4K Closed Caption Support 
• VPID signaling for SDR/HDR Transfer Characteristics, Colorimetry and Luminance via SDI 
• PQ, HLG, HDR10, HDR 10+ and Dolby Vision Support 
• HDR Metadata Capture and Auto Playback Detection 
• Analog Audio flexibility with a choice of 8-channel In or 8-channel Out or 4-channel In and 4-channel out 
• Includes support for the Apple M1 chip 
• Compatible with OBS Studio, vMix, Telestream Wirecast, Adobe Creative Suite, Apple Final Cut Pro, Avid Media Composer, and much more 
• XLR 12V power for battery or AC use 
• Headphone jack and level control for mobile and live environments 
• RS-422 VTR control, Reference, LTC Input

Thunderbolt 3 – Solutions from AJA

Bring more power, speed and simplicity to your workflows with Thunderbolt™ 3 solutions from AJA.

Learn how AJA’s Io 4K Plus and Io IP I/O devices give you the bandwidth to easily move 4K/UltraHD, High Frame Rate and deep color content over a single cable in and out of your computer, including HDR support across HDMI 2.0.

Apple M1 Chip Support

Desktop Software v16.1 and above is optimized for the Apple M1 chip with native support for AJA macOS drivers, application plug-ins, AJA Control Room, AJA Control Panel, AJA System Test and AJA NMOS software.

Apple Mac Pro Compatible

AJA offers full compatibility for the new Apple Mac Pro, including support for AJA Control Room with Metal compatibility as well as extensive support for a range of applications. For productions handling high resolution workflows all the way up to 4K, Io 4K Plus is a perfect companion with the new desktop offering Thunderbolt 3-based 12G-SDI and HDMI 2.0 capture and playback.

Professional Connectivity:

12G-SDI and HDMI 2.0
Today's workflows demand speed, bandwidth and simplicity. Io 4K Plus supports 4K, UltraHD, 12G/6G/3G/1.5G-SDI, Dual Link, HD-SDI and SD-SDI as well as UltraHD and HD over HDMI 2.0 for both capture and output. The HDMI output is also able to accurately display HDR 10 and HLG to support emerging HDR workflows.

12G-SDI and HDMI 2.0 bring both power and simplicity to your projects, with the ability to use single cables for both input and output for the most demanding workflows. 12G-SDI is backwards compatible with SDI sources, covering all your bases through a single port. HDMI 2.0 allows high raster and frame rate capture and the ability to display the same to affordable and beautiful HDMI 2.0 displays.

4K Closed Caption Support

AJA Control Room

Supports CEA-608 or 608-in-708 via ANC extraction firmware

Avid & Adobe Plugins

All SMPTE-291 (ANC) based captions supported

Adobe Premiere supports native 708 if the raw data is available. For instance in the Adobe plug-ins we handle the case where Premiere hands us full 708 data, we just pass it through to the device

Avid Media Composer supports active video ANC (line 21) or ANC via ANC extractor/inserter (up to UHD/4K)

Universal Compatibility:

Thunderbolt™ 3 via USB-C

Io 4K Plus provides two Thunderbolt 3 ports for true Thunderbolt flexibility.

Thunderbolt 3 doubles the speed of the previous Thunderbolt 2 standard with up to 40 Gps of throughput and utilizes the universal USB-C connection standard for true simplicity over a single cable and port for today's leading Mac and PC workstations and laptops, ideal for Video and Audio I/O as provided by the Io 4K Plus.

Thunderbolt™ 3 features:

Thunderbolt™, USB, DisplayPort, and power on USB-C

USB-C connector and cables (small, reversible)

40 Gb/s: Thunderbolt™ 3 – double the speed of Thunderbolt™ 2

Bi-directional, dual-protocol (PCI Express and DisplayPort)

4x lanes of PCI Express Gen 3

DisplayPort 1.2 – supports two 4K displays (4096 x 2160 30bpp @ 60 Hz)

Lowest latency for PCI Express audio

USB 3.1 (10 Gb/s) – compatible with existing USB devices and cables

DisplayPort 1.2 – compatible with existing DisplayPort displays, devices, and cables

Daisy chain up to six devices

Monitor 4K/UltraHD in HD

When working at 4K resolutions, Io 4K Plus outputs a high quality HD-SDI down-converted signal on a dedicated BNC connector. This HD signal can be used to output 4K projects directly to HD recorders for broadcast and for easy viewing of 4K images on HD monitors during post production.

HDR

HDR or High Dynamic Range, provides the ability to display a wider and richer range of colors, much brighter whites, and much deeper, darker blacks than standard signals allow. This gives your imagery a more ‘dynamic’ look and allows for natural true to life colors to be communicated to your audience.

Io 4K Plus provides this support for your 4K/UltraHD/2K and HD HDR pipelines to HDMI and SDI compatible displays with HLG and HDR 10 support with HDR Infoframe metadata, in accordance with HDMI 2.0a/CTA-861.3 and HD.

AJA Control Room software and Io 4K Plus adds support for HDR metadata capture from an incoming SDI or HDMI signal. The captured .mov video file will have embedded HDR metadata, allowing the file to be played back at its intended dynamic range.

AJA Control Room software and Io 4K Plus also provides HDR Auto Playback Detection. Embedded HDR metadata in a recorded .mov file, is read and used to automatically set the HDR format on the monitor(s) connected to the AJA HDMI and/or SDI outputs.

Support for file-based .mov HDR outputs with metadata from Adobe Premiere Pro / Adobe Media Encoder HDR files is also available. Screening those rendered outputs is a simple and hi-quality experience with AJA Control Room. Every frame is presented in its full-quality, at the timing intended, and with the proper HDR format set correctly and automatically.

Desktop Software also offers HDR input from HDMI 2.0 for capturing HDR gaming content from PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 5 Pro and more.

Explore more of our HDR Solutions here:

Workflow

Connect your digital sources via 12G-SDI to Io 4K Plus for capture to a wide variety of formats. Monitor via HDMI 2.0 output (HDR10, HLG, Dolby Vision*), and master to destinations using high quality professional SDI outputs, machine control and analog or tri-level reference.

*Dolby Vision integration available when using the AJA SDK.

Integrated Digital Audio, Analog Audio Flexibility

Embedded 16-Channel SDI and 8-Channel HDMI audio are supported as well as analog audio inputs, outputs or both via a standard DB-25 connection.

Stereo monitoring is also possible with a front panel mini-TRS headphone jack.

With desktop software analog audio can be configured for flexibility when needing to record voice overs and more with the ability to choose how the DB-25 connection on Io 4K Plus is configured:

8-Channel, 24 and 16-bit D/A analog audio, 48 kHz sample rate, balanced, using industry standard 8x XLR on DB-25 breakout cable (cable not included)

Balanced Analog Audio I/O:

Input across Ch. 1-8, Ch. 1-4, or Ch. 5-8

Output across Ch. 1-8, Ch. 1-4, or Ch. 5-8

AR Support with Unreal Engine

Capture real time footage with Io 4K Plus over SDI from high quality cameras, meld your footage with your virtual environment created by the Unreal Engine and send it back out in real time to air - a growing need for broadcasters, augmented reality (AR) needs and more.

Digital film makers also benefit with these new workflows: On set, enhance your live action VFX work with the ability to see a full composite live during the course of the shoot. This results in fewer reshoots, the ability for actors to understand the virtual environment they are working within for stronger performances and ultimately leads to a range of efficiencies and cost savings with the added benefit of a smoother transition into post production.

Sync Up

Io 4K Plus can be locked to an external reference for integration into larger productions, or feed LTC in and out to ensure footage captured with Io 4K has the proper timecode.

Machine Control

An RS-422 port allows control of tape decks for frame accurate captures and layoffs.

Io 4K Plus Operating Systems Compatibilities

macOS Support for 12.x (Monterey), 11.0 (Big Sur), 10.15 (Catalina), 10.14 (Mojave).
Windows 11, 10 and updates.