Mike Curtis Reviews DeckLink HD Studio

DV Magazine Review of DeckLink HD Studio (requires registration)

Mike Curtis from HD for Indies reviews the DeckLink HD Studio. This card has analong in and outs for standard and hi-def video, but it also has HDMI in and out. Sort of like the a regular DeckLink plus the Intensity card that I have discussed before. Mike mentions on his blog that the new Intensity Pro from Blackmagic will more or less match the featurs of the DeckLink HD Studio at a lower price.

Here's Mike's summary of why you would use this card:
"...if you want to transcode HDV or AVCHD to uncompressed (for finishing and online work) or to DVCPRO HD (for faster renders and greater real-time performance than HDV), or if you want to monitor on an inexpensive HDTV, then the Blackmagic DeckLink HD Studio is the right card for you."

As I mentioned before, I think the new features in FCP 6 make transcoding HDV or AVCHD (or DV, IMX, DV50, any format that can be captured in its native codec) an unnecessary step. With FCP 6, you should be able to mix the native codec with uncompressed renders or the new ProRes 422 codec in the same timeline without rendering. So that leaves monitoring video through the consumer-standard HDMI output as the only really strong reason to work with HDMI, unless you can't wait for FCP 6.