AJA Io 4K Plus Professional Video I/O for Thunderbolt 3

Io 4K Plus offers the latest video I/O for your computer and offers 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 (and Thunderbolt 4 compatible) enables the Io 4K Plus to handle a wide range of formats from SD to HD, UltraHD, up to 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 supporting HDR workflows.

Features

• 4K/UltraHD/2K/HD/SD 10-bit I/O up to 50/60p
• 4K/UltraHD HDMI 2.0 I/O with 8-channel embedded audio
• 4x SDI BNC ports and configuration options
• 4x HD/SD 3G/1.5G bidirectional
• 1x 4K/UltraHD single link 12G/6G input (SDI 1) and 1x 4K/UltraHD single link 12G/6G output (SDI 3)
• 2x 4K/UltraHD dual link 3G/1.5G (1x input channel and 1x output channel, 2x input channels, or 2x output channels)
• 1x 4K/UltraHD four link 3G/1.5G input or output, Quadrant or 2SI
• Dedicated SDI HD/SD Monitor Output
• 4K video is down-converted to 2K and UltraHD is down-converted to HD
• 2x Thunderbolt 3 (Thunderbolt 4 compatible) 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 Captioning support
• VPID signaling for SDR/HDR Transfer Characteristics, Colorimetry, and Luminance via SDI
• PQ, HLG, HDR10 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 Apple silicon
• 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

Apple silicon Support

AJA Desktop Software is optimized for the latest Apple silicon with native support for AJA macOS drivers, application plug-ins, AJA Control Room, AJA Control Panel, and AJA System Test.

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 Mac Pro Thunderbolt 3 (and Thunderbolt 4 compatible) 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 SDI, 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 HDR workflows.

12G-SDI and HDMI 2.0 bring 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 backward 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 Captioning 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)

Thunderbolt Connectivity

Simple to set up and use, Io 4K Plus’ Thunderbolt 3 ports (also compatible with Thunderbolt 4) easily connect to a wide range of Apple, Windows, and Linux laptops and desktops, providing instant professional video and audio output from your favorite creative application.

Dual Thunderbolt 3 ports allow convenient daisy-chaining of other devices on the same Thunderbolt connection.

Thunderbolt is ubiquitous across both Mac, Windows, and Linux computers and supports the massive bandwidth needed for professional video, audio, data, and more.

Thunderbolt Solutions

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 HDR10 support with HDR Infoframe metadata, in accordance with HDMI 2.0a/CTA-861.3 and HD.

AJA Control Room software and Io 4K Plus add 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 provide 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 high-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.

AJA 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:

HDR Solutions

AJA Control Room Metadata Toolset

Metadata is the key for managing advanced workflows. AJA is bringing to market an entirely new way to harvest metadata in the SDI signal stream and export the metadata to a sidecar file.

This new feature, called AJA Control Room Metadata Toolset*, is being introduced in Desktop Software v17.1 and adds the following functionality:

Supports capture of any metadata type, including SCTE-104 and Dolby Vision metadata, that is part of the SDI Ancillary metadata payload.

Using an AJA KONA capture card that supports SDI input and the included AJA Control Room software (such as KONA 5 or KONA X), the card captures the metadata, which is then preserved in a metadata sidecar file.

AJA Control Room can playback the metadata to provide quality monitoring.

AJA Control Room can export the metadata synchronized with the media on a per-frame basis.

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.

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 AJA Desktop software analog audio can be configured for flexibility when needing to record voiceovers 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 filmmakers also benefit from 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, and 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 postproduction.

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

Supports macOS, Windows, and Linux Ubuntu / Rocky. Please see Release Notes for details and version information which can be found in the Downloads, Software tab.

Extensive Software Support

AJA hardware is supported by an extensive list of professional software for editing, visual effects, graphics, and more allowing the same AJA device to be used by many different applications on the same system. In addition, AJA provides several free applications that enable you to utilize the power of your AJA hardware even without having to run a particular software package. This allows you to create unique workflows without tying up valuable resources unnecessarily.