Serial digital interface
lastmod 2021-02-25created 2015-10-122 edits
Serial digital interface (SDI) is a family of digital video interfaces first standardized by SMPTE in 1989. For example, ITU-R BT.656 and SMPTE 259M define digital video interfaces used for broadcast-grade video. The related standard HD-SDI (high-definition serial digital interface) is standardized in SMPTE 292M and provides a data rate of 1.485 gigabits per second.
Additional SDI standards have been introduced to support increasing video resolutions (HD, UHD and beyond), frame rates, stereoscopic (3D) video, and color depth. Dual link HD-SDI consists of a pair of SMPTE 292M links and was standardized by SMPTE 372M in 1998. It provides a 2.970 Gbit/s interface used in applications such as digital cinema or HDTV 1080P that require greater resolution and fidelity than standard HDTV provides. 3G-SDI (standardized by SMPTE 424M) replaces dual link HD-SDI and consists of a single 2.970 Gbit/s serial link. The 6G-SDI and 12G-SDI standards were released on March 19, 2015.