Blackmagic’s KeyKode and Audio Reader for Cintel Scanners + Updates

Blackmagic Design’s new KeyKode and audio reader will support 16mm, 35mm, cyan dye, high magenta dye, silver optical and 16mm magnetic audio tracks.

First announced as a future development at NAB, Blackmagic’s immediately available $3,495 audio and KeyKode reader will work with the Cintel line of film scanners to scan image as well as high-quality audio information in realtime. With advanced optics, electro-formed slits, and precision mechanical adjustments, the azimuth utilizes a magnetic audio head and deep red LED illumination for capturing realtime 16mm, 35mm, cyan dye, high magenta dye, silver optical, or 16mm-magnetic-audio-track film. With high-frequency response that has been synchronized “perfectly” with video, the KeyKode and audio reader will automatically correct for wow and flutter, even when scanner speeds change. 

Blackmagic says that their line of Cintel film scanners have been purchased not only for archival scans but also for a number of recent original film productions. To address the needs of these demographics, they have released the KeyKode reader so that users can create key codes that can then be read and traced via Blackmagic’s DaVinci Resolve software. KeyKode numbers give identification over individual film frames, making it much easier to correlate film frames with corresponding video frames post-scan. 

This will simplify workflows for those cutting or recutting previously edited materials that come from a number of different rolls of film. “Cintel Film Scanners are the most popular film scanners in the world,” says Grant Petty, Blackmagic Design CEO, in the press release. “The new Cintel audio and KeyKode reader is exciting because it allows both audio and picture to be scanned at the same time, and in perfect synchronization. Plus, customers also get KeyKode information that helps to dramatically speed up postproduction workflows.”

The new reader comes hot on the heels of an update on June 30 adding professional vector scope, waveform monitoring, RGB parade and histogram to BMD's Video Assist 4K monitor. Also highlighted by Blackmagic at NAB, the Video Assist 4K 2.5 update is available free of charge for iOS and Windows. 

With offices in the U.S., U.K., Japan, Singapore and Australia, Blackmagic Design produces digital cameras for film and broadcast as well as a large selection of color correction, video converter, monitoring, routing and video switching solutions and peripherals.