HDMI® provides full-raster, pixel-for-pixel digital clarity with absolutely no video compression, so it does not suffer the inherent image degradation caused by compression. HDMI delivers stunning image quality and color depth that far surpasses highly-compressed FireWire-based video capture via DV, HDV, AVC-Intra and similar capture codecs.

In fact, HDMI output usually streams directly from a camera’s image sensor, bypassing the compression chip, allowing the HD Express to deliver an absolutely pristine, uncompressed HD digital video signal straight from the camera's imager to your computer.

If you require the best-possible image quality, you can work with uncompressed HD and use the money you save on the HD Express for other system components required for uncompressed HD, such as fast storage.

Or, if you prefer to edit more conveniently at a lower data rate, you can choose Apple ProRes, ProRes HQ, DNxHD, or the codec of your choice in Apple Final Cut Pro, Media Composer, or Adobe Premiere Pro. By choosing a codec directly supported by your host, you eliminate unnecessary extra stages of compression and decompression, which produces maximum CPU efficiency and smooth editing.