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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Blackmagic Decklink Extreme vs Kona 3

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Loren White

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I'm trying to decide on which one to go with.. I've heard they both do a similar job of things but the Aja's control panel makes more sense and is more stable...

Can anyone vouch for the Blackmagic? I really just need a card that will allow me to downres 2k to 1080 for monitoring in Color.

Thanks!
 
The draw back of Blackmagic Design products was, the gamma handling or their codec wasn't helpful when you "monitor" and "render" in Color. So, you had to know how to set the LUT or apply adjustments in the master gamma.

If you run it with Snow Leopard and FCS3, you don't have the issue as long as working with ProRes up to 4444. The uncompressed 444 format is still advantageous on Kona. I'm bugging Blackmagic to support that though. For the amount of the price difference, Buy Blackmagic, and I'd buy the UltraScope.
 
Loren, I was told by Kevin in another thread that Kona won't run at x4 speed, so you will have to install it at x16 slot. That means, if you are planning to combine with RED ROCKET in the future, you will be limited to use REDROCKET at its half potential.
I recommend Blackmagic then.
 
I do plan on running the red rocket in the future, so that is good to know.

Does BMD have the LUT needed to fix these gamma issues in color with uncompressed footage? That seems odd..
but you're right, with the savings I could buy an ultra scope.
 
I was surprised that even the Decklink HD Extreme has a LUT feature now. For that price, wow. So, yes, you can apply LUT with Decklink control panel, so that you don't have to do that in the master gamma.
 
Kaku Ito said:
I was surprised that even the Decklink HD Extreme has a LUT feature now. For that price, wow. So, yes, you can apply LUT with Decklink control panel, so that you don't have to do that in the master gamma.
Click to expand...

Kaku, I see allways the Output LUT inactive, only can set the input LUT in a Extreme 3.

have you seen this??
 
Oh no, really? I actually use Multibridge Pro but the Blackmagic employee told me that Extreme now comes with LUT when I wholly explained about what was lacking in Decklink HD comparing to Multibridge Pro. I could have been informed wrong, what do you think?
If that is the case then, I'd recommend Multribridge Pro for the least for RED work.
 
The aja kona has very nice hardware down, trans, and upconverters, also handles more elegantly 2k to hd cropping or scaling than the decklink - but software/drivers change...
The decklink extreme 3 had lut support in the past, but they let if fall in favour of the downconvertor. Dont know if the multibridge pro still has it...
But you can always add a 3d lut when using a hdlink pro as a interface for your hdmi display and get at the same time also 6 channel analog audio monitoring... The hdlink pro is also very nice with the kona3 - which doenst have analog audio, except when you buy the breakoutbox, then you have 2 channels analog - as standard with the Decklink Extreme 3.
The kona 3 doenst have any analog inputs, but who needs that...
The kona 3 is duallink with 2 bnc cables, the decklink extreme 3 has that too, but can also work with the new 3Gbit interfaces = duallink over 1 bnc cable.
 
It's a little scary that I would have to apply a LUT just to work with anything that is not ProRes with the BMD Decklink.. Is that what you are saying Kaku?
Also nice that the BMD-DLink extreme has HDMI standard, so you don't need the hdlink for the kona 3.
 
Loren,

There are differences in treating gamma between Snow Leopard and Leopard that we have to be aware of. But pretty much is true where you have to be careful to make sure you're looking at 2.2 not 1.8 to grade and not apply to the output for RED to DPX and do apply upon output for RED to QT (this is what happens in pre Snow Leopard/FCS3). For Snow Leopard, you don't have to worry as much time, but there are some exceptions.
 
Filip Vandoorne said:
The aja kona has very nice hardware down, trans, and upconverters, also handles more elegantly 2k to hd cropping or scaling than the decklink - but software/drivers change...
The decklink extreme 3 had lut support in the past, but they let if fall in favour of the downconvertor. Dont know if the multibridge pro still has it...
But you can always add a 3d lut when using a hdlink pro as a interface for your hdmi display and get at the same time also 6 channel analog audio monitoring... The hdlink pro is also very nice with the kona3 - which doenst have analog audio, except when you buy the breakoutbox, then you have 2 channels analog - as standard with the Decklink Extreme 3.
The kona 3 doenst have any analog inputs, but who needs that...
The kona 3 is duallink with 2 bnc cables, the decklink extreme 3 has that too, but can also work with the new 3Gbit interfaces = duallink over 1 bnc cable.
Click to expand...

Filip, thanks for the sorting out.
 
I'm now looking into the MXO2 a bit..

Has all the connections needed and a nice feature for calibrating an HDTV (panny 11 series for example).

Would it be possible using the MXO2 to run 2 monitors at once? (including the 2 used by the computers dvi ports)

for example..
1 SDI monitor
1 HDMI monitor at the same time?

Does the BM have a calibration feature like the mxo/mxo2?
 
Black Magic have problem capture from a RED cam!(HD-SDI)
AJA has not!
(Ones had to use a AJA IO to "loop/ Re-clocking" the signal to my Black Magic Multi, just to get a picture in FC!)

But beside that, I love my BM!($$$$$$$$;-)
 
Loren White said:
I'm now looking into the MXO2 a bit..

Has all the connections needed and a nice feature for calibrating an HDTV (panny 11 series for example).

Would it be possible using the MXO2 to run 2 monitors at once? (including the 2 used by the computers dvi ports)

for example..
1 SDI monitor
1 HDMI monitor at the same time?

Does the BM have a calibration feature like the mxo/mxo2?
Click to expand...

Loren,

BM don't have the calibration scheme like MXO2, but it has LUT.

MXO2 gets the output from PCIe, so besides the two DVIs, MXO2 can provide, HDMI, HDSDI or SDSDI, analog HD component, S-video and composite video all at the same time.
 
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