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KONA I/O advice

Sam Roberts

Sam Roberts

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Hi to everyone.

I need some advice as to which KONA input output system to buy. My circumstances are the following:

probably RED 2K in - 1080 out to either Blu-Ray or standard DVD, sometimes the web.

No need for super high end output monitors may just go with a consumer grade 1080p LCD or Plasma monitor HDMI/Component inputs (no SDI in)

I will have a (new) Mac Pro 8core. 3,2GHZ 8MB ram- MediaVault drive array.

As well as RED material I will also need to input legacy Betacam SD material from a Betacam deck.

Which should I choose- AJA io HD or Kona 3?

Thank you.
 
For home use I'd go with the Kona 3, it can do more than the I/O/. The I/O is great for field work and macbook pro/imac users. Kona 3 is cheaper would be a great fit. Although also consider a BM HD extreme card, it will bring in and out everything and only lacks hardware up and down conversion.
 
Hi Kamil....if you add the Kona3 breakout box the prices are almost the same, at least in my neck of the woods. But you are backing up what I've been told elsewhere so thanks for that. Kona 3 it is.

Sam
 
Just got an email from AJA. The Kona 3 will NOT input SD Betacam. I would need to also buy the AJA HD10AVA converter box.

Looks like a multi format input/output system is almost the same price as the computer.....:angry02:
 
Sam Roberts said:
Hi Kamil....if you add the Kona3 breakout box the prices are almost the same, at least in my neck of the woods. But you are backing up what I've been told elsewhere so thanks for that. Kona 3 it is.

Sam
Click to expand...

Yeah enjoy Sam, you won't be disappointed.
 
Did you check Kona LH? It is almost the same thing as Kona 3 except LH has no real time upconvert but has non-SDI input/output.
 
Sam Roberts said:
Just got an email from AJA. The Kona 3 will NOT input SD Betacam. I would need to also buy the AJA HD10AVA converter box.

Looks like a multi format input/output system is almost the same price as the computer.....:angry02:
Click to expand...

Sam have you considered Blackmagic's Decklink HD Extreme. It does analog to 2K digital film and even has HDMI in and out. Otherwise I think the Kona LHe supports analog video.
 
Kona 3 is much much better than the IO HD. As stated before, the IO HD is good for field, but for a dedicated MacPro system Kona 3 is the only way to go. Yes, it is more expensive but the advantages are superb. At our studio we have compared all cards and after extensive tests, the Kona cards blew the BM's away. By very far. That's no counting the on-going issues of instability the BM cards bring to the table.

The LH does not include the Kona 3's up and down conversion features which, believe me, one day sooner or later you will need if you are working on any HD project. but! the Kona LH does have both SD & HD component in/outs as well as SDI in/outs. We've used them and they work extremely well.

I completely understand budgets and the lack of it (we all go through it), but if you are planning on making any money with your set up, why cheapen / handicapped yourself and not spend an extra $1500 for peace of mind and all the flexibility you'll ever need?
 
It gets pretty confusing when you have to input RED AND various other kinds of material including SD Betacam.

And to add to the problem I don't need a high end SDI monitoring system. My clients just aren't that fussy. I want to use a consumer grade 1080P TV or Monitor with HDMI/component inputs.

The AJA io HD seems to have everything I need but I am hearing elsewhere it can't be used with RED material. What I want to know is if I transcode all my RED material with ProRes and stay with ProRes throughout- outputting to 1080P DVD, can I not use the io HD's HDMI output to monitor from the time line?
 
timecodemultimedia said:
Kona 3 is much much better than the IO HD. As stated before, the IO HD is good for field, but for a dedicated MacPro system Kona 3 is the only way to go. Yes, it is more expensive but the advantages are superb. At our studio we have compared all cards and after extensive tests, the Kona cards blew the BM's away. By very far. That's no counting the on-going issues of instability the BM cards bring to the table.

The LH does not include the Kona 3's up and down conversion features which, believe me, one day sooner or later you will need if you are working on any HD project. but! the Kona LH does have both SD & HD component in/outs as well as SDI in/outs. We've used them and they work extremely well.

I completely understand budgets and the lack of it (we all go through it), but if you are planning on making any money with your set up, why cheapen / handicapped yourself and not spend an extra $1500 for peace of mind and all the flexibility you'll ever need?
Click to expand...

So are you saying that the LHe won't downconvert a 720P or 1080P timeline on the fly to SD? Everything I've seen about it sure seems it will. If it won't, then there is a huge hole in AJA's PCIe lineup as the Kona3 don't have SD inputs.

Matthew
 
macville said:
So are you saying that the LHe won't downconvert a 720P or 1080P timeline on the fly to SD?
Click to expand...

It does that as well. We use the downconversion cvapabilities for both SDI and Standard Component depending on which monitor and which deck we are going out to.
 
timecodemultimedia said:
It does that as well. We use the downconversion cvapabilities for both SDI and Standard Component depending on which monitor and which deck we are going out to.
Click to expand...

Okay, then what exactly do you mean by this: "The LH does not include the Kona 3's up and down conversion features which, believe me, one day sooner or later you will need if you are working on any HD project."

Thanks,

Matthew
 
we use the lh everyday - realtime downconvert. Excellent choice. What isn't an exellent choice is to reply to peoples requests for help when you are so ill-informed - one of the reasons I can't read past the first three pages on this board - fools runamuck
 
macville said:
Okay, then what exactly do you mean by this: "The LH does not include the Kona 3's up and down conversion features which, believe me, one day sooner or later you will need if you are working on any HD project.
Click to expand...

The Kona 3 can convert real-time whether on input or output:

Down from:
1080 to 720 / 525
with a variety of frame rates

Up from:
720 to 1080
525 to 720 / 1080
with a variety of frame rates

And cross-convert from one frame rate to another within the same format.

No other card can do ANY of that.
 
Sam Roberts said:
Just got an email from AJA. The Kona 3 will NOT input SD Betacam. I would need to also buy the AJA HD10AVA converter box.

Looks like a multi format input/output system is almost the same price as the computer.....:angry02:
Click to expand...

do you own a betacam SP deck or will you be renting one? the kona3 has an SD-SDI input, using the sony j30-SDI as feeder you could playback analog betacam via SDI output.

martin
 
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