The old Aja vs. BlackMagic question...

[Petros Nousias]

Im considering buying either an LHi or a decklink studio card for fcp. Im not looking for r3d acceleration which I know neither supports but a general boost in editing plus the ability to capture/output in sd/hd, analog or digital. After some small research I saw that the cards are similar, apart for the 3g ability of kona. It seems that both accelerate equally the timeline and have the same connections, so why is there such a high price difference?

Cost-wise I prefer to go for decklink of course, unless there is a serious drawback.

Also, how's decklink's downconverter compared to aja's?

 

[Brandon Kraemer]

Also, how's decklink's downconverter compared to aja's?

Historically speaking... not that great. I had one of the first Decklink HD cards and the realtime down converting was pretty bad, I would not use it for mastering that is for sure. These days I would not know, only on Kona 3 hardware most of the time.

I like BMD as a company, always found their tech support to be good, but I can say the same for AJA, if not better. I can almost always pick up the phone can talk to a real person that understands their product and they keep reasonable support hours.

 

[Vinod Hegde]

I too have the exact same query....a very well explained post on the above two cards will be highly appreciated!

 

[C.H.Haskell]

While I can not give a solid explanation on the above hardware, I can say in my experience with both....AJA was stable and did exactly what I needed it to. Black magic was not always stable and needed more trouble shooting then I cared for.

 

[Joe Gill]

I will give my best 1 paragraph answer. The two companies have different philosophies. AJA makes a smarter card, where more of he processing is done onboard and is thus predictable and controlled by a lot of factory testing and has also got finer controls for tweaking and such. Blackmagic makes a more universal card which is cheaper only because that is the mass market they are aiming for, and because they skip a lot of the finer functionality that AJA can give, which 80-90% of the users will *never* use properly. If you are mastering things to your HDCamSR 4:4:4 or working with a monitor that was more than 5k, then you should get the AJA, if you are thinking of using a consumer LCD for your HDSDI out and want to spend a more reasonable amount of money, then get the Blackmagic. They're both great cards, and they just have different abilities, but both can do 80-90% of what users will need. Remember that unlike most camera kit, they have a very short life, so you should buy the one that best suits your needs for 24 months...

 

[Leo Ticheli]

I've both AJA and BM cards; both good companies, solid products, but my experience is quite different. I find the BM cards simple, reliable, and quick to update with changes in Apple's OS or Final Cut. On the other hand, the AJA card has been a little bit of a pain in the rear.

You're unlikely to have a major problem with either. Maybe a chance to save some money.

Good shooting (or editing) and best regards,

Leo

 

[Ben Holmes]

As a user and owner of both, I'd say that anyone concerned about quality differences should not be. I use a Multibridge Pro from BM which has the advantage of working as a standalone converter.

However, BM's products have never played as well with RED footage - and the expensive Kona 3 supports more RED frame sizes, converting them realtime to 1080p (I'm talking about 2:1 frames etc - not 4K) for viewing. The Kona 3 is also the most futureproof card.

For RED work, it would be hard not to recommend the Kona 3, rather than the cheaper ones. If I worked with R3Ds constantly, I would not use BM - but for encoded footage they represent excellent quality, and price, with good support. Video quality, including conversion quality is excellent on both.

 

[RRafael]

Use aja but in pc workflow. Xena 2ke is amazing in cs4.1 native r3d.

 

[Steve Sherrick]

I left the BM cards a while back. My experience with AJA Kona 3 has been great. Incredibly flexible and amazingly has not become obsolete like so many other computer/video components. It's hard to go wrong with this card, and it has a great BOB as well. If money is an issue, then yes the BM cards will offer great value. But just make sure they can do exactly what you need them to.

 

[Evangelos Achillopoulos]

Petro, I have used both... I would say if you have just a general use HD/SD io then BMD is more than enough...

If I would already own an AJA, I would put on ALL other machines the BMD's... just one AJA is enough...

In both my Macs I have BMD's... they performing great... but I have that few times that an AJA would perform better... in terms of compatibility and RGB recording... in AJA you can select RGB range in BMD you can't... there are few minor things that can bast your balls with BMD... with AJA it feels like you have more control...

That's my two euro cent's...