AJA Kona LSe announced

Just an announcement for those of you using the newer Dual Core G5's.
AJA just announced a Standard Res version of their Kona card that works with PCI Express G5's. FYI. I've been very happy with my LHe which is the HD version of the same system.
http://www.macworld.com/news/2006/02/27/konalse/index.php
It's about $1000 which is comparible to the Blackmagic card of the same basic specs.

I haven't seen any difference with the hardware acceleration. Ive read that it helps, but really haven't noticed change in render times, etc. This could be due to my settings more than the card, however since I sometimes use CODEC's that aren't really supported by the card such as Apple Pixlet. DV50 is supported, but I still haven't really noticed a huge leap in performance when using this CODEC either.
Yor G5 setup will be very similar to mine. The main thing I think you might be short on is your hard drive. 500GB isn't really that much for 2 years of editing. This is especially true if you plan on doing the higher quality CODEC's or HD.
I'm completely maxed out with my 800GB internal array built with 2 400GB's in the G5's 2 paltry SATA ports. I actually need to get a PCIe card to connect to my 4 drive 1TB array which I haven't had access to since I got the machine. Unfortunately, there still aren't many options out there for SATA PCIe cards yet. RocketRAID 2320 is still basically the only one shipping for mac, and it doesn't have external ports, so I'll have to use up one of the PCIe slots to run the silly cables out to the drive. Sonnet Tech has a neat one coming, but it still hasn't shipped.
Also, if you can budget in some nice near field bi-amplified audio monitors. These are so often overlooked by editors, but really help if you plan on making trips to Soundtrack, etc.

Similar Messages

  • Audio video synchronisation problem with Aja Kona Lse

    Hi,
    We have recently bought an Aja Kona Lse card and using it with FCP 6.0.2. At the time of playing back we found that video on external monitor(taken out from *composite out* of aja kona breakout box)lags behind the external speaker audio(taken out from *balanced audio out* of aja kona breakout box) atleast by 2-3 seconds,though the same audio is in sync with FCP canvas video.
    Please help,
    Thanking you in advance

    Are you sure about the source of the audio? Have you double checked the internal routing within FCP?
    What you describe is exactly what happens when the audio is bypassing the external device and going through the Macs system audio. If going through the system audio, it will stay in sync with the Canvas. If going through the card, it should be in sync with the monitor being fed by the same card.
    Good luck,
    x

  • Motion playback on production monitor through AJA Kona LH card looks nasty.

    Okay, so here's the deal.
    We have recently invested in some shiny new things to equip an edit suite - a Kona LH card and a Production Monitor. Along with a Sony HDV/DVCAM VTR. Specs of our set up are listed at the bottom.
    Pretty much all of the work we have done in the past has been non-braodcast - we're looking to improve workflow and quality of final output. We work mainly with Final Cut Pro, but also with Motion.
    We have connected everything and have marvelled at how much of a difference it makes having a proper video preview from Final Cut (v. 6) as opposed to what we had before - firewire to camera to TV... Of course we were expecting this marked improvement.
    We were also expecting the key benefit of a video preview output from Motion.
    Now. We do get a video output through to the production monitor from Motion. But this is where it gets weird.
    When we do a preview of an animation, it looks really shoddy.
    As a test case, let's take a basic text crawl in Motion 3.
    Static graphics look great, but when you play motion graphics, the image quality is really jaggy and nasty. (even at full frame RAM preview, best render settings, full res - all of these options are apparently properly selected).
    So we did some test exports. Usually we would export animations in the Animation Codec, with an alpha if intended for compositing on top of a video track in FCP... we tried a bunch of different formats - animation, photoJpeg, DVCPRO 50, Aja 2Vuy, Uncompressed 10bit...
    All these play from Quicktime on the computer monitor just fine, but when playing from the AJA TV app to the production monitor, again the same problem. And then when you bring them into Final Cut, the same problem, even when you match the sequence settings and field order to the source video ...
    In effect, it seems that anything generated in Motion just doesn't want to look nice on our Production Monitor - even when imported into FCP.
    HOWEVER - if you drop the Motion PROJECT into an FCP timeline, all is fine!
    We know the AJA card and the Monitor are working because of this fact, and because when you generate titles from within FCP itself - the same text scroll, for instance, it looks perfect!
    I have also found when working with old composited animations originating from AE that you can get FCP to pump these through to the production monitor beautifully when working in an uncompressed sequence setting - or in an Animation sequence setting. (For an Animation sequence to go the the production monitor from FCP, the Video Playback option in A/V Settings needs to be set to "AJA Kona 625i25 RGBA" instead of "AJA Kona 625i25 8 bit" or 10 bit).
    The above point could be of relevance...? The only Video Output options from Motion or AE that apply to our setup and monitor are "625i25 RGBA" and "625i25 DV-RGBA" ... are we supposed to have more options?
    In short, we could work around these issues - it just doesn't seem right however that we can't get a decent external preview from Motion. A big reason for upgrading our setup was faithful video previews of animations from these programs...
    We also can't understand why exports from these animation programs can look so poor. I can export a video with a text crawl generated from a DV PAL Final Cut Project with DV Pal compression settings and it looks massively better playing through AJA TV than our test Motion exports.
    It just isn't right.
    Please help. Pretty please.
    For reference, here are the specs of our set up:
    Apple Dual 2.5 GHz PowerPC G5
    4.5 GB DDR SDRAM
    Graphics Card: ATI Radeon 9800 XT
    Equipped with Kona LH Card
    JVC TM-H1750CG Production Monitor fed via SDI (have also tried component, to no avail)
    It just isn't right.
    Please help. Pretty please. Many thanks in advance.
    For reference, here are the specs of our set up:
    Apple Dual 2.5 GHz PowerPC G5
    4.5 GB DDR SDRAM
    Graphics Card: ATI Radeon 9800 XT
    Equipped with Kona LH Card (version 5)
    2 x 23" Apple Cinema Displays
    JVC TM-H1750CG Production Monitor fed via SDI (have also tried component, to no avail)

    Sounds like you are seeing interlace artifacts - in Motion's project properties, have you tried setting the field dominance to None?

  • Importing With AJA Kona 3 Card Question?

    For over a year now I have been working with FCP 6 to digitize hours of footage in varied formats. We use everything from Sony XDCAMs, EX1s, HDVs and mini DVs all usually going into the same project.
    Ever since FCP went to 6 we have had the luxury of working in all of these formats without constant rendering which has actually brought up a question I hoped you guys can answer. In a pinch we can log and capture an HDV tape directly from a camera and the clip would work just fine, however, normally when we bring in the HDV and mini DV tapes we run the deck through our AJA Kona 3 card. I am wondering what exactly that does for us? Can I just import all the tapes in their native formats and just drag them into an HD sequence and get the same results?
    The point is, if we can eliminate the need for one of the decks we rent twice a month we would be saving a nice chunk of change, but The quality of the show cannot suffer. So does bringing in the mini DVs through the Kona really add any value that FCP 6 can't already do on its own?

    normally when we bring in the HDV and mini DV tapes we run the deck through our AJA Kona 3 card. I am wondering what exactly that does for us?
    Allows you to capture all your various formats into one single unified format...like ProRes or whatever suits your fancy. Allows you to upconvert your DV to HD to mix well with your HD footage.
    Can I just import all the tapes in their native formats and just drag them into an HD sequence and get the same results?
    No. Working with native formats means that you are mixing formats, meaning that you will have to render one of them to match the other. And you ned to ensure that all of your frame rates match. PLUS, if you use COLOR to color correct, you MUST have a single format sequence.
    So does bringing in the mini DVs through the Kona really add any value that FCP 6 can't already do on its own?
    If this is an HD show...yes, being able to upconvert the DV to HD via hardware is a huge advantage over just rendering it on the timeline.
    Shane

  • AJA Kona 3 and Final Cut Pro

    Hi,
    We have a G5 that has a new AJA Kona 3, Final Cut Pro 5.1.4, and OS 10.4.9. The problem is that when you try and do anything in Final Cut Pro it runs amazingly slow.
    Any Help would be greatly appreciated.
    Cheers,
    Dave

    Have you contacted AJA Technical Support? I am not sure that that card has been cleared for use with the latest versions of Final Cut Pro (last version I knew was supported was FCP 5.1.2) and the Operating system.
    Shane

  • CS5.5, 10 bit, AVCIntra, AJA Kona and GTX580 vs Quadro

    I will be purchasing a new editing computer in june. I'm switching over from Final Cut Pro on a Mac. Why am I switching? For a lot of reasons, but suffice it to say, CS5.5 is really looking like a time saver, and seems to make good business sense overall. And being independent, I don't really care about conforming to any one dogmatic camp (FCP or Avid, and the like).
    I'm working a lot with AVCIntra footage (10-bit) and client-provided 3D generated content (also 10-bit). I'll have an AJA Kona LHi (supporting 10-bit) installed.
    I've read a lot on the GeForce vs. Quadro, and understand that there is not much advantage to a Quadro, other then the extra edge for 3D applications. And that Geforces are 8-bit and Quadro are 10-bit. So price wise, the Geforce 580 for CS5.5 is probably my best bet.
    My main questions are: Does PProCS5.5 fully support 10-bit, end-to-end? And if the GeForce is only 8-bit (though I've glimpsed somewhere the 580 might support 10-bit), will it impact real-time MPE playback outputed on the AJA Kona card? With the AJA Kona LHi installed, does it matter at all that I have an 8-bit or a 10-bit GPU card?
    On a side note, there is a GTC590 now, with dual GPUs. Anyone tested it yet with the hack? Or will it be the same problem as with SLI GeForces not being supported by PPro?
    One a second side note, I know people ask a lot about the best hardware to use. I've read a lot of posts about them. Most of them are quite old posts. As of May 2011, Any recommendations on components? Such as motherboards, raid cards, GTX580 manufacturer, etc.? But I'm especially interested to find out if the 6-core 990X i7 is worth the investment, compared to the 2nd gen 4-core i7 2600K? I would presume yes. But have never seen real world tests. And would a dual Xeon truly be twice as fast? Investment wise, much like the Geforce vs Quadro issue, I'm not sure it's worth 3 times the price for most likely less then twice the speed. Any comments?
    Thank you all,

    Actually I am trying to get an answer to your 10 bit question via the I/O device currently. I am verifying if the I/O device is independent of the OGL 10Bit query Adobe does for the 10bit draw or if the I/O device passes the query. If not then do you have to have a Quadro card installed even with the I/O devices. Once I have the info, I will post it for you.
    The AJA drivers before the 5.5 update did not work completely with the hardware acceleration, so an AJA card would slow the MPE performance down if using an AJA preset and the card. I am unsure if that is still the case with the new 5.5 version however they don't show an update for 5.5 on their website. I would call and talk to AJA on that one.
    The MPE does not support Multi GPU so the 590 would be slower than the 570 or 580.
    The 990X is worth it if you work allot in AE or overclock. Also what codec is the 3D material you will be working with?
    Eric
    ADK

  • New AJA Kona drivers for CS6

    New AJA  Kona drivers for CS6 are posted for download.
    Link to PC version.
    http://www.aja.com/en/support/kona/pc/kona-3/
    Link to Mac version
    http://www.aja.com/en/support/kona/mac/kona-3/

    Yay, so glad to hear it. I posted on creative cow under the AJA KONA Mac and received this response yesterday. As always, thanks for posting updates lasvideo!!
    Forum: AJA Kona - Mac
    User Name: walter biscardi
    Post Subject: Re: LHe Plus & Premiere CS6 success?
    Two of our systems are LHi boards with zero issues to report other than we cannot lay back to tape properly yet.   Though the new drivers released today promise to address that problem, we haven't had a chance to download and test yet.

  • Premiere pro CC 2014 with Aja Kona playback issue

    After last Premiere pro update, have big problem with aja kona Lhi playback. After 5 sec of playback video and audio freezes. After 5-10 sec it start playing but very badly. Video strobing and audio jumping. then it freezes again. When i turn off Aja playback all fine. I have done all settings correctly following instructions. Audio output in preferences other than Aja and etc.
    I have this problem on both computers with OSX Maveric and Aja Kona cards.

    After last Premiere pro update, have big problem with aja kona Lhi playback. After 5 sec of playback video and audio freezes. After 5-10 sec it start playing but very badly. Video strobing and audio jumping. then it freezes again. When i turn off Aja playback all fine. I have done all settings correctly following instructions. Audio output in preferences other than Aja and etc.
    I have this problem on both computers with OSX Maveric and Aja Kona cards.

  • AJA Kona Support in Premiere CS5.5

    I'm new to Premiere, and I've encountered some unexpectedly poor performance that I'm currently attributing to my AJA Kona 3, but I'm wondering what I can do about it. I downloaded a trial of CS5.5 and installed the latest AJA drivers (9.0.3) and Adobe plug-ins (9.0.1). Here's my system configuration:
    Mac Pro 4,1
    2 Xeon 2.93 Ghz
    16 GB RAM (10 GB allocated to PP/AE/AME)
    OSX 10.6.5
    AJA Kona 3
    No CUDA-enable GPU
    External RAID storage array w/ fiber interface
    I'm working with a mix of source materials - XDCAM EX footage, ProRes 422 or Animation graphic renders, DVCPro HD or Uncompressed captures - all at 1080/59.94i
    For starters, sometimes I have clips that shouldn't have to render that begin stuttering or failing to play, but after I stop and attempt to play that portion again, it works fine. This becomes very problematic during Export to Tape operations, when it can play through most of a sequence then hang up at the end. It seems most prone to this when switching between video codecs in the same sequence where they are not marked with any render-indicating color. I assume this means the Kona is handling those clips and should be able to play them without any problems. Is there some configuration issue I should look at that will address this? Maybe RAM allocation?
    Secondly, I can't figure out how to output timecode via the 9-pin RS-422. It seems that Premiere is not sending any timecode information to the Kona, because when I enable timecode overlay from the AJA Control Panel, it doesn't show anything. If I open a Quicktime file using AJA TV, the timecode will display as expected. Is there a configuration option within Premiere that I'm overlooking? Not offering TC output seems like it would be a major oversight, so I'm assuming this is something I simply can't figure out.
    Third, I'm experiencing an odd issue when scrubbing the sequence to find edit points in the audio. When I scrub frame-by-frame, it seems that the audio being played is always from the frame I just scrubbed FROM, not the frame I scrubbed TO (i.e., the current frame). This is not intuitive, and also not how Premiere works in non-AJA sequence presets. I'm assuming that this is just an AJA bug, but wanted to mention it in case I'm overlooking something.
    I know this is a lot for one thread, but I appreciate the community's time, expertise, and help. I really am excited about working with Premiere instead of FCP, but these issues can be frustrating.
    Thanks,
    Josh

    Post this message at the link below. You will target your quiry to some folks that should be able to help you. Have you called tech support at AJA? If you are serious about resolving this issue that would be a good thing to do as well.
    http://forums.creativecow.net/ajakona

  • Audio Playback Issues in Premiere Pro 8.1.0 with AJA Kona 3

    Hi,
    I'm supporting a couple of edits running the latest version of Premiere Pro. The editors are experiencing some strange stuttering/glitching audio playback via the installed AJA Kona 3 cards, manifested as follows:
    When scrubbing using keyboard arrow keys for any prolonged period of time, audio either begins to stutter or fails to playback (despite there being activity on the audio monitors within the software)
    When playing audio with unrendered effects (nothing too challenging, unrendered titles etc.), the audio will occasionally not play at all or will begin to stutter also.
    Specs are as follows:
    HP z800 running Windows 7 64-bit
    2 x Intel Xeon X5650 CPUs
    32GB RAM
    512GB Samsung SSD
    nVidia Quadro 4000 (latest drivers installed)
    AJA Kona 3 (latest drivers installed)
    Wacom Intuos 4 tablet (latest drivers installed)
    Storage is a SMB share connected via a dedicated 1Gb/s ethernet link (Intel PRO 1000 card) and media is largely DVCPRO HD 100 wrapped as OP1a MXF, with corresponding sequence settings.
    I've played with various RAM and Playback settings (including setting the AJA video playback buffer to 'minimum' as suggested on another thread regarding audio playback), but the problems persist. Is there anything else I can try, or more information I can provide?

    Since it worked with CS5.5, check with Blackmagic to see if they have updates for CS6
    I know from other discussions that an nVidia driver update was needed for at least some people upgrading to CS6

  • OnLocation does not support input from Aja KONA?

    I'm confused as to what the purpose of OnLocation is if it cannot support input via HDMI/SDI coming through an AJA KONA card?
    Seriously, can anybody explain what the point of this application is? Capturing Firewire sources? Seems like it would be an easy update to add support for real capture cards, no?

    but I did something goofy.........Open to any and all suggestions.
    Figure out what you did goofy and then do the opposite.
    Seriously, what have you done to troubleshoot this? There's any number of goofy things that you could do that may result in this issue. I'd start with reading the Kona manual and the rather extensive part in FCP about external monitoring.

  • Aja Kona Card (Migrating from G5 to Mac Pro Dual-Core)

    I own a small video production company.
    I am migrating from an old G5 to a Mac Pro Dual Core given to me.  The Aja Kona card doesn't fit into the Mac Pro Dual-Core, as the card slots are different.
    Any way to adapt the G5 compatible card to the Mac Pro slots?  I would only use for importing older analog media, as the newer HD stuff we shoot is brought in electronically.
    Thanks for any help you can offer.
    DW

    Thanks, Grant. 
    I gave the G5 to my kids, so I'll probably just keep the Kona card/bundle in there until needed, hook up the appropriate VCR/VTR, and then dump the captured footage onto a HD to bring onto the Mac Pro.  Too bad there isn't some internal/external adapter solution...

  • New AJA Kona Drivers 10.1 are out

    New AJA Kona Drivers 10.1 for Premiere Pro/Avid/FCP are out . If you are running CS5 you still need the Adobe Plugin drivers 9.1  .  http://www.aja.com/support/konaNEW/kona-3-3x.php

    Yay, so glad to hear it. I posted on creative cow under the AJA KONA Mac and received this response yesterday. As always, thanks for posting updates lasvideo!!
    Forum: AJA Kona - Mac
    User Name: walter biscardi
    Post Subject: Re: LHe Plus & Premiere CS6 success?
    Two of our systems are LHi boards with zero issues to report other than we cannot lay back to tape properly yet.   Though the new drivers released today promise to address that problem, we haven't had a chance to download and test yet.

  • Final Cut Pro HD 4.5 and AJA Kona LH card...

    Hello,
    I just installed the AJA Kona LH PCI-X HD capture card in the G5 2 Ghz dual.
    I configured it, but when I go to the "System Settings - effects handling" of Final Cut Pro HD 4.5, I read that all the effects can only be handled by "Final Cut PRO HD": if I click on the selection menu, the only other available heading is "none": no AJA KONA!
    This is for all the formats list (DV/DVCPRO - NTSC, DV - PAL, etc...).
    So every think I do, FCP must render, and time flows...
    Can you help me?
    Thank you very much.

    But we got this card especially for this reason: hardware acceleration.
    I read that it has got this feature in this page:
    http://www.aja.com/html/productsmacintosh_konaLHe.html
    I don't know more.

  • AJA Kona LHi to capture analog vid for hobbyist. Recommended?

    I am a FCP amature / hobbiest and looking for a convienent way to capture analog (s-video, composite, component) video to my MAC-Pro and FCP.
    I am looking for a good mixture of "good" and "cheap" (it's all relative I know... just generally speaking). 
    I am thinking about the AJA Kona LHi.  Any thoughts?  Remember... this is only a hobby for me.. no broadcast.  Other than the Kona LH(i,e,s) products.. what do you suggest?   I don't care if it's a card or a box.
    Your advice is greally appreciated.
    Thanks in advance.
    -Jdove

    The ADVC 300 is more like $400.
    Another option is the Matrox MXO2 mini.
    For straight DV/ Standard def capture the ADVC 300 does a better job.
    However, the Matrox box also gives you the ability to send an HD signal to an external monitor - which the ADVC300 will not do.
    x

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