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KONA 3 supported up/down/cross-conversion list?
Not an FCP newby but a Kona 3 newby: is there a list of supported up/down/cross-conversions for the Kona 3? Reason I am asking is I have a 720p23.976 sequence in FCP that I’m trying to output to 525i29.97 and I can’t seem to choose that in secondary video output. In fact, the only thing I can choose there that is different is 1080p23.976. It seems I should have more options than just that. I have my video output in FCP set to 720p23.976 and the frame buffer (primary) in AJA control panel set to 720p23.976. Some tricks I don’t know to get more conversions? Is there a list of supported conversions that this card will do? AJA site language is vague and just says up/down/cross conversions supported. Manual says anything greyed out is unsupported, but maybe I’m doing something wrong and user error is why they’re greyed out?
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6 Replies
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You have to set the secondary output to downconvert. You do this in the Kona control panel. The Kona documentation will tell you how to do this.
Arnie
Post production is not an afterthought!
https://www.arniepix.com/ -
Did some extensive searching here on the forum and found a small but informative tidbit from Chris Lundy in response to a similar query back in ’07:
Put your 23.98 QT into a matching sequence – DVCPro HD 720p 23.98. Set the Final Cut video playback to 720p 59.94 8-bit. The card will now add the necessary pulldown to your 23.98 material. Lastly, in the Kona control panel, right-click the SDI 1 output and choose 525 29.97 so the card downconverts your 720p 59.94 signal. All done.
Good luck.
Chris Lundy
PostWorks New York
https://www.pwny.comWhen I get back to the office, I’ll have to try that. Seems odd that in order to get the options to light up in the secondary output dropdown menu, I’d have to change video output in FCP first. I would think FCP video output would remain at the sequence native (720p23.976) to fill the KONA’s frame buffer. If the above really does work, then AJA ought to put that kind of info in the manual as that method is (at least upon my perusal) nowhere to be found. Still wondering as well if there is any list of supported/non-supported conversions that each of the KONA cards can handle…
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well at least you can preserve frame rate if you want to keep your 23.98 stuff 23.98. just print to HDCam and your 720P 23.98 timeline goes to 1080 23.98 Psf
not much out there that can play 720P 23.98. Even the DVCProHD decks from Panasonic will not record 23.98 nor frame flags unless they’re driven by a varicam TC generator and placed in slave ltc. they record in 59.94. The downconvert on the deck is also based on the deck playing 23.98 over 59.94 thus inserting pulldown and allowing a standard def downconvert to 525.
So really the Kona is following the accepted practice, except for allowing the output to 1080 23.98 Psf and allowing the easy preservation of the originating frame rate.Doug Beal
Editor / Engineer
Rock Creative Images
Nashville TN -
Thanks Doug. I agree with the crossconversion options. However, since my ultimate goal in this was to have a downconverted master (NTSC DigiBeta), I wanted to get it downconverted in hardware and the KONA (according to its usage in the manual) wouldn’t allow anything but that 1080sf23.976 in the conversions list. I did what Chris’s advice was, which was to set my video output in FCP to 720p59.94. This fed the KONA’s frame buffer at 720p59.94, where I then was able to choose 525i29.97 as a secondary output for downconversion. I still am not 100% on that being the way it should be done, and can’t quite tell with my audio-guy eyes if the 2:3:2:3 pulldown being added is really that. Which brings up another question: if I recapture the 525i29.97 from tape, how can I step through fields to verify the correct pulldown? FCP is only letting me see frames…
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you can only step through frames. In the Kona control panel you can set behavior via “still frame” check fields or frames. set it on frames and arrow key through frame by frame. It will display any inter field motion when set on frames provided you are monitoring via an NTSC monitor connected to the Kona output. If you monitor on a computer monitor or plasma etc you’ll only see field 1.
if you notice the easy setup for AJA Kona 720P 23.98 DVCProHD VFR, the playout is 8 bit 59.94.
The other issue here is from what point the pulldown is applied and whether or not you are going out to a Drop Frame dbeta master. you want the cadence to start at 1 hour, ie first frame of content.
you may need to copy and paste into a new sequence and insert at 01;00;00;00 to ensure the proper cadenceDoug Beal
Editor / Engineer
Rock Creative Images
Nashville TN -
Good point – I’ll make sure always to edit on first frame of picture to a zero frame number. I think also (now that I think about it) that I can jog through fields on the Digi so when I output, I’ll report here how the pulldown is working…
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