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Kona 3 vs Teranex box for SD to HDCam – side by side?
Has anybody ever done a side-by-side comparison of a Teranex box & Kona 3 upconversion of SD (MiniDV) to HD conversion?
I read about the Teranex Mini vs Kona 3 comparison, and I know Teranex always seems to be the best suggested route, but I haven’t read about anybody actually doing an actual side-by-side comparison.
I’d be very interested in hearing about any of your results!
Thanks so much!
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14 Replies
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I can answer your question, but this is a much better answer. YOU should do the comparison for yourself. The Teranex Mini has been a huge failure for Teranex, even though it is a fine product. Most people cannot tell the difference, and most people simply use their AJA/Blackmagic/Matrox products to do the upconversion. Now I am not saying that this is correct, but this is what most people do.
Stop listening to stupid sales people, and LOOK AT the comparison for yourself. Make your own decision. Teranex is a fine company, but has a very hi end client base that is very limited because of their costs. The Mini was an attempt to sell a “low end” $3000 box, but with the low costs of the Kona 3, and it’s competitiors, no one relies on the Mini – or few people do.
When you talk about upconverting from miniDV – I am going to assume that you have an excellent quality DV VTR to play back from – like a Sony DSR1500, 1600, 1800, or 2000, because if you don’t, you are simply wasting your time here.
Bob Zelin
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Thanks for your response, Bob!
The footage was brought in through firewire on a Sony DSR-11. Do you think it would have looked better coming in through component? I’d appreciate your thoughts here.
My posthouse simply took a Same-As-Source Uncompressed Quicktime from my Avid and used the Kona 3 card to upconvert it to HD. It looks great, but I’m curious to know if running it through a Teranex box (not the mini) would have yielded better results. I’ll have to ask if other posthouses would charge for a test clip or not.
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the DSR-11 (a now discontinued model) was a piece of crap when it was introduced, and it’s really a piece of crap today. (no different than the Sony HVR-M10U HDV VTR when it was introduced – it’s no match for the modern HVR-1500A, which is a piece of crap in itself compared to modern hi end products, like Sony XDCam EX, etc.).
So for you to consider a quality difference between an AJA Kona 3 or Teranex Mini is just rediculous, considering you are coming from a Sony DSR-11 (and God only knows what source camera you shot this stuff on). A Teranex Mini – or a $60,000 hi end Teranex or Snell and Wilcox is not going to improve the quality of your DSR-11 DV25 master. If you have access to a Kona 3 – keep your money in your pocket, and just go with it.
Bob Zelin
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I think you’re right Bob, considering that I am on a very tight budget. The source footage was shot on Canon GL1 & XL1.
Thanks for your insight.
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There’s no doubt a full size Teranex will look better, especially when coming from dv. But be prepared to pay for the privilege.
My suggestion would be to use the K3 upconvert in the offline, but at the very end for the online, consider running just the shots you need through a teranex.
Are you in the Chicago area by any random chance?
Jeremy
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I’d be careful with the mini. We have one here in the office and we also have a Kona 3 for our I/O card. We ran tests on both the up convert and the down convert and pretty much across the board it’s been a hung jury.
Half the office feels the picture quality is sharper through the mini and half feel it’s the same. This is going to sound extremely inefficient to most, but we actually end up injesting through both pieces of hardware and outputting with both on a layoff. We then sit there staring and arguing. We’ve found that opinion changes per a project basis.
I do have to admit we’ve never done an up convert with mini-dv, usually DVCPRO.
Most the time the mini sits in a box in the closet and has become a bit of a joke when deciding if we should try to lose it on craigslist.
We use a JVC DT- V24L 1D if anyone is curious.
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The Teranex Mini is a joke. If you need a standalone converter get the AJA FS1. If you need to do serious image/cross-conversions/inverse-telecine look at the Snell Wilcox Alchemist…
If you have the Kona3 and happy with the result, use it and be done.
– Erik
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Bob Zelin,
I have the Teranex top end box in my broadcast video facility as well as multiple Kona 3 cards. I’ve done all the side by sides one can imagine, including all of my Panasonic HD deck upconverts.Since I have my OWN conclusions just like anyone else who has the mental capacity to “form an opinion,” I’ll keep them to myself and let the clients shooting DV and upconverting feature films to HDCAM wonder why some shots look “soft.”
The other day I downconverted from HDCAM SR to VHS for a client. Not for screening purposes, but as a final deliverable.
After I performed said task, I went outside and cleaned the INSIDE of the exhaust pipe of my car. It’s real clean now.chad
https://www.televersions.com -
Chad,
I’d be very interested in hearing your opinion on the side-by-side comparison. I cannot afford to do my own tests.
Thanks so much,
Amy -
The Teranex fully loaded VC300 is far from a joke. I’m lucky to have one. I don’t see how the mini model could be financially/technically justified.
Amy, I agree with Jim Newman here. Different types of video content (e.g. amount of motion, camera movements, CG’s, etc.) are handled differently by different types of hardware. Some do better jobs than others on certain projects, but my only input is that the Teranex outperforms all video cards and most other stand alone converters (I’ve never seen Snell & Wilcox’s Alchemist though) It simply has tons of options to cater towards whatever video you put into it. As it should considering the price tag. Don’t ask. You don’t want to know.
chad
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