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Aja io vs. PCIe card
Hello — my needs are simple: I will be acquiring lots of legacy beta sp from a rented 1800 into FCP on a dual G5. My usual workflow is humble DV/NTSC and frequently DVCPRO HD, which I import from a drive. The only deck I own is a DSR 11.
I have decided on Aja (versus Decklink). One of my clients has the io box and I have used that extensively. I did not love how it hogged the FireWire bus, and typically, while digitizing (Digibeta to DV50), for an edit that combined Digibeta and DV, I was constantly switching back and forth.
Since most of my drives are FireWire, I am inclined towards the Kona card with analog plus HD SDI in case I rent a Panasonic deck to finish a show. But Bob makes a compelling case for the io.
Am I right to opt for the card in order to conserve my Firewire ports? Or am I giving something up by passing up the io? And, what about the breakout box that one can get as an option with the card? I have seen little mention of that.
Thanks so much for your time – one of the reasons I have chosen Aja, apart from my familiarity with the io, is the excellent support.
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4 Replies
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I have both, the Io and a Kona3. To me the issue is how may computers do you need to capture on or if you have a laptop. I got the Io to do ETT and capture offsite and I was tired of packing up my Quad G5. So now I just take my MBP and the Io to capture or master, works great. I also started doing HD to SD downconverts from Kona3 to Io.
If I only had one computer I would probably with the pci card, if I needed more flexibility the Io is great. If you go with the Io you can add Fireward ports to your desktop, they are cheap. Also DVCProHD can be captured over Firewire. The good thing is they both work great.
Io gives you flexibility
Card gives you HD (also acceleration DVCProHD, RT and HDV)BTW I was going to get a Blackmagic card before I decided to get the Kona3, so glad I did, a much better card. The LH is a great card also if you don’t need upconvert.
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Thank you — I appreciate your input and advice.
best, Paul
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Hi Paul –
If you get a Kona LH, you can take the Panasonic HD VTR into the HD-SDI input. If you use Digi Beta, you use the same SDI input to go from Digi Beta into your Kona LH. If you have Beta, you go into the analog component inputs of your Kona LH. If you need to UPCONVERT your SD material (like Beta) to HD, because you are doing more and more HD projects, then forget the Kona LH and get the combo of the AJA I/O and the Kona 3. At this time, you will also “retire” your firewire drives, and move up to SATA drives (like Cal Digit). This way, your firewire buss is used only for the AJA I/O, and everything else is in a PCI slot – including your storage.
Bob Zelin
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Thank you for making it so clear.
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