Blackmagic, Aurora or AJA?

[Walter Biscardi]

We have forums for each of the manufacturers and you’ll find much more info about each in the respective forums.

Additional realtime added by any of the cards is minimal, you really need to purchase fast drives to make a huge dent in realtime. Fibrechannel gives you the most realtime right now.

I own the Aurora PipePro and the AJA Kona 2. Aurora has the best codecs in the business and their cards are SD only. Kona 2 has SD and HD on the same card and for all my testing, it’s the best product on the market today. I don’t work with HDV, I only work with DVCPro HD right now and some HDCAM work is on the horizon. SDI, Component and Composite outputs are standard with the K2 for external monitoring. Tech support is second to none.

AJA recently introduced upconvert features built into the board to add to the downconvert features. The K-Box is a must as it sits very nicely in a rack unit and make for easy connection / disconnection of equipment.

Ultimately price is not what sold me on the K2. It was the quality of the product and the quality of their tech support.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Creative Genius, Biscardi Creative Media
https://www.biscardicreative.com

Now in Production, “The Rough Cut,” https://www.theroughcutmovie.com

“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters

[Leo Ticheli]

Black Magic has excellent service via phone, email, and here at the Cow.

Their hardware is robust and no one has deeper software experience than Black Magic; now version 5.0; in fact, Grant Petty of Black Magic virtually invented this area of the business and that’s all they do.

I’ve used their cards quite successfully for many years; now using DeckLink Pro HD 4:4:4.

Best regards,
Leo

[Francisco Espinosa]

I don’t own one of these cards yet but from my understanding they won’t accelerate your HDV streams to give you additional RT streams. HDV, although is a small data rate in size, it’s very tasking on the computer since it uses the LONG GOP process. It basically has to read ahead to the next I-frame & calculate the data that is in-between them causing your CPU & HD’s to crank. If you want more RT using HDV it’s all about your machine’s processor(s), RAM, Disks, etc. capture cards really won’t help other than as a monitoring source. If all you are working on is HDV then maybe you won’t need as expensive of a card & monitor your video through a less expensive alternative. Then you can apply the rest of the money towards other system upgrades. Let people know what your intensions are & I’m sure people can offer up viable combinations of product for your needs. Best of luck.

[Joe Paolo]

We have both the Aja IO and Decklink HD ( the $600 Card) The IO is rock solid and has every In and out known to video. (SD only) Aja is a great company with great Tech support.

The Decklink is a little less stable but can do great looking HD on the cheap. BM’s tech support is hard to get a hold of.

We use both systems for broadcast work and have never had any issues with quality.

joe

[Michael Belanger]

I have 3 BlackMagic Products and have had great experience with the products and the folks at BM
Their drivers are rock solid and the cards are very reliable. I would recommend you read some postings on both the AJA website here on the COW as well as the BM Forum. Some issues have been raised in real life situations that may help you make up your mind. Grant at BM is very respected in the card and HD world, very approachable and knowledgeable. Their cards are availabe here from their rep in Vegas. Only real diff is that some cards are a 1 year warranty and others are 3 year warranties. Check this out

best

Mike Belanger
Dandelion Editing
http://www.dandelionediting.com