Decklink VS Kona

[Walter Biscardi]

Have you searched this Forum? This question has been debated dozens of times. Simply Searching BlackMagic vs. Kona. AJA vs. Decklink and many other variations will bring you probably hundreds of posts on this subject.

My 2 cents. I’ve tested both products. In my opinion AJA is a superior product with superior tech support. AJA is a broadcast centric company whose products now power Final Cut Pro, Avid, AutoDesk, Adobe and Media 100 Non-Linear Editing Systems among others.

We have two Kona 3 systems, one Kona 2 system, an Io LA and an Io HD in our shop. The Kona 3 systems especially can handle absolutely anything we choose to throw at it from upconversion, downconversion and cross-conversion as well.

But search this forum and you’ll find a lot of differing opinions.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Biscardi Creative Media
HD and SD Production for Broadcast and Independent Productions.

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[Jonathan Moser]

Thanks…yeah, I did search and found some threads…just hoping for the definitive answer to help me through sticker shock. Thanks again.

[Walter Biscardi]

[flashcutter] “just hoping for the definitive answer to help me through sticker shock.”

that’s the thing, there isn’t one. Just like there is no definitive answer when someone asks “What editing system should I buy? FCP, Avid, Premiere or Media 100?”

You know what you need to accomplish.

You know your budget.

You know your skill set and your client needs.

Based on those three things, you have to make the best decision for your needs.

My clients and my needs call for the best quality broadcast card available. In my research, that was the AJA line of products. One for the quality, two for all the real-time capabilities of them.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Biscardi Creative Media
HD and SD Production for Broadcast and Independent Productions.

STOP STARING AND START GRADING WITH APPLE COLOR
The new Color Training DVD now available from the Creative Cow!

Read my Blog!

[Jonathan Moser]

Thanks.

[Simon Morgan]

I’ve had a Kona card for 3 years now…

My opinion is go AJA. I have 2 Kona LHe cards and they are great! Their tech support is wonderful… I had a card have some problems a month ago, and they shipped me a new card up to canada and had it here within 24hrs. My business associate who has blackmagic has had nothing but problems with his card. I know often it’s the luck of the draw, and I’m sure blackmagic has a good system, but you can’t beat a company that responds to email questions within 20 minutes when you have a problem, and ships you what you need as fast as possible…

Nothing but good things to say about AJA!

But that’s just me!

[Ed Dooley]

I can only echo the comments of great tech support from AJA. The 2 times I’ve needed to call over the years got me to a real live human within seconds, and like the last post I had a replacement the next day (they pay for shipping one-way too).
Things may have changed, but back a few years ago when I was trying to decide between
BM and AJA, the guys at BM were not responding to e-mails, they weren’t answering questions in any kind of timely manner in forums, so that helped make up my mind.
Ed

[Chris Borjis]

well, I own black-magic hardware.

And I too must recommend Aja.

[Shane Ross]

It ALL depends on your needs. The Decklink cards are perfectly fine cards, and their tech support has vastly improved. They are inexpensive and performs a lot of tasks…downconvert HD to SD, upconvert SD to 1080i, they can upconvert 720p to 1080i (but not 1080psf). Decklink cards have analog in and out.

The AJA Kona LHe has analog in, and can downconvert HD to SD, but not upconvert SD to HD, or 720p to 1080. The AJA KOna 3 has analog outs, but not in, but can upconvert SD to HD, and 720p to 1080i and 1080psf.

Biggest difference is that the Kona cards have hardware converters, and the Decklink cards rely on the computers CPU for this task. This is why they are less expensive.

SO…it all depends on your needs and what you are willing to spend. Both a great card manufacturers with different abilities.

Shane

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[Chris Borjis]

[Shane Ross] “Biggest difference is that the Kona cards have hardware converters, and the Decklink cards rely on the computers CPU for this task.”

If I’m not mistaken the HD to SD downconverter built in is indeed hardware (at least on the multibridge extreme) It does look fantastic. The software downconversion is pretty useless though and has aliasing artifacts. I’m not even sure why they consider that a viable option.

It can also do that from a 1080i timeline hardware output to SD which also looks great, but only works in software for 720P oddly enough and again a useless feature to any pro post house since its aliased very badly.

I’d be a lot more satisfied if they’d address that.

[Scott Thomas]

I’ve used both AJA and BlackMagic in my graphics department. I’m usually not taxing the hardware with editing. Most of the time we’re working in Photoshop or After Effects. I currently have the Decklink HD Extreme in my G5 systems. I’ve not needed any support for these cards. They work fine for Final Cut in HD or SD. I do notice that they don’t like to play my After Effects HD comps in real time. It’s a sub $1000 card, so I assume that’s a basic limitation. One reason I picked the BlackMagic card was that it had plugin support for grabbing frames through Photoshop.

I speced a Kona3 for the new HD edit system we installed this summer. It’s running fine with no issues.

I think both products are good, but it depends on your situation. The Kona’s, from my understanding, have more hardware support for Final Cut. Especially the Kona 3.