Have they given up on the original Ki Pro?

[Chuck Pullen]

I would hate to agree, but I think you are on to something. My guess is that as much potential as the Ki Pro has to replace traditional VTR’s, the mini has a wider range of uses, and thus has more sales potential. I really love my Ki Pro, and if they ever all of the promised features added, I would probably buy one or two more.

Chuck

[Aja Sales department]

The original Ki Pro continues to receive development efforts. The work to implement additional functionality and features is on-going. We apologize for the time it is taking to develop some features. A free firmware update for the device will be forthcoming.

—
AJA Video Systems
+1 (530) 274-2048 Intl.
(800) 251-4224 US
sales@aja.com

[Richard Medias]

Thanks, very soon I hope!

I agree with Chuck, if these added features were in place I’d buy a few more for the edit suite.

[Chuck Pullen]

What AJA has to realize is that even though they have a unique product today, Blackmagic just released a new VTR that uses SSD drives. If they come out with a “mini” version of that soon, AJA may see many customers jumping ship since they can purchase their own drives.

[Gordon Gurley]

The Blackmagic device (and others like it) actually make the original KiPro more unique and useful for users like me. We use KiPro like a traditional VTR. Being able to record for extended periods at that price point is unique, as far as I know. Many of us don’t have media wranglers to switch out and manage cards or SSD’s. The BM device records only uncompressed, so even with a large SSD, you will be swapping out drives every 20 min or so.

Gordon

[Richard Medias]

Thanks for your input!

Imagine how useful it would be if you could record and then mount the machine via firewire 800. Or, if you could dub ypbr from your HDV deck and capture the T/C from firewire 400, or dub from HDV directly via firewire 400/800. Those functions would be useful to us right now. You’re right it’s great a machine in the suite.

We tape events in HDV and the KI Pro is a fast reliable way to digitize from those tapes directly to Prorez in real time. We often need more than 2 hrs of record time and more than 1 or 2 platforms to record so that’s why we chose HDV tape as an affordable format. Also, HDV is an excellent way to archive the material. Please don’t start the 422 long gop discussion here. For our purposes we can afford the loss of color space. It’s the productivity/workflow gain we want/need.

[Gordon Gurley]

My point really is that AJA should (in their own best interest) keep developing the big KiPro as it has less competition in the marketplace. The little camera mounted recorders are popping up everywhere.

G

[Richard Medias]

Agree 100%

[Ralph Pascucci]

Just saw this thread. I think it’s unfortunate that AJA (who make great stuff) abandoned the Key Pro “big” so quickly. I too was under the impression that the features promised in the 2.0 release were “coming soon”.

Much of what the min can do is also available from Atomos Ninja for less $$!

Let’s hope AJA will get back to the “big” soon. They’re already up to version 2.6 for the “mini”!

[David Roche]

I’m assuming that you guys read this in another post on the KiPro forum…

https://forums.creativecow.net/readpost/269/1611

Just announced at IBC in Amsterdam is new v3 firmware for the Ki Pro, and Ki Pro Mini. This is the first unified release for both products, and also introduces many long-awaited and highly requested features to Ki Pro, along with some new surprises.

Here’s a partial list of some of what you can expect to see in v3 for Ki Pro:

– RED One, RED Epic, and Canon XF SDI metadata support.
– LANC and lens tap ports enabled.
– 1080i/30 and 720p/60 support.
– “Super Out” timecode and transport status window-burn.
– Menu option to continue recording after a loss of video input.
– FireWire 800 file transfer.
– Redesigned webUI with new playlist support.
– ExpressCard slots enabled for up to 1080i ProRes SQ recording.

For Ki Pro Mini owners, here is a partial feature list for the new v3 firmware:

– LANC port enabled.
– “Super Out” timecode and transport status window-burn.
– Menu option to continue recording after a loss of video input.
– Redesigned webUI with new playlist support.
– HMDI timecode support for certain Sony cameras.

v3 firmware is a significant release for Ki Pro that is expected to ship next month as a free upgrade for all Ki Pro owners. We will post here on the Cow when v3 is ready to download, you can always find more information at https://www.aja.com. I also invite you to contact us at any time via email or phone if you have any questions.

I hope you will enjoy the new functionality v3 brings to Ki Pro.

Best regards,

Nick Rashby
President, AJA Video Systems