HDV post with AJA io – Success Stories?

[Jeremy Garchow]

The aja io is a standard definition only system. You will need a Kona LH (or LHe if you have a new PCIe mac) to ingest the analog HD signal from SONY HDV decks/cameras.

You cannot look at HDV footage through an io.

Hope this helps.

Jeremy

———–
G5 Dual 2Ghz <> 4GB RAM <> FCP 5.03 <> Kona 2
ATTO 42XS <> Huge Systems 4105 Fibre
OS 10.4.2 <> QT 7.0.3

[Mark Maness]

Well, you can use HDV with an IO if you downconvert your footage with the machine. I have to say that it looks better than a stardard def DV tape when downconverted. But I would have to go with the rest, get a Kona LH or LHe and use it to downconvert if necessary. Besides, you’ll be able to work with HDV in any HD codec which is much much better than the HDV codec.

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Wayne Carey
Schazam Productions

[Tony! Hulette]

Keep your AJA Io for the SD stuff, but its sounds like you need to add a Kona 2, or LH, for working with HD. With the Kona 2 you can up-convert your SD video to use with your HD projects, which your clients might like if you have a lot footage they like to reuse. There’s a slightly used Kona 2 card for sale in the Cow classifieds right now, if you’re interested 🙂

The Io and the Kona 2 or LH work great on the same Mac together, so no worries about that. That’s the setup I use myself.

Tony!

[Bob Zelin]

No one can give you a straight answer – so here is the answer.

I have built Pink Sneakers Productions in Orlando, FL. They shoot everything with 8 HDV cameras, and I use the Sony HVR-10MU HDV VTR to
go directly into an AJA I/O analog component inputs. The HVR-10MU
downconverts the analog HD to analog CAV, which feeds the AJA I/O Y Pb Pr inputs. I use the Addenda RS-4/L to convert the LANC VTR control to RS422, which works as well as can be expeced with the AJA I/O (the limitation is LANC in general, and the poor transport of the HVR-10MU). Delivery to Viacom is on Beta or Digi-Beta. VH-1 does NOT want HD masters delivered.

Hogan Knows Best on VH-1 is done this way, and now two new shows for VH-1 will be done this way as well.

Bob Zelin

[Jon Cairns]

[Bob Zelin] “use the Addenda RS-4/L to convert the LANC VTR control to RS422, which works as well as can be expeced with the AJA I/O (the limitation is LANC in general, and the poor transport of the HVR-10MU)”

Bob,

Would you mind shedding a little light on the settings that you used, offsets and whatnot, to get this to work reliably? I have tried to get basically the same setup to work(subsitute the HVR-10MU with the FX1) but can never get consistent capture. The capture is never consistently off by X frames. It always varies. After a while I just curse LANC and give up. Any insights would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

jon

[Bob Zelin]

LANC capture is not always frame accurate. There is no secret here. The Addenda LANC to RS422 adaptor (and others available from TAO and other manufacturers) does not provide miracle support. HDV – contrary to what we want to use it for – is not a professional format, like Sony Broadcast products (like the HDW, BVW, UVW, PVW, DSR series VTR’s). The transports are crap – not any different from a DSR-11. You would not expect a Sony DSR-11 DV VTR to perform like a Sony DSR-1800. I expect that we may see a “pro” HDV VTR at NAB (this is pure speculation), but for now, we work with what we got !

Bob Zelin

[Jon Cairns]

[Bob Zelin] “LANC capture is not always frame accurate. There is no secret here.”

I didn’t expect frame accuracy but I thought that there might have been a way to prevent such a wild swing in the number of frames that were off in the clip. I never counted on accuracy but I thought repeatability in inaccuracy was achievable. I’m not sure why I was thinking that and it’s probably crazy that I ever did. Thankfully, I don’t have to capture this way often so it doesn’t create too much havoc. I just thought I would dust off the Addenda from way back and give it a whirl.

Do the folks at Pink Sneakers Productions never expect to recapture for any reason? If they do then it seems to me there is no way to do that with this solution without a lot of time and energy.

Thanks for the insight.

jon