I’m looking for the best card for FCP – (Nick if u r there!)

[Walter Biscardi]

[sachin verma] “1. Blackmagic
2. Kona
3. Cinewave”

Forget CineWave, the product is dead and not worth purchasing at this time. Plus you would need to spend too much money to get the HD Breakout Box over Kona 2 or Blackmagic.

[sachin verma] “I need following realtime things like:

* SDI – SD&HD(input/output)
* component (IN/OUT)
* 2-4 video layers
* transitions
* speed (slow/fast motion)
* alpha channel
* color correction
* chroma key
* some basic effects”

CineWave is the only product that offers realtime chroma key or alpha channel. But again, the product is basically dead so you’d be on your own for tech support.

2 – 4 video layers and the other things you mention are wholly dependent on your system, and what format you’re running, not the video card. Look to get a Fibrechannel Array if you’re looking to get up to four channels of 8bit SD.

Component In will require an analog input device. Neither Blackmagic or Kona 2 HD cards offer component inputs on-board. You’ll need to add something like the AJA Io LA for the analog inputs.

I looked at both the Kona 2 and the Decklink cards when I made the switch from CineWave and went with the Kona 2. It’s an outstanding card and I much prefer the external K-Box with all the video / audio I/O there to having the SDI ports right on the card.

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

[Nick Price]

Sacha,
I would agree with Walter. I use the AJA io as well and i havent heard a bad word about them from anyone one this or any other forum. I believe the Kona is around 1600 pounds, with the breakout box around 200 pounds. If you really need component in then the AJA LA seems sensible, but unless you are onlining from a Beta SP/Dvcam deck, i magine just SDi in would be fine. You can offline using firewire/DV. The AJA LA is around 600 pounds. Or if you wanted to go with blackmagic, you could get their HD card, and the Blackmagic SP card, which has Compnent In, although these two will take up two of your pci slots.

As walter said it is vital to have the correct hard drives for this too. Ideally a SCSI raid array, i use a Medea RT3 with an Atto scsi card, no probs for a year now. Prepare to pay around 2000 pounds for that. I use plain old firewire drives for offline. At least 2gb RAM is necessary for FCP. Go to crucial.com for that, easliy the cheapest and best RAM on the planet.

I dont see why you need realtime for the list of things you posted. It will take seconds to render in dv. YOu can then online at 10bit etc.

best wishes
NIck