ioHD and firewire VCR’s

[Gary Adcock]

Does anyone have any idea if an accessory firewire card similar to the one above will allow simultaneous use of the ioHD and a firewire VCR deck with preview output to a monitor via the ioHD at the same time?

yeah?

Any additional FW card will allow you to have the IoHD on one bus and your storage on another, that is the sole purpose of having the “dumb” storage is separated from a “smart” device

But remember that once you have the content on your computer you no longer need to have your decks connected over FW. Your output is now previewed via the IoHD.

gary adcock
Studio37
HD & Film Consultation
Post and Production Workflows

[James Nicholls]

Thanks Gary,

According to the Io HD manual on page 31 “if you want to use other firewire devices in addition to Io HD such as cameras and VTRs, for proper operation, you must only use one device at a time” further “If you finish using the (firewire) camera and want to use the Io HD, power down the system, power down and/or disconnect the camera, connect and/or power up the Io HD, then start the computer.”

This is hardly a convenient work flow, so I would like to find out if it is possible to use a firewire deck at the same time with an accessory firwire card.

Jim

[Gary Adcock]

This is hardly a convenient work flow, so I would like to find out if it is possible to use a firewire deck at the same time with an accessory firewire card.

[James Nicholls]

Thanks for that info Gary, disappointing but at least now we know.

Jim

[Bob Zelin]

Jim –
I can’t understand why you would spend the $$$ on an AJA I/O HD, when it looks like you really don’t need it. The I/O HD is for guys who are dealing with all this HD stuff, or HD projects that need upconversion to HD. You have a bunch of basic FW decks like the DSR-40 and DSR-11. Why spend the money – and if you do need to simply output to a Beta VTR (for example), just get a Kona LHe.

Bob Zelin

[James Nicholls]

Thanks Bob,

I have come to the same conclusion after help from this site. I reckon the IoHD is better for people who want to use the ProRes codec with HD SDI decks. I was surprised to find that the ProRes codec has a minimum data rate some 10X greater than DV (and HDV). I am not at the ProRes level but still want to be “future proofed” so I reckon the DVCPro HD codec will do for me in the near future (when I need an intraframe codec) at 1/2 ProRes rates and have now decided to go for a BMD Multibridge Pro as it has more I/O’s than the Kona card and can operate in both Windows and OSX on a Mac Pro (I’ve still got lots of Windows software). Further the Multibridge Pro runs from the PCIe bus so there will be no conflicts with any firewire gear (I hope!) And I don’t need “portable” gear (which incidentally also requires a “portable” raid array via the expansion bus if you want ProRes on your laptop!)

Jim