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Is Kona what I need to uprez SD to HD?
Hello all, this is my first time posting here, but these boards are certainly a great resource and I’d like to first thank all those who provide answers here.
The info: I have a Dual 2.5 ghz PowerMac G5 running FCP 5.
Now, on to my question. I am helping to edit a documentary shot on two DVX100a’s in 24pa. Most of the footage has been imported onto an external and the director has begun editing. He hopes to submit the film to Sundance. In checking their site, it appears they can project HD digitally rather than requiring a film blow up. This would obviously be a cheaper route for us to go. He asked me how to uprez our SD footage into HD. I did a little research and found some software that can do the trick and then I found cards like the Kona 3 and Blackmagic’s Deck Link. The hardware looks like it’s the best way to go. However, my questions are as follows:
Is the Kona or blackmagic the best option? If not, how would you uprez the SD? Second, if the Kona 3 is what I need, how would I go about converting the footage? Would we have to re-edit or could I uprez what we have edited so far? Is it possible to uprez after we complete the rough cut, and if so, is that a good idea?I apologize for these possibly basic questions, but I am in over my head here. I’ve done a lot of reading the past few days, and I’ve “given up” and am asking for help. Any will be very much appreciated.
Thanks,
JC
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11 Replies
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[King Cole] “Is the Kona or blackmagic the best option?”
only a couple of the Decklink boards support uprezing and the process is not done in hardware and therefor not in realtime. Both the Kona2 and Kona 3 do this up-conversion in Hardware and the process is in realtime. The other option for upconversion is from Terranex
[King Cole] “Would we have to re-edit or could I uprez what we have edited so far? Is it possible to uprez after we complete the rough cut, and if so, is that a good idea? “
On the Kona card it is as easy as hitting play on your existing timeline. you can set the video out to be 1080 29.97 or 1080 23.98 and send that data direct to an HDCAM deck. This is truly realtime so there is not any lag in the audio when doing this conversion.
gary adcock
Studio37
HD & Film Consultation
Post and Production Workflows
Chicago, IL -
the # 1 reason to choose AJA over Blackmagic is realtime upconversion with the Kona 2 or Kona 3.
Bob Zelin
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Thanks to both for your very quick replies. I appreciate your guidance in an area I am obviously new to. I was not aware that the conversion was not instantaneous for the Decklink which gives the Kona an obvious advantage. A few more questions: Is it possible to convert the already imported/digitized footage to HD without outputting to an HDCAM deck? We do not have an HDCAM deck, so this would be an additional cost. If the HDCAM deck is not the only option, what hardware, etc. would be required to convert the miniDV SD to HD?
Finally, are you all of the opinion that this would be the best route for me to go? I believe my director/producer has the budget for the card and additional require hardware, but is there another smarter alternative such as renting a machine that can do this or some other solution?
Thanks for the responses, your answers, and opinions,
JC
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[King Cole] “Is it possible to convert the already imported/digitized footage to HD without outputting to an HDCAM deck?”
You mean in the timeline or during output to tape? In the timeline you would need to scale up by rendering.
If you want to edit in SD and then output directly to an HDCAM deck, yes the Kona does this up-convert in realtime to tape.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.com“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters
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Thanks for the reply. Let me clarify.
After we have edited a rough cut. I would think the best process (meaning the one that maintains the highest quality) would be to uprez the footage in the rough cut to HD. Then, add graphics, effects, etc. to this HD footage so the graphics originate in HD. The reason the pertains to the Kona card and my question is that if we have a timeline of SD miniDV footage, and we would then like to add our HD graphics, we would (correct me if I am wrong) uprez the timeline to HD, add our graphics, and then either downconvert through the card for SD output or maintain the HD quality for HD output. In uprezing the timeline to HD, I am asking if there is a way to do this using the Kona card that does not involve the HD deck. I am only asking this because if it does require an HDCAM deck, I will need to recommend this purchase to my director. I know an HD deck would be required for an output to HDCAM tape, but would it be required for the sort of “loop” that involves taking the SD footage in the timeline, uprezing it, and returning it to the computer for further editing?
Thanks for holding my hand through this and I hope my question/situation is clear,
JC
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[King Cole] “In uprezing the timeline to HD, I am asking if there is a way to do this using the Kona card that does not involve the HD deck.”
You do not need an HD deck to uprez your SD or DV footage. What you do is after you finish your offline cut, you go back and recapture the footage in your timeline through the Kona 2 and uprez it to HD on the way in. Then go back and add your graphics, color correct, etc…
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.com“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters
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[walter biscardi] ” go back and recapture the footage in your timeline through the Kona 2 and uprez it to HD on the way in.”
BTW, you’d need a DV deck that has SDI out to do this. You cannot do this via firewire.
Arnie
https://www.arniepix.com -
Arnie,
Thanks for the reply. That I have.Thanks (yet again) to everyone for their answers.
JC
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[Arniepix] “BTW, you’d need a DV deck that has SDI out to do this. You cannot do this via firewire.”
Or you simply get a converter for whatever your DV deck does have for an output. I could actually use my Io LA in Passthrough mode to feed Composite from my DSR-11 to the Kona 3 and audio through my Flying Cow converter.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.com“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters
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One more thing to think about is your storage requirements. You will need fast storage to do the capture, online and layback to tape if you choose to do HD without compression. I would be wary of capturing dv footage to a high def compressed format as that would be a generation loss before you have even done any effects/transitions.
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