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Kona 2 – Will it stand the test of time?
Will this card be around for a while. . ? Any predictions??
I’m still bitter about buying a very $$$ CineWave only to have it terminated.
appreciate any insight.
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16 Replies
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um, yeah, i will take that bet for the following reasons:
AJA was the first FCP card on OS X.
fcp is doing better than anyone could have envisioned and AJA is the only FCP development partner in the card business
their engineering is awesome-10.3.9 supported, 10.4, 10.4.1, 10.4.2, and fcp 4.5HD/fcp 5 from the same driver.
pinnacle developed their stuff for os 9, had various issues brining it to os x, and simply made more money selling pc versions of their stuff for $500 rather than patching up older targa boards to work with newer and newer technologies.
come on in, the water in warm!
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All great reasons, thank you.
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Most don’t know that the AJA products were the first boards used by ILM and many manufactures like myself are using them in our products and better yet they support any board I need to use.
A $2500 board that does everything the K2 does a few short years ago would have cost upwards of $10,000(in fact the OEM Dual Link boards did)so you should really be asking not will the board be around but what else can they come up with. Will the boards ever be consider outdated? yes, when AJA releases the next awesome product but with this board you should be set for a while.
Remember you are getting a proven product here. This is not a company that just started doing this. We have been working with AJA on HD for about 5 years now and working on Dual Link HD for at least 2 of those and every card is better than the last.
Best of luck,
Ramona
My $.02 -
George – if the Kona 2 only was around for ONE YEAR (it’s already been 2 years, and it ain’t going away any time soon) – but if it was for only ONE YEAR – wouldn’t you make your money back over and over again on such an inexpensive product. If the cost of doing business was only $2500 per year – wouldn’t that be CHEAP ????? What if you owned an AVID or Discreet product? Do you know how much that costs to keep running EVERY YEAR. One year of AVID assurance (the ability to call them, ask questions, and get software updates) is about $4000. Doesnt’t his make the Kona 2 seem practically free?
George – you should be asking a MUCH MORE IMPORTANT QUESTION – will the MAC G5 stand the test of time. Will the MAC G5 exist in late 2006 ????
Bob Zelin
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Remember, this is not a durable good like a washing machine, hot water heater or my underwear. 😎 The technology changes all of the time. If knew what was coming next, we’d all be living in Las Vegas or on an Indian Reservation.
Your Cinewave experience was particularly painful due to the fact that you had to replace it with something that was 1/10th the cost if you bought all those BOBs.
The bottomline is that if you need it now, you get it. There will always be something better. Otherwise, you’ll be waiting and waiting while your competition takes advantage of these tools today.
Jeff Bernstein
Digital Desktop Consulting
Apple Pro Video VAR
XSAN Certified323-653-7611
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OK! Here is the more important question!
Kool En De Anderen
dual 1.8 gig G5/Mac OS 10.3.9/Kona 2/Hugh 800 G diskarray, fibrechannel/FCP 5.02/AE 6.5 Pro
http://www.koolendeanderen.nl -
[Bob Zelin] “George – you should be asking a MUCH MORE IMPORTANT QUESTION – will the MAC G5 stand the test of time. Will the MAC G5 exist in late 2006 ????”
Bob, I think you pretty much answered the question in your own post. If you use the machine for one year, it should have paid for itself several times over. In four years I have gone through 4 different Mac machines so as long as I get one to two years out of any Mac, I’m happy.
As for the Kona 2, I switched from CineWave back in April 2004 when it was obvious from Pinnacle’s booth at NAB that CineWave was going away. At only $2,000 for an HD / SD card complete with the HD I/O, just one job pays for the product. Heck for the price of a CineWave with an HD BOB, I could set up 3 Kona 2 workstations.
Technology changes, the Kona line will most likely evolve over the years, but as a company, AJA is building solid products and they have a solid relationship with Apple so I feel very confident using their products today and recommending them to anyone moving to FCP.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Creative Genius, Biscardi Creative Media
https://www.biscardicreative.comNow in Production, “The Rough Cut,” https://www.theroughcutmovie.com
“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters
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[Walter Biscardi] “Heck for the price of a CineWave with an HD BOB, I could set up 3 Kona 2 workstations. Technology changes, the Kona line will to”
I am going to jump in on this also,
I set up my first HD suite using a Kona HD Card in 2002, the card at that time carried a retail price of something like $24,999.00. The 1.25 T of storage (160W-SCSI) ran something like $85K. The final cost of the complete suite was about $225,000 and I did not yet even own an HD Tape Deck.Fast forward to today. I carry that same set up now in 3 cases ( G5, Kona2 Card,K-box, 2T SCSI storage, Cinema Display) – in short everything but an HD deck for less than $25,000.00!
I was offered discounted pricing to purchase the new board for over 1 year. AJA even allowed me to keep my old HD board if I wanted. They did everything they could to make sure that as a previous customer, I stayed on as a return customer when they migrated their hardware.gary adcock
Studio37
HD and Film Consultation -
[gary adcock] “They did everything they could to make sure that as a previous customer, I stayed on as a return customer when they migrated their hardware.”
That’s really all you can ask of a company and their track record is hard to beat.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Creative Genius, Biscardi Creative Media
https://www.biscardicreative.comNow in Production, “The Rough Cut,” https://www.theroughcutmovie.com
Now editing “Good Eats” in HD for the Food Network
“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters
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A better question to ask can any other manufacturer match or beat the technical support AJA can and does provide to their clients and end users?
Based on my personal experience the answer is no. AJA has the best technical support in the business as well as dependable products.
I have nothing but kind words of support and thanks for everyone at AJA (John, Rudy, Clark,Ted and all the others who make the company what it is).
In my opinion purchasing a AJA product is an investment that matures in time and regardless of what happens in the future you will always be able to rely on the company for support.
Tony Salgado
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