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Kona 3 for 60HZ based Varicam recordings
Hello All.
Recently had an evaluation session ( four days ) with Kona 3 down here in Melbourne Australia. We don’t need to migrate from our BMD/FCP solution just yet, but we were interested in the great cross convert/down convert options presented using Intel Macs in the articles we read from the US.
As we are ( seemingly ) being left out of any firewire solutions for 60hz ( non 59.94 ) based recordings over firewire for FCP – Thanks Apple, I was looking forward to the same support for uncompressed Varicam recordings @60HZ ingested to FCP as affforded by BMD’s curent capture card.
Make no mistake, when we tested with 59.94 based recordings on Kona 3 we were impressed with the Kona 3’s acknowledged fantastic performance. Transcode to DVCPRO100 codec with Real time monitoring etc – perfect!! 108050i recordings – perfect!!
However In the 60 HZ world, BMD’s solution for uncompressed ( non firewire ) ingest is unsurpassed – if you want to work without the Panasonic stand alone Frame Rate converter. I have to say that the BMD software up/ downconverts are less that ideal BUT BMD do support variable framerates from Varicam!!
When using 60HZ Varicam recordings, the Kona 3 is sadly lacking.
Anectotally, and to the best of my knowledge, there is a finite amount of processing real estate on both of these these fantastic video cards. 60HZ Varicam recordings ( apart from the basics ) are left off Kona 3 as there is /was no ITU/SMPTE standard that was 720 60P@25fps and derivatives. 72050P@25fps is supported ( and demanded by the HVX202 ).
I know its an old whinge, but could AJA write drivers for 60HZ based recordings supporting Varicam flagged frames. I know its not an official standard but can we acknowledge that a lot of Varicams are sold in PAL 60HZ Countries. I would pay a premium for a version of the Kona 3 without the 20 or 30 easy set ups I would never use based on 59.94.
Can this be the start of the feature upgrade request for Kona 3 for 60HZ Varicam recordings?
Lets see some of that famous AJA support.
BTW thank you to Digistor – our potential VAR for Kona 3 for the evaluation session.
Best
Tim Maloney
Axis Films
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1 Reply
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[Tim Maloney] “When using 60HZ Varicam recordings, the Kona 3 is sadly lacking.”
Tim, I disagree, I have been working in and showing these functions on the Kona 3 for over a year, The while the “easy setups’ for 720p25 have been only included in the Driver versions after 3.1.
Yes they were left out intentionally, and IMHO that was much more an FCP issue than a Kona one, so I just created what I needed and tested out the workflow.[Tim Maloney] “could AJA write drivers for 60HZ based recordings supporting Varicam flagged frames. I know its not an official standard but can we acknowledge that a lot of Varicams are sold in PAL 60HZ Countries. I would pay a premium for a version of the Kona 3 without the 20 or 30 easy set ups I would never use based on 59.94.”
As I said the current builds of the Kona driver supports this with easy setups, and while apple finally showed true support for 720p25 in only the most current versions of FCP, Aja products supported 25p thru their VTR Exchange app for more than a year.
gary adcock
Studio37
HD & Film Consultation
Post and Production Workflows
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