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Kona 3 won’t let me down convert analog output?
Editing a spot shot in HDCam at 24fps. Captured video at 24fps into FCP via DVCPro HD 24fps codec. Plays back in FCP just fine. I have the primary output of the Kona 3 feeding an HD monitor. Looks great, plays fine. I’m then trying to set the secondary output to 525 @ 29.97 and down convert it to go to my SD monitor via the component inputs. All options in the secondary output window and the analog output window except the 1080i option are grayed out. I can’t seem to get any options to down convert to work!? I’ve done this many times in the past with no issues. Ultimately I will need to send this to Digibeta as letter-boxed and down converted SD. I will also make SD dubs to BetaSP right out of the computer.
In the past our shooter had always shot at 23.98 rather than 24 fps. This shouldn’t make any difference?
Maybe it’s just the fact that it’s Monday and I’m not up to speed yet? More coffee…
Any suggestions? I’m sure it’s just some dumb “gotcha” at work here.
Thanks,
Tom -
4 Replies
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I had a similar problem with my KONA LHe a while back. I had sworn I had done a 1080p24 to NTSC downconvert, but when I tried it 6 months later, it was not an option for me – like you said, it was just grayed out.
After a week of futzing around & tech support calls, I figured out that KONA drivers version 3.2 were not capable of doing the downconvert. Version 2 was perfectly capable, and I actually back-revved my drivers to do the necessary output.
AJA was no help at all, actually – they seemed just as surprised as I was that it didn’t work, and they never got back to me with an explanation. And everyone on the forums here thought I was an idiot, until they tried it themselves.
One option that seemed to work was to change your FCP Video out to KONA 1080i, which should be able to do the downconvert to NTSC, even if your FCP timeline is 23.98. I believe in this scenario, FCP is adding the 2:3 pulldown, and the KONA is just doing the scaling. I can’t vouch for the broadcast quality of this method, but it would certainly be fine for rough cuts or screeners.
Luckily for me, with version 4.0 of the KONA drivers, the 24 to 30 downconvert works fine. I can’t vouch for the KONA 3 software, but I would look at your version, and if it’s version 3, then you should either upgrade or downgrade – and tell AJA about it, too.
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In the past, the shooter did shoot at a frame rate of 23.98fps. I had no problems with the video whatsoever. However, this footage shot at 24fps is proving to be a real bugger. Just about all of my optiond for getting this spot out into the real world thru the Kona 3 board are grayed out at this point.
My drivers for the Kona 3 board are v3.2. I’m running FCP 5.1.4 on a Quad G5. It would appear that the V4.0 drivers for the Kona are for FCP 6 only.(?)
I’m wondering if there might even be some different codec I can recapture this footage at and reedit the spot?I’m looking for options right now on just how to get this thing out to SD Digibeta for air.
I will contact the fine folks at AJA as well on this one.
Thanks,
Tom -
Ouch – yes 24fps will always be a problem to convert to 29.97, which is why they invented 23.98, eh? Sorry – I didn’t notice that part of your original post
Normally I would recommend using Cinema Tools to reconform all of your clips at 23.98 and using a 23.98 timeline. But it sounds like you’re under a deadline, so…
I’ll bet you could export the whole spot as a Self-Contained QT, conform that to 23.98, import into FCP and output that version. Of course, your timing will be slightly off, but if it’s a short spot (30, 60), it should be fine.
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Hi David.
Thanks for the tip. I forgot all about Cinema Tools!
Since I only had around 40 clips, I simply converted them from 24fps to 23.98. It tool only a few seconds.
After relinking to the new media and pasting a copy of the sequence into a 23.98 timeline and removing the “distort” value that appeared, all is now well.
I set the Kona to 23.98, the down convert options came alive and all is well in the world.
…and the shooter will no longer shoot at 24fps!
Thanks again,
Tom
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