Kona LHe or 3

[Bob Zelin]

The Kona 3 and Kona LHe are both excellent products, and will not be obsolete, until Apple releases the NEXT computer, which will make everything incompatible. We have no control over this – only Apple knows.

If you do not care about upconversion from SD to HD, the Kona LHe is an excellent purchase. The Kona 3 has no capability for you to input from Beta VTR’s or analog composite sources. The Kona LHe does it all. With that said, if you do need to UPCONVERT standard def to HD, there is no choice but to get the AJA Kona 3. If you still need to use Beta and composite video sources, the additonal purchase of the AJA I/O AND the AJA Kona 3 will let you do absolutely everything. If cost is no object (and cost is always an object), the Kona 3 and AJA I/O is the best combination.

Both products offer the same warantee.

Bob ZElin

[Winston A. cely]

Thanks so much Bob! Being able to capture from SD sources such as BetaSP is very important, and cost is for sure an object, so it’s the Kona LHe for sure.

“If God could do the tricks we can do, He’d be a happy Man.” – Peter O’Toole – “The Stuntman”

Machine Model: Power Mac G5
CPU Type: PowerPC G5 (3.0)
Number Of CPUs: 2
CPU Speed: 2.5 GHz
L2 Cache (per CPU): 512 KB
Memory: 4.5 GB
Final Cut Studio (Not Universal, yet)

[Bob Cole]

[Bob Zelin] “if you do need to UPCONVERT standard def to HD, there is no choice but to get the AJA Kona 3.”

As a recent buyer of an LHe maybe I’m indulging in wishful thinking. But I thought there were other ways to upconvert SD to HD, via software. What is it about the Kona 3’s HD conversion that is so different from simply upscaling via After Effects or indeed FCP? Real-time?

[Bob Zelin]

Hi Bob –
when you say “or indeed FCP” – how do you propose that you will get a Betacam 8 bit uncompressed SD signal upconverted to uncompressed 10 bit 1080i HD-SDI, with just FCP, in real time, unless you have a piece of HARDWARE to do this ?

Please explain.

bob Zelin

[Bob Cole]

[Bob Zelin] “how do you propose that you will get a Betacam 8 bit uncompressed SD signal upconverted to uncompressed 10 bit 1080i HD-SDI, with just FCP, in real time, unless you have a piece of HARDWARE to do this ?”

Bob, I think perhaps you misread my post. You had stated that the Kona 3 was the only way to do this, and I was asking whether you meant that Kona 3 was the only way to do this in real time.

If you don’t have to do this upconversion every day, it might be more sensible to take the hit and render in software, provided the quality was good enough.

— Bob C

[Ramona Howard]

Bob,

Yes there is more than one way to skin a cat….it all depends on how fast you want it done and how good of a job.

If you need to output then going the Kona route is what makes sense as you get it all and even a few things more. The up, down and cross convert are only a few things this board can do (in real time) that will make sense for any workflow and remember AJA products are professional, many of our clients won’t use anything else (and these are top studios worldwide).

For the price you can not go wrong. I remember just a few short years ago an HD board was 10K with none of these features…..AJA has really stepped up to the plate and continues to deliver top products.

Now if you are just looking for a software approach, there are some free apps on Linux that are very good. Check out Graphics Magik for a start. And you can’t go wrong with Shake and AE.

Best of luck,
Ramona

[Walter Biscardi]

[Bob Cole] “You had stated that the Kona 3 was the only way to do this, and I was asking whether you meant that Kona 3 was the only way to do this in real time.”

Yes, it’s the only way to do this in realtime.

[Bob Cole] “If you don’t have to do this upconversion every day, it might be more sensible to take the hit and render in software, provided the quality was good enough.”

That’s between you and your client. If the quality of simply blowing up the footage in FCP and rendering is good enough for you and your client there you go. If not, you want true hardware scaling like the AJA Kona 3.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.com
HD Editorial & Animation for Food Network’s “Good Eats”
HD Editorial for “Assignment Earth”

“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters

[Bob Cole]

[walter biscardi] “If the quality of simply blowing up the footage in FCP and rendering is good enough for you and your client there you go. If not, you want true hardware scaling”

Thanks! You’ve put your finger on the question: what sort of magic does the Kona 3 do vs. software uprezzing (e.g. Red Giant’s Instant HD), for using SD sources in an HD show?

[Walter Biscardi]

[Bob Cole] “Thanks! You’ve put your finger on the question: what sort of magic does the Kona 3 do vs. software uprezzing (e.g. Red Giant’s Instant HD), for using SD sources in an HD show?”

It’s realtime, broadcast quality Upconversion. As for how it works that’s AJA’s engineering secret.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.com
HD Editorial & Animation for Food Network’s “Good Eats”
HD Editorial for “Assignment Earth”

“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters

[Bob Cole]

Has anybody here done a head-to-head comparison between software uprezzing and Kona 3’s?

— Bob C