Kona LHi or keep Decklink Extreme HD (1st gen)

[Shane Ross]

This all depends on your need. What will the Kona LHi do that you need that the Decklink cannot do?

[Bryan Roberts] “I want output from my FCP timeline to a 42 inch plasma”

Well, it has Component it, right? The Decklink has Component out, so that is covered.

[Bryan Roberts] “I want hardware acceleration so I have better RT playback on this older slower mac pro.”

MacPros aren’t really “slow,” even the older ones. And the Kona LHi won’t offer any more RT than the Decklink will. All the cards do is take the task of scaling of the anamorphic footage off the processors and burden themelves with this task. Pretty much ALL capture cards do this. SO the Kona LHi won’t offer any more RT.

It will upconvert and downcovert vai hardware…that is different. HDMI out, but that isn’t absolutely necessary. So is it worth it?

Shane

GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def

[Bryan Roberts]

If you’re telling me the ONLY difference between the two in the categories of 1. RT performance and 2. sending a broadcast quality signal to a plasma is HDMI instead of component, then no, it’s definitely not worth $1000 extra just to get HDMI out.

But the wording on AJA’s brochure for the LHi is confusing then – “… developed in close cooperation with Apple and available exclusively on high-end KONA cards. KONA hardware takes a portion of the codec processing load off the CPU, allowing more RealTime effects in Final Cut Pro when outputting”. So this is the EXACT same thing the Decklink Extreme HD card does? Will they both perform the same when working with ProRes? Trust me, I’m not doubting you, just want to make sure I’m clear.

FCP / AVID EDITOR
Features : Television
http://www.DefiningFilms.com

[Shane Ross]

YOu missed where I said HARDWARE UPCONVERT and CROSSCONVERT…the Kona LHi has it, Decklink does not. It is software. They both downconvert.

Also look at the audio available for both…I can’t find the specs for the older Decklink cards online. How many embedded channels in SDI, channels of AES EBU…

Shane

GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def

[Bryan Roberts]

8 channels SDI, 2 Channels AES.

In your experience with Kona 3 cards (should be same hardware acceleration as LHi) how substantial is it? Does it make a big difference or is it just a little performance boost?

FCP / AVID EDITOR
Features : Television
http://www.DefiningFilms.com

[Shane Ross]

The processees that it takes off the cpu is the stretching of anamorphic footage to fill the screen. That is all. But pretty much EVERY capture card does that, so there really is no advantage there. AJA, Decklink, Matrox…all do this, and all say “enhanced RT performance.” It is TRUE, but it is not a HUGE leap. Not like the Cinewave card of old, or the Adrenaline cards.

Even the new Avid DX cards, all they do to provide more RT is take on the anamorphic stretching.

Shane

GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def

[Shane Ross]

Oh, and the difference is noticeable. Without a card some effects on anamorphic footage would be RED, but with the card they are ORANGE. helps.

Shane

GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def

[Bryan Roberts]

The difference you’re talking about is having a capture card (decklink extreme HD OR Kona LHi) vs NOT having any card? I would assume the performance is the same with both cards when dealing with ProRes footage as well since it’s the scaling that all these capture cards handle?

FCP / AVID EDITOR
Features : Television
http://www.DefiningFilms.com

[Shane Ross]

[Bryan Roberts] “The difference you’re talking about is having a capture card (decklink extreme HD OR Kona LHi) vs NOT having any card?”

Correct.

[Bryan Roberts] “would assume the performance is the same with both cards when dealing with ProRes footage as well since it’s the scaling that all these capture cards handle?”

Also correct…AFAIK. ProRes is full raster, so no scaling is happening.

But wait until Walter and Jeremy confirm.

Shane

GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def

[Bernie Van velzen]

See Apple for info on the memory to install…

[Gary Adcock]

[Bryan Roberts] “he ONLY difference between the two in the categories of 1. RT performance and 2. sending a broadcast quality signal to a plasma is HDMI instead of component, then no, it’s definitely not worth $1000 extra just to get HDMI out. “

Bryan
the Kona offers better support and warranties if something does happen and we are talking about a just released state of the art product vs. some old card you pulled out of Ebay

The LHI has hardware level up, down and cross conversion – the BMD card supports these as software conversions only- an issue with an older computer and a ProRes workflow.
AJA’s Hardware based conversions of ProRes content hold up to editing much more robustly that a software conversion does, as ProRes scales based on CPU power/ performance. So all the power of your CPU will be used for many functions that the Kona does in hardware.

Support for 10bit 1.3 HDMI (something that older 8 bit 1.1 HDMI in the BMD card cannot) Support for 3G video specs( not something anyone really uses outside of OB trucks) add to the features.

and if you work at 24p the older HDMI may not be able to see your content without pulldown added as the 1.1 HDMI spec does not support anything other than 60i/ 60p outputs.

gary adcock
Studio37
HD & Film Consultation
Post and Production Workflows

Check out
https://www.aja.com/kiprotour/

Inside look at the IoHD
https://library.creativecow.net/articles/adcock_gary/AJAIOHD.php