Kona SD working setups? 10.4, Qt7?

[Steven Kochones]

Please someone chime in here. I’m also in Kona SD limbo and looking for info regarding current drivers, compatability with FCP 5, etc. Kona SD users were promised drivers from AJA (which I don’t believe materialized) and were caught in the middle when the AJA/Blackmagic rift occurred. You look at the AJA site, and it’s as though the original Kona SD and HD cards never existed. What’s one to do?

[Aja Sales department]

Hi-

We absolutely do care about original Kona customers!

The driver supplier for the Kona SD and Kona HD unilaterally decided to discontinue support and further development last year. We felt original Kona customers were being treated unfarily so we offered very generous upgrades to Kona 2 with our AJA-built and supported driver, for Kona SD and Kona HD clients. Kona HD clients were upgraded for FREE to Kona 2, and Kona SD clients had to pay only $1590. These upgrade programs unfortunately have expired, in October of 2004.

We had initially announced AJA driver support for original Kona cards, but this has not occurred. AJA is most interested in satisfied clients, so please call us to discuss your individual needs, and we will do our best to serve you.

Thank you,

—
AJA Video Systems
(530) 274-2048 Intl.
(800) 251-4224 US
sales@aja.com

—
AJA Video Systems
(530) 274-2048 Intl.
(800) 251-4224 US
sales@aja.com

[Steven Kochones]

Thanks for the reply, AJA. Yes, last year’s Kona 2 upgrade may be considered generous, but when an HD upgrade isn’t necessary to a facility, some users may feel abandoned when support seemingly ends. I don’t think we’re asking for new features for an old card but at least some compatability with new OS’s and NLE versions. At the very least, how about a statement from AJA that says, “We no longer support the original Kona’s?” Or provide some guidelines that tell us which combination of Kona, operating system and NLE remains stable. It is the lack of information that leaves original users in limbo.

[Peter Wiggins]

Would people be hesistant in buying a Kona 2 if they knew it would be unsupported in two years? Or indeed you would have to fork out more money for a Kona 3?

I have a Kona SD and I really didn’t expext it to be EOL so soon. The upgrade wasn’t attractive because the original card was expensive (

[Aja Sales department]

Hello-

Please rest assured that all Kona owners, regardless of vintage or purchase date, are all very important to AJA.

The decision to drop support for those original cards was not the doing of AJA. That being said, it is not unreasonable at all to want to know the future of the product you purchased.

As to current system setup information, this can all be found in our regularly updated Configuration Guide:

https://www.aja.com/pdfs/AJA_config_guide_web.pdf

Of course, you are also always invited to contact our technical support department for questions and issues about your setup, via email to support@aja.com, or via phone to (530) 271-3190.

I would be more than happy to discuss your individual needs and concerns, off board. Please feel free to contact me, via phone or email.

Thank you,

Nick Rashby
Director, sales and Marketing
AJA Video Systems
(530) 274-2048
nick[remove]@aja.com

[Aaron Neitz]

Steve, Blackmagic (blackmagic-design.com) is still providing drivers for the KonaSD. Just download the latest Decklink drivers and they should automatically treat your SD as if it were a Decklink standard def. I don’t know about the new Tiger and FCP 5 driver (5.0b2), and don’t plan to try installing it until next week on my KonaSD system, but I have a feeling it will work. Their 4.8 drivers are solid.

[Luke Maslen]

Hi Peter,

The latest information about Kona SD support can be found in the following technical note:
https://www.blackmagic-design.com/support/detail.asp?techID=86

We continue to support Kona SD on both Panther and Tiger. It is also supported in Final Cut Pro HD v5.0 as well as the previous Final Cut Pro HD v4.5. Please check the technical note as it details which versions of drivers to use with FCP5 and Tiger and which ones to use with FCP4.5 and Panther. We recommend avoiding Mac OS X 10.3.9 if possible. Use either Mac OS X 10.3.8 or Mac OS X 10.4.1.

Regards,

Luke Maslen
Blackmagic Design

[Luke Maslen]

Hi Steven,

Our drivers still support Kona SD and you can find the latest information at:
https://www.blackmagic-design.com/support/detail.asp?techID=86

Regards,

Luke Maslen
Blackmagic Design

[Luke Maslen]

Hi,

[AJA Sales Department] “The driver supplier for the Kona SD and Kona HD unilaterally decided to discontinue support and further development last year.”

That is incorrect and even contradicts John Abt’s statement at the time. We stated that we would not add new features to the Blackmagic Kona drivers but that we would continue to provide maintenance updates as required.
https://www.creativecow.net/forum/read_post.php?postid=107199894832449&forumid=98&highlight=&archive=_2003
Please check with John if you are in any doubt.

We continued to supply driver updates for the Kona HD card up to the point that AJA swapped them out for Kona 2 cards. The swap-over deal was in October 2004 and we kept updating the drivers up to December 2004 and those are still on our web site at https://www.blackmagic-design.com/support/detail.asp?techID=86.

To this day, we also continue to maintain driver updates for Kona SD as AJA never provided their own drivers for the card.

[AJA Sales Department] “We felt original Kona customers were being treated unfarily”

Huh? We continued to maintain and update the drivers while AJA was supposed to be developing their own. You’re the guys who “… initially announced AJA driver support for original Kona cards, but this has not occurred.”

Furthermore AJA failed to pass on verified reports of problems from Kona customers for us to fix, even though we checked with AJA each week, in the conference calls with Apple, if there were any Kona problems. It was only when a customer directed me to this forum that we found lots of disillusioned customers who had been told by AJA that these were known problems with the Kona SD drivers and that the only solution was to buy a Kona 2 or wait for the AJA drivers.

That’s when we realized we had to do something to help and so incorporated the Kona SD drivers in to the DeckLink drivers. This makes it easier for us to provide support for the Kona SD without having to maintain separate driver code. The bonus for Kona SD customers is they now have access to new features and compatibility with Tiger and Final Cut Pro HD v5.0.

So please don’t cast aspersions at our driver support. We’re doing the best we can to maintain support for the Kona SD. By contrast, AJA has never provided the promised drivers for Kona SD and instead recommends purchasing a replacement card.
https://www.creativecow.net/forum/read_post.php?postid=107199894832449&forumid=98&highlight=&archive=_2003
That seems unfair to me. Next time, please post your name so we know who you are.

Luke Maslen
Blackmagic Design

[Luke Maslen]

Hi Peter,

We still have Kona SD cards support in our drivers and it even works in Tiger and FCP5. You can find the details at https://www.blackmagic-design.com/support/detail.asp?techID=86.

Regards,

Luke Maslen
Blackmagic Design