Kona2 purchase: Final questions

[Walter Biscardi]

[Ron] “1) Is Kona2 and IOLA Tiger/FCP5 compatable?”

The Kona 2 certainly is. We’re cutting a broadcast series on our system here for about two or three weeks so far. Only a few crashes to date. Some weirdness with FCP 5, but workarounds are easy.

[Ron] ”
2) I need to maintain analog connectivity. When I capture using the IO, will I be able to edit and monitor via Kona2?
And output via SDI on Kona2? Or route A/V to LA to make VHS approval copies, or DVCAM/BetaSP masters? In other words: can I route and monitor audio/video easily between Kona and LA as needed?”

Yep, there’s been discussions on this forum about capturing via Io and monitoring via K2. Also, keep in mind that the K-Box on the Kona 2 has a Composite Video output and Unbalanced RCA Audio outputs which you can connect directly to a VHS machine as well.

[Ron] “3) On the same topic of question 2, if I’m editing/monitoring Kona2, are the outputs on the iOLA “hot”? Can I make SDI and analog masters at the same time?”

Not sure on simultaneously with the LA but they are on the Kona 2. Component, Composite and SDI are all hot on the way out with the K2 so you should be able to do this directly from the K2. I think this would actually be an FCP thing since you set the audio / video destination from within FCP.

[Ron] “4) Is everyone using Flying Cow DA for audio, or is the K-Box analog outputs enough for monitoring and mastering to analog.
(I have a Mackie1402 which I use to route audio to various decks and equipment).”

I use the Flying Cow to monitor the AES/EBU audio out of the K-Box and then run the Analog outs to my Mackie board for monitoring.

[Ron] “5) Multicodec support? Can Kona2 playback DVCPRO50 and other compressed formats natively? Or do I now have to capture this using the uncompressed codecs? I’ve been able to save a TON of space using Cinewave’s multicodec timelines.”

Yep, you can capture / playback to any codec from DV, DVCPro 50, DVCPro HD, etc….. All the presets are provided by AJA.

[Ron] “6) Similar to question 5, if I run a DV timeline or a DVCPRO timeline, can I monitor and master via Kona2?”

Yep, what I do is do an Easy Setup for DV (or DVCPro if you wish), then change the Audio / Video output to the Kona 2. You get realtime video / audio output.

CineWave to Kona 2 is pretty much a seamless transition and you get the added benefit of true HD on-board without the additional $5,000 breakout box. 🙂

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Creative Genius, Biscardi Creative Media
https://www.biscardicreative.com

Now in Production, “The Rough Cut,” https://www.theroughcutmovie.com

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

[Ron Thompson]

Thanks for your answers Walter…somehow I knew I would be hearing from you. Thanks for your honest answer about the crashes too…something I expect with a new FCP release. Hopefully its not too painful. I’m also cutting a TV series, so stability and flexibility is important to me… Cinewave was great for this, but its time to move on.

Looking forward to the overhaul…. I have a lot of shine boxes in my office waiting to be opened. Most looking forward to the Mackie Control surface…mixing shows should be MUCH easier once I get it online. I’ll order the Kona next week.

Thanks again
Ron

[Walter Biscardi]

Glad to help Ron. Feel free to contact me direct, either by phone or email, as you make your switch. As you’re well aware, I ran CineWave for about three years and have been on the K2 since December. So I can probably answer most of your transitional questions.

FCP 5 is basically stable but definitely some weird things are “broken” in the interface and you may get some corruption in projects. I’ve been able to address all the quirks so far and I’m really hoping Apple is going to release an update sometime soon. FCP 5 is definitely one of the buggiest .0 releases I’ve seen from Apple. But nothing so far to bring a session to a halt.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Creative Genius, Biscardi Creative Media
https://www.biscardicreative.com

Now in Production, “The Rough Cut,” https://www.theroughcutmovie.com

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

[Ron Thompson]

Thanks for the offer… you’ve been a big help during the Cinewave years… look forward to picking your brain when I join the Kona camp.

Ron

[Joe Murray]

Hi Walter,

Would you mind listing your top 5 bugs/broken things in FCP 5? I’m getting ready to make the switch and would really appreciate hearing your experience-be as brief as you want-

thanks,

Joe Murray

[Andy Edwards]

You might find this FCP newsletter of interest.

https://www.larryjordan.biz/nxltrs/nxltr_d17.html

Good and bad points of making the upgrade to FCP 5. I totally agree that Sound Track Pro does not work. I have not put FCP 5 through a rough edit just yet, only basic projects using DCVPRO HD, BetaSP and DVCAM. I have lost work when making a round trip from FCP 5 to STP. So for now, I just don’t trust it. Like the newwsletter states, I might just go back to 10.3.9 and not use QT 7 as my system was pretty stable in that configuration.

Andy Edwards

[Walter Biscardi]

Hey Joe,

I’ve had timelines suddenly stop working correctly whereby I’ll have audio in a new clip in Viewer, but I don’t get the Audio Track Selectors in the timeline to bring it in. So I just have to create a new timeline and move my footage over to it.

HD-SDI batch or clip captures require an import after the capture as FCP does not reconnect to the clips correctly.

Sometimes graphics don’t display correctly when playback is paused, even after they are rendered. But they play back perfectly.

Those are the biggies I’ve really seen and are major annoyances, but nothing to stop an edit. Been cutting two or three weeks now on 7 episodes of this series in DVCPro HD. Only a few unexpected quits during that time. It’s been very stable, thankfully. You can look at my profile to see the two systems. The first system is the one that’s primarily cutting the show.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Creative Genius, Biscardi Creative Media
https://www.biscardicreative.com

Now in Production, “The Rough Cut,” https://www.theroughcutmovie.com

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

[Walter Biscardi]

[Andy Edwards] “I have lost work when making a round trip from FCP 5 to STP.”

I don’t use STP, but Motion 2 has been very stable so far for me.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Creative Genius, Biscardi Creative Media
https://www.biscardicreative.com

Now in Production, “The Rough Cut,” https://www.theroughcutmovie.com

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

[Joe Murray]

Thanks for the info—

[Ron Thompson]

Hey Walter… How is Motion 2 treating you? You use the midi keyboard right? (I thought I remember a previous post where you mentioned that). How is the keyboard working with Motion? or have you tried that yet? The keyboard was screwing with your Cinewave, right? Does it work with Kona? or do you have it on a separate system.

One reason I picked up the Mackie Control surface is hopes to one day use it with apps like Motion, or inside FCP to assist with 3-way color correction and other functions. It should prove to be a handy device in the near future….if Apple doesn’t release its own set of external hardware.

Ron