Need purchasing advice

[Bob Zelin]

It would not be unwise to purchase an AJA I/O LA, or a Kona LS at this moment, and add the Kona 2 at a later date. This would benefit your current application. By next year, the additional $2000 will easily show up as you
can afford real HD equipment, which costs a LOT more than $2000.

Bob Zelin

[Cody Bettis jr]

Thank you.
I think we have decided to purchase a Decklick SP card now and wait to purchase a Kona 2 or perhaps Multibridge Extreme sometime in the next 6 months.

Thanks again.

[Mody]

Yes Your desicion is correct

regards
Thomson

[Mark Berbek]

‘cept i think the decklink’s are 8bit and the io’s are 10-bit. maybe you want to double check that before you buy, if u care .

[Ed Dooley]

Check the archives in this and the Blackmagic forum for the (very old) 8bit vs 10bit argument. Analogue Beta-SP doesn’t benefit from 10bit, but adding lots of graphics does look better in 10bit. Basically you shouldn’t let that one factor make or break your decision.
Ed

[mark berbek] “‘cept i think the decklink’s are 8bit and the io’s are 10-bit. maybe you want to double check that before you buy, if u care .”

[John Ladle]

you absolutely should consider 8bit versus 10bit. whoever tells you analog beta SP brought in or out digitally in 8 bit makes not difference clearly does not know what banding is. beta SP has far more information to offer than 8 bit crimping will allow you to communicate digitally. this is a major shortcoming of some of the SD cards. simply put, if you ingest or layoff in 8 bit, you are asking for banding. if you don’t know about it or don’t care-those are other matters!

[Ed Dooley]

Actually, Decklink say that since Beta is analog, they feel that 8bit is enough to handle the information….BUT… they also say they use 9bit in their SP card, which they say is more than enough. I guess you can set up a 10bit sequence if you’re going to do a lot of graphics etc. Oh wait, 3rd party plug-ins for FCP (and I think some FCP native plug-ins) process in 8bit only, hmmmm. Or has that changed recently? Isn’t HDCam 8bit too?
Ed (who doesn’t see any banding in his 8bit IO Beta footage)

[uncompressed] “you absolutely should consider 8bit versus 10bit. whoever tells you analog beta SP brought in or out digitally in 8 bit makes not difference clearly does not know what banding is. beta SP has far more information to offer than 8 bit crimping will allow you to communicate digitally. this is a major shortcoming of some of the SD cards. simply put, if you ingest or layoff in 8 bit, you are asking for banding. if you don’t know about it or don’t care-those are other matters!
“

[John Ladle]

if decklink says analog beta SP is 8 bit, then decklink is wrong. not sure why they would propogate such information if indeed they are…

HDCAM is 8 bit, but it has over 6x the data that you will find in SD video, so not sure of the point there.

[Ed Dooley]

Decklink *doesn’t* say, of course, that analog Beta SP is 8bit, because Beta is ANALOG. What they *do* say is that their 9bits is more than enough to handle Beta.
Ed (still without any 8bit banding)

[uncompressed] “if decklink says analog beta SP is 8 bit, then decklink is wrong. not sure why they would propogate such information if indeed they are…

HDCAM is 8 bit, but it has over 6x the data that you will find in SD video, so not sure of the point there.
“

[John Ladle]

great man, enjoy your decklink product. 8 bit does band. if the guys you have shooting are not pushing it, you will not see it. if your footage is pushing it, you certainly will. if you do post production work and try to pull keys or do serious work, it is incomparable. ask your post house if they want to work with 8 or 10 bit when pulling a key. there is 2x more info to work with. i can show when this occurs in dvcpro HD (8bit) and when it goes away when you capture uncompressed. again, if you shoot regular footage and don’t work in post or notice the difference. lots of people think DV is “just fine”.