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Problems with Kona 3 and ProresHQ-SOLVED!
Hi,
I’m new here but I thought I’d throw some info out there. I was desperately searching through forums last night trying to figure out this problem and called AJA this morning and got the answer, so here it is in case you’re interested:
I have a MacPro Dual Quad Core with 5 GB of RAM, FCP 6 and an AJA Kona 3 card (software v 4.0). I was trying to capture Apple Prores 422 HQ from an HDW-D1800 HDCAM deck. I couldn’t capture that format or reqular quality Apple Prores because of dropped frames. If I told FCP to ignore dropped frames, I could capture but not playback. DVCProHD worked fine. My system’s definitely beefy enough to handle ProRes. Turns out there’s a software glitch with the Kona 3 – any system with over 2GB of RAM can’t work with Prores because of this dropped-frame issue. So I removed 3GBs of RAM and bingo! They’re apparently working on a fix. (I have to say that their customer support’s great.) Hopefully there will be an update soon. -
14 Replies
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We first got bit by this when we purchased our first MacPro w/8GB of RAM. We could capture ProRes HQ from an HD source no problem, but when it came time to play it back it would drop fames non stop. AJA tech support had us scale back our RAM to 2GB and it fixed the problem. They explained from a techical standpoint, but I’m just glad the fix worked. It’s not optimal, but it works in a pinch.
Michael Alberts
Ambidextrous Productions, Inc.
http://www.ambidextrous.net -
Yeah, I wasn’t thrilled about having to remove RAM, but I needed my system to work with Prores. I wonder how long it will take for them to fix the problem.
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Oh, that explains a lot. 🙁
Terence Curren
http://www.alphadogs.tv
http://www.digitalservicestation.com
Burbank,Ca -
Is this “fix” hardware related, or software related? Do you actually have to open the Mac Tower and physically remove the RAM?
Also, does this bug affect the Kona 3 only? Would it affect the IO HD? Or would one need a crystal ball to answer that question?
Thanks. -
Well, this issue and others like have existed since last September… So…. I’m holding out hope that these issues should be fixed soon.
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[Ken Zukin] “Also, does this bug affect the Kona 3 only?”
How about Kona LHe? Suppose I’ll go check the AJA site for info.
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Video Photographer / Avid Editor / Final Cut Neophyte -
They actually had me physically remove the RAM from the tower. Works great now…my RAM’s all wrapped up sitting in a pelican case which isn’t fabulous but at least ProRes is working! I’m not sure if they’re having the same problem with other devices.
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I just saw this and wanted to know which model MacPro you are using. I don’t have 8GB of RAM, but I do have over 2GB and have had no problems at all with a Kona3 and ProRes. I’ve actually been able to capture multiple hours of ProRes HQ with no dropped frames as well as play out with no problems.
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We recently upgraded 2 of our edit suites with a couple top-o-the-line MacPros with 8 GB RAM. One system is a Kona 3, the other a Kona LHe. I’m a bit disappointed in hearing about the 2GB RAM limit issue, mainly because I religiously check with AJA support before performing any hardware or software upgrade. I wasn’t told anything about this RAM issue.
While we’ve had no issues yet (haven’t had the need for ProRes), we do have 3 major HD projects scheduled for October and I was planning on using ProRes. At least now I know to just try a couple clips before making a huge workflow commitment.
Lon Keller
Chief Editor / Producer
Sundog Studios -
I have used MacPros with both 4 Gigs and 8 gigs of RAM and the Kona 3 and I have not had issues with dropped frames in ProRes at all. Perhaps this issue was addressed with a firmware update lately? Or there may have been bad RAM involved (particularly in the person who started this thred…as 5 Gigs is not available as a build to order option on the Apple site, so 3rd party RAM was probably involved).
Anyway, this may need a little more investigation.
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