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What else compares to Aja IO HD?
After trying to make FCP work with my Aja IO HD, the frustration is setting in. Aja tech support is great, but the unit itself still has issues with making FCP freeze. Then I have to do a full restart every time that happens (counted 4 times in one hour – mainly in 525i SD).
In any case, I’ve heard these stories on the Aja forum as well, so I was wondering what the alternatives are – and more importantly, what’s working for you guys.
My system now: FCP6 on Leopard on an 8 core Mac. Our needs: input of HD P2 media (no problem) and component betacam (issues with SD). What other units are comparable? I’ve heard about Black magic, and seen the ads for V3HD.
Anything you guys can recommend?
Thanks a bunch,
Bill
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10 Replies
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For a box that does HD and that connects via firewire, the V3HD is all there is. All the Black-Magic cards connect internally on MacPros, as to the rest of the AJA cards. The limitation with the V2HD is that you the only HD format you can capture is DVCPRO HD. No ProRes. But, that might be fine. DVCPRO HD is a great codec.
And there is the Matrox MXO, but that is output only, it is not a capture box. Good if you capture via firewire or with tapeless acquisition.
Shane
Littlefrog PostGETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD now for sale!
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Bill,
I’ve just installed a Multibridge Pro form Blackmagic. I looked long and hard at the AJA, but in the end could not justify the price hike (£2.5k vs. £1k in the UK) for the limited extra functionality.
So far, so good. It appears to be a well built unit, maybe not quite as well built as the AJA line but fine (for instance AJA use Neutrik XLR sockets whereas the BM unit has non- branded ones).
It worked straight out of the box (after an RTFM* moment on my part) and seems great – integrates seamlessly with Color, FCP et al and does 99% of what I need it to. It maybe isn’t as slick a product as AJA – for instance the AJA control panel is quite funky, whereas the BM controls are part of the system preferences and somewhat simpler – but it does what it needs to do and no more. I can still up/down/cross convert, though I haven’t had the opportunity to test this in a real world scenario yet. Now BM offer a 3 year warranty I’m quite happy with my purchase. Some say that AJA tech support is better – I think maybe that depends on where you are. This side of the pond there seems to be little in it.
HTH,
Jason
*read the freakin’ manual
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Before you criticise a man, walk a mile in his shoes.
Then when you do criticise him, you’ll be a mile away. And have his shoes.*the artist formally known as Jaymags*
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Oh, one thing I forgot to add – the MBPro, working as it does direct in to the PCIexpress slots, has no detectable latency – something I really like. It’s a very snappy, responsive editing experience and a world away from the Io (not HD) that I cut on not so long ago.
Jason
_________________________________
Before you criticise a man, walk a mile in his shoes.
Then when you do criticise him, you’ll be a mile away. And have his shoes.*the artist formally known as Jaymags*
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Did you swap your FW800 cable?
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From what you have listed there doesn’t seem to be a good reason to go with anything other than a card. The Kona cards are great and have worked solid for years. (Don’t have Blackmagic cards so I cannot speak for them.) The Kona Cards also handles DVCProHD acceleration which is an added bonus. I think the IoHD makes sense if you want to be able to hook up different computers at different times or you need to be portable but for a single tower I would go with a Kona card.
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[Bill Thomas] “Aja tech support is great, but the unit itself still has issues with making FCP freeze. Then I have to do a full restart every time that happens (counted 4 times in one hour – mainly in 525i SD).”
Bill,
I’ve used a client’s IO HD for an entire week and had none of that, so I know its not a problem inherant with the hardware.
Are you certain that all of your software and drivers were completely up to date. If you click on Software Update do you get a message telling you that all of your software is up to date?
David
David Roth Weiss
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Los AngelesPOST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™
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To be totally honest, I had the exact same problem as Bill when I cracked open my ioHD. I swapped the firewire800 cable and problem was solved.
Jeremy
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I used a Granite Digital FW 800 cable with mine, and have never seen any crashes… so figure it’s likely that you can be fixed right up… if a new cable doesn’t help, and you’ve installed the 1.1. drivers, I’d be looking at your install of OS and FCP as being part if not all of the problem. I do have my Io HD connected to the Mac’s bus, and all other FW connections are being connected to a FW card… so it’s not sharing a bus with anything else.
Jerry
Apple Certified Trainer
Author: “Jerry Hofmann on Final Cut Pro 4” Click here
Dual 2 gig G5, AJA Kona SD, AJA Kona 2, Huge Systems Array UL3D
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If you work in ProRes… there is nothing that’s equal to the Io IMHO…
Jerry
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As it turns out, Aja is swapping out my unit. Along with the audio issues, it gets a green screen on 525i HDMI connector. Weird.
We’ll see what happens with the swapped unit!!
Thanks all for your suggestions. If this second unit still wigs out, I will be looking elsewhere!
Bill
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