[Andrew Crosby]

Hey there,
I just got a new Mac Pro with the Kona 3 card and I have been experiencing a few oddities. The doesn’t happen all the time, but for some reason FCP will output audio from Line out fine, but through the Kona 3 it has a pitch change (sounds like it’s slowed down) and is out of sync with the video. It seems to fix itself after a reboot. I was not happy with this temporary solution so I contacted AJA support via email and this is what they responded with…

“Hi Andy,

Go to about this mac -> more info -> hardware -> model ID (line 2).
If your Mac pro is a v1.1. or v2.1 then:

1) Install the Kona 3 in slot-3.
2) Go to: /system/library/core services/ and run the expansion slot utility.
a) configure the PCIe slot for 16:1:4:4 (option 2).
b) Reboot

If your Mac Pro is a v3.x then install the Kona 3 in slot 2.

Let us know if you need more help.
Thanks”

So I am right about to switch the card slot because it looks like it was installed in slot 3 instead of slot 2 (and my version is 3.1)…now correct me if I’m wrong but the slots are numbered from the bottom up? Like this…

4
3
2
1

?? Maybe it’s labeled inside, I haven’t taken the computer apart yet. But hopefully this will fix the problem. It sounds like a few others are having similar problems. Thought I’d share my 2 cents.

-Andy

————–
Andrew Crosby
Video Editor

“Insert something witty here”

[Andrew Crosby]

Interesting…can you explain more? We are using a consumer DVR…

[Andrew Crosby]

Have thought about it, but meh, I still feel as though the DVD player will not give me back what I’m putting into it. I feel like it will still do something to the audio that boosts it. I’ll look more into though, thanks.

-Andy C

[Andrew Crosby]

Awesome, thanks guys! Amen to that Grinner, he does a lot of micromanagement.
Yeah right now we are currently using an 18″ Sony PVM-1954Q for SD and a 20″ Sony LMD-210 for HD/SD. Personally I think they are both fine, but he is insistent on getting one big HD/SD monitor. At least now I have some ammo for the next confrontation.

-Andy

[Andrew Crosby]

I’m not exactly sure about the budget but I tend to think it would be on the pricier side of things. My only reasoning for pushing back on eliminating the interlacing CRT is using it to check for shimmer.

For example, our last big budget production had orange text on a white background. On the HD flatscreen we currently have the text looked fine, but on the CRT it was very shimmery. I have to assume that if the CRT is eliminated that the problem would not be detected even on an expensive monitor. I believe we ended up changing the colors slightly to fix the problem.

Am I missing a step? Is there some sort of filter or something that should have prevented the orange on white from going bonkers? What do most edit suites have for monitors?

-Andy

[Andrew Crosby]

Rather, thanks Ben for your help!

[Andrew Crosby]

Thanks for all of your help guys – I’m a dope, it was a setting in the DVD player. For some reason I thought it would auto-detect the settings but I guess not. For reference, it was in Setup > TV Screen > 4:3 TV Settings for DVD-Video (Letterbox) and 4:3 Settings for DVD-RAM (Letterbox). Thanks again!

[Andrew Crosby]

I didn’t author the DVD – it was coming from the client. I think the issue is with the DVD player but there doesn’t seem to be any logic to it – I haven’t found any settings that can be changed. Also, if I put in a different DVD that plays widescreen the DVD player WILL correctly letterbox it. It just seems that this particular DVD is giving me issues with this particular DVD player. If the funky DVD is played in a different player it plays in the correct 4:3 letterbox. I hope I’m not being more confusing…

[Andrew Crosby]

Great, thanks for all your help guys!