[Bob Zelin]

for Shari –
The Flying Cow is an audio analog to digital/digital to analog converter. It will NOT convert any video signals for you. The AJA K-Box has a built in audio digital/audio converter. If you were to purchase the Flying Cow, it would be useful only to convert your analog audio to digital audio, and you would still not be able to get your analog component video into the Kona 3 SDI input. The Flying Cow is NOT what you want to get – not unless you purchase an additional Video Analog to Digital converter – and with the AJA HD10AVA on the market to do it all – you would have to be crazy to do this.

For Dave –
FIREWIRE SUCKS. Firewire is not a professional way to work. It’s great for wedding photographers, and news men in Iraq under fire, but in the real world, working with video signals, that can be patched, routed, analyzed, and use NON DV25 Codecs are the way to work. The DSR45 has a WONDERFUL RS422 interface which makes the deck respond like a normal VTR, not like a piece of CRAP like the DSR-11 or HVRM25U. Companies like AJA, Blackmagic, Aurora, Convergent Design, Miranda, AVID and even little guys like Canopus SAVE US from the nightmare known as Firewire. Products like the Sony HVR-1500 are coming out to SAVE US, to keep those HDV users from slitting their wrists being stuck with firewire interfaces. If you feel that working with a firewire interface is as wonderful as working with a Beta UVW-1800 for example, then we are living on two different planets – and apparantly every manufacturer (Sony Professional, Panasonic Professional – even JVC) is living on a different planet too.

Bob Zelin

[Bob Zelin]

Shari –
don’t buy the flying cow. This is getting really silly. Markertek will be happy to take back the Kona 3. Get yourself a nice boring AJA I/O box – plug it into your Firewire 400 port on your MAC, and do everything you want to do. It will cost you about $2000, and will work perfectly with your DSR-45. You can also get the Kona LHe, which will do analog component, or SDI, or HD-SDI. But since you have so much analog gear, it’s my opinion that you would be better off just getting rid of the Kona 3 for now, and get the full AJA I/O box. This way, you won’t have to ask your boss for any more money.

BY THE WAY – what type of storage are you using for this ?

Bob Zelin

[Bob Zelin]

You write –

It was not with the DeckLink Pro. I had no trouble hooking it up.

I do get a color bar signal on the monitor, I’m delighted to say. I don’t know why the video on FCP canvas isn’t working. I have the Sequence and Capture presets as well as the Vieo Playback on AJA Kona 525 8 bit.

REPLY – The DeckLink Pro has SDI inputs only, just like the Kona 3 – and no analog component video input for your DSR-45. The Decklink Pro is the WRONG BOARD to use, (you need the Decklink Extreme)- and the Kona 3 was the wrong product for you to buy – you should have purchased an AJA I/O LA, I/O or Kona LH, not the Kona 3, for your application.

You are able to get a color bar signal onto your monitor with the control panel, but I can’t even have you simply pass your DSR-45 thru the Kona Control panel, becuase you dont’ have an SDI output on the DSR-45. And you could not do this on the Blackmagic Decklink Pro, because it TOO does not have an analog component input.

We can sit here all day and talk about what you can do, and you certainly can output a DV signal out of the Kona 3, but I URGE YOU to scrounge up some money and buy a product that corresponds to your tape machines. A reputable dealer would be happy to exchange your Kona 3 for something else.

The AJA I/O LA will suit your needs perfectly, and costs under $1000. the Blackmagic Decklink Extreme is only $895. And as Don has said, a converter, like the AJA HD10AVA (about $950) will convert your analog component DSR-45 with analog audio into a SDI signal with embedded audio that you can get into your Kona 3 – if you choose to do so.

Once you capture your material (as DV25 using firewire – what a shame), you can go into the Audio/Video settings, and change the playback output tab so it comes out of the Kona.

what is happening here, is that you are unfamiliar with the use of this product – perhaps you mail ordered it – and someone needs to sit with you to show you how to use it. OR you can sit there patiently, go into the Audio/Video Settings menu (provided you have loaded the Kona drivers from your CD or AJA web site), and screw around with all the settings – you will eventually figure out what ones work and what ones don’t. The reason this will seem overwhelming for you is that you are dealing with a SDI/HD-SDI product, and want to use it as an analog product, with analog equipment. Becuase of this, it seems very confusing. If you get the audio/video settings playback output correct, and the AJA Kona Control panel correct – you will get your video output.

If you are saying “you know, I should have just bought the Blackmagic product” – if you bought a SDI/HD-SDI product from them, you would suffer the same way, unless you bought the Blackmagic Decklink Extreme – which properly handles analog signals – just like the Kona LH.

Bob Zelin

[Bob Zelin]

The Panasonic Plamsa will look BEAUTIFUL – this is the montior used by Blackmagic at the NAB show (it was used by everyone else also).

this monitor can easily display 1366×768, which is what is required for 720p work.

Bob Zelin

[Bob Zelin]

Replies below –

I read that the Kona 3 worked with both SP and HD, so that seemed – at the time – to be a reasonable expense to make.

REPLY – the Kona 3 will output analog component, but it will not INPUT analog component or composite – only SDI, and you dont’ have an SDI source.

I have a mixer. A little Mackie 1202-VLZ Pro – 4 XLR outlets. I use it sometimes when I use a shotgun mic on my GL2. It never occured to me to use it on my computer, but of course that’s the answer.

REPLY – you MUST go into the 1/4″ line inputs, not the XLR inputs. Your speakers get hooked to the CR Mon Outputs (control room monitor) on the back of the mixer.

I am somewhat familiar with the Kona 3 control panel, but not enough to set things up readily. With your help, I should have a better handle on that soon.

REPLY – forget FCP.. Open the Kona control panel, click on the control tab, and select a color bar test pattern. If you can’t get a picture on your TV now, you have a problem with the TV. You want Beta Component output Y Pb Pr, not RGB.

DO NOT PROCEED until you can get a color bar signal onto your TV monitor. Until you do, from the control panel test pattern, you are wasting your time. Once this works, you can go into FCP, and select an easy setup for 525, but you will have to use the Kona Control panel to output to your analog TV. AGAIN, you should have purchased a Kona LH or AJA I/O box.

This all has to work. Somehow.

REPLY – I don’t know where you bought this, but most times, people HIRE SOMEONE – just like when you want a new toilet – you don’t do it yourself – you hire a plumber – when you dont, you get water on the floor (and more than that !).

Bob ZElin

[Bob Zelin]

If you are using this on your MAC alone, it’s fine. But if you have your entire system plugged into it, it will not be able to provide enough power for all of your equipment, and VTR’s, and monitors. Lot’s of gear requires a big UPS. A single computer requires only a small unit, like you have on your computer.

Bob Zelin

[Bob Zelin]

Shari –
you should not be doing this by yourself. I will answer what I can –

but right now all I’m working in is SD. I cannot figure out how to connect the breakout bar to my Sony DSR-45 VTR, nor am I getting the little Aquos EDTV monitor to get the signal from Final Cut Pro using the Kona 3 configurations.

REPLY – you should have purchased an AJA I/O or Kona LH, not a Kona 3. There is no analog component input to the AJA Kona 3, so you cannot get the DSR-45 into this Kona 3 board, unless you use Firewire, which is silly. You could buy a AJA Analog to SDI converter, but this would cost you as much as an AJA I/O LA box (which is what you should have bought in the first place). You get your Aquos HD monitor to see the signal from the Kona 3 by taking the Out Y Out Pb Out Pr of your AJA K box, and sending it into the analog HD component inputs of your Aquos. You then open up the Kona Control Panel (I hope you know what I am talking about), and go to the analog tab, and tell it to downconvert to 525, and you will see your SD image. For now, just for testing, choose an SD easy setup (like 8 bit SD uncompressed, not HD), and select COLOR BARS, and you will see the bar image on your TV monitor.

(I used a DeckLink Pro on a G5 before this, and all was well.) Working with Kona 3, while potentially is a dream come true, right now is very frustrating, and I’ve been down a week now. When I do go into FCP, I’m getting a “general error” alert, but all seems well. FCP can read the VTR for Log and Capture, but nothng shows on the TV monitor except color bars. The computer displays are showing everything as usual.

REPLY – when you say that FCP can read the VTR for Log and Capture – I have no idea of how you are doing this – are you using DV25? The Kona 3 cannot accept an analog component image, but if you capture in DV25, and then select another type of SD output for the Kona 3 with the EASY SETUPS, it will convert this to output the correct signals thru the Kona 3. If you don’t know what I am talking about, you need assistance from your sales company.

Here is the hook up so far:
With the Kona 3 –
Kona 3 correctly installed in the Mac (slot 3 and upgraded the driver)
Break-out bar cabled to card via the Mac – both with DB cable and SDI.
Three BNC component cables (RGB) going from break-out bar analog component outputs for monitor to a little Aquos EDTV
L & R Mackie HR 824 speakers hooked up via RCA plugs to breaker-bar RCA inputs. (I can’t control the volume except in iTunes, otherwise it’s very loud!)

REPLY – you need a MIXER !!!!!! You are not going to adjust these levels via software.

Bob Zelin

[Bob Zelin]

call AJA support.

Bob Zelin

[Bob Zelin]

Greg – you should be using an APC Smart UPS 1500RM2U. It’s about $600, and you can’t get it at office depot.

I am using an APC Back-UPS XL 1500, which I got at Office Depot –
this is NOT WHAT YOU WANT. You must mail order this product from someone like B+H or CDW or Tiger Direct. Office Depot, Office Max, and Staples do not have what you want.

Bob Zelin

[Bob Zelin]

I use the Panasonic BT-LH1700 and 2600 all the time. In my mind, there is no question that this series of monitors is far superior to the Sony LUMA LMD-232. The Panasonic BT-LH1700W only has a resolution of 1200×768, where the BT-LH2600 is 1366×768, for more accurate 720p resolution (1080i looks just fine). The real reason to get this monitor is because it is possibly the ONLY LCD monitor on the market that displays standard def interlaced video properly. The image quality of a Dell 2407, Apple 23″ Cinema, or HP 2335 is fantastic for HD (as good or better than the Panasonic), but Standard Def is unwatchable. Put a Blackmagic HD Link on an Apple Cinema display, and watch standard def SDI – it looks like crap – and so does everyone elses DVI converter (it’s not the converter – it’s the way the montitors handle SD interlaced signals).

I don’t know what monitors you have been using in the past, but most people NEVER had the luxury of Sony BVM series monitors. Most people had (in the last 10 years) Sony PVM series monitors, from the older PVM1954Q, to the PVM20M2U, PVM20M4U, and the end of the line PVM-20L5/1. All of these, other than the 20L5/1 never could display HD anyway. So the Panasonic makes this a “best buy”, and it is certainly becomming a very popular monitor.

Will you like it for HD – yes. Will your clients like it for a standard def job, compared to your old Sony PVM-20M4U (for example) – probably not. But I did a job recently with a horrible Sony consumer LCD monitor (32″), that had the chroma cranked all the way up, and the Disney client thought it was the best picture they ever saw. So who was I to argue ?

So much for “true color”.

bob Zelin