[Bob Zelin]

you write –

Also – I was fully expecting electronic documentation, but there was NOTHING in the box but the hardware, no CD, no reg card, no warranty card, no 1000 hours of free AOL… nothing!

Now just waiting for my BT-LH1700W, but Im happy to be monitoring to my little 7″ Marshall for now!!

REPLY – oh oh ! If you did not receive a CD and a little something in a grey envelope – maybe you got a re-pack. Although the correct proceedure is to download from the AJA site, you should have received the CD and some nominal documentation in a gray envelope. Talk to ProMax again – they are a great company to deal with.

You will love the BT-LH1700, and will laugh at the Marshall once you see it.

Bob Zelin

[Bob Zelin]

the black burst generator is to Genlock your system (like your Kona LHe card and your Beta VTR, etc. that have genlock inputs). The Datavideo TBC is to replace the poor sync interval in your VHS/DVD off air material. You take the VHS, go into the Datavideo input, come out of the Datavideo output, and go into the composite input of the Kona LHe – this will provideo a STABLE SYNC SIGNAL to the Kona LHe, so you don’t get a jittery image.

Bob Zelin

[Bob Zelin]

Walter –
if you are using the Sonnet X4P on your 2 Gig G5 (and if the Lacie has the correct port multiplier chip from Silicon Image in it), you can have FOUR CHASSIS on your system, and stripe ALL of them together, if you want. The Sonnet Fusion 500P chassis, or the ProMax port multiplier chassis, that also has 5 drives in it, works great with the Sonnet X4P (and E4P).

Once you get your chassis working, run AJA Kona system test on it to see your speed test results. The more drives stripped together, the faster the performance.

TWO drives (drives, not boxes) are NOT fast enough to do uncompressed HD. TWO BOXES (8 to 10 drives) will allow you to do uncompressed HD. I seem to recall that the specs on the Lacie are slow – exactly which Lacie chassis are you using. If you are not using a port multiplier chassis, you are losing capability. I know that you like ProMax, and they have a great Port multiplier chassis that holds 5 drives, that works great with the sonnet.

bob Zelin

Bob Zelin

[Bob Zelin]

Dear XXIVFPS –

you write –

Just got my Kona LH and K box from Promax with zero documentation and software…wtf !? Got the LH drivers and Manual from AJA site and got all installed and running well.

REPLY – as you have discovered, AJA, Blackmagic, and countless manufacturers DO NOT provide a manual, and you MUST download the pdf file. When you got your Kona LH, you received a CD – this CD has the pdf file that has your manual on it. When you spend $23,000 for an AVID Adrenaline, it’s the same deal – your release notes and installation guide are on the CD – there is no printed manual.

However, there is no Kbox info on the AJA site and when I hook it up (it seemed straight forward) the LH is no longer seen.

REPLY – so let me get this straight. You hookup the LH – everything works, and then you plug in the KL box, and the card is not seen ? I assume that you have the KL box, and not another breakout box from AJA.
The KL box needs no instructions as there is nothing inside it – it’s a BREAKOUT PANEL for the connectors. May I suggest that you fire up your MAC with the LH card in it, pass some video thru it, and WHILE POWER IS ON and RUNNING, plug in your LH Box (you won’t blow anything up) – does the unit stop working ?

Anyone know what I may be doing wrong? Is there a checkbox somewhere I am missing? I tried both soft and hard restarts with no success. I really want to play with this setup this weekend! Dont make me wait until Monday!

REPLY – Try what I said – make sure that your LH card is working with the breakout cable before plugging in the KL box. Once you are convinced it is working, unplug the breakout cable, and plug in your KL box LIVE – don’t power down to do this. Did it stop working.

Now, it’s 3:40 eastern time on Saturday – try this now, this weekend, before Monday. Don’t make me wait until Monday to get a response from you, because I will take you around the back and give ya a good whoopin’ !!

Let me know –

Bob Zelin

[Bob Zelin]

I apologize for seeming defensive, but there is a mindset out there, that if you get an Apple XServe RAID – all of your problems will be over, so stop screwing around with these HUGE, Medea, ADTX, Rorke, and SATA drives.
Apple is NOT the ultimate solution, and there is a “common knowlege” from many people that it is “if only I had the $13,000 to pay for it”. This is not accurate information, as products from HUGE, Medea, ADTX and assorted SATA companies outperform the Apple Xserve RAID.

I think that my background for this attitude comes from AVID, where the philosophy of “if you just buy AVID Everything – everything will be ok” – comes from. This was never true, and it applies to Apple as well. Currently the best facilities and systems for FCP come with AJA and/or Blackmagic hardware, and drive arrays from the companies mentioned above – NOT from Apple only.

Bob Zelin

[Bob Zelin]

As for your tri level sync gen – I am becomming more adamant about people NOT working in 23.98 AT ALL, and only working in 59.94, and using the 2:3 pulldown that is featured (and defaulted) in countless HD VTR’s. I have not had one person convince me of any reason to work in 23.98 unless you are going to do a theatrical release. With that said, as long as you keep operating at 59.94, you don’t have to purchase a tri level sync gen. Tri Level sync gen’s are expensive, and the most popular one currently is the Evertz 7750 (but this does not mean that it is the best). Other good ones come from Astro Systems, Ensemble Designs, NVision, Leader Instruments, Sigma Electronics (and God help us – TEKTRONICS – who charges more for the tri level sync gen than your entire edit system). HOPEFULLY there will be a new black/tri level gen out soon from an alternate source that is cost effective.

Bob Zelin

[Bob Zelin]

Walter – all I can say is TRY IT. SATA works. It ain’t shared storage, and there is no raid protection – but SO FAR it has been unbelieveably reliable (I have NEVER seen a SATA drive fail – but it might happen tomorrow !) – and it’s CHEAP !!!!! The Sonnet X4P will work in your 2 Gig G5’s (no drivers required), and the Sonnet E4P will work in the new PCI-Express Quad machines. You get about 170mb/sec write and 220mb/sec read with AJA Kona System Test with a SINGLE 5 drive chassis. Remember – this ain’t no hardware RAID – it’s just a box with a port multiplier in it – you use Apple Disk Utility to stripe all the drives together. You can put 4 boxes (with 5 drives each) on one Sonnet card – that’s 10 Terabytes with 4 chassis. You need faster than 170mb/sec write speed for uncompressed HD, so you will need more than 5 drives – which means TWO BOXES – all striped RAID 0. This technology only got released in early May 2006, so it’s new to me as well, but so far – IT WORKS.

It is popular because it is CHEAP !!! Will it last as long as a Medea or HUGE array – I have no idea – but so far, I have not seen one fail.

The insane popularity of SATA has occured only because of it’s price point – which is very important to most users.

Bob Zelin

[Bob Zelin]

the TBC is the Datavideo TBC-1000. About $300.

bob Zelin

[Bob Zelin]

you are asking a lot of questions, and I think you are panicing. Do one thing at a time. Learn how to use the Kona Control Panel RIGHT NOW. Do you know where it is ? Pass your Digi Beta thru your Kona 3 using the Kona control panel. Does it work ? Do you see the output of your Kona 3 now, on your JVC monitor? If it does work, go into FCP, and like Jeremy said – use the EASY SETUPS (like Kona 3 SDI uncompressed 8 bit – I forgot the exact names, I am not on a system right now) – but USE THE EASY SETUPS. Bet it works. And if it doesn’t work, check the VIEW/External Video menu setting.

You don’t need overkill like a Snell and Wilcox Black Generator – save your money, and get a cheap Sigma BSG-26N or Horita BSG-50 – just make sure that you TERMINATE the Reference Input with a BNC terminator – if you don’t do this, you will get all kinds of wacky behavior.

Let me know
Bob Zelin

[Bob Zelin]

Tim –
you are in Fort Myers – right ? This is what everyone in Florida is doing now – you get a Sonnet X4P (for older G5’s) or Sonnet E4P (for MAC Quads), and get 2 loaded Sonnet Fusion 500P chassis – stripe all 10 SATA drives together, and you can do uncompressed HD all day long. A single chassis with 5 drives will not be reliable enough to do uncompressed HD. If you are working with Varicam stuff, that is all DVCProHD native, and you can easily use just 2 SATA drives stripped RAID 0, and it will work flawlessly.
If you are working with Sony HD Cam, and have a Sony HD VTR, like the HDW-M2000, they you have lots of money, which means that you can afford to buy the drives you need (which will be around 5 grand). If you only need DVCProHD, you can get a Terabyte of storage for around $1000 – cheap enough (don’t you have this right now ??). You can get all this crap from Ron Amborn 714 374 4944.

If you want to spend more money, the HUGE arrays are incredible, and will give you amazing performance, but they do cost more than SATA.

bob Zelin