[Bob Zelin]

OH EAT ME JARED ! –
you write –

To be fair I am connecting out of the Kona 2 to a cable technec (expecive RS 422) cable and into a patch bay. However, I am not sure how this would interfere, and how a reboot would solve the problem. Oh, and the OS sees the port on the Kona even when FCP will not see the deck.

Jared

REPLY – you have got to be kidding me. You CANNOT troubleshoot with a RS422 patch bay in line, and I have no idea of the quality of the RS422 bay you are using, nor do I care at this moment. YOU MUST do all of your tests with the RS422 cable plugged DIRECTLY into the VTR from the AJA product, with no AB boxes, no patch bays, no extenders. Once this fails, then you have something to complain about – until then, I don’t want to here it –

here is how I qualify this statement. I just finished rewiring a 2 room AVID facility – one AVID Xpress Pro, one AVID Adrenlaline, one UVW1800 and one UVW1200 with an Addenda RS232 to RS422 adaptor on it. I put in a RS422 patch bay. All of a sudden, I could not get the AVID Xpress Pro to control the UVW1200 (via the Addenda), but every other combination works. So I know that the Adrenaline can control both Beta VTRs, but the XPress Pro can only control the UVW1800, not the 1200. JARED – THIS IS NOT AN AVID PROBLEM – THIS IS MY PROBLEM, and I am going back in to figure out what the hell is going on – I will do this by DRAGGING THE UVW1200 RIGHT OVER TO THE XPRESS PRO and plugging it in directly – thats right – I am going to unmount it from the rack, unplug all the cables, drag it into the room with the edit system, and wire it up locally. It’s a lot of work BUT I MUST DO IT.

AND GUESS WHAT – this is EXACTLY what you are going to do. You MUST take the VTR right over to your AJA product, and plug it in DIRECTLY. If you have trouble getting RS422 control with the UVW1800, then there are issues with the MAC or AJA (probably the MAC software load). But if there are no problems, then it’s something else – and you won’t find out what that something else is, until you start replacing pieces, because as you see, if you reboot, it starts to work.

Bob Zelin

[Bob Zelin]

composite goes into the Y input. Go to Audio/Video Settings/Capture Presets, and select (check) composite from the long list.

Bob Zelin

[Bob Zelin]

are you trying to communicate with Sony or Panasonic VTRs? And if they are Panasonic VTR’s – what model #’s.

Bob Zelin

[Bob Zelin]

trash your FCP preferences, and try it again.
Bob Zelin

[Bob Zelin]

Robert –
It sounds like the Kona LH may not be the product for you. You can use the DSR-11 to go directly into your MAC via Firewire. Your other sources that have composite video and unbalanced analog audio – well, you could just get
an inexpensive ADS composite to Firewire converter for under $300, and then buy an inexpensive Datavideo Frame Sync TBC for another $300 to lock up all these consumer sources.

The LH, as with other products from AJA, Blackmagic, Aurora, and AVID, are used for professional equipment, and designed to capture from professional sources, like Sony and Panasonic Broadcast VTR’s. Even if you are thinking about HD, for your applications (possibly HDV or Panasonic P2, etc), you can go firewire directly in. Users of hi end VTR’s like the Sony HD Cam and SR series, and the Panasonic AJ-HD1200, 1700, etc DVCProHD VTR’s are the ones that need AJA products.

Apple has made it easy for home videographers to use Firewire for products that you seem to be using.

bob Zelin

[Bob Zelin]

Magni products are excellent, and are not affordable. With the exception of the old MM-400 from Magni (which is composite only) , all of their HD and SDI products have always been above $4000.

bob Zelin

[Bob Zelin]

no it will not work. The buss structure is physically different between the new G5’s and the old PCI-X computers. There is no trick – that is why everyone had to come out with PCI Express cards. This affected EVERY manufacturer of cards – blame Apple, not Blackmagic.

Bob Zelin

[Bob Zelin]

It’s a shame that you bought your $90,000 Symphony Nitris from a bad dealer. The best AVID dealer is Virtual Media – I can assure you that EVERYTHING WORKS from Virtual Media, and they make it right, if there are problems. I know that AVID has local dealer networks, and you can’t go out of your area for most items – which is a shame.

Bob Zelin

[Bob Zelin]

It is truly amazing, in this day of such cheap pricing on everything, that professional Waveform Monitor/Vectorscopes do in fact cost as much as an entire edit system. At NAB2006, I am going to be looking at the Leader LV770, which at $9000, is the CHEAPEST HD scope on the market, but currently, the Videotek VTM-420, at round $12,000 is the cheapie. Even the SD only Videotek VTM-150 is about $4500. There’s always ebay. I have not been very impressed with Hamlet products, and Astro Systems is not so great, and also around $9000. Tektronix, of course, it as expensive as you can get.

I have not played around with the “built in” waveform display of the Panasonic BT-LH1700 HD/SD 17″ monitor, but at under $3000, it not only is a monitor, but gives quarter screen luminance only waveform displays. Again, I have not played with it, so I don’t know it accuracy – but as for price – nothing can beat that price.

If Blackmagic came out with a rastorizer HD scope like Videotek or Leader for $2000 – $3000, they would probably sell more of these than they do their FCP capture cards.

Bob Zelin

[Bob Zelin]

Markertek and B&H are two of the best, most reliable places to buy the Kona 3. If you were to find “Hymies we beat ’em discount house” in east LA, and be able to get the Kona 3 for 100 bucks less – would you do it ? Doesn’t service and support, and assurance that you are buying a legit product from
an authorized dealer mean anything to you? If cost is everything, you can certainly look for a used Kona 2 on eBay

Bob Zelin