[Scott Shucher]

Older firmware on the Kona LHe may be the issue. I just spoke with an associate who is installing MacPro/LHe 4 systems.

2 of the Kona LHes with lower serial numbers would not boot in the MacPro regardless of whether the video card was
a Radeon or NVidia. The 2 Kona LHe with newer serial numbers would boot OK.

I’d recommend calling AJA about the LHe with the serial number handy. Their support is excellent and they should be able to straighten this out.

G5 2.5ghz DP, 2.5Gbyte RAM, FCP 5.1.2, OSX.4.8
QT7.01, Kona2 (v3.2) w/Kbox, Atto UL3D, Medea RTRX640, Huge MV 1.8Tbyte, Radeon 9800XT

[Scott Shucher]

Yea, I’ve seen the Kona3, MacPro, and Radeon X1900 all behave very nicely together too, but
substitute the LHe with this trio and there seems to be an issue. I’m not saying it’s an AJA issue,
but something is amiss.

G5 2.5ghz DP, 2.5Gbyte RAM, FCP 5.1.2, OSX.4.8
QT7.01, Kona2 (v3.2) w/Kbox, Atto UL3D, Medea RTRX640, Huge MV 1.8Tbyte, Radeon 9800XT

[Scott Shucher]

If it has to be Flash, then Sorrenson Squeeze seems to be best option.

There are two versions of the software package. One version is just for Flash, and a more
expensive version(Compression Suite) will do Flash, Windows Media and many of the same formats that Compressor will do.

Frankly, when compressing for broadband, I’ve gotten better quality with QuickTime/H.264. I’ve gotten a lot af great feedback from clients about the quality of the QuickTime video. As a result, I use QuickTime/H.264 whenever possible, and I use Flash only when compatibilty is an issue.
One note, however, the QuickTime H.264 requires QuickTime version 7.

G5 2.5ghz DP, 2.5Gbyte RAM, FCP 5.1.2, OSX.4.8
QT7.01, Kona2 (v3.2) w/Kbox, Atto UL3D, Medea RTRX640, Huge MV 1.8Tbyte, Radeon 9800XT

[Scott Shucher]

I can confirm that there are others having problems with the MacPro, Kona LHe, and RadeonX1900 combination.

They’ve had success with the NVidia cards, either the expensive card with on board processing, or the inexpensive video card without on board processing.

Sorry I don’t have more concrete information, but I have no experience with the MacPro/LHe/Radeon setup.
I’ve only recently been in contact with another user who’s having trouble with the identical setup on brand new gear.

G5 2.5ghz DP, 2.5Gbyte RAM, FCP 5.1.2, OSX.4.8
QT7.01, Kona2 (v3.2) w/Kbox, Atto UL3D, Medea RTRX640, Huge MV 1.8Tbyte, Radeon 9800XT

[Scott Shucher]

There may be an issue with this combo. I have an associate that is having trouble with, what I believe, is the same set-up. I will try to update with more accurate info in the a.m.

G5 2.5ghz DP, 2.5Gbyte RAM, FCP 5.0.2, OSX.4.3
QT7.01, Kona2 w/Kbox, Atto UL3D, Medea RTRX640, Huge MV 1.8Tbyte, Radeon 9800XT

[Scott Shucher]

I recently mentioned in a previous post that I work regularly with both a PVM and and a Luma series monitor.

I own a PVM20L5, a CRT SD/HD monitor. It looks great for both SD and HD. Unfortunately Sony discontinued the PVM series. It was a good value in the 2800 range. I nearly bought a Luma series 23″ widescreen, but decided at the last minute that the Luma did not have enough inputs(I needed at least 3).

You can always go with a Sony BVM-A series crt monitor. (I didn’t because I need to send my kid to college someday) I don’t remember how much it was, but it wasn’t pretty.

I’m glad I didn’t go with the Luma, because I do some work at a facility that has lots of Lumas. HD looks fair playing back. The blacks are not black enough for me. But SD playing back in a Luma looks embarrasingly terrible.

If you are going to be regularly viewing SD on a Luma monitor, you’ll be very disappointed.

No experience with any Panasonic monitors.

G5 2.5ghz DP, 2.5Gbyte RAM, FCP 5.0.2, OSX.4.3
QT7.01, Kona2 w/Kbox, Atto UL3D, Medea RTRX640, Huge MV 1.8Tbyte, Radeon 9800XT

[Scott Shucher]

I can confirm the above comments. I use both monitors on a daily basis.

For critical evaluation the PVM20L5 is a lot of monitor for the buck. SD or HD, both look good.

Comparitively speaking, the Luma series (23″ wide screen) doesn’t look nearly as good in HD, mainly due to poor black level reproduction. SD in the Luma monitor just looks plain terrible.

If you’re serious about buying one, I know a technician who has an extra lightly used PVM20L5 he might be willing to part with. He bought it new from B&H. Contact me via e-mail at: applecart@comcast.net
and I can pass along contact info to you.

G5 2.5ghz DP, 2.5Gbyte RAM, FCP 5.0.2, OSX.4.3
QT7.01, Kona2 w/Kbox, Atto UL3D, Medea RTRX640, Huge MV 1.8Tbyte, Radeon 9800XT

[Scott Shucher]

Thanks for the tip, Kevin. I’ve got 5.1, but don’t want to upgrade in the middle of 2 major projects.
I’ll upgrade in about a month.

BTW, enjoyed your Motion Graphics book.

G5 2.5ghz DP, 2.5Gbyte RAM, FCP 5.0.2, OSX.4.3
QT7.01, Kona2 w/Kbox, Atto UL3D, Medea RTRX640, Huge MV 1.8Tbyte, Radeon 9800XT

[Scott Shucher]

Hello Walter,

[Scott Shucher] “I understand it’s not a format that will downconvert cleanly to SD. I’m told by the client, that’s OK because it’s not for broadcast, and will always remain in the HD or non-interlaced realm.”

I got the above info from the Sony HDCAM FAQ website:

“29.97PsF/30 PsF: If a program is being created in Progressive scan mode, where better temporal resolution is desired, these modes should be used. The 29.97P mode will allow a 480i SD output. The 30P mode will not.”

Anyway, are you able to run it through your Kona 2? I’ve been getting conflicting reports as to whether it works. Aja tech support says it’s “not supported”, which doesn’t necessarily mean that it won’t work.

Also, I would suspect that the Varicam’s 30P, is a different bowl of soup from HDCAM at 1080/30P.

Scott

G5 2.5ghz DP, 2.5Gbyte RAM, FCP 5.0.2, OSX.4.3
QT7.01, Kona2 w/Kbox, Atto UL3D, Medea RTRX640, Huge MV 1.8Tbyte, Radeon 9800XT

[Scott Shucher]

Now that I have my head clear, that all makes sense.

Thanks guys, Scott

G5 2.5ghz DP, 2.5Gbyte RAM, FCP 5.0.2, OSX.4.1
QT7.01, Kona2 w/Kbox, Atto UL3D, Medea RTRX640, Huge MV 1.8Tbyte, Radeon 9800XT