Will a 1.6 ghz G5, FCP 3/4 and an AJA Kona HD card work?

[Heath McKnight]

If I buy the HD (and SD) AJA Kona card(s) and use it in my low-end (still faster than a G4 1.42 DP, according to Macworld) G5, will I be able to cut HDV (HD10), or is it more of an mpeg-2 issue?

heath

[Adrian Douglas]

Heath, I'd contact the card manufacture and ask them. They will know best. As the HD1/10 aren't true HD and based in MPEG-2 there may be issues or it may not work at all.

[Darren Kelly]

<<<-- Originally posted by Heath McKnight : If I buy the HD (and SD) AJA Kona card(s) and use it in my low-end (still faster than a G4 1.42 DP, according to Macworld) G5, will I be able to cut HDV (HD10), or is it more of an mpeg-2 issue?

heath -->>>


Heath,

I'm using a dual 1.42 and a KONA HD card. Your solution would work too. The key is not the horsepwer of the computer, but the horsepower of the drive system.

The minimum would be something like the Hugesystems Dualmax system. Build a system like this:

G5 1.6 $ 1699
Atto UL4D SCSI card $ 450
HMV 800 Dual MAX $2,449
KONA HD $3,100
AJA HD10a converter $2,500
AJA HD10C converter $2,500
Total: $12,698

Chances are you could keep the mac you have and use it.

Hope this helps

DBK

[Eric Bilodeau]

Darren is right about all the stuff you need but the guys at AJA told me you need a dual processor system for their card and that should apply to the G5. The rest is what you need. The 1.42 G4 is a supported AJA KonaHD system, the minimum is a dual G4 1.25.

Kona HD and Decklink HD both support all frame rates in HD 720, the only card that does not is the Cinewave HD. Also both cards will work in similar condition, one point though, the Decklink is a PCIX card and will work on a G4 but only in SD, to use HD you need a dual G5. The rest of Darren's list is pretty much what you need to use any of the two with the HD10 since both have HD-SDI i/o.

[Heath McKnight]

They have a deal going on for an HD and SD card for $5000, but you need like one other HD thing for around $3000.

So, $8000. If I do decide to pursue it, I will have to wait. I don't feel like trying to sell my 1.6 ghz G5 and then saving up the cash for a 2 ghz DP. I'll wait until my next film, to be done on higher-end HD, is on deck (2005).

heath

[Darren Kelly]

<<<-- Originally posted by Heath McKnight : They have a deal going on for an HD and SD card for $5000, but you need like one other HD thing for around $3000.

So, $8000. If I do decide to pursue it, I will have to wait. I don't feel like trying to sell my 1.6 ghz G5 and then saving up the cash for a 2 ghz DP. I'll wait until my next film, to be done on higher-end HD, is on deck (2005).

heath -->>>

Their deal for $5K is the Kona HD card and the AJA IO box. If you don't use Component video, or SDI or S video in your productions you don't need it. You don't need it for HD.

I'm not sure Eric is right about it needing to be a dual proc computer though. Could be, It wasn't something I checked as I had a dual G4.

Hope this helps

[Eric Bilodeau]

This might help settle the DP thing for the AJA, here is the correspondance I received from AJA:

"Hi Eric,

Thank you for your inquiry.

The DP 500 G4 is to slow. The G4 cannot update the FCP Canvas and Viewer
fast enough which causes dropped frames.

Initially, when the Kona-HD came out, we recommended a DP-1G. It too is
slow, but works. You get better performance with video scrubbing and
control of the deck in the Log and Capture window with a DP 1.25 G4 or
better.

The minimum configuration for the G4 is:

Processors: DP-1.25Ghz
Memory: 512MB
FCP 3.0 or FCP 4.0
OSX 10.2.x

Storage:
You will also need RAID storage and currently we recommend the
following:

Solution 1: Apple XRAID w/14-drives and 512MB cache option.

Solution 2: ATTO UL3D dual ultra-160 SCSI interface with at least 6
utlra-320 Seagate Cheetah drives split between two busses. You would
need a JBOD case that has two internal SCSI busses. Complete turnkey
RAID manufactures include: Rorke, Nstor, RAID Inc.

Lastly, we just lowered the price of the Kona-HD from $9,995.00 to
$3995.00, and for limited time, you can purchase a Kona HD with a AJA Io
for $4990.00.

http://www.aja.com/News/page14.html


The Kona-HD is certified for FCP 4 on a G4 and soon for a G5.

I hope this helps, please let me know if you have more questions.

Best regards,

Rudy

Rudy Van Kol
AJA Video Technical Support
Tel: 800-251-4224 ext.36
530-274-2048
Fax: 530-274-9442
Email: rudy@aja.com

AJA Video Systems
443 Crown Point Circle
Grass Valley, CA 95945 USA"

It does not specifically say that you need a dual but no single processor G4 can match a DP/1.25. As I said, for the G5 it is only an assumption but I suppose it might be the same. Cinewave seems to be able to work with single processors though (G4)...

[Heath McKnight]

I need to dig through my archives, but I think a single processor G5 was okay. The 1.6 ghz G5 is faster than the 1.42 ghz DP G4. I think Kona told me it was fine.

Also, CineWave sucks. I've been using it on 6 different BRAND NEW Apple and Wintel boxes with 50/50 results: works or doesn't.

heath