is there any Hardware acceleration cards for DVCPROHD or HDV ?
 

I'm used to hardware acceleration on PC with both canopus and Pinnacle for the last 6 years. This has proven extremely helpfull and guaranteed render free times and a faster and more confortable workflow (as well as component inputs and external monitoring without the use of the Camera composite or s-video outs)

In the HD era, I presume current PC workstations are still keeping up with the large bandwith and high processing power of these hd codecs. Are there any hardware accelerators that can improve dvcprohd and hdv workflow for FCP like the matrox rt100 did for DV? All help is appreciated!

Hi Sergio,

The kona LH (annd now kona 3) series claims hardware acceleration for HDV and DVCproHD streams. But they don't seem to go into specifics about it.

www.aja.com

BTW: Had some great times in macau. How's business there?

Really? It's quite rare to find people that have actually been here! Well, development is going crazy with the new Gaming developments, and, sincerely, I think these are great days for comercial production in Macau. Demand for content is high, and many new oportunities appear!

Back to topic, John, I'm actually on a dual 2.7ghz Mac, so probably the Kona 3 and lh are not suitable for me due to the pci-x architecture of my machine.. How about the Kona 2? Anyone with results using that card? And one more thing: Does these cards come with proprietary codecs, like matrox and canopus had their proprietary Avi's?

Kona still makes a pci-x version of the kona LH, and The kona 2 has those hdv/dvcproHD acceleration functions too, as far as i know. I'm not sure exactly what this acceleration is exactly though.

It doesn't use a proprietary codec, just the included Quicktime codecs: HDV, DVCPROHD, Uncompressed etc.

Good to hear things are booming. Last time I was there was to talk with the guys from the Sands about doing some video work for them, that was a couple of years ago.

It's always good to have some more video contacts in South East Asia, is there anywhere I can see some of your work?

Probably better to email me, as this is getting off topic

No card provide hardware accelertion for FCP...not since FCP 3 and the IGNIGHTER. The only thing that helps is a fast processor.

The AJA cards provide realtime effects for their codecs...and can upconvert and downconvert on the fly, but not accelerate RT effects.

DVCPRO HD doesn't really need it. I am editing that format on a Dual 2ghz G5 and having a blast.

John, it seems like I can't e-mail you from the site (says you requested no e-mail communication)

Please send me an E-mail for further contact!

Shane, thanks for the info. I'm a bit concerned about rendering with dvcpro-hd. Are you using a Kona card, or straight firewire? Is there very significant quality loss after various renderings, or that's a non-issue?