AJA Kona 3 - Mac Pro - PAL Land

[roryhinds]

I have a Kona3 card and have been having nothing but problems with it.

AJA have sent a replacement card as well as a replacement cable, I've even replaced the Mac Pro and still issues persist.

Just wanting to hear if anyone is using Kona3 in PAL connected to a PAL Digibeta and M2000 HD deck. Monitoring via HDLink to a LCD.

I'm getting sparkles on the HDLink monitor with it consistently dropping the signal. I also get a frame swopping issue from the Kona3 reference loop.

After weeks of trouble and many isolation sessions, swopping this for that then that for this to find the problem the only thing it points to is the Kona3 is bad so I need to get a Decklink.

Seems odd with AJA being connected to Apple and there Kona3 card not working like this in PAL land.

AJA are being cool with tech support although they don't have a PAL setup to test so they are working in the dark - crazy!

[Sanjin Jukic]

Instead of BM HDLink get AJA HDP
HD-SDI/SDI to DVI-D and Audio Converter

http://www.aja.com/images/prodcardmid/converters/HDP.gif

LINK >>
(http://www.aja.com/html/products_converters_HDP.html)

Then it should work.

[roryhinds]

Hi Sanjin

Thanks for the sales pitch... could you confirm you're using Kona3 with a Pal Digibeta and HD M2000 decks?

HDLink should work as it does with a direct link from the deck so I know its the Kona3 card thats the issue.

[Sanjin Jukic]

The best to ask one of AJA dealers serving United Kingdom

LINK >> (http://www.aja.com/where_buy.php?search=T&zip=Zip&distance=200&state=&country=231&productsmac=T&productswin=T&productscon=T)

[roryhinds]

The AJA HCP is the same as the HDLink so I don't see how this will solve the problem I'm having with the Kona3 Output.

I've been talking to UK & USA AJA so have that covered... what I'm trying to do now is hear from people using Kona3 like I am.

[Sanjin Jukic]

Rory,

the logic is that AJA product is (100% certified by AJA) compatible with other AJA products and according to that BM product is (100% certified by BM) compatible with other BM products. Otherwise they would not sell. About a cross brand compatibility is always issue. You should call and ask experts by AJA or BM.

[roryhinds]

doesn't explain the output problem I'm having feeding the VTR's.

Believe me I've been trying to solve this issue for the last 3 weeks and its not the HDLink, which by the way just takes in a HD or SD SDI signal and displays it on a DVI monitor wether its from a Digibeta deck, HD deck or AJA card... a video signal is a video signal.

Buying into everything AJA is pure marketing, like everything Sony or Panasonic.

[David Cubbage]

Rory, are you using a breakout box with the Kona card? I had issues with a Kona card, not the Kona3, and changed the card but still had the same problems. I was told that there were never problems with the breakout boxes. However once I had replaced the break out box, everything worked fine. Incidently I am in Pal land, UK.

David.

[roryhinds]

Thanks David.

I don't have the breakout box and have been through 2 Kona3 and 2 cables plus 2 completely different Mac Pro's and the problem stills there.

Are you using a Kona3?

[Nick Shaw]

When I upgraded my edit suite to HD, I had some sparkles and signal loss on my monitoring via HDLink on an LCD screen. It was there for some sources and not for others.

The solution I found was replacing all the cabling and the patch bay, as the older cables and slightly dirty patch bay contacts while fine for SD-SDI, were not up to the job for HD-SDI. The different results depending on the source appeared to be due to the signal being more robust from some devices than others.

My system is all based around Blackmagic kit, so it was not a manufacturere related problem. Not used a Kona 3, so can't comment specifically on that, but my system is mainly used with PAL Digi Beta material, and some 25p HD-Cam and Varicam material.

Are you getting the sparkles on SD material from the Kona, or just SD?

[Nick Shaw]

Since Blackmagic design are an Australian company, they should theoretically have more understanding of issues related to 25fps material than AJA. I have not necesssarily always found this to be the case though. Everybody seems to develop for NTSC first, and PAL support seems often added on as an afterthought.

I have been very happy with all the Blackmagic design kit I've owned over the years. The only major gripe I have is that they claim their down-conversion is 'broadcast quality', which I dispute strongly. I would certainly not make an SD master from a Decklink down-converted signal.

I had (actually still have) an original AJA Io, and was not very happy with how long it took AJA to get the firmware right for that to work properly in PAL. I have heard though that they have subsequently got a lot better with software development.

[David Cubbage]

I don't have a Kona3 at the moment, but I will do when I update my G5 to Intel Mac Pro once I get my Red.

I know how frustrated you must feel and hope AJA can sort it for you soon!

David

[roryhinds]

my first port of call was to replace the cables so I know the cables are good.
Sparkles and drop out happen are both SD and HD from the Kona3 card.

If I connect the VTR directly to the HDLink I have no issues thus its the Kona3 for sure.

I do find it strange how few people are actually using the Kona3.

Yes PAL is always a after thought with these companies and I find it amazing how they don't even have PAL equipment to do test with, crazy when their marketing claims are so bold.

[Simon Blackledge]

Rory, have you tried laying off with no monitoring? ie just the kona sdi straight to the deck with nothing else in the loop?

Have you tried taking the macpro down to 2gig ?

Si

[roryhinds]

yeah took it down to 2Gb and done the no loop thing.

I'd say I've pretty much done everything, just waiting for a full moon now :-)

[Simon Blackledge]

I hate things like this :-/

tbh BM support ain't that hot.. sent issues about 2 weeks ago and no response :-/ at least your getting through to AJA, though I know that doesn't help the issue.

I take it it's dropping with everything.. not just prores or just 4:4:4 clips?

Is it dropping on capture and layoff ?

which slot is it in? also what HBA are you using. And have you unhooked all the control surfaces etc..?

s

[roryhinds]

unhooked everything and striped it back to bare bones. Still no joy.

Yes I've noticed BM support sucks these days, I guess they are pretty big now so don't have the resources to offer support.

The signal drops and behaves weird on both playback and playin.

My drives are fine and I'm not getting any drop frames, they achieve 400Mb/s

How come there aren't many AJA Kona3 users?

[RivaiC]

I'm living in PAL country and i never had a single glitch with AJA KONA 3 either HD, SD, you name it.

I strongly sense it's something simple, but not being able to see directly the stuff. It would be hard to comment what's wrong. Check AJA KONA control panel to see if everything is ok.

Otherwise you could contact KONA technical support. Rudy particularly, he's very very helpful.

And BTW, if you said Digibeta. Have u set the downconversion second channel SDI to PAL then (if your source is HD) ? if your source is SD, forget my questions

Regards

[Michael Brennan]

This may help troubleshoot;
I'm using a Kona 3 into a MacPro dual Quad.
I'm capturing straight from camera HDSDI.
No deck or RS control connected.

No dropped frames or sparkles.


Mike Brennan

[Dominic Jones]

Hi Rory,

Any update on this? I was thinking of moving to the Kona for our new system, which would be much like yours.

Cheers mate - hope you've got your problem sorted...
Dom.

[SashkaMish]

unhooked everything and striped it back to bare bones. Still no joy.

Yes I've noticed BM support sucks these days, I guess they are pretty big now so don't have the resources to offer support.

The signal drops and behaves weird on both playback and playin.

My drives are fine and I'm not getting any drop frames, they achieve 400Mb/s

How come there aren't many AJA Kona3 users?

Do you have any black burst generators in your setup? Any reference inputs?
Did you try to set your card to work in "freerun" mode in Kona control panel?
I had some issues like this with KonaLH.

[FREWY]

Guys we use Kona 3s in PAL environments a lot, they are fine

You have mis set the VTR

Both BMD and KONA support PAL just fine.

are you insert editing a blacked tape, if so the settings of the deck are critical.

I bet that stop light is flashing