Aja Kona or Multibridge Extreme?

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Eljoninjo

Well-known member
Which one you think is the best product of Aja Kona (3 or LHE) versus Blackmagic design's multibridge? If its not clear wich product that is the best buy, Im glad to hear the pros and cons.

Does Kona 3 have all the features as Kona LHE? LHE has 12-bit SD anlog component/composite/s-Video I/O but I cant find this feature in the Kona 3.


Im going to use it for outputing to a crt monitor while editing/compositing. I have the hvx200 but want to have opportunity to capture from other "High End" cameras, and even from analog sources like vcr.
 
Kona LH has analog I/O, which the Kona 3 does not. Kona 3 gives you dual-link 4:4:4 capabilities, but that might be a lot more than you need. My gut would be to tell you to go with Kona .

Ned Soltz
 
depends on what you need/want - they all have different capabilities.

Kona3 does 4:4:4, has SD to HD upconvert, handles 2K to HD-SDI and analog HD component

LH3 does analog in, but no 4:4:4 or upconvert

Multibridge Extreme lacks SD-HD upconvert, but does analog/digital cross conversion both ways, as well as DVI/HDMI output, including 2K to Apple/Dell 30" LCD...but doesn't send 2K over HD-SDI or analog component

Match to your needs. If you're an everyday HD editor, I'd look at BlackMagic DeckLink HD Extreme (pretty much same as LHe), the LHe, and maybe Multibridge Pro. Kona3/Multibridge Extreme are the heavy artillery.

-mike
 
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Hi:

I have had the Kona 3 with the HVX-200 for about six months. i LOVE it, it is the most reliable, easy to use piece of gear I own. Flawless, great tech support with free constant updates and additional features.

For me, I cannot live without the SD to HD hardware-based upconversion, it's amazingly good quality. For anyone working with archival NTSC/PAL material, I think you would be crazy to NOT use the Kona 3. Have you priced out what quality upconversion costs? For an average project, you would spend many times the price of your entire computer, HD card, etc. just to convert a few hours of footage.

NONE of the BMD products do SD to HD upconversion. That seals the deal for me. The BMD product is very good and if I had a strictly HD workflow, I would consider them. But if you deal with SD material in your HD workflow, Kona 3 is the way to go.

All the best,

Dan
 
Hi,

i have quite the same problem, but having final cut pro, i wonder which card has the better real time effect support. I intend to do some massive green screen in hd, so if i could do it in real time it will be great.
 
Kona 3 will take an SD timeline and then upconvert to HD to go SDI to HD deck.

It sounds to me as if our original poster really just needed more basic features and, at that, the LH is far from a basic card. If money is no object, go with the Kona 3. If you need an ingest solution for both SD and HD, HD monitoring and SD or HD output, the LH is an excellent choice that will save some money.

Ned Soltz
 
I will probely go with the Kona LHe cause it will give me the features of analog I/O and the DVCPROHD hardware acceleration. I will miss the hd upconversion of Kona 3 but I need the LHe analog I/O more
(nsoltz, did you mean it doesn't make a file thats hd so you have to have a HD deck to record the upconversion?, hope not).

I would like to run cineforms codec with it (wating for the mac realase). One user also claimed that Kona LHe worked under windows bootcamp aswell (think I read that at creativecow forum).

The duallink 4:4:4 is probely an overkilll since I think that when I buy a new "heavier camera" i will go for one that records to hardisk (Dont want to go back to tapes).

So the feature I would miss the most of Multibrigde Extrem would be the DVI-D video output for pixel for pixel display on a LCD display. Is there any other way to get this cheap?
 
Oh sorry, thanks for all answers. As cheasy it may sound I must say I really love the dvxuser forum to get it out of the system.

cheers.
 
AJA as well as Decklink sell SDI -> DVI converters. Other excellent option is the Matrox MXO but that would be a little more expensive than the converter box.

Ned
 
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