Few questions on the AJA mini.

Jason Davenport

Jason Davenport

Well-known member
Have a shoot coming up with 2 F-3's and using AJA mini's. Took my F-3 to rental house to check out mini and make some tests. And was wondering, when I pulled the CF cards and put in usb reader nothing came up and computer (PC) did not see it.
I'm guessing here, that I am trying to see ProRes 422 (Apple codec) on a PC, is that the deal?
If so how will I transfer to client? I'm all PC.
Do I need to buy a Macbook to even deal with ProRes 422?
And what does the file structure look like? Is it just a list of numbered clips like XDCam or all that contents and last clip mess like P2.

FYI I was talking to a AC friend and he mentioned a little warning on the mini. He said he had lost clips due to the clip name being too long, so make them short. He had four takes and only got last one because file name info would carry over to next clip somehow and mess it up.

Thanks for help.
 
can't speak for any of that, but just wanted to make sure you know that it doesn't do clip spanning. I know they say they never said it would, and its my fault for just assuming (the two card slots lulled me into that one) but it still caught me off guard.
 
the cards are formatted HFS, mac hard drive formatting. first you need to install "MacDrive" on your pc, second I've ready that at the moment only 1 usb reader works correctly, and that's the "symba" usb reader. Apparently windows only uses a generic driver to read CF cards, and will continually try to read the cards as fat32 rather than like a hard drive which HFS does and cause a conflict. Not sure if they fixed that issue as of late, here's the link i read about it.

http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/archive/index.php/t-494559.html

hope that helps.
 
Apple has Windows versions of ProRes codec for Windows NLEs that can use QuickTime media.

So I'm 90% sure Avid MC and Premiere are gonna work out just fine on Windows. Just need that MacDrive to read HFS disks.
 
Worked with one a lot. Like they said, use macdrive for a PC. You will see a simple AJA folder where all the pure .mov clips are held. Very simple. You can open and view instantly, drag onto another drive, etc. It is so much easier than anything else I have seen... none of that P2 or xdcam packaging stuff. I used a simple CF card reader that fits easily in my pocket and plugs into the USB. No problems at all on two PC's and two Mac's so far.
 
The SLOT button on the Ki Pro Mini gracefully un-mounts media. Think of it this way: the device auto-mounts media, just like your Mac computer, but just like your Mac computer, if you just remove a drive that is mounted without ejecting it properly, you get a "warning" prompt about the improper removal. This prompt appears because you have not gracefully removed the media and the directory for the media can become compromised doing this type of thing. Once a file directory is compromised, you can possibly experience issues mounting the media, reading from the media or writing to the media. AJA stresses the proper use of the SLOT button in our documentation.

The manual for the AJA Ki Pro Mini is available on-line from the AJA website. Use of the SLOT button is noted on pages 10, 14, 28, and 52:
http://www.aja.com/pdf/AJA_Ki_Pro_Mini_Manual_v2.5.pdf

If you have any operational questions about the Ki Pro Mini (or any other AJA product) that on-line documentation doesn't seem to answer, feel free to contact AJA Technical Support.

Hope this is helpful.
 
I'd also make sure to format the cards before using them for the first time. Also, dont delete files from it on your computer, do it all on the KiPro. If you get hung up for some reason, rebooting fixes most issues.
 
just to go with the slot button to avoid corruption or mis handling always do a dummy clip before pressing slot and removing the card.
With the Kipro The corruption that Jon was talking about make the last clip recorded unusable so if you do a "dummy clip / Blank clip of 2 sec" you add a layer of safety.

Often the last Take is the good one !!!!
 
unproperly unmounting the media will ruin the mounting file structure. reads fine on the computer, but won't mount on the ki mini anymore and it will ask you to format. so you can still run your backup, and than format. but format takes forever so best not to eject improperly. use the "delete clips" option rather tahn format to get rid of the clips on your card. my honest opinion, best way to use it is laptop tethered...
 
Another issue that kinda terrifies me. If you have the KiPro (on mini) up and running (ie. the device mounted and ready) and you accidentally loose power/battery goes dead, it becomes corrupt and you can no longer use the media until reformat. While the stuff you shot still remains accessible, it's a REAL problem if you run up against an issue of loosing power a couple of times...it happens.
AJA are you listening??
 
AJA does listen to your feedback. Typically, you should not see a "WARNING Backup and Reformat" prompt appear unless the directory for the media has been compromised. The most common cause of this prompt is improper removal of the media from the Ki Pro or Ki Pro Mini without using the SLOT button. The prompt can also appear if there is a sudden loss of power while recording as the file directory may not have time to close the file in such cases; the Ki Pro and the Ki Pro Mini do have a low voltage record stop function, but sometimes batteries "cliff off" too fast to achieve this.

If you have never contacted AJA Technical Support before, I would suggest doing so if you have operational questions or concerns. The support is provided free of charge Monday through Friday from 9am to 5pm PST via phone or email.
 
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