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KONA 3 Installation and Operation Manual — Using The KONA 3 Control
Framebuffer
—the framebuffer is the “engine” in the KONA 3 card
where active video operations take place. The framebuffer has a
format (called the “Primary Format” and color space that it
follows, as defined in the AJA Control Panel screens or via external
application software.
It is important to realize that inside the computer workstation
many applications can use the KONA 3 card (as you switch from
window to window) and it may not always be obvious which is
currently controlling it. The KONA 3 Control Panel displays the
name of the application controlling the card in red text at the top
of the control panel block diagram. If an application does not properly “let go” of the
card as another takes over-you'll be able to tell by looking at the Control Panel.
Primary Format
—the video format currently assigned to KONA 3. This is the format that
the framebuffer will use and is shown in the Control Panel using the color blue. All
icons in blue are the same as the Primary Format used by the framebuffer. Also any
text descriptions in the block diagram that appear in blue also indicate that
something is in the primary format. So, for example, if you see that the input and
output icons are blue, then you know that the same format is used throughout the
video path and that no format conversion is being performed. If a different color is
displayed on the input or output, green for example, then you know that KONA 3 is
performing a format conversion in the video path.
Secondary Format
—any format other than the currently selected Primary Format, is a
secondary format. As described previously, this means that either the Inputs or
Outputs are somehow different from the framebuffer’s assigned format (i.e., the
“Primary Format”). This can be seen at a glance because the color will be different
than blue.
Input/Output Icons
—the input and output icons are triangles that together with their
color show all the input and outputs and their status (selected, not selected, input
present or not, format, etc.). A complete video path is shown when inputs and
outputs are connected with lines going to/from the framebuffer.
Input/Output Icons
Conversion Icons
—when an input or output is a different standard than the framebuffer
then the KONA 3 may be up-converting, down-converting or cross-converting the
signal to the proper standard. This may be automatic, because it's detected an input
signal that differs from the standard currently selected, or because you've explicitly
told it to convert. In either case, the block diagram will show the conversion by
displaying a conversion icon in between the input/output and the framebuffer. In
the case of cross-conversion, the type of cross-convert will be shown under the icon
(in the example that follows, it's “1080 to 720”).
Down, Up, and Cross Conversion Icons
Color Meanings
—all items in the KONA 3 Control Panel block diagram are color-coded
to show what is happening in realtime. This applies to both icons and text. These
colors have the following corresponding meanings:
Blue:
video is same format as the Primary Format (framebuffer)
Red:
the selected operation cannot be performed or an invalid selection has been
made
Yellow:
reference video (black burst or other reference source)
Green:
indicates that KONA 3 is performing some kind of active change to the video,
to make it different from the Primary Format (e.g., up/down convert, format change,
etc.).
