AJA KONA 3G, Installation And Operation Manual

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done much earlier. Offline editing can be done in Final Cut Pro and with the flexibility of
Final Cut Pro and QuickTime, even a 2K online is possible.
4K Playout Mode
KONA 3G offers 4K playback in both YCbCr and RGB. When 4K playout is selected, the four
SDI connectors are remapped as outputs for driving the four quadrants of a 4K display. A
large number of 4K formats are supported for this emerging workflow; see the
specifications (
“Video Formats” on page 117
) for supported 4K formats.
Hardware-based Acceleration
Final Cut Pro users will likely notice the DVCPROHD, HDV, and Apple RT Extreme hardware
acceleration provided by KONA 3G. This hardware acceleration was developed in close
cooperation with Apple. How does KONA 3G accelerate DVCPROHD, HDV, and Apple RT
Effects? A precision hardware scalar in KONA 3G does what the Apple computer's processor
would otherwise have to do, scale less than full-raster HD (DVCProHD and HDV) to full-
raster size, thus speeding up the system considerably—and doing this scaling at full 10-bit
broadcast quality.
When using the Final Cut Pro HDV codec, the KONA 3G advanced scaling engine takes the
native frame (long GOP 1440 HD) and outputs it via hardware-in real time. Precision AJA
circuitry re-sizes the video to full-raster 1920 x 1080, providing instantaneous playback of
HDV captured by Final Cut Pro for both monitoring and recording.
Unlike the DV25 format, which can preview in realtime natively via Final Cut Pro, the MPEG
structure of HDV is much more complex. Fortunately, KONA 3G can provide real time
monitoring and playback to both HD and SD monitors and decks via the realtime hardware
scaler and down-converter on board.
In addition to speeding up Final Cut Pro Dynamic RT by using the KONA scalar, multiple
frame size RT (1/4 size or full size)—a Final Cut Pro feature—also benefits from KONA 3G.
The frame count and image size are dynamically changed during file playback, so you don't
get the “un-rendered” message in Final Cut Pro.
Internal HD/SD Hardware Downstream Keyer
KONA 3G provides a powerful hardware keyer that can place graphic files with an alpha
channel over video in a selectable matte or the contents of the card's framebuffer from a
software application (AJA TV / Apple's Final Cut Pro / AJA's VTR Xchange). Key a bug or text
over picture and avoid what might normally be a lengthy software render. Also, working
with these software applications, you can key video that has an alpha-channel over video
input or a matte. For example, you can load a QuickTime clip that has an alpha-channel (a
flying logo generated in the Animation codec) into AJA TV and then place it over live video
coming into the card and then passing both on to a VTR for recording or broadcast.