Instruction manual

KONA 3G Installation & Operating Guide — Understanding Typical

Following are summaries of the most common codecs used in various workflows, providing

data rates and relative quality levels. Some workflows require a RAID array and some will work

using the host Apple computer's internal system drive (as noted where supported).

PhotoJPEG Data rate: approximately 1-3 MB/second (megabyte per second) standard definition or high

definition—supported by internal system drive

Quality: Very Good

The PhotoJPEG codec offers excellent compressed media for near on-line quality at low data

rates. PhotoJPEG can use full-raster 4:2:2 sampling. Final Cut Pro 7 allows quality adjustment

using a slider. To effectively encode to PhotoJPEG when capturing HD, the quality slider should

not be set past 35% for HD. It should be set higher for SD formats. KONA 3G allows PhotoJPEG

monitoring and output in both SD and HD and can capture from almost any HD or SD input,

directly to PhotoJPEG media.

DV (DV25) Data rate: 3+ MB/second standard definition only—supported by internal system drive

Quality: Good

DV is commonly input to an Apple computer via FireWire. KONA 3G can capture directly to DV

compressed media from an uncompressed SDI source. For devices without FireWire (IEEE1394 or

i.Link) connections, this allows the user to capture to this low data rate/good-quality codec.

While DV does offer good quality, it has lower chroma resolution compared to DV50, JPEG, or

uncompressed. The KONA 3G can convert DV projects to Uncompressed, in real time, for

monitoring and output even if the footage is not captured using the KONA 3G.

DV50 Data rate: 6+ MB/second standard definition only—supported by internal system drive

Quality: Very Good

Final Cut Pro 7 also supports the Panasonic DV50 standard definition codec. DV50 is a 4:2:2

compressed format and has higher chroma resolution than DV25. As with DV25, KONA 3G can

convert DV50 projects to uncompressed, in real time, for monitoring and output. KONA 3G can

capture from its SDI input, directly to DV50 compression.

DVCPRO HD Data rate: 6 to 14 MB/second high definition—supported by internal system drive

Quality: Excellent

KONA 3G has hardware support for capture from HD-SDI to the DVCPRO HD codec. KONA 3G's

hardware also takes some of the DVCPRO HD codec processing load off the CPU, allowing more

computer processor time for Dynamic RT effects in Final Cut Pro 7.

HDV Data rate: 2+ MB/second high definition—supported by internal system drive

Quality: Very Good to Excellent

While the structure of HDV (Long GOP MPEG2) makes it nearly impossible to ingest in realtime,

you can use KONA 3G to convert HDV projects to uncompressed-in real time on playback-for

monitoring and output.