Instruction manual
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KONA 3 Installation and Operation Manual — Workflow General Notes
AJA Kona 10-bit
Log RGB and RGB
Codecs as related
to a 2K Workflow
Data rate: For 2048x1556 2K:
• When seen as a QuickTime movie at 23.98fps with a raster of 2048x1556, the data
rate is 300MB/second (approximately).
• When seen as a single frame DPX file with a 2048x1556 raster, the size is roughly
12+MB/frame.
• 2K uncompressed media necessitates the use of high-performance SCSI
or Fibre Channel drive arrays.
Quality: Excellent, with additional cost and labor savings over traditional 2K
workflows.
Workflow General Notes
The previously discussed codecs (DVCPRO HD, PhotoJPEG, DVCPRO 50, etc.) are
used in different ways based on project characteristics. Some codecs create very high
quality offline files at low data rates for projects that will ultimately be delivered as
uncompressed via an offline/online process; other projects may use these compressed
formats to create final masters. AJA provides Final Cut Pro Easy Setups for settings
that can be used in a “capture once-use in many steps” type of process. For example,
you might use offline files for editing, digital dailies for review from a digital projector,
location footage viewing and editorial performed on laptops - even creating screening
cuts of the project for approval and audience testing-all from one QuickTime file
using the DVCPro HD codec. Some examples of these scenario workflows are given
following.
HD Offline
Scenario #1
A popular way to edit long form content, such as feature films shot at 24fps film (or
23.98) is to take the telecine to HD tape masters, or the HD field masters (typically at
23.98fps) and then capture using the KONA 3 to a compressed format. An interesting
and very high quality option would be to use the DVCPRO HD codec to capture
from whatever deck you are using for your HD masters (typically HDcam or D5).
This allows for offline files that in the 1080PsF 23.98 format are under 12MB/sec.
and in the 720p raster are under 6MB/sec. This size and processing efficiency for the
codec allows for the use of multiple layers of RT effects and color correction in the
Final Cut Pro Dynamic RT environment. A choice of viewing quality (draft or high
quality modes) can be selected depending on how much RT is required and the speed
of your Apple computers processors. In addition to the low data rates, another
advantage is that your offline files are in the same timebase as your original master
tapes, greatly simplifying the online editing and finishing process.
A more traditional way (still supported by the KONA 3 using the on-board down-
conversion option, and Cinema Tools software) is to down-convert your HD masters
to an SD format (DVCam for example, at 29.97fps non-drop frame). This allows for
traditional lower cost SD monitoring equipment to be used, but results in the
changing of the editorial time base of your media for your offline editing, which then
must be dealt with via a somewhat complex series of software steps. Keeping your files
in the same timebase allows for a much simpler offline/online process, particularly
when dealing with 24p HD media. For 29.97 (59.94) HD projects, the complexity of
the changing time base is eliminated, but the same rules apply. In this case, using the
1080i DVCPRO HD setting for your offline gives you great quality results at data
rates about half the size of SD uncompressed files for offline-all the while allowing
editorial to be performed in a high quality compressed HD format.