Re: DeckLink

Marco

don't confuse Mhz with gate count. while i agree that gate count isn't the ONLY determining factor in performance, it is a VERY good indicator. i emailed john abt about the kona potential and he told me that the kona will NEVER be able to do RT DVE stuff like the cinewave because the kona doesn't have the gate count that the cinewave has. doesn't make the kona a bad card - as you know, it is a great card - but it does mean it IS hardware limited for potential performance compared to the cinewave. i mean, just look at the math:

Kona SD: 600,000 gates
Kona HD: 1,500,000 gates
Cinewave: 1,500,000 gates

the two with 1.5 million gates can do HD and the one with 600,000 can't.

so gate counts matter. and regarding the 24 frame ability of cinewave HD vs. SD, they are the same card - so it is a software difference.

you say that the decklink is "not a powerhouse as compared to the Kona SD" - i'd love to see the gate count to show this. seems to me from the listed capability of both cards that the decklink may in fact match the kona in gate count (or at least be very close) - which would mean the difference would be the audio I/O. not sure it would be worth it for a $2300 difference.

i'd love to think that Quartz Extreme, OS X, and dual processor macs are making capture card power irrelevant, but i don't see it yet. i think the fact that media100 has released the 844/X suggests that personal computers are in fact a ways away from making capture cards irrelevant for performance. i know it is a LOT more money than a kona or cinewave, but is IS much less than a smoke.

anyway, care to share the word on the new RT effects in cinewave X? it would be nice if it would be RGBA.