Re: A good card for HD monitoring?

Hi Bob,
Thanks for the quick reply! As for the Kona card, I was shocked at the noise it made as well! It was easily 3 or 4 times as loud as my entire Mac Pro (2009 edition), and louder than, say, a CalDigit HD Element I tested a while ago. I put the Kona into two different card slots, just in case it was seated incorrectly. Still very very loud (at idle no less). Also, you could hear the fan rev up even more when I would play video from the Timeline. When I paused playback the fan would then calm down a bit (but would still be way too loud for my tastes). At any rate, I returned it but might give it another try in case it was simply a bad unit.

As for monitoring cards, I was hoping that the Decklink SDI would work, because it's affordable and hey, no fan! I'm glad to hear you don't think there'd be a difference between that and more expensive cards....as far as monitoring goes. I just have to look into the frame rates it supports. My understanding, currently, is that it doesn't support some framerates I might be working in, like 720/30p. Gotta look into that..

Regarding Sleep: I use my Mac for lots of different things, not exclusively editing. When I'm not editing (and when a raid isn't on), I like the ability to put it to sleep and come back to it instantly.

Anyway, thanks very much for the feedback!