[Gerry Condez] "I have a Canon HV30 and tried capturing 1080i, connected to the firewire in front of the G5."
OK...when you do that you are capturing via firewire, and not using the Kona card at all. The Kona card is a capture card. You attach decks to it, and then capture video using it. But the Kona 3x only captures via SDI, and that camera doesn't have SDI output, so that card cannot capture from that camera.
[Gerry Condez] "A question that I have is how does the Kona and FCP work together."
As stated, the Kona is a CAPTURE CARD. It isn't a hardware accelerator. It doesn't make the system run faster, it doesn't eliminate nor speed up rendering. It allows you to connect a deck (DVCPRO HD, Digibeta, HDCAM for example) and capture video, either as ProRes or Uncompressed, or DVCPRO HD...whatever the card and FCP support.
[Gerry Condez] "Rendering is very long for a 20 sec. clip with effects. Is that normal?"
Well, HOW long? With HDV native, yes, it is very normal to have long render times. That is a processor intensive format, HDV. The long GOP structure is the reason. Many people, myself included, capture HDV as ProRes. And this is possible via firewire, but you don't need the Kona to do it:
http://library.creativecow.net/articles/poisson_chris/hdv-prores.php
And the only way to capture to ProRes from that camera is to get the Convergent Design HD Connect SI device...converts Firewire to SDI and deck control...VERY sweet box. We use it for all the work we do with HDV. THEN the Kona card comes into play.
[Gerry Condez] "Anyone still uses a Kona 3x?"
Kona 3...the regular one, on a MacPro...not the 3x for PCIx machines...yes, I do.
Shane
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