Black Magic Deck Extreme vs Kona LS for PCI
by Dennis Dean
on
Jul 20, 2008 at 1:18:45 pm
I'm considering a Kona LS or BlackMagic's Deck Extreme for use with a Mac G5 Dual with FCP Studio 2. I'm migrating up to HD but need to keep good quality (analog) SD as I do so, and I'm wondering what I should be considering to make a choice between the two.
One question revolves around this statement by Kona:
"Using superb quality 12 bit video A/D and D/A converters, analog formats like BetaCam SP have never looked better."
Blackmagic does not mentioning 12 bit video for analog, but does mention "...true 10 bit..."
Whichever I choose I need something that will fit the G5's PCI slots.
This may not be an issue and there could be other issue's I'm not aware of... and I'd appreciate any guidance in this arena. As I am primarily creative content (not technical) I just don't know...
Re: Black Magic Deck Extreme vs Kona LS for PCI by Luke Maslen on Jul 23, 2008 at 3:39:31 am
Hi Dennis,
If your G5 has PCI slots, then they run too slow for DeckLink cards and it might be that the Kona LS would be a solution for you. If you have a G5 with PCI-X slots, then you could certainly use the DeckLink Extreme card. It is a 10-bit SDI card which also has analog input and output. It's one of our older PCI cards and so doesn't have higher bit DA converters but it can be used in both Macs and PCs unlike other cards.
All of our DeckLink and Multibridge PCI Express hardware have a newer design with 14-bit analog DA conversion. The DeckLink HD Extreme 2 is the price of an SD card but includes full-resolution, real time SD, HD and 2K support.
So your choice will be partly dictated by which kind of PCI slots are in your Dual G5 and you should check that carefully as there are dual G5's with PCI, PCI-X and PCI Express slots.
Re: Black Magic Deck Extreme vs Kona LS for PCI by Dennis Dean on Jul 23, 2008 at 11:33:06 am
Thanks, Luke - From everything I can tell this is an earlier G5 with plain old PCI slots, no X, no e, no 33, etc. Right now I'm thinking of investing in just the minimum -to get SD only into and out of the G5 - while I try to budget a MacPro and a full-featured card. At present I'm digitizing my SD in another system (a legacy Media 100) and bringing it over to the G5 to edit with Final Cut. That's really still in test mode, though, as I learn FCP.
Dennis Dean
The Dean Group
-It's about results-
www.deangroup.com
Re: Black Magic Deck Extreme vs Kona LS for PCI by Luke Maslen on Jul 24, 2008 at 3:01:28 am
Hi Dennis,
That makes sense as there's not a lot of point in paying more for a card now if you're going to be upgrading to a Mac Pro in the near future.
Here's how to tell which PCI slots you have in your G5.
1. G5's have either 4 or 8 memory slots. If it only has 4 memory slots, then the G5 has 33 MHz PCI slots. The PCI slots in G5's run slower than the PCI slots in G4's and DeckLink PCI cards won't work with them.
2. If there are 8 memory slots in your G5, then you either have PCI-X or PCI Express slots. If there is one ethernet port on the back of the G5, it contains PCI-X slots. If it has two ethernet ports, it contains PCI Express slots.
Re: Black Magic Deck Extreme vs Kona LS for PCI by Luke Maslen on Jul 25, 2008 at 12:21:06 am
Hi Dennis,
Unfortunately that rules out the use of DeckLink PCI cards in your G5. The DeckLink PCI cards are 66 MHz cards which run at full speed in a 66 MHz or faster slot. They also run fine in 33 MHz PCI slots of a PowerMac G4 but, strangely not in the 33 MHz PCI slots of base model G5's. This appears to be due to the slots not running at full speed.
My guess is that a slower card which only runs at 33 MHz would be more likely to work reliably in these slots but it would be best to check with card owners about compatibility before purchase.
