The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), the country’s largest national broadcaster, has purchased 46 AJA KONA 3 video capture and playback solutions from AJA Video as part of a nationwide overhaul of the network’s editing pipeline, writes Andy Stout.
Kona 3 is AJA’s top-of-the-line I/O solution for SD, HD, Dual Link HD and 2K pipelines. The AJA KONA 3s allow ABC to streamline their Apple Final Cut Pro editorial workflow and quickly and easily work with video files in Panasonic DVCPro 50 and DVCPro HD, and Apple ProRes 422 formats.
ABC chose to standardise on the KONA 3 for many reasons, including its ability to enable real-time hardware-based conversions, configurable to any of its video outputs. Other factors that weighed into the decision include AJA’s reputation for reliability, superior warranty and technical support and AJA’s close developer relationship with Apple.
“We are seeing many of the highest-end customers make the shift to Apple Final Cut Pro across facilities and networks both in the US and around the world. We’re very pleased that the Australian Broadcasting Corporation has elected to upgrade their pipeline and standardise across the board on Kona 3 for video capture and playback,” said AJA president Nick Rashby.
Kona 3 is an uncompressed capture card for seamless operation with PCI Express (PCIe) Apple Mac Pro and G5 Power Mac systems and Apple Final Cut Pro. Supporting any uncompressed SD or HD format, including Dual Link HD and 2K, Kona 3 captures and plays back uncompressed 10-bit and 8-bit digital video and 24-bit digital audio, providing unparalleled power
and workflow efficiency. Kona 3 also includes a variety of 10-bit broadcast-quality features, such as hardware-based up-, down-, and cross-conversion to and from HD, and adds a live hardware HD/SD keyer for compositing bugs, live clips, and other elements over video.
