Why AJA Kona LHi/LHe/LSe cards not VirtualDub compatible?
 

It is mentioned in the thread "Best ATI All In Wonder card alternatives, to transfer tapes to digital" that the AJA Kona LHi/LHe/LSe cards are not VirtualDub compatible.

I was wondering why that is? I checked their website and they have both Mac and Windows drivers. How do you capture with these cards? I saw Final Cut mentioned in the manual. Is this the only application that can use these cards?

Not recognized as vfw capture card.

What capture software is compatible and recommended for use with Aja Kona cards?

What version Kona card do you have?
Aja has it's own capture/setup utility that comes with drivers for your specific card.

I bought a used Aja Kona LHe card. It won't arrive for another week or so though.

Are you on windows or mac ? These cards are extremely picky about the input signal,
and need a TBC TIME BASE CORRECTOR either from the vcr, or a standalone unit.
I guess your card is comming with the breakout cable with it?

I use 1 of 3 different vcrs connected thru svhs to a Leitch DPS 575 TBC into the Kona 3 Breakout box,
with excellent results. I was fortunate that a local tv station gave me 2 of the Leitch units that have the Noise Reduction option enabled.

I am highly familiar with setting up the Kona cards to do what you want,so I can help you when you get it.

My main system is a Windows 10 machine. I'd prefer to use it as it is the most powerful. I also have a 2011 MacBook Pro and a so-called "hackintosh" running High Sierra on roughly ~2008 vintage x86 hardware.

I've talked to lordsmurf about a PAL TBC and fortunately one became available. Last I heard from him he was looking up shipping costs.

The card does not come with a cable. I had to order one separately.

I'd appreciate the help once the card and cables arrive. I'm new to this. :)

If your getting a TBC from lordsmurf, I'm sure he will treat you right.
The problem you may encounter is on windows machines,as the older AJA cards are considered legacy and
are not supported after windows 7. I can't tell you about mac's as I am a windows user.

Here's the link to your aja info

https://www.aja.com/support/legacy/kona-lhe

I use a legacy AJA Kona 3 for Windows 10 Pro capture system. There is a somewhat updated driver available for that card and works with Win10.

The legacy driver available for LHe card should work with Win 10. Download the complete package that has the drivers and capture software. I believe you can’t use Huffyuv or Lagerith with the Kona cards. I use it to capture 8-bit uncompressed.

hi Billuke

any tips you could provide for setting up a Kona LSe card on a Windows 10 machine would be greatly appreciated.

I've just recieved the card, installed it in my machine, installed the drivers from AJA legacy support - the 5.5.2 drivers and Machina 4.2.1.0 (as well as quicktime 7.7.9) - The device manager seems to recognise the card but when I open Machina the UI is all weirdly garbled, all the latin characters have been replaced with gibberish symbols, making it kind of impossible to use (see pic) There's also no input image at all in the Machina window.

any suggestions on how to proceed from here greatly appreciated.

should I install a fresh version of windows 7 or 8 ?

so near but so far....

Hi, I actually don't use Machina but in the past when I did had the same problem with text in it.
Don't remember but I think I un- installed it and installed again and the text was fine.
You should really try to move up to KONA 3.
At least it supports newer control room software which is much easier to use than Machina.
What video card are you using? Could also be drivers messing with Machina.I have win 10 maybe I'll install it and see if I can duplicate your problem.

Just installed in Win 10,No problem with text.
Don't know why pic is upside down,but text is ok on Machina.

Hey 23fps whats happening? Haven't seen you post any replies.
Curious if your still working on this issue.

Hi billuke

apologies for not coming back to the thread, it's been a journey.

So it turned out the garbled text was a OpenGL issue, likely due to the fact that I had to take out the GPU to fit in the Kona LSe and was using the motherboards inbuilt graphics. In any case I put it in another box and rolled back to Windows 8 and got it going OK.

But I wasn't really loving windows 8 or the ancient PC and the capture was comparable with the BMD Shuttle and I was leaning back in that direction. Then I saw that AJA had licensed ProRes for Control Room which was kind of a big deal for my production workflow. I managed to get a pretty sweet LHe+ for an OK price and it is now running very nicely with ProRes capture on a very contemporary Win10 Box. Using "Component BETA" as the input is capturing the best dynamic range of my many test setups to date. My last remaining issue is the blanking on the left hand of the frame that the Panasonic EH57 is doing (I'm losing 7-8 pixels), but it's a price I'm willing to pay for the stabilisation...

now I really need to get onto digitising these 25yr old Hi8 tapes before they evaporate entirely.

Glad you got sorted out.
So your saying you're capturing thru machina with prores codec on windows pc? Didn't know prores was supported.
I have to check out machina again and see if prores is on my system.

Just checked and I have no prores option. Doesen't matter, I capture uncompressed video.

@billuke:

What software do you prefer for capturing 8-bit uncompressed? That's what I plan to do with a Kona card as well. I'm presently getting everything set up and now I'm at the software stage. Thanks in advance.

You are using your workflow unefficiently, The Leitch DPS575 is more than just a TBC, it is an analog to digital converter and that's its main function, You should use its SDI output and feed the lossless digital video stream to the Aja Kona SDI input, You will get rock solid picture because you are converting from analog to digital only once vs twice with your current workflow setup.

Not sure what your saying here. I'm only converting once. I know exactly what the DPS is and does. I get rock solid output with my workflow,and would put it up against anyone's workflow here. However I'm always open minded to take advice from you fine members here so thanks for your input.
Bill

Describe exactly your workflow with connectors and cables and I will show you where you are converting from analog to digital twice.