AJA KI Pro

Via Mark at Offhollywood blogging from NAB Marks site

AJA kicked NAB off today with new product announcements which include io Express - Io Express - works on a Mac and ... on a PC!

Hi5-3G - 1080p50/60p over Dual-link 1.5G SDI or over 3G SDI, HDMI v1.3a capability at 30 bits per pixel allows full support of the latest 10 bit monitors. USB connectivity allows for PC/MAC setup in the feild, and ... Psf frame rate is supported.

HDP2 - The HDP2 is a miniature HD-SDI/SDI to DVI-D converter for digital display devices, such as LCD, DLP, and Plasma monitors or projectors. Using a very high quality scaling engine and de-interlacer, the HDP2 will automatically size 4:3 or 16:9 inputs to many DVI-D monitors.

Kona LHi -new PCIe Kona card -3G SDI I/O, HDMI 1.3a I/O, 1080p50/60 over 3G SDI, LTC timecode support, Hardware based Up and Cross-conversion, in addition to the LHeʼs Down-conversion. Better overall bandwidth for improved RAM Preview in Graphics/Compositing Apps

What does this mean for the pricing of the current KONA LHe?

The MSRP on the LHe drops almost $500 to $1295 effective at NAB, while supplies last.

But the REALLY BIG NEWS is the Ki PRO. At just under $4000 this is a tapeless video recording device that records high quality Apple ProRes 422 Quicktime files direct to disc. SD/HD-SDI, HDMI, and analog inputs. An olptional "exo-skeleton" puts the unit in a chassis that can both on a tripod with the camera.

Many cameras have outputs that bypass on-camera compression - so, for example - if you take the 10-bit HD-SDI feed from a Varicam into the device - you would record higher quality files that the actual camera is capable of.

Another obvious benefit is that some shows use a variety of different cameras and recording formats. Using Ki Pro's would allow all media shot to be in 1920x1080 Prores - ready to edit.

After Effects 3D Camera to 3D Apps

It has long been a feature of Cinema 4D that animation data, including camera animation settings, can be exported for use in After Effects. Which is fantastic, provided you do all of your camera animation for 3D/2D work in Cinema. If most of your camera animation is happening in After Effects, you would seem to be out of luck matching the camera in 3D. Untrue.

AE3D_Export will send the AE 3D animation data to Maya, Max or Lightwave. I have only given it a cursory test and can report that I did manage to get camera animation data into Maya with this script.

There is interest in more formats, of course, so if you know of a script to generate any others - AE to Nuke, anyone - by all means share a link