AJA io HD Apple Pro Res 422 10 bit Color Hardware Transcoder As Essential Component

[Multimedia]

Just back from the Chicago HD Expo where I learned enough about the need for a 10 bit color 4:2:2 quality editing environment to believe HDV and even SD editors will NEED to have the upcoming Apple co-developed with AJA io HD Apple Pro Res 422 (APR422) hardware transcoder to do a really professional effective job going forward.

Best news of all is that ProMax is offering a FREE FCS2 upgrade with the purchase of the AJA io HD for the list of $3,495 until Sunday June 31st. That will save you either $499 or $699, depending on your situation, bringing the real price of this new must have peripheral down to as low as $2,796 for those of you who didn't do the last upgrade to 5.1 UB. What a deal.

The AJA io HD is really about how to move all your legacy assets as well as 8 bit 4:2:0 HDV footage up to the APR422 format that will allow us all to edit and enhance both lower fidelity source material as well as the highest end HD into a finished product that can match all professional HD formats on their technical terms with nothing more than a simple FW800 connection. This unique tool will pay for itself in time saved transcoding all sorts of material into and out from the revolutionary APR422 Codec it stores in silicon, thus allowing lowly HDV and SD formats to enter your Mac Pro or MacBook Pro editing Macs as far more robust video ready for everything you can throw at it and still end up with a very high quality HD product - as good as possible and still be broadcast HD compatible in spite of how it was shot and stored in the first place.

I'm starting this thread so we can have a place for AJA io HD owners to meet and share experience with this unique product. Anyone else here like me think this is one of those revolutionary must have devices for video editing moving forward?

 

[faustfire]

I was under the impression that the main use for the APR422 and AJA io was to shrink the file size of uncompressed HD down to something more managable. I can see using it with hdv as hdv is a horrible codec to edit with, but I dont see any reason at all to us it with sd. In fact if I read correctly, transcoding dv sd to the 422 codec would increase the file size without really giving you too much in return.

I would love to be proven wrong though, so lets hear the inside scoop.

 

[killr_b]

Hey Multi,

I actually just went to my friends' studio to check out this box and pro-res.

I was extremely impressed with pro-res after the whole pixlet b.s. Pro-res is awesome for HD, and takes SD-DV footage to a new level of smooth looking.

After working with him for a weekend I was totally sold on the APR422.

Plus it'll look good next to my MXO.

 

[Multimedia]

AJA io HD Is For SD To Pro Res 422 So You Can Produce HD Compatible SD

I was under the impression that the main use for the APR422 and AJA io was to shrink the file size of uncompressed HD down to something more managable. I can see using it with hdv as hdv is a horrible codec to edit with, but I dont see any reason at all to us it with sd. In fact if I read correctly, transcoding dv sd to the 422 codec would increase the file size without really giving you too much in return.

I would love to be proven wrong though, so lets hear the inside scoop.

That's the big misunderstanding about this product. What it does for SD nothing else can do if you want to port your SD assets to use in HD productions and into HD compatible SD product. Killr b gets it:

Hey Multi,

I actually just went to my friends' studio to check out this box and pro-res.

I was extremely impressed with pro-res after the whole pixlet b.s. Pro-res is awesome for HD, and takes SD-DV footage to a new level of smooth looking.

After working with him for a weekend I was totally sold on the APR422.

Plus it'll look good next to my MXO.

So you have a friend who is a beta site for the AJA io HD? Lucky you. Yes AJA's Mike Spelinski at the Chicago HD Expo showed me how you can import SD footage into Apple Pro Res 422 with the AJA io HD in 4 different ways:

1. Standard Pillar Box 4:3 leaves black bars on both sides of your SD
2. Letter Box Zoom 16:9 from anamorphic 16:9 SD sources like Canon XL-1/2
3. Standard Zoom 16:9 crops top & bottom for wide enough shots which won't miss that space
4. Zoom Wide 16:9 with intelligent stretch that minimizes top-bottom crops

The SD footage moves into a much richer 10-bit color space that one needs to accomplish very high quality color balanced results.

CreativeCow.net has a lot of discussion about this.

NOTE: The AJA io HD is not for iMovie hobbiests. This is for video professionals who get paid for their work from FCP edits.

 

[killr_b]

That's the big misunderstanding about this product. What it does for SD nothing else can do if you want to port your SD assets to use in HD productions and into HD compatible SD product. Killr b gets it:So you have a friend who is a beta site for the AJA io HD? Lucky you.

Yeah, they were supposed to get a RED cam to test with it, but RED didn't push 'em out fast enough. They say they got a new ship date of August.

Yeah, Pro-res keeps the SD looking smooth and clean for SD-DVD output, but dropping it on an HD timeline is incredible. It reinterprets the colors so they keep the same visual appearance and don't look shifted. [Borat] Is nice! [/Borat]

 

[LethalWolfe]

I think ProRes looks very promising, but I don't think the ioHD is "need" w/a capital "N" (unless you have a portable or PPC Mac) nor revolutionary. Avid's been working this way forever (digitize to AVR/DNX codecs via external hardware).

ProRes + Open Timeline provides a sweet spot for many people, IMO. Ingest your HDV, DV, DVCPro HD, etc., like normal but change your render settings so all rendering happen in ProRes.


killr_b,
Are you sure they said they got a ship date of August? Last I heard from red.com and reduser.net is that they are still wrestling w/an engineering delay and a revised schedule/update will be released on the 15th.


Lethal

 

[killr_b]

Well, Lethal,

Let's call 'em up.

Huh. So they told him it should ship in August, but they did mention "circumstances" that may push that date back. They say now the latest it will arrive is fall.

Have you seen a RED cam in person? I'm still waiting.

I really want to see the 4k images for Chroma Keying… that would be sweetness.

 

[LethalWolfe]

Well, Lethal,

Let's call 'em up.

Huh. So they told him it should ship in August, but they did mention "circumstances" that may push that date back. They say now the latest it will arrive is fall.

Have you seen a RED cam in person? I'm still waiting.

I really want to see the 4k images for Chroma Keying… that would be sweetness.

Nope, I haven't been lucky enough to see RED or any RED footage in person. Not only does the camera look sweet, but the REDCINE software and out-the-box workflow they've developed looks awesome as well. Hopefully once it gets into the wild it will all perform as expected.


Lethal

 

[Peel]

Have you seen a RED cam in person? I'm still waiting.

If Apple's traveling FCS2 show comes to your city (it's basically the same show they put on at NAB) sign up and go see it. It's free. When it was here in Seattle last month, Ted from Red brought a RedOne with him, and was available between sessions to answer personal questions, and let people get up close and personal with the cam. He also showed the complete 17 minute short, Crossing the Line, that Peter Jackson shot with the RedOne when demo'ing the 2 alpha prototype units ("Boris" and Natasha"). Amazing stuff!

Lots of drooling going on

 

[sarge]

FCPS tour

Yes, do sign up for the tour. Ted and Red were mobbed in the lobby.

Though it was mounted on a tripod, it wasn't behind glass and there wasn't a 'do not touch' policy which was pretty cool. It looked like a stripped down dirt track racer. I have a feeling this is going to put varicam out of business.

 

[MontBlanc]

Red is Amazing! We have #21 & 22 headed our way when they finally ship. Christmas in August??? I hope so!

 

[Peel]

Red is Amazing! We have #21 & 22 headed our way when they finally ship. Christmas in August??? I hope so!

I see from their website that they're taking orders again.

Edit: Sorry Multimedia for hijacking your thread