Blackmagic Design and AJA Video announce real time color correction on the Kona SD

Blackmagic Design Pty. Ltd. in conjunction with AJA Video announcedthe immediate availability of Kona SD v2.4 featuring real time colorcorrection, and full compatibility with uncompressed 8 and 10 bitDigital Voodoo-format QuickTime files.

This major update is available today at no charge to all registeredKona SD users.

Real time color correction allows color treatments to be added toany clip in an edit and then instantly played back in real time. TheBlackmagic RT Color Corrector operates as a professional primary colorcorrector commonly found in high-end telecine suites.

Perfect for image treatment work on long form episodic televisionprogram production, real time color correction is critical whereprogram duration is too long to render color treatments. In the pastcolor correction rendering on television episodes could extend to manyhours, which seriously limited productive time on non-linear editing.Now rendering is eliminated.

Featuring independent red, green and blue control in lift, gamma andgain, this new real time color corrector is a professional tool thatwill dramatically increase the productivity of edit sessions. Colortreatment is critical to the overall feel and look of video, and caninstantly change the entire mood of a shot. Including this as a realtime effect will allow a more emotional aspect to users work.

In addition to the new real time color corrector, Blackmagic Kona SDv2.4 software also includes support for capture, playback, andrendering of Digital Voodoo 8 and 10 bit QuickTime files. This makesthe Kona SD the only uncompressed video card on the market today thatis compatible with all popular uncompressed QuickTime videoformats.

Supporting uncompressed video formats used by Pinnacle CineWave,Blackmagic DeckLink, Viewgraphics Video Pump, and now Digital Voodoo,Kona SD users can interact with any freelance designer or effectsartist without concern to the equipment they are using. Files can bemoved back and forward, and instantly output to tape withoutconversions.

Because no other card provides such quality and features at such alow cost, many customers are upgrading to the Kona SD, and will keepthe ability to open projects and files from older less featureshardware boards. Supporting these formats allows users to upgrade tothe Kona SD for incredible real time effects options, and the increasedstability that only more than a year of experience in native Mac OS XQuickTime drivers can provide.

This allows customers to phase out older hardware in a morecontrolled way, and avoids workflow problems if a facility wide fileformat changeover was required. Any format can now be used withease.

"The new Kona SD v2.4 real time color corrector is amazing, becausethe art of color correction requires intimate contact with the images."says Grant Petty, CEO, Blackmagic Design. "Render based colorcorrection just won't cut it in a heavy production environment becauseyou just have to see the color corrector video on the broadcast monitoras you work. Now with the Kona SD real time color corrector this isavailable, and you can work images and know exactly what they will looklike in real time. When your happy, you can just press play and outputto tape, no rendering. It's fantastic!"

Real time color correction and increased uncompressed file formatcompatibility with other hardware vendors is included in the Kona SDv2.4 update. This is available today from the Blackmagic Design supportweb site, and is completely free of charge to all registered Kona SDusers.

See www.blackmagic-design.com

About the Kona SD

The Kona SD and the Kona HD are the world's first uncompressed 10bit PCI video cards designed for both editing and design on Mac OS X.Understanding the unprecedented change taking place in the televisionindustry, the Kona series of video cards include features required forall tasks performed in the industry, including editing, design, effectsand broadcast paint, and now motion picture editing.

Designers expect the highest quality uncompressed 10 bit video, anddesktop view for laying out complex graphics in video space. Editorsdemand uncompressed 10 bit video and real time effects. The Kona seriesis the first to deliver both of these features in a single product.Being the only card created for both editing and design, the Konafamily meets all needs in a modern creative television facility.

Kona SD features include:

Real time capture and playback from fully digital SDI videoconnections in uncompressed 10 bit, uncompressed 8 bit, online qualityJPEG compression. Realtime native DV to SDI playback is also available.Users can choose video quality based on workflow requirements. 24(23.976) frame capture from NTSC video with inverse telecine and24-frame playback with 3:2 pulldown insertion support in uncompressed10 bit, uncompressed 8 bit, and Online JPEG modes. Real time effectsincluding many dissolves, many image control effects including realtime color correction.

Also included on the Kona SD are 6 channels of 48/96 Khz AES/EBUdigital audio with sample rate conversion on each input, withadditional channels to be available on via embedded SDI audio, 64 bitRGB "Trillions" of colors rendering and preview output in Adobe AfterEffects, YUV native rendering, software codec's for Mac OS X, Mac OS 9,Microsoft Windows for cross platform media access, and unique internetfirmware upload facility for downloadable software updates.

The Kona family is a joint development between AJA Video andBlackmagic Design, and is available now at US $3,295 from AJA Videoauthorized resellers world wide. See http://www.aja.com for localdealers. See http://www.blackmagic-design.com, and http://www.aja.comfor additional product information.