AJA Ki Pro at DVinfo.net

Guy Cochran · April 20th, 2009, 11:08 AM

News - AJA Video - Serial Digital Video Interface and Conversion
Las Vegas, NV, NAB Conference Booth SL2513 (April 20, 2009)—AJA Video Systems, a leading manufacturer of professional video interface and conversion solutions, announced today that its Ki Pro portable digital disk recorder has been endorsed by top camera manufacturers including ARRI, Canon and RED.

Ki Pro records files to the Apple ProRes codec directly from camera, allowing filmmakers, broadcasters, video professionals and prosumers to skip the process of re-rendering to an editing codec by giving immediate access to 10-bit full raster edit-ready ProRes files. Ki Pro was introduced today, and will be on display at the AJA Booth (SL2513) during the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Convention at the Las Vegas Convention Center from April 20-23, 2009.

"We are really excited about the potential of Ki Pro to streamline decision making on-set and in postproduction. Coupled with the Full HD output of the ARRIFLEX D-21 camera, the Ki Pro provides direct transfer to a ready to edit format. Using Ki Pro with an Apple Final Cut Pro workstation on set, the production team can have instantaneous real time playback for take selection,” said Adrian Widera, Key Account TV International, ARRI.

“Ki Pro helps create an end-to-end solution for Canon videographers working in Final Cut Pro by delivering ‘edit-ready’ 10-bit video directly off of Canon professional camcorders,” said Joe Bogacz, technical advisor, professional products, Canon U.S.A. “We are happy to see this solution on display here at NAB 2009.”

“A big part of the RED ONE’s success in the cinema and television markets, is the combination of stunning 4K images along with flexible and logical post production solutions” said Ted Schilowitz of RED Digital Cinema. “The ability to record ProRes directly from the live HD videotap output from a RED ONE on a small portable device, while capturing the 4k REDCODE raw on the camera is a big deal. And I probably don’t even need to mention that because it’s an AJA product, it will no doubt hit the legendary quality and top notch level of support that industry pros have come to count on every day on the job.”

“Ki Pro fills the gap between camera acquisition and post production, giving filmmakers and video professionals instant access to their material,” commented Nick Rashby, President, AJA Video. “It’s extremely gratifying to bring this product to market with the support and enthusiasm of companies such as Apple, ARRI, Canon and RED.”

About Ki Pro Ki Pro provides a new way of connecting production and post with its extensive analog and digital connectivity; virtually any video and audio source can be fed into Ki Pro to record pristine 10-bit ProRes media that is then immediately available to edit within Apple’s Final Cut Studio. Ki Pro will allow users to record hours of pristine ProRes media to a removable storage module with built-in FireWire 800, or to 34mm ExpressCard Flash, for immediate editing and file access. The unit can connect to any digital camera via SDI or HDMI, or any analog camera with multiple input options. Ki Pro is priced at $3995 US MSRP and will be shipping in June of 2009.
AJA Ki Pro at DVcreators.net

Scott Webster · April 20th, 2009, 02:46 PM

How is playback done? Thumbnail selection or do you have to select by clip text reference from front display?

How is record triggered from the camera? Can this be done via SDI and HDMI?

Guy Cochran · April 20th, 2009, 04:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scott Webster

How is playback done? Thumbnail selection or do you have to select by clip text reference from front display?

How is record triggered from the camera? Can this be done via SDI and HDMI?

To playback a clip you would select it using the controls and hit play. The playback would be live over all the outputs. With wi-fi you can control the unit from a web browser - even an iPhone.
Currently, the device is not triggered to record by lanc or lens remote. It will be in a future release. The ports are there.
AJA demonstrated the unit live in front of us at the dealer event and it looks to be a home run for those with the budget.
http://www.dvcreators.net/aja-ki-pro/

Scott Webster · April 20th, 2009, 05:21 PM

Just to be clear.

Are you selecting the clip by a clip number from the front LCD or does it go into playback mode and show thumbnails for clip selection on a connected monitor? Like the Sony EX-30

The deck should be setup to go into record from the TC embedded across SDI. ie when you start rec-run on your camera the Ki Pro should see that signal an instigate record on the deck. This works with the CD XDR.

Guy Cochran · April 23rd, 2009, 08:12 AM

The Ki Pro allows selection of clips to playback via the menu on the front of the unit which is text. The iPhone browser interface I briefly saw is also text, no thumbnails. I'll see if I can get the correct answers for you regarding the triggering of record from the incoming SDI stream.

I just uploaded a video featuring AJA's Jon Thorn, Product Manager. Check it out AJA Ki Pro at DVcreators.net

Jon Thorn · April 26th, 2009, 08:49 AM

Scott W. - Sorry for the tardy reply, I actually had an issue logging into DVinfo.net from Las Vegas and NAB for some reason... To answer your questions...

You asked: How is playback done?
Response: The Ki Pro has several ways you can perform playback of a clip. First, you can use the simple VTR-like transport keys on the front of the unit to playback the currently cued clip - noted on the LCD along with other useful data. Or you can playback from the web UI via either a wired ethernet connection to the device or via the wireless connection, even using your iPhone to select the clip and playback. You know which clip is which on the device because they have logical names, such as "SC1TK1" or CLIP2TK5" or "SC6BTK5". To select a clip from your recordings, use the select up and select down buttons on the physical UI to select the clips, then simply hit the play key, or use the pulldown menu via the web UI.

You asked: How is the record triggered from the camera?
Response: For the 1.0 release, we will have the record key active as well as timecode arming. There will be many other options by our 2.0 firmware release such as arm recording from lens tap or LANC input. You should note, HDMI does not have any timecode data or other useful ancillary data for us to use as a reference to arm the recording, so it isn't ideal. In a future release of Ki Pro firmware, we will enable the lens tap functionality for products that have neither HD-SDI embedded timecode, LTC timecode or LANC/lens tap options, we will enable the FireWire 400 port on the Ki Pro which is not a DV/HDV compressed input, but rather a way for us to see a timecode signal from some consumer/prosumer cameras. We have this slated for the 2.0 firmware update or at the latest by the 3.0 firmware update.

Hope this information is helpful,
Jon Thorn
Product Manager
AJA Video Systems, Inc.
California

Chris Hurd · April 26th, 2009, 09:05 AM

Hi Jon, thanks for coming aboard. It's always very difficult to process new member accounts during NAB week (they're all done by hand, by me). Thanks for your patience. Sure appreciate your presence here. Best regards,

Andrew Stone · April 27th, 2009, 12:07 AM

In appears that Aja has produced a "game changer" with the Ki Pro.

First question that comes up is bit rates that are possible with the unit.

Second question is with the storage modules. Are they user serviceable? In other words can you crack them open and swap out drives or do you have to buy new storage modules if you want a larger drive?

Jon Thorn · April 27th, 2009, 10:09 AM

Andrew S. - The QuickTime recordings that are produced by Ki Pro are standard Apple ProRes 422 and Apple ProRes 422 (HQ); these are 145Mbps and 220Mbps respectively. AJA offers a free data rate calculator application on our website if you want to see what these values equate to in run times for the respective drive sizes. With the 250GB module that ships with the unit, you've got a lot of time for your recordings.

Can you open up the drive cartridge shell and put a new drive in? Yes, physically possible... but we don't want users to do this and will "strongly discourage" this type of activity. This is not a "I'll just put my own drive in there to save money" solution; we worked long and hard to qualify the drive the unit ships with. Putting something else in there could be a big headache for you, your production, and our tech support team if it doesn't meet the requirements in terms of bandwidth to support write/read speeds of Apple ProRes 422. I hope you believe us when we say that we are not interested in marking up the drives - the 250GB shipping unit that is included can also be purchased for $269 if you need additional cartridges. Close to a dollar per GB is pretty reasonable and standard for our industry.

Hope this information is helpful - feel free to ask other questions,
Jon Thorn
Product Manager
AJA Video Systems, Inc.
California

Gary Bettan · April 27th, 2009, 12:28 PM

KiPro is going to be HUGE! While the price tag may be high for some, if you can get it in your budget, the return on investment will be well worth it. You are going to save so much time - and time is MONEY!

We've been selling the FireStores for years, and customers like them, but one of the biggest complaints / requests we've been getting over the past year is why don't they have a more professional unit that goes straight into ProRes or Avid DNxHD.

With the KiPro you get full ProRes in all it's HD glory. While the unit isn't small, Aja ws showing all kinds of different mounting solutions for it at NAB, and now that the world has seen it, I expect to see some clever folks come out with additional mounting solutions specifically for KiPro.

Gary
Videoguys.com - AJA Ki Pro

Harrison Murchison · April 27th, 2009, 01:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jon Thorn

I hope you believe us when we say that we are not interested in marking up the drives - the 250GB shipping unit that is included can also be purchased for $269 if you need additional cartridges. Close to a dollar per GB is pretty reasonable and standard for our industry.

That's not bad because these aren't just drives but they have FW800 support on them and SATA ports to connect to the Ki Pro. A buck a Gig is a fair price IMO.

Scott Webster · April 27th, 2009, 02:49 PM

Much appreciated! Thanks Jon.

Hoy Quan · April 28th, 2009, 09:31 PM

After reviewing the specs, can anyone confirm the ability to record uncompressed HD component video out of a camera like the Canon XH A1? For those without SDI but want a high quality 4:2:2 I frame codec, this would be an excellent solution if the Ki Pro can handle it. It would also be less expensive than going the P2 route.

Another great feature if supported would be HD component in and simultaneous outputs through your choice of HDMI, HD component, AND SDI.

Jon Thorn · April 29th, 2009, 08:38 AM

Hoy Q. - The AJA Ki Pro supports input from SDI, HDMI and yes, component analog... SD or HD. So if you own the Canon XH-A1 camera (a fine camera I might add), you will be able to use the Ki Pro with it.

As for the second part of your question, all of the outputs are active at the same time like they are on the AJA desktop products; this means that you could be connected to Ki Pro with an analog component signal, but outputting to monitors and other equipment on set with the HDMI output, the SDI output and the analog component output. We tried to make the device as friendly for all types of cameras and monitoring as possible.

Hope this helps answer your questions - sorry I missed this post last night or I might have answered sooner!

Jon Thorn
Product Manager
AJA Video Systems, Inc.

Bill Ravens · April 29th, 2009, 09:01 AM

what's the workflow, if any, for capture and edit on a PC? seems that AJA has missed half the marketplace on this.

April 20th, 2009, 11:08 AM	#1
Guy Cochran DVCreators.Net Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Seattle, WA Posts: 892	AJA Ki Pro News - AJA Video - Serial Digital Video Interface and Conversion Las Vegas, NV, NAB Conference Booth SL2513 (April 20, 2009)—AJA Video Systems, a leading manufacturer of professional video interface and conversion solutions, announced today that its Ki Pro portable digital disk recorder has been endorsed by top camera manufacturers including ARRI, Canon and RED. Ki Pro records files to the Apple ProRes codec directly from camera, allowing filmmakers, broadcasters, video professionals and prosumers to skip the process of re-rendering to an editing codec by giving immediate access to 10-bit full raster edit-ready ProRes files. Ki Pro was introduced today, and will be on display at the AJA Booth (SL2513) during the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Convention at the Las Vegas Convention Center from April 20-23, 2009. "We are really excited about the potential of Ki Pro to streamline decision making on-set and in postproduction. Coupled with the Full HD output of the ARRIFLEX D-21 camera, the Ki Pro provides direct transfer to a ready to edit format. Using Ki Pro with an Apple Final Cut Pro workstation on set, the production team can have instantaneous real time playback for take selection,” said Adrian Widera, Key Account TV International, ARRI. “Ki Pro helps create an end-to-end solution for Canon videographers working in Final Cut Pro by delivering ‘edit-ready’ 10-bit video directly off of Canon professional camcorders,” said Joe Bogacz, technical advisor, professional products, Canon U.S.A. “We are happy to see this solution on display here at NAB 2009.” “A big part of the RED ONE’s success in the cinema and television markets, is the combination of stunning 4K images along with flexible and logical post production solutions” said Ted Schilowitz of RED Digital Cinema. “The ability to record ProRes directly from the live HD videotap output from a RED ONE on a small portable device, while capturing the 4k REDCODE raw on the camera is a big deal. And I probably don’t even need to mention that because it’s an AJA product, it will no doubt hit the legendary quality and top notch level of support that industry pros have come to count on every day on the job.” “Ki Pro fills the gap between camera acquisition and post production, giving filmmakers and video professionals instant access to their material,” commented Nick Rashby, President, AJA Video. “It’s extremely gratifying to bring this product to market with the support and enthusiasm of companies such as Apple, ARRI, Canon and RED.” About Ki Pro Ki Pro provides a new way of connecting production and post with its extensive analog and digital connectivity; virtually any video and audio source can be fed into Ki Pro to record pristine 10-bit ProRes media that is then immediately available to edit within Apple’s Final Cut Studio. Ki Pro will allow users to record hours of pristine ProRes media to a removable storage module with built-in FireWire 800, or to 34mm ExpressCard Flash, for immediate editing and file access. The unit can connect to any digital camera via SDI or HDMI, or any analog camera with multiple input options. Ki Pro is priced at $3995 US MSRP and will be shipping in June of 2009. AJA Ki Pro at DVcreators.net Attached Thumbnails Attached Images __________________ Guy Cochran DVinfo Sponsor, Cool Gear - DVeStore!

April 20th, 2009, 02:46 PM	#2
Scott Webster Regular Crew Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: New Zealand Posts: 136	Playback How is playback done? Thumbnail selection or do you have to select by clip text reference from front display? How is record triggered from the camera? Can this be done via SDI and HDMI?

April 23rd, 2009, 08:12 AM	#5
Guy Cochran DVCreators.Net Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Seattle, WA Posts: 892	The Ki Pro allows selection of clips to playback via the menu on the front of the unit which is text. The iPhone browser interface I briefly saw is also text, no thumbnails. I'll see if I can get the correct answers for you regarding the triggering of record from the incoming SDI stream. I just uploaded a video featuring AJA's Jon Thorn, Product Manager. Check it out AJA Ki Pro at DVcreators.net __________________ Guy Cochran DVinfo Sponsor, Cool Gear - DVeStore!

April 26th, 2009, 08:49 AM	#6
Jon Thorn AJA Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Grass Valley, CA Posts: 252	AJA Ki Pro Scott W. - Sorry for the tardy reply, I actually had an issue logging into DVinfo.net from Las Vegas and NAB for some reason... To answer your questions... You asked: How is playback done? Response: The Ki Pro has several ways you can perform playback of a clip. First, you can use the simple VTR-like transport keys on the front of the unit to playback the currently cued clip - noted on the LCD along with other useful data. Or you can playback from the web UI via either a wired ethernet connection to the device or via the wireless connection, even using your iPhone to select the clip and playback. You know which clip is which on the device because they have logical names, such as "SC1TK1" or CLIP2TK5" or "SC6BTK5". To select a clip from your recordings, use the select up and select down buttons on the physical UI to select the clips, then simply hit the play key, or use the pulldown menu via the web UI. You asked: How is the record triggered from the camera? Response: For the 1.0 release, we will have the record key active as well as timecode arming. There will be many other options by our 2.0 firmware release such as arm recording from lens tap or LANC input. You should note, HDMI does not have any timecode data or other useful ancillary data for us to use as a reference to arm the recording, so it isn't ideal. In a future release of Ki Pro firmware, we will enable the lens tap functionality for products that have neither HD-SDI embedded timecode, LTC timecode or LANC/lens tap options, we will enable the FireWire 400 port on the Ki Pro which is not a DV/HDV compressed input, but rather a way for us to see a timecode signal from some consumer/prosumer cameras. We have this slated for the 2.0 firmware update or at the latest by the 3.0 firmware update. Hope this information is helpful, Jon Thorn Product Manager AJA Video Systems, Inc. California

April 26th, 2009, 09:05 AM	#7
Chris Hurd Obstreperous Rex Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: San Marcos, TX Posts: 27,368 Images: 513	Hi Jon, thanks for coming aboard. It's always very difficult to process new member accounts during NAB week (they're all done by hand, by me). Thanks for your patience. Sure appreciate your presence here. Best regards, __________________ CH Search DV Info Net \| 20 years of DVi \| ...Tuesday is Soylent Green Day!

April 20th, 2009, 05:21 PM	#4
Scott Webster Regular Crew Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: New Zealand Posts: 136	Just to be clear. Are you selecting the clip by a clip number from the front LCD or does it go into playback mode and show thumbnails for clip selection on a connected monitor? Like the Sony EX-30 The deck should be setup to go into record from the TC embedded across SDI. ie when you start rec-run on your camera the Ki Pro should see that signal an instigate record on the deck. This works with the CD XDR.

April 27th, 2009, 12:07 AM	#8
Andrew Stone Major Player Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Vancouver, Canada Posts: 975	In appears that Aja has produced a "game changer" with the Ki Pro. First question that comes up is bit rates that are possible with the unit. Second question is with the storage modules. Are they user serviceable? In other words can you crack them open and swap out drives or do you have to buy new storage modules if you want a larger drive?

April 27th, 2009, 10:09 AM	#9
Jon Thorn AJA Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Grass Valley, CA Posts: 252	Ki Pro storage modules Andrew S. - The QuickTime recordings that are produced by Ki Pro are standard Apple ProRes 422 and Apple ProRes 422 (HQ); these are 145Mbps and 220Mbps respectively. AJA offers a free data rate calculator application on our website if you want to see what these values equate to in run times for the respective drive sizes. With the 250GB module that ships with the unit, you've got a lot of time for your recordings. Can you open up the drive cartridge shell and put a new drive in? Yes, physically possible... but we don't want users to do this and will "strongly discourage" this type of activity. This is not a "I'll just put my own drive in there to save money" solution; we worked long and hard to qualify the drive the unit ships with. Putting something else in there could be a big headache for you, your production, and our tech support team if it doesn't meet the requirements in terms of bandwidth to support write/read speeds of Apple ProRes 422. I hope you believe us when we say that we are not interested in marking up the drives - the 250GB shipping unit that is included can also be purchased for $269 if you need additional cartridges. Close to a dollar per GB is pretty reasonable and standard for our industry. Hope this information is helpful - feel free to ask other questions, Jon Thorn Product Manager AJA Video Systems, Inc. California

April 27th, 2009, 12:28 PM	#10
Gary Bettan Sponsor: Electronic Mailbox Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Glen Cove, NY Posts: 758	KiPro is going to be HUGE! While the price tag may be high for some, if you can get it in your budget, the return on investment will be well worth it. You are going to save so much time - and time is MONEY! We've been selling the FireStores for years, and customers like them, but one of the biggest complaints / requests we've been getting over the past year is why don't they have a more professional unit that goes straight into ProRes or Avid DNxHD. With the KiPro you get full ProRes in all it's HD glory. While the unit isn't small, Aja ws showing all kinds of different mounting solutions for it at NAB, and now that the world has seen it, I expect to see some clever folks come out with additional mounting solutions specifically for KiPro. Gary Videoguys.com - AJA Ki Pro __________________ Check out http://www.videoguys.com 800 323-2325 We are the video editing and live video production experts! DV InfoNet members save 5%! Use Coupon Code DVINFO5OFF

April 27th, 2009, 02:49 PM	#12
Scott Webster Regular Crew Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: New Zealand Posts: 136	Cheers! Much appreciated! Thanks Jon.

April 28th, 2009, 09:31 PM	#13
Hoy Quan Regular Crew Join Date: Jun 2004 Posts: 36	After reviewing the specs, can anyone confirm the ability to record uncompressed HD component video out of a camera like the Canon XH A1? For those without SDI but want a high quality 4:2:2 I frame codec, this would be an excellent solution if the Ki Pro can handle it. It would also be less expensive than going the P2 route. Another great feature if supported would be HD component in and simultaneous outputs through your choice of HDMI, HD component, AND SDI.

April 29th, 2009, 08:38 AM	#14
Jon Thorn AJA Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Grass Valley, CA Posts: 252	SDI, HDMI and component input to Ki Pro... Hoy Q. - The AJA Ki Pro supports input from SDI, HDMI and yes, component analog... SD or HD. So if you own the Canon XH-A1 camera (a fine camera I might add), you will be able to use the Ki Pro with it. As for the second part of your question, all of the outputs are active at the same time like they are on the AJA desktop products; this means that you could be connected to Ki Pro with an analog component signal, but outputting to monitors and other equipment on set with the HDMI output, the SDI output and the analog component output. We tried to make the device as friendly for all types of cameras and monitoring as possible. Hope this helps answer your questions - sorry I missed this post last night or I might have answered sooner! Jon Thorn Product Manager AJA Video Systems, Inc.

April 29th, 2009, 09:01 AM	#15
Bill Ravens Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: santa fe, nm Posts: 3,264 Images: 10	what's the workflow, if any, for capture and edit on a PC? seems that AJA has missed half the marketplace on this.