Las Vegas, NV, NAB Conference, Booth SL2505 — AJA Video Systems today announced KONA 4, the latest generation in its award-winning line of professional desktop video and audio I/O cards. KONA 4 offers unparalleled features for handling everything from SD to HD, 2K and 4K with full 10-bit 4:2:2 and 4:4:4 color spaces for fantastic image clarity. New with KONA 4 is support for high frame rate (HFR) 4K/UltraHD up to 60p and HFR UltraHD HDMI output.

KONA 4 offers a future proof architecture to accommodate not only HD and 2K, but also 4K at up to 50/60p frame rates. Pristine 10-bit scaling and a hardware downstream keyer simplify workflows in a range of formats. KONA 4 features bi-directional 3G-SDI connections that can be used for input and output. The HDMI 2.0b monitoring output allows high frame rate UltraHD monitoring. Additionally, LTC I/O, Genlock input, RS-422 control, configurable 3 x BNC HD/SD analog video output and 8-channel AES audio I/O make KONA 4 the most flexible choice for virtually any workflow.

“KONA 4 represents a huge breakthrough, delivering cost-effective high frame rate 4K at up to 60p to the desktop. Upon release, KONA 4 has already been integrated into top of the line product offerings from Autodesk, Cisco, Codex and Colorfront, which is a huge testament to its performance and reliability,” said Nick Rashby, President, AJA Video Systems. “KONA 4 delivers a vast range of cutting-edge features.”

KONA 4 Features Include:

• Supports 4K and UltraHD ingest and output at frame rates up to 60p
• Real time up-,down-,cross conversion with pristine 10-bit quality
• Linux and Windows support via AJA’s Developer SDK
• 10-bit 4K/Ultra HD and 2K/Dual-link/HD/SD input and output
• HDMI 2.0b output, capable of UltraHD at 50/60p
• 8-ch. AES/EBU, 8-ch. embedded HDMI, and 16-ch. embedded SDI digital audio I/O
• Supports 4:2:2 and 4:4:4 workflows
• AJA SDK support for Linux and Windows
• Extends external connectivity with K3G-BOX breakout box option

Third-Party Support

As a long-standing AJA collaborator, Autodesk will integrate KONA 4 into its newly announced Flame Premium 2015 toolset for the creation of high-end VFX, finishing and real time color correction. The new Flame Premium 2015 supports 4K and UltraHD workflows and real time monitoring and playback of 4K/UltraHD material at 50 and 60p using AJA KONA 4 hardware under-the-hood.

“Flame Premium 2015 is our comprehensive solution for professional visual effects, finishing and color grading in TV Commercials, Episodic TV and Film. Our customers depend on high quality, real time interactive performance and monitoring, which is why we’ve standardized on the AJA KONA 4 card to support UltraHD and 4K baseband output,” shared Steve McNeill, Director of Product Management and Development, Autodesk. “AJA has always delivered the reliability and performance that our Flame customers demand.”

Cisco is using KONA 4 as part of a live encoding technology demonstration at its NAB booth N9332. 

"There is a huge need in broadcast to enable high-quality, reliable live encoding solutions, and we're working with several companies to deliver a working demonstration of that at NAB," said Ken Davidson, Director, Product Management, Service Provider Video Technology Group at Cisco. "AJA technologies are reliable and deliver the top image quality for our solution that drives live encoding of HEVC from UltraHD SDI sources using the new KONA 4."

Codex also plans to support KONA 4 in its next-generation on-set or near-set media management environment, Vault. Vault facilitates extremely fast transfers of camera originals for on-set backup, archiving to LTO tape and automated production management, image and metadata QC, powerful look management, dailies creation with GPU processing plus review of all media. With KONA 4, Vault delivers HD/2K and 4K playback up to 60fps.

“In production, Vault most often sits at the heart of on-set file-based workflows—on shows where downtime due to technology failure is not tolerated. We’ve been successfully working with other AJA developer products in previous versions of Vault, and are pleased to integrate KONA 4 to make HFR 4K a reality for on-set monitoring,” said Sarah Priestnall, VP Market Development, Codex. 

Colorfront develops the On-Set Dailies digital processing system that integrates production proven tools for playback and sync, QC, color grading, audio and metadata management, color and image science for dailies work. Colorfront is supporting AJA KONA 4 in their On-Set Dailies system to enable more robust HFR 4K workflows. 

"Our On-Set Dailies system is in use by top Hollywood production suppliers including Technicolor, Deluxe, EFilm and Company3 on very demanding and deadline-driven film sets," said Aron Jaszberenyi, Managing Director of Colorfront. "With AJA KONA 4, our On-Set Dailies customers will have even more flexibility to bring HFR 4K support into their workflows." 

Pricing and Availability

KONA 4 is now available to third-party developers, as well as through AJA’s worldwide network of resellers at a US MSRP of $1,995. For more information about AJA products, please visit www.aja.com.

About AJA Video Systems, Inc.

Since 1993, AJA Video has been a leading manufacturer of video interface and conversion solutions, bringing high-quality, cost-effective digital video products to the professional, broadcast and post-production markets. AJA products are designed and manufactured at our facilities in Grass Valley, California, and sold through an extensive sales channel of resellers and systems integrators around the world. For further information, please see our website at www.aja.com.