When previewing feature dailies for studio executives, everything in the screening room must operate seamlessly so that clips play on demand without any technical hiccups. While this should be operationally simple, today’s non-standard capture scenarios may not always be supported in a ‘one size fits all’ video hardware setup. 

Case in point, the upcoming feature film Deadpool which just wrapped shooting in Vancouver, was captured in 3.5K, which doesn’t result in a standard 1920 by 1080 frame. This capture size is becoming more prevalent because it offers more latitude in post, with the ability to reposition, reframe and stabilize image sequences due to more information available in each frame; a flexible approach for VFX heavy films. However non-standard formats can trip up video workflows when required to resize frames proportionally, and in real time, for playback via Adobe Premiere Pro in a screening room environment, as is the case with this project

Sean Yarbrough is a Senior Support Engineer at Fox and oversees technology in both the studio’s cutting and screening rooms. “When you review dailies that were shot in 3.5K, they have to be reduced proportionally and cropped to the right size to playback in the screening room. Our previous hardware playback solution was unable to deliver reliable playback from 3.5K so we reached out to AJA. The beauty of the KONA 3G is that with their Adobe plug-in software you’re not relegated to fixed frame sizes, it could play a non-standard frame size cropped to 2K and play it back reliably without ever dropping a single frame, with audio and video synced perfectly, every time.”  

“We need bulletproof solutions for our screening rooms that will play reliably again and again, no matter what we’re throwing at it, and AJA KONA 3G provides us with that flexibility,” continued Yarbrough. “We got the card, I called AJA support, they were immediately available to advise me on a handful of settings, and we were up and running within an hour of delivery.”

About AJA KONA 3G

KONA 3G is a video and audio desktop I/O card that provides professionals with unparalleled features for handling everything from SD to HD, 2K and 4K - all with full 10-bit uncompressed clarity. KONA 3G supports Dual Link 4:4:4 HD-SDI, with full-bandwidth 4:4:4 RGB at 10-bits for 1080i, 1080p, 1080PsF and 720p formats. KONA 3G can also convert between 4:4:4 and 4:2:2 formats for single link HD-SDI monitoring and output. With a broadcast-quality up/down/cross-converter and the ability to work in 3D, KONA 3G has the power for the work you do today and into the future.