Black Magic Goes After AJA's Kona Customers

Australian-based Blackmagic Design is trying to woo over users of AJA Video's Kona cards with the introduction of DeckLink HD, a 10-bit uncompressed HD and SD computer input card with a retail price of $995. The upgrades will require the exchange of the original Kona board to Blackmagic Design.

With the ability to operate at PCI-X 133/100 MHz speed, Blackmagic says the new card can capture HDTV with JPEG compression, and that the card can switch easily between HD and SD operation. Available only for Macintosh computers, DeckLink HD can work at HD speeds in the new G5 computers and SD speeds with the older G4 workstations.