AJA KONA Series User manual

KONA Series
Capture, Display, Convert
Version 15.2
Published June 3, 2019
Installation and Operation Manual

KONA Capture, Display, Convert v15.2 2 www.aja.com
Notices
Trademarks
AJA® and Because it matters.® are registered trademarks of AJA Video Systems, Inc.
for use with most AJA products. AJA™ is a trademark of AJA Video Systems, Inc. for
use with recorder, router, software and camera products. Because it matters.™ is a
trademark of AJA Video Systems, Inc. for use with camera products.
CION®, Corvid Ultra®, lo®, Ki Pro®, KONA®, KUMO®, ROI® and T-Tap® are registered
trademarks of AJA Video Systems, Inc.
AJA Control Room™, KiStor™, Science of the Beautiful™, TruScale™, TruZoom™,
V2Analog™ and V2Digital™ are trademarks of AJA Video Systems, Inc.
All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
Copyright
Copyright © 2019 AJA Video Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. All information in
this manual is subject to change without notice. No part of the document may be
reproduced or transmitted in any form, or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopying or recording, without the express written permission of AJA
Video Systems, Inc.
Contacting AJA Support
When calling for support, have all information at hand prior to calling. To contact AJA
for sales or support, use any of the following methods:
Telephone [phone]
FAX [phone]
Web https://www.aja.com
Support Email suppor[email protected]
Sales Email [email protected]

KONA Capture, Display, Convert v15.2 3 www.aja.com
Notices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
Trademarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Copyright . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Contacting AJA Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Chapter 1 – Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
Overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
KONA Models Covered in this Manual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Shared KONA Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
Capture Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Internal HD/SD Hardware Downstream Keyer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
RS-422 Machine Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
KONA 5 Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6
KONA 5 Card Only . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
KONA 5 Card with Breakout Cable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
AJA Control Panel User Interface For KONA 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
KONA 4 Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
KONA 4 Breakout Cable Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
K3G-Box for KONA 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
AJA Control Panel User Interface For KONA 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
KONA 1 Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
AJA Control Panel User Interface For KONA 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
AJA Software & Utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Mac, Windows and Linux Packages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Additional with Mac and Windows Packages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
System Requirements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Disk Storage Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Chapter 2 – Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Installation Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Optimum PCIe Slot Placement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Third Party Software Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
AJA System Test Application. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Unpacking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Shipping Box Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Installing the KONA Card. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Cabling the System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
KONA 5 Example Cable Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
KONA 4 Example Cable Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
K3G-Box for KONA 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
KONA 1 Example Cable Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Installing KONA Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Download . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Software Package Installation and Re-installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Firmware Update Procedure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Firmware Versions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Chapter 3 – Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25
AJA Control Panel Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
AJA Control Panel Operating Modes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
AJA Control Panel User Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Controlling Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Presets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Single-User & Shared Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Function Screens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Using Multiple AJA Products. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
General Control Panel Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Control Screen. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Format Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Contents

KONA Capture, Display, Convert v15.2 4 www.aja.com
Input Select Screen. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
SDI Output Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
SDI Output Screen, KONA 4 in UFC Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
HDMI Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Analog Out Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Video Setup Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Audio Setup Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Audio Mixer Screens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Audio Mixer Capture Monitor Mode Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Audio Mixer Playback Monitor Mode Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Downstream Keyer Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
LUT Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Timecode Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Presets Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Firmware Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Info Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Control Panel 4K/UltraHD Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
4K Transport Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Control Panel Block Diagram Area in 4K Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
SDI Output Screen in 4K Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
HDMI HDR Screen in 4K Mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Video Setup Screen in 4K Mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Audio Mixer Screens (KONA 4 in 4K Mode) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Downstream Keyer Screen in 4K Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Control Panel 8K Operation (KONA 5 only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Format Screen in 8K Mode (KONA 5 only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Additional Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
About 8-bit Versus 10-bit Video. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
About 12-bit Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
About RGB and YPbPr Video. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Appendix A – Specications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
KONA 5 Tech Specs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
KONA 4 Tech Specs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
KONA 1 Tech Specs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Appendix B – Safety & Compliance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .79
Warranty and Liability Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .86
Limited Warranty on Hardware. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Limitation of Liability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Governing Law and Language; Your Rights. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .88

KONA Capture, Display, Convert v15.2 5 www.aja.com
Chapter 1 – Introduction
Overview
AJA KONA cards bring the highest quality 8K/UltraHD2, 4K/UltraHD, 2K, HD, and
SD video and audio to computers running Mac, Windows or Linux Operating
Systems. KONA cards support the broadest range of creative software for
editorial, color, mastering, HDR, dailies, live streaming, graphics, game capture
and much more.
KONA cards have incredibly wide application compatibility. Out-of-the-box, your
AJA hardware and software supports Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe After Effects,
Apple Final Cut Pro X, Avid Media Composer, Avid ProTools and Telestream
Wirecast via AJA’s unified Desktop Software package.
AJA hardware is also supported by an enormous range of additional applications
for all types of video, graphics and effects work, via the support of 3rd party
development partners.
https://www.aja.com/compatibility/kona
Pick your application of choice and KONA connects it to your world.
KONA Models Covered in this Manual
This manual covers the installation and operation of these KONA card models:
• KONA 5
• KONA 4
• KONA 1
NOTE: The KONA LHe Plus and KONA LHi cards share a separate AJA manual, and the
KONA IP and KONA HDMI cards each have a separate AJA manual.
KONA cards have varying capabilities, depending on the KONA model and
installed firmware version, and are suited for various real-world applications.
Shared KONA Features
The following information applies to all the KONA products covered in this
manual.