AJA Lhi issues on Mac 14,8?

[Frank Kruse]

Hi there,

after digging out my backup LHi I've been having problems with this card and/or the drivers. (I had to retire the BM SDI as it's not supported on M2)
Every morning when I launch PT and my session it refuses to output any video. Sometimes it take several restarts sometimes I have to open the AJA control panel and toggle the test-pattern back and forth until suddenly the card will output signal and after that point PT will work with picture.
(pretty ironic after having no issues with BM for years and reading all the "use AJA, it just works"-comments here)

AJA driver is 17.0.0.102 and card is on firmware dated 05/21/2012. Both are the most recent available.

Also the AJA control panel now seems to stay permanently launched even after quitting it. Is that normal?
Or is it an undocumented feature that you manually have to launch the control panel after a reboot and switch the card around somehow?
I have de- and re-installed the driver multiple times. And AJA system tests out fine.
I also noticed that genlock auto setting that AJA recommends using doesn't work. It ignores an external video ref and just stays on "free run" . You have to manually set it to reference in manually to make it work.

Am I the only one seeing this? Thanks!

Frank.

[thierryd]

Hi Frank,


I can't help with AJA, but I'm wondering why you are retiring Blackmagic. The DeckLink SDI 4K is still on the supported list for Apple Silicon, or are you talking about an older version? I still have to migrate my main system to a Mac Studio with Sonnet chassis, but I can't find the time and am waiting for an ideal in-between-projects moment So still no first hand experience here with BM on Mac Silicon.


Greetings,


Thierry

[Frank Kruse]

Hi Thierry,

my card was non-4k (EOL on silicon) and I had the LHi on the shelf for many years (bought it for 50€ on ebay) so I decided not to buy another for the sake of sustainability and $$.
But I might be forced to go back to BM if these annoyances continue.

Once the card activates in the morning it's stable but it takes multiple re-boots and switching the test pattern around every morning.



Frank.

[thierryd]

I'm a firm believer in squeezing every drop of juice out of computers and equipment myself, but there is a point where the balance "sustainability vs annoyance" tips over to the wrong side...I would consider "but it takes multiple re-boots and switching the test pattern around every morning." to be on the wrong side


Greetings,

Thierry

[dr sound]

Frank,
The panel should be there all the time.
Leave it in "Free Run" .
Pro Tools takes control.

Have you contacted Aja? Their support is second to none.
Very sharp people there!
https://www.aja.com/nav/support

[mgoorevich]

Frank, I had no time to investigate the issue with Aja v17 (I was forced to quickly change the computer in the middle of the film), but it did have a problem for me as you describe.
They updated the driver which has some issues and I couldn't make it work.
I downgraded to v16 and everything went smooth again.
Particularly to the AJA Software Installer v16.2.6. Please go to their Download archive:
https://www.aja.com/products/kona-lhi#support

[Frank Kruse]

Thank you both for the advice! Putting the control panel into login items seems to have fixed things.
The only thing that does not work is the card auto-switching to gen-lock. It stays on free-run even when PT is launched and playing and the panel says "in use by avid". But I've set it to "reference in" manually now which seems to stick once set.

I didn't have to do any of this before the recent update so it might be bugs. I never had to open the panel before unless I had to check settings. But I'll keep it open now. The installer does not put it into login items so it's not really obvious that it needs to run on startup.

Thanks again,

Frank.

[smurfyou]

The panel did not need to run all the time in the past. I almost never opened it. Haven't used a Kona on an AS machine though.

[Frank Kruse]

Yeah, seems to be a new thing now. The panel doesn't even fully quit when you hit command-Q. It keeps running and the little AJA menu item it still there. That menu now has a "Terminate" and a "Stop AJA service" option.

[Frank Kruse]

Yes, since I've added the control panel to login items. Ref-In also is remembered. Now the panel is always open which adds another items to the command-tab application switcher but I guess I'll have to get used to that.

Frank.