The AJA KONA 5 is an 8-lane PCIe 3.0 capture and playback card built for demanding video and audio editing workflows, centred on 12G-SDI I/O with HFR 8K support.

12G-SDI capture and playback up to HFR 8K

Four bidirectional 12G-SDI HD-BNC connectors handle ingest and output at up to HFR 8K, with 6G/3G/1.5G backwards compatibility so the same card covers older SDI rates. Because the connectors are bidirectional, the card needs fewer physical ports to cover both capture and playback, giving it fewer points of failure than a card with separate input and output connectors.

Simultaneous capture and monitoring

The bidirectional SDI connectors support simultaneous capture and monitoring for 2K/HD and for 4K/UltraHD over 12G-SDI; quad-link 3G 4K/UltraHD and 12G-SDI 8K formats use all four connectors as input or output only, not simultaneously. The card handles the 12-bit 4:4:4 colour space for high-fidelity signal work. A separate HDMI 2.0 output is available for monitoring alongside the SDI feed.

Audio, timecode and reference via the included breakout cable

An included breakout cable carries AES/EBU audio input and output, LTC timecode input and output, and RS-422 control, and a reference input allows the card to be locked to an external reference for multi-device sync.

Built-in hardware downstream keyer

A built-in hardware downstream keyer is available on the card for real-time keying within supported editing and playback workflows.