What have I done wrong?

I've replaced my Matrox MX02 mini with an Aja Io Express.

Downloaded and installed Aja's v9.0.5 driver. Using the Aja Control panel I can output colour bars to my Eizo CG243W client monitor. 

When I start Media Composer (v5.5.2) the colour bars switch off - a non-sync signal causes the monitor to black out. When I open a project in MC I get video out but a heavily magenta and quite unusable picture.

I've tried to adjust the output in MC's video output tool but had no luck. The Aja Control Panel is overridden by the Avid so I am unable to change anything using that tool. 

Can anyone help me solve the problem?

Rodney

(apologies if this has been dealt with elsewhere on the board - couldn't find any reference to this particular problem)

 

 

 

Anybody?

What color space is your project set to?

Hi Job

I exited MC and reset the AJA control panel to get clean bars, restarted MC, changed the colour space from YCbCr 709 to RGB 7069. The output is no longer magenta, it looks like the embossed effect in photoshop - all silver and full of thin vertical lines. Very creative but not very practical.

Are you sure you're on the right (Avid supported) version of the AJA driver?

Go back to YCbCr 709 for your project's color space settings.

Check the Video Output tool.  I'm not familiar with the AJA or your monitor, but it sounds like you are outputting RGB and the monitor wants YPbPr (or vice versa).  Try changing the Output on the HD Cal tab to the other one and see if that fixes it.

Aja's conflict checker run, no conflicts found.

Aja driver is v9.0.5. Unable to find any documentation on WHICH driver is Avid supported. Does anyone have a link?

Checked Video Output Tool: there is no HD Cal option, only Sync Lock, Downconvert, Component Ouput, HDMI Output (choice of HD or SD-Automatic - SD-Automatic kills output to Eizo) and Test Patterns. Should I be looking somewhere else?

Media Composer SD downconvert via Aja component out to 20" Sony CRT monitor works fine.

Media Composer SD downconvert via Aja SDI out to DigiBeta works fine

Media Composer HD output via Aja SDI out to Textronik WFR 5000 works fine too.

HD output via HDMI to Eizo CG243W DVI-I input feeds a 2401*1080 signal!!!! (thus causing the strange "emboss"-style images). Working in 1080i/50, but switching to 25p makes no change. Same with the colour space, both YCbCr and RGB are defective.

The Aja Control Panel without Media Composer (same cables, same input, same monitor) outputs a 1920*1080 signal. So I have to assume that cables, monitor and HDMI->DVI adapter are okay.

The magenta effect has absconded, I sadly didn't note the video output.

So: the HDMI output of the Aja Io Express doesn't function properly when controlled by the Media Composer. Every other output does...

 

What if you try 8.1.2? That was the first version for use with MC5.5.
Not sure if your HDMI->DVI conversion is doing you any good either.

Good morning Job

took your tip and deinstalled 9.0.5, installed 8.1.2. No change. The Aja Io Express continues to output 2400*1080 on HDMI. All other inputs and outputs are okay.

The HDMI-DVI Adapter works for the direct output from the Aja Control Panel. Can it be responsible for shifting the the Media Composer's HDMI output from 1920*1080 to 2400*1080?

Can you hook it up to a device with an HDMI input, just to rule out the converter?

thanks Job, the problem seems to fixed when the Aja's HDMI output is attached to a HDMI input on a cheap LG monitor. Now I shall have to get rid of my perfectly calibrated Eizo CG243W. That is a pain.

Conclusions:

The Aja Io Express' HDMI output CANNOT be used with a HDMI-DVI adapter, either at the Aja end or the monitor end, when used with the Media Composer. The Aja Io Express can be used with an adapter with the Aja Control Panel and with FCP (tested on another partition).

After several restarts of Mac and MC with direct HDMI cabling to the LG monitor, the 2400*1080 signal output reappeared once. This suggests that the adapter isn't the only question mark on the setup, but it works 80% of the time with direct HDMI cabling rather than 0% of the time when running through an adapter.

Aja's v9.0.5 works with the Media Composer - the results are the same with v8.1.2 as they are with v9.0.5 

I hope my wasted day helps somebody else when they hook up an Aja Io Express. It's a pity none of this information can be found on the Aja site nor on the Avid site. 

One more thought: Avid only plays out PsF, not P, except with Matrox MXO2 Mini (which can do P from Avid). So your AJA control panel and FCP might be sending out P, and the Avid PsF, which may confuse the adapter or the monitor or both.

hmmm, but I work almost exclusively with 1080i/25 and only switched to P to see if it improved things. Any caveats with interlaced?

this is a very long shot, but I also have the magenta output on NITRIS DX HDMI out...

I posted this here...
http://community.avid.com/forums/p/90847/516182.aspx#516182

So i am in an HD project with nitris dx box,
project is under the FORMAT TAB in YCbCr color space

monitoring the HDMI out.
I switch under FORMAT TAB the project color space to RGB709 and... the HDMI image turns magenta/pink

I found a workaround:

open the video tool
under HDMI COLOR SPACE
swap to Convert to RGB, now the HDMI image is normal again.
If you swap back to YCbCr, the HDMI image STAYS normal

When you are in YCbCR color space project, and you have in the VIDEO OUTPUT TOOL
the HDMI COLOR SPACE already in CONVERT TO RGB, then switch to RGB color space in the FORMAT TAB,
the pink/magenta image will not appear...

Hi Wim

interesting that a similar problem occurs with a Nitris DX. What monitor do you feed with the HDMI output?

With the Aja the only MC colour space control is in the project settings window. There was no change in the 2400*1080 output until I exited MC. Then the Aja Control Panel outputted colour bars with strange levels. That was cured by switched HDMI/DVI out from auto select to something else and then back and colour space from auto select to something else and then switching back.

Is HDMI a crap protocol or is it just that Avid has a problem with it?

In any case I've now ordered a new Eizo FX2431 monitor with its very own HDMI input. I'm hoping that I can let customers back into the edit suite when it's hooked up.