Tej Babra: AJA T-Tap Review

by Tej Babra

AJA Video Systems, a long established supplier of technological needs for the post-production industry, recently released a compact lightweight HD/SD-SDI / HDMI Thunderbolt enabled device known as the AJA T-Tapâ„¢.

The AJA T-Tap is a small compact device that supports various resolutions ranging from 10bit SD,HD to 2k video. It also supports audio output from almost any compatible NLE system. This includes Avid Media Composer, Final Cut Pro X, and Adobe Premier Pro. This means it can easily plug into your already established workflows. Plus the size is so small it can fit in the palm of your hands, perfect for anyone who has to jump from the field to the edit suite.

The first thing I noticed on this small device was the lack of a power adapter. This is because the T-Tap takes advantage of the Thunderbolt port to bus power the device itself keeping the design small and compact with out adding weight or reducing quality. AJA also provides you with drivers and plug-ins for Avid and Adobe that can be downloaded and installed from http://www.aja.com/en/support/t-tap/mac/t-tap/. Settings for the T-Tap can be adjusted via the AJA Control Panel. This is great because it keeps the UI the same as my Kona 3 and other AJA products.

The T-Tap works flawlessly with both my Avid, and FCPX installs. Using the T-Tap with the Avid allowed me to edit XDCam files, while using the HDMI output for monitoring. read more...