Sonnet Technologies Unveils SF3™ Series – AJA® PAK Media Pro Card Reader

Sonnet Technologies has announced the SF3™ Series – AJA® PAK Media Pro Card Reader, the latest model in its family of professional media readers.

The SF3 Series – AJA PAK Media Pro Card Reader features dual card slots and a dual-port 40Gbps Thunderbolt™ interface, and ingests files captured to AJA PAK Media SSD cards, which were developed for use in the latest AJA Ki Pro® Ultra 12G, as well as the Ki Pro Ultra and Ki Pro Ultra Plus 4K/UltraHD/2K/HD file-based recorders and players. The Sonnet card reader is compatible with all Thunderbolt 4 computers; all M1, M2, M1 Pro, M1 Max, and M1 Ultra Mac® computers; and all Thunderbolt 3 Mac and Windows® computers.

"As project timelines across the production chain continue to tighten, the ability to quickly ingest files originating from AJA Ki Pro Ultra 12G and other Ki Pro Ultra recorders is paramount to staying on schedule. The Sonnet SF3 Series – AJA PAK Media Pro Card Reader provides a unique dual-slot solution with Thunderbolt connectivity that gives professionals more flexibility and speed in the field," shared AJA President Nick Rashby.

The SF3 Series – AJA PAK Media Pro Card Reader ingests footage from all PAK Media cards up to their maximum supported speeds. Designed for demanding workflows, Sonnet SF3 Series card readers are built with rugged aluminum enclosures and dual 40Gbps Thunderbolt ports, enabling users to stack and connect as many as six readers in a daisy chain to their computers through a single cable and ingest footage from four, six, or more cards simultaneously.

AJA Ki Pro Ultra 12G recorders enable up to four channels of simultaneous 1080p at 60 fps recording (or 4K at 60 fps recording in single-channel mode) while utilizing codecs up to Apple ProRes® 4444 XQ or Avid® DNxHR HQX. One SF3 Series – AJA PAK Media Pro Card Reader can ingest files simultaneously from two cards at up to 1,030 MB/s, cutting ingest times in half (or better) compared to any single-slot reader available. Because Sonnet PAK Media card readers utilize dual Thunderbolt ports to support daisy chain connections, users can connect three readers to their computer to exploit the 2,800 MB/s of PCIe® bandwidth Thunderbolt provides and ingest six PAK Media cards.

The Sonnet SF3 Series – AJA PAK Media Pro Card Reader is the only dual-slot PAK Media card reader available. Professionals working with multiple types of media or in a small workspace can conveniently stack multiple SF3 Series – AJA PAK Media, SxS™ PRO X, CFexpress™ / XQD™, RED MINI-MAG®, and CFast™ 2.0 readers in the same footprint and connect them all to a computer through a single Thunderbolt cable, which is game-changing. Support for simultaneous multi-card ingest allows users to complete the process without swapping cards and in much less time with single-slot readers, and then return the cards to use for recording. For applications that require gear to be mounted in equipment racks, Sonnet SF3 Series readers include threaded mounting holes to support installation in a standard rack shelf, enabling side-by-side mounting of two readers in 1U of rack space.

www.sonnettech.com