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Beware of this system
The company I work for chose this system over a year ago. It is tied together with a Facilis Server and Matrox Axio video cards. We have had endless problems. To be blunt it is a nightmare. We have spent endless hours on conference calls with all the companies evolved and it still screws up constantly. Do in-depth investigations before you choose this system.
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8 Replies
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what kind of problems are you speaking of?
please explain, a mail as you send is to easyi own a hd matrox axio system editing with ppro, and i cannot complain – seen the price i payed for it
regards
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I guess I should have explained better. We have a heavy workflow and installed 5 systems tied together with fiber to a central server. I believe we may have been the first installation of this type. The systems are unstable and regularly crash, sometimes you loose your work and sometimes it just slows you down. However, it becomes very frustrating. I must admit that all the parties involved, Adobe, Matrox etc. are still trying to solve the problems. But if you have strict deadlines be careful of this type of installation. It seems many bugs still need to be worked out.
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Steve-
I wouldn’t be surprised if the server is the problem – we tried using a single fibe channel SAN for all our workstations about a year ago – after MONTHS and MONTHS of hassle we had to finally go back to sneaker net to pass things around. We were NOT using ANY video cards (Matrox, AJA or anyone else) and all approved systems – everything worked without the SAN, just not with it (and ANY level of RAID beyond RAID 0 was completely undoable).
I agree it is a serious limitation NOT to be able to get a SAN to work – especially in today’s collaborative environments.
If you ever DO get it working, post your SAN specs – I’d love to find a solution that isn’t just a money pit of pain.
slainte,
marisu -
[marisu fronc] “we had to finally go back to sneaker net to pass things around”
I ended up doing hot swapable external eSATA enclosures, with careful planing and data management it works ok with no big hassle.
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Yeah – that’s what we’re doing, but now I’m bumping into projects too big to fit on a single drive – which means even MORE hassles (not to mention the time wasted trying to reuse things already captured – I’d like to be able to have EVERYTHING available ready to import with out trying to find it first). Push comes to shove, it works fine – but I still need a SAN!!!
slainte,
marisu -
Sorry to hear you have trouble working in a SAN situation with Axio & Premiere Pro. I have 3 Axio HD systems and 4 Graphics workstations, and a Pro Tools HD system atttached to a SAN we built. We have No local storage on any of the systems except for the C: drive. The system is working exactly as designed with no problems.
This is a very complex networked situation with very strategic planning concerning load balancing of our bandwidth. My experience with the Matrox group has been very very positive. They are eager to help and very good at working with users.
I suspect a few scenarios in your situation. One, Premiere Pro is using all of the memory and crashing. Two, single channel fibre is not capable of handling your bandwidth requirements. Three, the overall system design has been done incorrectly.
It is very possible to network Matrox Axio systems that work flawlessly.
Ray
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Thanks I will pass that along to our engineers
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Ray
Was researching Collaborative Storage for our Axio editing systems and came across this 2007 thread. The warning -gave me heart failure.
I too have had great success (SD projects only)for several years with Matrox with AP Pro CS3 and below (internal storage). Last year we received an enterprise solution for HD that included a SAN. I had no input on the storage specs and never heard of Fiberjet. The original specs did not include Matrox axio for the HPs and I negotiated it. The system are very unstable and my expertise from co-workers have taken a hit. However, your post gives renewed hope. Can you provide any details on the system you built?
Currently have a Rorke GALAXY HDX2 12TB and G-SPEED XL 12TB. Dual fiber to 4 HP X6600, Vista, Adobe suit CS4 with Matrox Axio. Fibejet is the traffic cop and Some isci controller (cost per seat) for copper low bandwidth requirements.
The system never really worked and within months was so frustrated switched to Final Cut pro 8 on standalone3 macs to keep p with production deadlines.
While FC has its benefits there things in the Adobe Package I do not want to give up. My new goal is integrate the MACs with the HPs, even if I have to uninstall the Matrox axio. Now that everything is tapeless not sure of the Axio benefit.
I have seen Editshare at NAB 2008 and was very impressed. I heard about Facilis and it also looks promising but both seem to be standalone that does not incorporate on our current storage and LTO. Not to mention the price tag. I also heard about Tiger Technologies that is a software only solution. Once again per seat:(
Any advice is appreciated.
Fred
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