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Final Cut Pro HD Storage Advice
New to the forum – please excuse me if I’m repeating any threads. But I’m looking for honest answers, and this forum seems to provide them.
I’m an independent editor, currently working on my own Mac-based Avid Media Composer, on several broadcast series for various networks. Two of the shows want to go HD on the next production schedule, starting in May. Avid does not support HD on the Macintosh platform, and it would be ridiculously expensive even if they did. FCP HD is an attractive alternative. I’m required to provide Sony HDCam 1080i/59.94 masters as well as SD DigiBeta masters. The shows are supposed to be using HDCam as well. And, of course, budgets are tight.
Which storage drives have users found to work reliably? I’ve gotten advice from several people regarding the advantages and disadvantages of both SATA RAIDs and FibreChannel RAIDs. I won’t have much time to troubleshoot this system, if that’s the way the project goes. So I’m looking for the most stable and reliable setup. Coming from Avid-land, I don’t mind the cost factor if I have the security of knowing it will work on a day-to-day basis.
Also, how much capacity would be recommended? I will have to stockpile two or three half-hour shows until the network QCs them.
Sorry for the long email. Thanks very much for your help.
Gary Balionis
Quartermoon
http://www.quartermoon.com -
1 Reply
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You might want to look at what Firmtek has to offer. One of their products is a RAID card that comes with external connectors. This pairs up with an external housing which allows SATA drives to be hot-swapped.
With a pair of RAID cards and four SATA drives, there might be enough throughput to handle HD material.
And, with a hot-swappable RAID system, you won’t be limited in how much you can store offline. Doesn’t take much to dismount and mount a Firmtek RAID. I have a two-drive version that works very well.
Dean Sensui
http://www.HawaiiGoesFishing.com
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