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Lacie 4big Quadra eSATA + MBP 17″ + AJA Io HD?
So, I’m needing to build a “semi-mobile” secondary video capture/editing station for my office, and I’m wondering if anyone here has experience with using these three components together for ProRes 422 HQ projects. Is there a stable/reliable eSATA Expresscard34 for the MacBook Pro in Leopard? Does the Lacie 4big Quadra (or some other integrated external eSATA RAID 5 solution) have enough bandwidth to support ProRes 422 HQ capture and editing in 720p60? How is the Io HD (I’ve only used the Kona 2 and 3)?
Basically I need to price this out and don’t want to end up selecting components that are going to be finicky or cause headaches, so any expertise here would be helpful.
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13 Replies
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As far as i know you won’t get ProresHQ on a laptop.
Also, the esata card I have uses the express slot on my MBP, I dont know if the KONA uses this or not, but certainly the MXO2 does.
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CHris, you are wrong. First off, the I/O HD has a ProRes encoder built in, so it will do all the ProRes encoding internally…and will ABSOLUTELY capture to ProRes. Heck, I have even tested out my MXO2 and MXO2 Mini on my MBP and they capture to ProRes 422 without dropping a frame (30 min capture tested..but this is not supported by MAtrox). ProRes is absolutely possible on a laptop.
Raid 5 eSATA? Rare…I think the G-Speed might do it. But Raid 5 with MiniSAS, sure. I have the HD One by Caldigit and that connects to my laptop. I can get 200MB/s, fine for ProRes.
One thing with the AJA I/O HD…you cannot use COLOR with it. Color doesn’t send out an HD signal via firewire, and that is how the I/O HD connects, so no external monitoring with Color with the I/O HD. Perfectly fine with other tasks. I have the MXO2 and that connects via the Express34 slot, so the drawback is that you are limited to firewire drives. And ProRes capture isn’t supported…possible, but not supported. So if you need ProRes capture and you need monitoring for color correcting with Color, then the laptop might not be the best option. Possible, but not total 100% for sure it works.
Shane
GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def -
I have been under the impression the Prores was fine but proresHQ was out of the window on a MBP. At least thats what I have always been told. I’ll need to give my dealer a good old slap!
Cheers for the education.
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OHhhh….HQ. Sorry. Dunno if the I/O offers that…since it has the built in encoder, I’d think it would. Not gonna get HQ from the MXO2 on a laptop though.
But again…HQ isn’t for just everything, it is meant for high end 1080 10-bit and 2k and 4k stuff. Not HDV or XDCAM or DVCPRO HD or HDCAM (SR maybe).
Shane
GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def -
I have an older 2.33 GHz MBP and an ioHD. I can do ProRes HQ no prob.
The fastest card eSATA card out there right now is the Sonnet Tempo Express/34 Pro. Make sure it’s the Pro model and not the regular.
I would also recommend the Sonnet d500P which has raid 5 built in and has multiple connections. I don’t know how mobile you need it to be. For mobility, I’d recommend the Sonnet F2. It’s a small, light, and fast raid0 device (can be configured for RAID1, but it’s not worth the losses). No protection on that, though.
Jeremy
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Jeremy,
What is the different between the Pro and standard (other than $200 vs $50)? I don’t see and difference in the specs, is it just built better or do you also get better playback, like the pro lives up to the specs? I have had dropped frame issues with my old standard card even when AJA test is showing data rate is way above what is needed.
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I have this exact setup you’re asking about. The difference between the Pro card and the normal card is the chipset they use. The Pro one has a Marvell chipset, just like the desktop version, that is faster (mine does around 170 MB/S ) and it is not affected by Apple’s Express Slot Update that slowed down all Silicon Image Based cards (
https://macperformanceguide.com/Reviews-SonnetSATAPro.html).
The old card could only do around 100 MB/S .I use ProRes HQ at 1080P 29.97 everyday with a 2007 Macbook Pro 2.4 / 4G Ram with no issues with the IO HD and the Lacie Big Quadra.
Always learning….
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Forgot to mention that I have the 6 TB version of the Lacie 4Big Quadra setup as RAID 5.
Always learning….
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[Michael Sacci] “I don’t see and difference in the specs, is it just built better or do you also get better playback, like the pro lives up to the specs?”
Gustavo hit on it.
You also don’t hit the 2GB RAM limit with the Pro card that plagues some computers (but not all).
Jeremy
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Fortunately I’m not using Color, even on my main setup—I’m doing video game trailers, and there’s a pretty strong push to keep footage captured looking “as-captured,” so we accurately represent the games we make. I wish I was doing work that DID let me play with Color, but it’s a pretty imposing app and there’s no real call for it in my current position, so.
LaCie’s 4big Quadra is an eSATA device that has built-in RAID 5, so that’s what I’m referring to. I’ve had good luck with LaCie’s regular external products in the past, although I also use G-Technology stuff at work and have found it to be very nice as well. Guess I should look at some consumer reviews around the web (though those can be deceiving due to unsatisfied people being “louder”).
The reason I’m “going laptop” with this is that I see this machine as eventually serving multiple people around the office. Educating producers on how to do “quick-and-dirty” capture sessions in Final Cut would free up myself (and my future assistant) to focus on larger, more intensive projects. Having a station that could “float” more easily would be great. Plus, being able to work with ProRes 422 HQ up-front would allow the machine to do full-scale projects in the interim (also a plus while we wait to move into new space in the upstairs section of our building).
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