AJA io XT with Thunderbolt (For Jeremy!)

[Craig Seeman]

It may be some sort of milestone when FCPX screenshots make it into product marketing material. One never knows what’s going on in the back room discussions between developers and the company that nobody thinks is saying anything (Apple), maybe nothing. Apparently some may not think FCPX has a toy albatross around its name. Maybe some think it’s an NLE which will move support product.

[Jeremy Garchow]

Well, I’ll tell ya.

I am totally, unofficially, not excited about this. Why should I be?

I mean, we have been able to do all this before. Hello??? Original AJA io came out almost a decade ago!!! fw400! Duh!

Forget about connecting to a fast raid AND capture device with a laptop.

Forget about being able to do 3G SDI/HDMI/3D/Rs422/TC/up-down-cross-conversion in a multitude of codecs-nles-and a few OSes from one singular laptop.

These things matter not. None of this is impressive. Not a bit of it. This thunderbolt situation is grim, and the capabilities rather limiting. We have been able to do this for a decade, maybe more. I mean, all thunderbolt does is move data, right? My TI-81 graphing calculator moved data, too. I was capturing 3D on a laptop in the 80s. Let’s be realistic.

But, Steve, what I will say, is that you have an amazing eye for detail. Nice spot on that one. Looks like that’s MC6? 😉

[Steve Connor]

[Jeremy Garchow] “But, Steve, what I will say, is that you have an amazing eye for detail. Nice spot on that one. Looks like that’s MC6? ;)”

I’d like to claim credit, but it was pointed out on another forum! You’re right though, not exciting at all

Steve Connor
“FCPX Agitator”
Adrenalin Television

[Franz Bieberkopf]

[Jeremy Garchow] “Forget about connecting to a fast raid AND capture device with a laptop.

Forget about being able to do 3G SDI/HDMI/3D/Rs422/TC/up-down-cross-conversion in a multitude of codecs-nles-and a few OSes from one singular laptop.”

Jeremy,

… you do seem to be implying that before thunderbolt we couldn’t connect both a “fast RAID” and a capture device to a laptop simultaneously. I’ll read between the lines and assume you think FW800 is “not fast”, on which assumption one would have to agree with you.

Franz.

[Jeremy Garchow]

[Franz Bieberkopf] “Jeremy,

… you do seem to be implying that before thunderbolt we couldn’t connect both a “fast RAID” and a capture device to a laptop simultaneously. I’ll read between the lines and assume you think FW800 is “not fast”, on which assumption one would have to agree with you.”

3D on a laptop in the 80s, my man.

Stellar.

[Mitch Ives]

[Jeremy Garchow] “These things matter not. None of this is impressive. Not a bit of it. This thunderbolt situation is grim, and the capabilities rather limiting. We have been able to do this for a decade, maybe more. I mean, all thunderbolt does is move data, right? My TI-81 graphing calculator moved data, too. I was capturing 3D on a laptop in the 80s. Let’s be realistic.”

Didn’t you forget to mention that this might be our only path to external monitoring? That might be enough to sell them…

Mitch Ives
Insight Productions Corp.

“Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfills the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things.” – Winston Churchill

[Jeremy Garchow]

[Mitch Ives] “Didn’t you forget to mention that this might be our only path to external monitoring? That might be enough to sell them…”

Thunderbolt? I didn’t mention that. Enough to sell who what?

[Walter Soyka]

[Jeremy Garchow] “These things matter not. None of this is impressive. Not a bit of it. This thunderbolt situation is grim, and the capabilities rather limiting. We have been able to do this for a decade, maybe more. I mean, all thunderbolt does is move data, right? My TI-81 graphing calculator moved data, too. I was capturing 3D on a laptop in the 80s. Let’s be realistic.”

Have our roles reversed? You used to feel like the bad guy for your opinion that FCPX deserved more consideration than it got, and now I feel like the bad guy for my opinion that Thunderbolt has been over-hyped in a few key areas.

I have said, over and over, that Thunderbolt is a cool technology and a game-changing big deal because it enables workflows on laptops that were previously only possible on massive desktops. I get it, Jeremy, and I agree with you about how important this is.

I’m not trying to slam Thunderbolt, but there are a couple things swirling around our conversations about Thunderbolt that I think are important to keep in perspective. I’ve been critical or questioning in a few very specific areas:

• Thunderbolt adds new expansion options to laptops and small desktops, but expansion is not the only value-add workstations offer. While many people will be able to move entirely to smaller and cheaper computers, some will still benefit from traditional workstations. It would be a tragedy if the arrival of Thunderbolt ultimately means the departure of the Mac Pro.
• Thunderbolt is 4x PCIe, but Mac Pros have a couple 16x PCIe slots. With the existence of 8x and 16x PCIe devices, Thunderbolt has not completely eliminated the need for PCIe expansion.
• Thunderbolt devices still take up space. Of course there are still space and weight savings with a laptop over a desktop, so while mobility is greatly increased, we should be clear that a laptop with a gaggle of Thunderbolt peripherals will still require space and power to operate.
• Not every Thunderbolt demo is cause for amazement and celebration. Eight-spindle RAID 0 is a risky configuration, no matter how it’s connected to the system, and in terms of Thunderbolt throughput, it’s old news. The Promise R6 is a far better system for production use and has been delivering amazing speed to laptops for months without chewing up 4 of the 6 devices supported on the bus. Other similar RAID enclosures will be joining it on the market soon.

None of this means I don’t think our new capabilities are impressive, or that we shouldn’t be excited about them. I just think that as Thunderbolt devices actually begin coming to market, we need to start considering practicality, too.

High-speed storage on a laptop is a good thing. High-def video capture on a laptop is a good thing. Both of them together, at the same time? A very good thing!

3D on a graphing calculator? Nothing short of amazing.

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events

[Mitch Ives]

[Jeremy Garchow] “Thunderbolt? I didn’t mention that. Enough to sell who what?”

You did. Perhaps I didn’t understand your point. My point is, that we may not have a choice. Those of us wanting external monitoring may have to buy one of these… other features notwithstanding. Did I explain that clearly (perhaps not)?

Mitch Ives
Insight Productions Corp.

“Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfills the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things.” – Winston Churchill

[Jeremy Garchow]

[Mitch Ives] “You did. Perhaps I didn’t understand your point. My point is, that we may not have a choice. Those of us wanting external monitoring may have to buy one of these… other features notwithstanding. Did I explain that clearly (perhaps not)?”

It’s a valid point.

I don’t know if you’ve heard me mention this before, but a few driver updates ago, in fine print, AJA said that all of their drivers were “thunderbolt” aware. This means that you can stick their card in a qualified PCIe <-> Thunderbolt case and theoretically, it will work. It might be that we have to buy some sort of Thunderbolt device to get video out of FCPX. I’m not sure, video out doesn’t work in FCPX currently. In one of my computers, I’ve had a Kona 3 in there for many more years than it should be allowed to have worked. I can choose to use a PCIe box and that Kona3, or buy the ioXT which is daisy chainable (some other io boxes aren’t) has more capability than my Kona3 and has a suggested price of $1495.

Jeremy