Fibre or SATA for Uncompressed

[Bob Zelin]

Hi David –
Are you confused ? Well so am I. And so was Walter. This business is NUTS. There are always new products coming out, and each one is better than the next, and soon Leopard will be released and nothing will work. If you are using DVCProHD, you can “get away” with a FW800 drive, but of course, for serious work, you something more robust. Choices from Ciprico, Dulce, Sonnet, Cal Digit, ProMax and the ATTO R380 are all excellent modern choices.

I have seen the problems with regular SATA port multipiers that Walter has seen, and this is my response. PRICE IS EVERYTHING. The disappearing port multiplier arrays is probably an issue with the Silicon Image 3124 that is common among all the companies selling port multiplier SATA chassis, but is only happens to about 10% of the owners out there (which is a lot). But you know what – this is STILL the cheapest solution out there for doing almost everything, and to THIS DAY, it is still the most popular solution – even with the “russian roulette” risk of losing your media.

In my opinion, you don’t need 500mb/sec if your work is DVCProHD and ProRes422HQ. Just because I wrote a nice article on the Dulce doesn’t mean that this is the only product that works – lots of products work.

You know what I DONT LIKE – I don’t like the Apple XServe RAID. I just build a new Apple XServe RAID for Fox Sun Sports, and 12 hours into the 30 hour initialization, the piece of crap failed the initialization, and it won’t complete. If this happened with Dulce, Cal Digit, Pro Max, Maxx Digital, Sonnet, Ciprico, etc., they would have been on the phone, and sending out a new unit. But Apple – NO WAY – bring it to a Mac genius at the shopping mall.

So, which is the best product – beats me ! One thing for sure, in 3 years, you will regret buying all of these products (and your MAC Pro), becaue something else will be out that is faster/better/cheaper. And so will the
AJA I/O HD 4k. And so will LCD monitors with 4096 resolution.

Bob Zelin

[David Battistella]

Don,

For the record.

I had a great chat with tech support today. I reiterated that I have no issue with my HUGE 4210 or my experience with the people I have had dealings with in your tech department (the service is always thoughtful and excellent).

My one and only complaint was that the 30day cross shipment policy was not a great idea. I appreciate the efforts to which you and others on your team have responded to my concerns. I was glad to know that HUGE is not being “eaten up” by it’s rapid growth and todays response is proof that you put your customers first.

It’s good to know that the policy has been returned to normal and that there have been changes made in staffing.

You have impressed me with your excellent level of service and I think that others should understand that you do care about your customers concerns and respond to their needs.

David

Peace and Love 🙂
Read my Blog
https://blogs.creativecow.net/DavidBattistella

[Walter Biscardi]

[Don McDonell] “I believe you’ve spoken to our tech support manager who informed you that we did have a brief change in policy with respect to cross shipping parts that has now been rescinded.”

Thank goodness that was a momentary blip!

[Don McDonell] “Our company is growing rapidly and at times this can cause momentary glitches that are sometimes felt by loyal customers, but we came to our senses when we were reminded how much our good service reputation means, not only to our customers but to our company.”

Absolutely, customer service, especially from great folks like you, are what separate you from other guys. It’s easy to build a cheap product, it’s harder to stand behind it and do what’s right for the customer.

[Don McDonell] “We will do all we can going forward to ensure you and our other cusotmers are cared for in the manner to which they are accustomed.”

that’s the best anyone can ask for!

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.com
HD Editorial & Animation for Broadcast and independent productions.

All Things Apple Podcast! https://cowcast.creativecow.net/all_things_apple/index.html

Read my blog! https://blogs.creativecow.net/WalterBiscardi

[Aaron Neitz]

Has anyone used the fibre G-Speed arrays? I’m really interested in them for our next studio…. we have the XSAN, but it’s too much work when things go awry. I’d rather have a dedicated array for HD work. I know AJA recommends them, and I know some Flame artists who swear by them for their Combustion workstations.

[Walter Biscardi]

[CharlieX] “Has anyone used the fibre G-Speed arrays? I”

Gary Adcock uses them so I’m sure he can chime in here. He’s honestly the only person I know of who is using them, but he likes them.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.com
HD Editorial & Animation for Broadcast and independent productions.

All Things Apple Podcast! https://cowcast.creativecow.net/all_things_apple/index.html

Read my blog! https://blogs.creativecow.net/WalterBiscardi

[Aaron Neitz]

Well the sales rep at Promax gave me a good spiel on their box vs G-Speed….

[Gary Adcock]

[walter biscardi] “He’s honestly the only person I know of who is using them, but he likes them.”

I do like my 2 units- both of the smaller Units not the larger XL models.
They just work for me, no hassles and a very easy web interface for setup and control.

and com’on they are 4G fibre, I just plugged them into the Switch ( q-logic) and they show up on my network as a new drive.

gary adcock
Studio37
HD & Film Consultation
Post and Production Workflows