HD Uncompressed 10 bit SAN recommendations

[Jordan Woods]

It sounds like you have a very big task, and it also sounds like this is a new venture for you. A file level SAN that runs uncompressed HD smoothly is not exactly a DIY activity. In my experience, if you post the following information, you will get exactly what will work for you:

–some questions seem stupid, but necessary since a SAN is built not only for current needs, but future as well.

-How many seats are uncompressed (current and future)
-How many concurrent streams are used by the uncompressed editors
-How many seats are compressed (current and future)
-How many concurrent streams are used by the compressed editors
-How much space do you estimate you will need
-Do you have technical staff
-and the most important… How much money are you willing to spend to do this correctly? This answer will probably answer the top questions for you. Here is a good example:

-2 editors of uncompressed HD – minimum 500MB/s if “extra streams”
-any other editors of “offline” = 30-50MB/s misc…
-probably need 10-20TB of space if you edit a feature, more if it’s a documentary

-plan to go above $30,000 to do the above correctly.

There is no “one” way to build a SAN, there are too many variables. You have to find what will work and how much you want to spend to get that to work. Call a bunch of integrators in your area and get some quotes… that will do wonders for pointing you in the right direction.

[Bob Zelin]

Having just finished Trans City Media in Las Vegas, and having looked at your website, let me assure you Bill that you don’t need uncompressed 10 bit HD. I know your market. ProRes422HQ will suit you fine if you are looking to save money. And there are a lot of solutions for you for that resolution.

But if I am wrong, I have the answer for you –
HIRE JORDAN WOODS. He is only 3 1/2 hours away from you, and he needs the weekend in Vegas.

And to respond directly to Jordan’s comment – ther are no integrators in Vegas to install this for you.

Bob Zelin

[Matt Geier]

Bill,

Bob is right, you can do what you want to do in ProRez and edit in in real time over Gigabit or even 10Gb Ethernet.

When you hire Jordan Woods (Another Good Suggestion by Bob…) make sure he gets you into a Small Tree GraniteSTOR ST-RAID solution for your Final Cut Shared Video Editing (*hint hint)

This is serious business and you need to do your due diligence to find a solution you are comfortable paying for, and working with in the long term, not something you’ll need to junk 6 months from now because you have new project requirements.

Matt G.

[Eric Hansen]

hey Bill

others have suggested that you go with ProResHQ and i agree wholeheartedly. but lets assume that Unc10bit HD is a requirement that can’t budge. you only have 2 systems. how much do these 2 systems REALLY need to collaborate? in my experience, to get consistent Unc10bit HD in and out of an Xsan, you will need at least 2 Promise RAIDs fully populated. thats 32TB of raw storage at about $27,000 just for the RAIDs. i have an Xsan with a single Promise RAID, but to get 10bit HD to capture and play consistently without drop frames at 29.97, i have to make the other editors on the other systems go home, so the one system that needs all the bandwidth gets it.

looking another way, if you used SAS direct-attached storage on each system, you could get faster speeds than an Xsan, for much less. maybe $5000 per system for a 16TB enclosure and SAS card. with the Ethernet SAN systems i have built, theres at least one edit computer in each installation with direct-attached storage specifically for dealing with Unc10bit HD or similar formats. but these systems are using this storage less and less as the producers are getting used to ProRes. it was a warm blanket at first for the shop owners, knowing they can do Unc10bit HD if they are ever asked by their clients. but it just doesnt happen too much anymore.

if you go with 2 systems with direct attached storage, run a gigabit line between the 2 for occasionally sharing/copying a file. yes it will be a slow transfer with Unc10bit files, and certainly wont play anything realtime. but it will work for moving files back and forth.

e

Eric Hansen, The Audio Visual Plumber – http://www.avplumber.com

[Neil Sadwelkar]

This precisely my experience as well. I too began with a plan of 4 FCP suites with 2 UC capable. This has now grown to 12 suites with some being Avids. We use a mix of direct attached and AFP sharing to get around having a central shared storage.

Also, we have this requirement spring up from time to time with clients who actually want the system to be disconnected from any other. Like feature film clients. Here DAS helps.

SAN is great to have, and people like Jordan, Matt and Bob are very knowledgeable and can help you set it up right. But sometimes it can be overkill. if the ‘S’ in SAN is an occasional requirement.

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Neil Sadwelkar
neilsadwelkar.blogspot.com
twitter: fcpguru
FCP Editor, Edit systems consultant
Mumbai India