Looking into shared FCP media storage?

[Nathaniel Cooper]

Hey Sarah,

There are lots of great options out there:

https://www.getactivestorage.com/ using https://www.apple.com/xsan/ $$$
https://www.facilis.com/ $$
https://www.studionetworksolutions.com/ $$
https://www.promax.com/Solutions/ShareMAXOverview/ $

Generally, you’re best off finding a good local reseller to help guide you through the Pro’s and Con’s. There are TON’s of options out there, these are the options I’ve seen the happiest clients with.

If you want to get into more details on recommendations the following info helps:

– What resolutions are you working with?
– How much storage do you need?
– What is your budget range?
– Are there other applications that will need to be used by this SAN (Avid, AE, Scratch, etc. etc.)
– Do you value simplicity or features more?

Best,

Nate Cooper
nate.cooper@promax.com
949.375.2738

Scuba Dive? https://www.postproductiondivers.com/

[Sarah Bright]

Awesome reply… Thank you 😀

– What resolutions are you working with? – Mostly DVCPro HD 1080i50
– How much storage do you need? – Hard to judge, I would guess we’re currently using about 14TB per production… and we have 5 productions.
– What is your budget range? – Not sure yet.
– Are there other applications that will need to be used by this SAN (Avid, AE, Scratch, etc. etc.)… Not really. Just FCP and Pro Tools, Photoshop etc.
– Do you value simplicity or features more? Hmmmm, personally.. Either. Our editors are well trained so it doesn’t need to be simple.

x

[Bob Zelin]

Hi Sarah –

you have to give us some info first –
FCP only ?
AVID only ?
Mixture of FCP and AVID ?
How much storage do you need (16 TB, 32 TB, 48 TB ?)

You say that you have had problems with the SAN crashing that you have right now – exactly what do you have right now ?

And where are you located – in the US, or Europe ?

Bob Zelin

[Bob Zelin]

Hi Sarah –
I think you are in England, correct ? I think that Nate would LOVE to fly to England to install his system for you !

Bob Zelin

[Sarah Bright]

Used SAN at my other place… here we only use external drives. Well annoying.
And yes… in England x

[Nathaniel Cooper]

Sarah,

Bob is right, I would love to fly to the UK, unfortunately my dog daisy get’s rather upset when I’m gone for too long.

You should give the guys over at Academia a call, Tony Dickie is over there (he used to own 1080p, really knows his stuff).

All 4 of those options I mentioned earlier are good ones to look at. Performance wise since you’re doing DVC Pro HD fibre channel or GigE will both work fine, unless you’re doing crazy multicam workflows… then you’ll need fibre.

Xsan might be push-pull to the SAN, unless you’re using Pro Tools 9, they just recently started opening up to file-locking SANs as valid audio drives. I’m not sure if Pro Tools 9 will work direct with Xsan, if anyone else knows this, please chime in.

Nate

[Mohammed Ali]

Hi Sarah

I work for a distributor who are specifically focused within this arena. We are distributors for various solutions which would be of interest such as Active Storage, Small Tree Communications, CalDigit, Enhance Technology and i would like to discuss your requirements further and put you in touch with key dealers who would be able to deal with your enquiry.

Please call me on 01753 502683

Kind regards
Mohammed

[Mohammed Ali]

Hi Sarah

I work for Channel Dynamics Distribution Ltd and Academia (Tony Dickie) is one of our clients. Unfortunately he is currently off work at the minute and i would like to get you in touch with his colleagues.

Please call me on 01753 502683 to discuss.

Many thanks
Mohammed

[Sarah Bright]

Thanks guys…

I’ve given all the info to my bosses. They’re having a meeting about it all this week.

Shall indeed give you a call if they decide to go with this.

Thanks

Sarah

[Mohammed Ali]

Hi Sarah

There are several options you can go with but i would recommend either Active Storage or Small Tree Communications depending on certain requirements and budget.

Look forward to talking to you.

Many thanks
Mohammed