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MacPro in a ‘machine room’. How?
I post this question here only because I have no idea where it should go.
I’ve read about post facilities having computers in a machine room or closet, then monitoring and operating from an edit position elsewhere, but not HOW it’s done. I’d simply like to move the fan noise away from my desk, but want to know the details…just because.
How IS it done? What kinds of wiring and connectors and translators are required? I’m assuming, too, that the change in signal standards – DVI to Displayport to Thunderbolt will mean different requirements. If there is a forum here (or elsewhere) that deals with the issue please point me to it.
Thank you.
Red Camera Rental & Indy Features, Denver Colorado.
rockymountain4k.com * 303.506.2456 -
4 Replies
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If you only put a keyboard monitors, computer displays and audio in one room, the longer cables get fed through the wall. If I ever finish my basement, I’ll do it just that way myself. Two bedrooms for one bay. It is a joy to work in rooms with no fan noise.
Thunderbolt has a limit of 3 meters, so your CPU must be that close to (say just on the other side of the wall) if you use Thunderbolt for displays… I’d rethink that probably unless somebody has a solution for that (Thunderbolt adapter maybe). VGA will go a long ways. Other than that USB goes a long way so… If you need an optical drive in the room, that’s easy enough too. Or you walk into the next room to the CPU’s optical drive.
Jerry
Apple Certified Trainer, Producer, Writer, Director Editor, Gun for Hire and other things. I ski. My Blog: https://blogs.creativecow.net/Jerry-Hofmann
Current DVD:
https://store.creativecow.net/p/81/jerry_hofmanns_final_cut_system_setup8-Core 3.0 Intel Mac Pro, Dual 2 gig G5, AJA Kona SD, AJA Kona 2, Huge Systems Array UL3D, AJA Io HD, 17″ MBP, Matrox MXO2 with MAX – Cinema Displays I have a 22″ that I paid 4k for still working. G4 with Kona SD card, and SCSI card.
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I have all six computers, NAS units, HDCam & digi beta machines in an adjacent room with sound proofing and Raven seals around doors to stop all computer noise.
USB extenders are simple enough and can do 15-20 meters without problems. You might want a powered hub if like me you use two keyboards and a Tangent Wave. DVI is much trickier. I use a Gefen DVI to Cat6 extender system. This allows me to run dual monitors from the Mac a distance of 20 meters using cat6 cabling. Much longer distances are possible using this sort of converter.
I also use a Kona3 card which runs analog component to my monitor. SDI and component can be run long distances as can VGA with good quality cables. Long HDMI I don’t know about but I bet there are similar cat6 converters for them as well.
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Thanks to Michael and Jerry.
The extenders sound like a good idea. I’ll have to look around more and see if there are “Mini DisplayPort” extenders (now on that rather than DVI) and of course the future may be Thunderbolt. God! I already have a big box of old SCSI, ADB and other obsolete connectors. I already have HDSDI out from my Red Rocket card and a Blackmagic, uhh, magical device, so yes, that’s good for distance.
Jerry, “Web of Lies”, the short that I showed at the Denver Final Cut Users Group a couple months ago made it into the Starz Denver Film Festival (and hopefully a few more). Thanks to you and the group for letting me show it… I ended up fixing a couple of tiny After Effects problems that I saw (but no one else seemed to mind). Turns out my 720 Panasonic broadcast monitor was effectively “smoothing out” some problems that were more evident at a higher magnification… I don’t know if that projector might have been a true 1080, too. I ended up making a ‘trailer’ as well… for a 10-minute short.
Cheers,
NelsonRed Camera Rental & Indy Features, Denver Colorado.
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Nice Nelson!
Good to hear about the festival too! Congrats!
Jerry
Apple Certified Trainer, Producer, Writer, Director Editor, Gun for Hire and other things. I ski. My Blog: https://blogs.creativecow.net/Jerry-Hofmann
Current DVD:
https://store.creativecow.net/p/81/jerry_hofmanns_final_cut_system_setup8-Core 3.0 Intel Mac Pro, Dual 2 gig G5, AJA Kona SD, AJA Kona 2, Huge Systems Array UL3D, AJA Io HD, 17″ MBP, Matrox MXO2 with MAX – Cinema Displays I have a 22″ that I paid 4k for still working. G4 with Kona SD card, and SCSI card.
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