[Need Advice] Build in Sata RAID for Blackmagic Decklink SP and File size

[Luke Maslen]

Hi Raymond,

We’ve got both PCI and PCIe versions of the DeckLink SP and so if you haven’t bought the card yet, I would suggest getting the DeckLink SP PCIe version as it uses the modern PCI Express interface and that means it will work with the newer motherboards as they have PCIe slots. The cost of the PCI and PCIe versions of DeckLink SP is the same (US$595) so you might as well get the PCIe version. If you are likely to be working in HD, then you should also consider the DeckLink HD Extreme (US$995) instead of the DeckLink SP PCIe. The DeckLink HD Extreme is a PCIe card with both SDI and analog inputs and outputs and works in SD as well as HD.

The onboard SATA support should be fine for your SD capture and playback and you can use the Computer Management control panel in Windows XP to create a striped disk array for fast disk performance. It’s a good idea to have one disk for your Windows XP Pro system and then use 2 or more disks for your internal disk array. Modern, fast disks running at 7200 rpm should be fine.

We’ve got information about Storage and Data Rates for Uncompressed Video on our web site but here are the SD rates for NTSC and PAL.

525 NTSC uncompressed;
8 bit @ 720 x 486 @ 29.97fps = 20 MB per/sec, or 70 GB per/hr.
10 bit @ 720 x 486 @ 29.97fps = 27 MB per/sec, or 94 GB per/hr.

625 PAL uncompressed;
8 bit @ 720 x 576 @ 25fps = 20 MB per/sec, or 70 GB per/hr.
10 bit @ 720 x 576 @ 25fps = 26 MB per/sec, or 93 GB per/hr.

It doesn’t matter whether you are capturing via SDI or component analog or composite analog as the file size will be the same. The DeckLink SP can only capture via analog but the DeckLink HD Extreme can capture via SDI, component analog, S-video analog or composite analog.

Please let me know if you have any further questions.

Regards,

Luke Maslen
Blackmagic Design

[R4ymond]

Thanks for your great advice luke,

I haven’t buy the Declink yet, still undecided which one to choose.
Im going to work on post production for a TV program recorded on Digital Betacam, and I understand that the best is to capture it via SDI instead of component, however is there any noticable different for video quality between component and SDI? because im working on a quite tight budget post production and i was thinking that the DL SP should be fine in terms of quality for the capturing device from the Digital Beta deck.
Few more questions:
1. Is it safe to use onboard Sata Raid becase I heard from my friend that they face a problem of harddisk crash or error due to Raid of harddisks for their editing system.
And whats the size of Sata Harddisk you recommend to be raid? is it 250gb x 4unit or 320gb x 2unit? which one is perform better for the video drive?

2. For the Operating System (WinXP Pro) Is there any suggestion for me? better IDE or SATA for the local drive to be work with the DL SP

Thanks Again… and Bravo for your support. 🙂

Regards’

Raymond Sigar

[Sameer Shrivastava]

Hi,
yes there is a noticeble difference in component and sdi. why dont you purchase decklink or pro or decklinkextreme as most of your footage is in digital betacam, so use sdi.

You should ideally purchase one 80 gb sata for a boot/os drive. make a 20 gb partition for os and use the remainder for installing applications and storing some other data.
250×3 will perform better than 320×2. or you can add the third 320 later. but 250 gbs are much cheaper now. though you can use ide drive also for boot then you can use 250×4 as raid if you want. I had the below mentioned configuration on a dell machine for sometime 80gb ide as boot drive and 250gbx2 on the two sata ports as raid. the machine used to work fine. Using internal raid is not a problem and safe. make shure you use a compatible case with decent cooling. 250gbx2 also gives a decent speed for SD.

now i use a 80 gb as boot 250×4 as raid.
between sata/ide os drive remember 7200 rpm ide drive will give you around 32 mbs and sata around 50+ mbs. so your os and application will run faster on a sata drive

sameer

[R4ymond]

Cool, thanx for your advice and everything is clear now…

Raymond Sigar

[Luke Maslen]

Hi Raymond,

Sameer is abosolutely right that SDI is the way to go. The Digital Betacam is a digital deck with SDI inputs and outputs so you are best to get a card with SDI inputs and outputs. The DeckLink SP would not be the right card for you as it has analog inputs and outputs. Whenever possible, it is best to use SDI digital video and audio all the way as this avoids the introduction of analog noise which is always a problem with any analog equipment.

The most inexpensive option would be to get the entry model DeckLink card which is only US$295 and has one SDI input and two SDI outputs. However if you want to monitor your video from the card, and you don’t have an SDI monitor, then it would be worth considering the DeckLink Pro or DeckLink Extreme PCIe cards as they both have SDI in and out but also analog outputs. You can use component or composite analog monitoring with a TV or low cost video monitor. Definitely don’t choose the DeckLink SP as it is designed for use with a Betacam SP deck whereas you need a different card for the Digital Betacam deck. If you need a card that works with both, then the DeckLink Extreme PCIe is the way to go. If you also need HD capabilities as well as SD, then the DeckLink HD Extreme is the right card for you. I hope this makes sense and please let me know if you need any more clarification of the features of the different cards.

Windows XP Pro is what I would recommend to you as we don’t test the Home edition and the 64-bit versions of Window have no speed advantages when used with mainstream video software such as Premiere Pro.

Sameer’s disk recommendations sound good to me although I wouldn’t usually suggest placing the application software on your disk array and would instead keep them on my startup disk along with Windows XP. I’m sure that is a topic that can be debated both ways but if there is a chance that you will be moving your disk array from one computer to another, then it is best not to have the application software installed on the disk array.

Regards,

Luke Maslen
Blackmagic Design

[Sameer Shrivastava]

Hi,

I’ll clear up. It’s best to keep the application on a seprate partition of boot disk rather than on raid or boot partition e.g first 20 gb as boot partion having only xp. remaing 60 gb as second partions having all your applications.

this is recomended because
a: the boot partiotion gets less fragmented and your os runs cleanly and at a good speed. remember your ram cache also goes into your os/boot partition.
b: some of your applications temp file increase their size with use. os if some applications temp file if gets increased it does not hamper the performence of the os

You can also make a small 5-6gb partition on your boot disk and dedicate it to ram caching(page file).

best of luck
sameer

[Luke Maslen]

Thanks Sameer,

That’s good advice.

Regards,

Luke Maslen
Blackmagic Design