-
Thunderbolt chassis’s?
We’re about to purchase a decklink studio for me and our edit system. A new machine is going to wait another 6 months to a year since we’re getting new speakers, monitor, etc… so I wanted to inquire about future proofing our set up. Regarding those thunderbolt expansion chassis, do the BMD cards work well with these? Do you still get Thunderbolt speeds. I would assume so since the PCIe is a direct bus to the board.
Has anyone tried one of these chassis yet? The expansion chassis looks like a viable option since both iMacs and the new tower will be thunderbolt based.
OSX 10.7.5 with a 3.39 Ghz Intel Core i7 on a built up Hackintosh
16 GB of RAM with OSX on SSD, (2) internal HDDs RAID’d 1 for project files and External RAID 5 for all project assets (media, GFX, stills, etc.) -
4 Replies
-
you cannot future proof your system. The current Thunderbolt expansion chassis come from Magma and Sonnet. These are Thunderbolt 1 technology, which share the equivalent of a x4 lane slot of a Mac Pro. So all the Blackmagic cards will work in the expansion chassis. But Thunderbolt 2 is around the corner (because of the new Mac Pro to be released soon), so your Thunderbolt 1 chassis will be obsolete when Thunderbolt 2 gets released. I assure you that Sonnet, Magma, and everyone else will release Thunderbolt 2 products when the new Mac Pro gets released.
If you want to future proof your investments, you are in the wrong business. You get about 3 years on an investment in technology. The only thing that will last 5 – 10 years is your racks, AC power strips, speakers, and maybe your audio mixer. We have seen over and over again, that all the computers, software, peripherals, plug in’s, video monitors, etc. all become obsolete in a very short period of time. While purchasing a Magma 3T or Sonnet Echo Express is an excellent investment today, 3 years from now, it will be a useless piece of junk that you won’t get 50 bucks for on eBay.
Bob Zelin
Bob Zelin
Rescue 1, Inc.
maxavid@cfl.rr.com -
Great point Bob. But I thought I read somewhere that tBolt 2 would backwards compatible? So that should buy at least another year. Haha. I’ll look into Sonnets stuff a little deeper. But good to know my PCIe won’t go to waste just yet. Thx again.
OSX 10.7.5 with a 3.39 Ghz Intel Core i7 on a built up Hackintosh
16 GB of RAM with OSX on SSD, (2) internal HDDs RAID’d 1 for project files and External RAID 5 for all project assets (media, GFX, stills, etc.) -
Sure it will be backwards compatible but it will money spent on something that will be overtaken very shortly by better tech and increased functionality. If all you want is to run a BMD video card into a thunderbolt port, then sure, it will function the same regardless of having Thunderbolt 1 or 2, but if you want to put more powerful cards in there that will ultimately require higher bandwidth, you will have already spent the money on something that won’t have it.
Co-President at fourB Productions, Inc.
Blackmagic Cinema Camera, RED Scarlet-X, Panasonic HPX170, Canon 7D
2011 Macbook Pro 17″, 2.3 Ghz Quad Core, 16GB RAM
2008 Mac Pro 2.6 Ghz 8 Core, 10GB RAM
AJA IoXT, Blackmagic Intensity Pro, Blackmagic Mini Monitor
Adobe Production Premium CC, Avid Media Composer 7, Final Cut Pro Studio 3 -
[Bob Zelin] “You get about 3 years on an investment in technology”
hey, my Apple CinemaDisplay HD that I bought 6 years ago is still rock solid!
But yeah, I know what you mean, this Kona 3 I paid $3K a few years ago now I saw it on eBay for $350 (with breakout box) and didn’t get any bids!
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up