Alex Gerulaitis
Forum Replies Created
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[Mike Fa] “I can’t find the same drive to replace it with though. That hdd is no longer being sold. So what drive should I get?”
Any larger drive should do. Preferably from the same family though.
Alex Gerulaitis
Systems Integrator
DV411 – Los Angeles, CA -
[Patrick Sproule] “There is COTS software to do it. But it’s on a MAC. We use Softron’s Movie Recorder with multiple Decklink Studios in a late Mac Pro with RAID storage to capture 3 streams of Pro Res in HD. Can also simultaneously play out using their On The Air Video. Expensive software but rock solid. Hope someone comes up with a Windows solution soon given the impending death of the Mac Pro.”
Thanks Pat! I totally forgot that Softron’s MR supports multi-stream capture via multiple Decklink cards, or one or more Decklink Quads.
It being Mac-only and on-the-fly transcoding to ProRes probably makes unsuitable for this specific purpose.
Alex Gerulaitis
Systems Integrator
DV411 – Los Angeles, CA -
Purely on CPU power, i7-3930K is about 35% faster than the fastest 6-core single Xeon used in Mac Pros (w3680). This isn’t the whole story, given Xeon’s access to larger memory pools, additional instructions and features.
Depending on how many hours a day your system spends at 100% CPU load, a single CPU Mac Pro may or may not be a “good enough” substitute for an i7-3930K Windows system. If it’s less than two-three hours then it most likely is “good enough”.
Another option is to get a Windows system with reputable support so that if it does experience problems, they will be quickly addressed. It’ll likely cost $1K or more on top of the cost of components. Possibly worthwhile given the cost of downtime and trouble-shooting?
Alex Gerulaitis
Systems Integrator
DV411 – Los Angeles, CA -
[Bill Dawson] “That is what I am inclined to do…except I have to do this on 25 MC edit stations.
I really don’t want to do this twice.”In that case, I’d definitely wait for Mntn Lion to ship (this month, looks like?) and then wait for the feedback from people to see if it plays nicely with MC6.
(Hi Bill… :))
Alex Gerulaitis
Systems Integrator
DV411 – Los Angeles, CA -
The match is the qualified system in the bottom (MacPro3) with “Harpertown” CPUs, i.e. you are in good shape.
If you can spring for (find) the next model up (MacPro5, “Nehalem”) – memory is cheaper and faster on that one, CPUs are more powerful.
Also: while $1700 will not buy a new HP Z820 or Dell T7600 workstation, it will buy a very decent custom/DIY Windows PC that will be faster for MC6 purposes than the Mac Pro you are considering. Just FYI – although you probably already looked into it.
Alex Gerulaitis
Systems Integrator
DV411 – Los Angeles, CA -
VGA-to-DVI – no good for a monitor such as a U2711 – or for any DVI monitor for that matter. It’s like converting 1080p to BetaSP and back. Unlikely to look good.
Ideally, you’d need a hi-res DP (DisplayPort) KVM supporting up to 2560×1600 resolutions (U2711 and Cinema 27 are 2560×1440 I believe).
DisplayPort (and not DVI or HDMI or VGA) – because it supersedes all other display connectivity options and is adaptable to them unlike the other way around.
Here is a dual monitor one, Startech SV231DPDDUA.
U2711 and most of today’s decent IPS monitors have DP connectors, and if not, adapters to VGA, DVI, MiniDP and HDMI are available that transmit all the right data, management and PnP signals.
HTH.
Alex Gerulaitis
Systems Integrator
DV411 – Los Angeles, CA -
First test the disk non-destructively: put it in a different machine, see if it’s recognized by the BIOS as far as capacity etc. The partition and the data on it will not be recognized of course. If you have a Z800, there is a BIOS option to run a non-destructive surface test on it.
If the drive is bad, not much you can do – replace the drive with the same type, choose “rebuild array”.
If the drive seems to be OK, put it back in the original system, set to “Non-RAID” in IRST, reboot, see if it’s recognized that way; if so, see if you can use it again to rebuild the array.
Alex Gerulaitis
Systems Integrator
DV411 – Los Angeles, CA -
Great, it all falls into places now.
The only stumbling block is simultaneous recording of three cameras – won’t happen with Decklink Studio alone. Don’t believe there is any widely available COTS (Commercial Off The Shelf) software that will record multiple feeds into the same computer with a Decklink Quad or multiple Decklinks in the system.
(Anyone knows of such software short of a stand-alone multi-channel disk recorder which is usually big bucks?)
How about attaching a disk recorder to each camera?
– HyperDeck Shuttle (records HDMI or SDI), $345
– Mini Converter Analog to SDI – $295
– SSD big enough to records the necessary amount of video – $100-900.(Anyone knows if Premiere CS6 understands Avid DNxHD files recorded by HyperDeck Shuttle?)
Alternately, replace GL2s with flash camcorders (Canon XA10?).
Alex Gerulaitis
Systems Integrator
DV411 – Los Angeles, CA -
[Steve Beck] “This is for the schools Channel 1 system. It will be fed through coaxial for the school news programs.”
Sorry I misunderstood then, thinking of web-casting (live streaming) rather than closed circuit TV.
All three feeds simultaneously to different channels, or will one of the feeds be chosen (e.g. via a video mixer or switcher) to go straight to Channel 1?
Alex Gerulaitis
Systems Integrator
DV411 – Los Angeles, CA -
[Alex Gerulaitis] “You also might need to re-think the whole setup: generally live streaming requires a separate ingest system or device for each stream”
One exception is Vidblaster. You would need three Decklink or Intensity cards in the system to have three live feeds though.
Alex Gerulaitis
Systems Integrator
DV411 – Los Angeles, CA