[Bob Zelin]

Hi Michael –
thank you for your reply. From my experience, the bandwidth here in the United States is incredibly poor for most users, compared to other parts of the world. A typical “fast” connection of 100 Mb/sec is only 12.5 MB/sec. And even a “fancy” 300 Mb/sec upload speed here is only 37.5 MB/sec – so for most of us here in the US – it’s slow. I don’t care if it’s Resilio or another solution. We are at the mercy of the Internet Service Provider speeds, and they are not good. I have seen true 1G connections from Google Fiber which is not available in most major cities in the United States, and it’s incredible that professionals cannot even purchase this here. This is the “weak link in the chain”.

Bob Zelin

Bob Zelin
Rescue 1, Inc.
bobzelin@icloud.com

[Bob Zelin]

Hi Michael –

so you are transferring 1TB of data over Resilio sync every evening ?

When your editors need 500 – 600 Gigs for that latest shoot, they just go to Resilio, and download
that 500 – 600 Gigs, and they are ready to edit the next morning ?

Are you working with 4K media ? ProRes, or MXF ?

Bob Zelin

Bob Zelin
Rescue 1, Inc.
bobzelin@icloud.com

[Bob Zelin]

well, I agree with you 100% Mr. Slowe, but I don’t think that Creative Cow management appreciates my controversial opinion, so I am being reserved. I am responding because you said “never mind, the art is the thing”.
If there is no TV production, no new films, no new documentaries, no new live or recorded music, no live performances of music, dance, etc. – no sports, no public interaction, no conventions, no bars, no restaurants, no theme parks, etc, etc. BUT WE ARE ALL STILL ALIVE – then who cares anyway.

If we ever get out of this situation, there is one thing I have learned about all “the new stuff”, like 3D, HDR, etc. Remote access, remote editing, remote production will without question (in my opinion) become the hot “new thing” – and will completely take off. Of course, we are all at the mercy of the Internet Service Providers (who are not financially suffering during this time period).

Bob

Bob Zelin
Rescue 1, Inc.
bobzelin@icloud.com

[Bob Zelin]

Hi Bryan –
replies below –

I have a IMAC (late 2013) with 2x Thunderbolt2 connections, 1x Gigbit port and for USB 2.0 ports. Running OS 10.12 Sierra

My question is:
How do I connect the QNAP TVS-672XT to my IMAC and still be able to transfer the files from the 6 Firewire Daisy chained LaCie’s to the QNAP?

REPLY – your QNAP TVS-672XT is a thunderbolt 3 product with a built in 10G Ethernet port.
Your 2013 iMac uses Thunderbolt 2. A quick simple solution here is to update your operating system of your iMac to at least 10.13.6 or later, and then purchase on Amazon the Sonnet Solo 10G Thunderbolt 2. You can now use a cheap Cat 6 cable from this Sonnet Adapter to the 10G port on your TVS-672XT . If you have six matching 7200 RPM drives in your TVS-672XT, you will get about 400 MB/sec from your iMac to your TVS-672XT over 10G. 10G is usually twice this fast, but this
adapter from Sonnet peaks out at these speeds. A faster adaptor will cost more than double the cost. The Sonnet Solo 10G T2 is $199.

I have the Daisy chained LaCie’s hooked up to the IMAC through a Thunderbolt port with an Apple T2 to Firewire Adapter. I also have a BENQ color monitor hooked up to the IMAC with the other Thunderbolt Port.

REPLY – we will need one of these Thunderbolt ports for the Sonnet Solo 10G T2. Once you transfer your data over from your old Firewire drives to the QNAP, you will now have a free port again.

Can someone please clue me in on how I can achieve my goal of connecting the LacCie’s to transfer their data to the QNAP and still have access to one or two LaCies as DAS?

REPLY – you don’t have enough ports available on your iMac to have the Sonnet Thunderbolt adapter, the BenQ, and the thunderbolt to Firewire adapter. I do not know if the BenQ has a thunderbolt port loop on it, that will work with your T2 to Firewire adapter.

Bob Zelin

Bob Zelin
Rescue 1, Inc.
bobzelin@icloud.com

[Bob Zelin]

remember when FCP X first came out, and you could not save to a shared network volume, but you could “Share to iCloud”. You see – there was a solution a long time ago. Just shoot with your iPhone, or any h.264 format, edit, and “share to iCloud”. Who needs all these messy MXF and ProRes formats. Who needs AVID Nexis. Who needs Media Composer, Resolve and Premiere. Just do what Cupertino was saying back when FCP X first came out, and “Share to iCloud”. Then you would not have any problems !

ok – WHO is funny ?
Bob Zelin

Bob Zelin
Rescue 1, Inc.
bobzelin@icloud.com

[Bob Zelin]

I could be wrong (and I usually am) – but in the same way that the old writers strike spawned reality television – this current incident could spawn the future development of real life full time remote editing. Of course, companies like Amazon and Google would have to get serious about buying out the Comcast’s and Spectrums of the world, so they could run dedicated fiber (as Google has already done in a handful of cities).

And in the same way that “reality television” became accepted instead of scripted television – will proxy delivery as final shows ever become “good enough ?

Bob

Bob Zelin
Rescue 1, Inc.
bobzelin@icloud.com

[Bob Zelin]

I have been playing with remote editing for a long time, and now of course, everyone is asking for it. No matter whose system you have, you are at the total mercy of your internet connection – mainly from the “mothership” server’s upload speed. As everyone seems to know already – the only way to accomplish any of this is with proxy footage (or optomized media). Downloading more than 100 Gig in an 8 hour period seems pretty unrealistic. (and who knows once internet throttling starts to really happen – if you will even get this).

Jeremey mentioned Teamviewer. This is what I use, and what most pro support companies use, but it’s expensive, because once you start using it on a regular basis, its no longer free. So I have been experimenting with Splashtop (which is cross platform) and Google Remote Desktop (which is cross platform). Splashtop is about $60 for the year, and $17 for a remote client, and you can get in whenever you want. Google Remote Desktop is free, but someone has to give you the code at the remote end, and you have to “confirm” that it’s ok for them to take control of your desktop. Which means that SOMEONE has to be at the mothership (where the server is located).

But with all of this said – if you simply had remote access to your powerful computer at work (via remote), and you had FULL BANDWIDTH to your server (because you are controlling the computer in your office) – is that enough ? You can’t add new full res media to the server. It would take forever.
So is any of this worth it ? If you had full remote access to your powerful computer at work, you could run Adobe Media Encoder, EditReady or Apple Compressor (or just upload right there to Frame I/O) – but is that enough ?

AND if NO ONE is in the streets, and NO ONE is in the office, couldn’t ONE person go into the office to add that new media to the main server ? I mean – there is no one else in there for them to get sick from ?

Bob Zelin

Bob Zelin
Rescue 1, Inc.
bobzelin@icloud.com

[Bob Zelin]

I was G-Tech GRACK12 certified. I now pretty much only install QNAP and Synology systems.
I don’t think you can purchase any QNAP or Synology product for $33,000 for a 12 bay. The price was quite high.

Both QNAP and Synology make excellent products. Both offer expandability, 10G and 40G ports, very fast performance, remote access and remote backup.

Bob Zelin

Bob Zelin
Rescue 1, Inc.
bobzelin@icloud.com

[Bob Zelin]

This is going to become an OT rant, that will wind up getting deleted (at least my posts) –
but this is my opinions.

I am from NY City. I currently live in Orlando, Florida, and have been here since 1999. When 9/11 happened in 2001, I was deeply affected by all of this. When I found out that they needed networking people on site to help, I felt TERRIBLE that I could not be there to assist in getting their networks back up. I would have been there in a heartbeat to run lines, terminate cables, and make communications happen, to help resolve this desperate situation. My life, and my health, and my ingest of toxic fumes would mean very little, if I could help out with this situation.

Some people would say “well, Bob – you are a moron – you would risk your life to help in a situation, where you could get LUNG cancer” – YES I WOULD.

I often think about people like Donald Trump, and The Rolling Stones. Trump has billions of dollars, and the Stones – well, they are not poor. Why do they still work ? Because they are NEEDED, and being needed is critical to their existence (well, maybe Trump is not needed (ha)) . But even though the Stones are in their 70’s – the fact that they can get up there, and entertain an audience, and get applause (even if they are washed up and they suck) – that’s what their life is about. As for Trump – (no matter what you think about him) – he wants to be the center of attention (that’s what all the insane Twitter comments are about from him) – and guess what – love him or hate him – he has more press than Kim Kardashian.

Now, I am not Trump, or the Stones, or Kim Kardashian (or even a minor little known band) – but I have my client base of hundreds of international clients – and that’s all that matters to me. I am active on all these forums, I take care of my clients, and as many of you know – if you have hired me ONE time, your support is FREE – there is no support contract. So I keep getting hired. It makes me feel important – it makes me feel needed, and it certainly keeps the other engineers away, that probably know a lot more than I do – but I am supporting my clients for FREE, so I have no fear of them leaving me (no one ever leaves me, because I am free for them) –

I have no fear of getting sick. As long as I can support my client base. I keep working, I keep learning new techniques ( I will be contacting a client in Houston Texas as soon as I get done with this rant, about how he can cheaply keep editing for $5.00 a month on his server without going into the office). Because as this thread has been going on, I have been studying and testing how to make this work. Because no matter how much I love you guys (and no matter how much you hate me) – I am going to get EVERYTHING to work – and the incredibly wonderful companies with brilliant people like EditShare, LumaForge, ProMax, Studio Network Solutions and others, WILL NOT BEAT ME. I WIN.

Bob Zelin

Bob Zelin
Rescue 1, Inc.
bobzelin@icloud.com

[Bob Zelin]

Ooh – I am getting so many people riled up here !
Most of my work, and phone calls within the last few days has been on how to do remote access, so people can continue to work.

I observe that this is an opportunity to expand my knowledge about this, and get better about doing remote access for professional video editing. I am currently doing this with QNAP CloudLink, QNAP QVPN, and Synology QuickConnect, but certainly, I am seeing wonderful new developments from Studio Network Solutions NOMAD, and developments from LumaForge, ProMax and EditShare, all figuring out how to make all of this workflow a reality.
Because long after the Coronavirus is over, people will want a good workflow for remote access so they can work from home. It’s a shame that the internet infrastructure in the United States is so horrible (except for Google Fiber) – but we make do with what we have. I am sure the business from Aspera and Signiant are doing just fine right now.

Teamviewer is simply too expensive for most people when it’s used for professional applications, and I am RIGHT NOW studying alternate VPN solutions for remote editing, in addition to the “upload/download” process that I have been using from QNAP and Synology systems.

I am often forced to justify my life. Besides this work stuff, I go out to dinner with my wife, we have friends, I have an amateur little band that practices every Sunday just for fun, and I drink a lot of alcohol. Our main 3 week vacation for the year is based on the excuse of NAB, so it’s Las Vegas and Los Angeles, and this year of course, it has been cancelled. Other than that – THIS IS WHAT I DO. I WORK, I study, I don’t give up. I help people with their technical issues. I learn new techniques. I try to learn every day something new. Most people at my age (64) could not give a damn about any of these new products, new techniques, Frame I/O and all the other stuff that I think is cool. These
things mean little in their lives. Well, let them go play golf, or whatever they do. THIS IS WHAT I DO, and I intend to be good at it until I kick the bucket. When I had knee surgery back in NY City and could not take the subway to work (I was living in Queens at the time) – I hobbled onto the bus with my backpack the NEXT DAY and went to work, and took care of my clients. If I was paralyzed in a car crash, or lost limbs, I would still be doing this. I look at people who are paralyzed, and they are at the gym, or playing in basketball tournaments in their wheel chairs, or “jogging” in their wheel chairs down a long block to keep in shape – these people are HEROS. You don’t give up. You don’t say “whoa is me”. You keep going, you keep pushing, you keep fighting, you keep learning.
I don’t live in the glory days of Quad and 1″ VTR’s. I need to compete with that 30 year old IT guy that knows more than I do – but soon, I will know more than him, and take his clients.
That’s my mindset. And it won’t change, even if I get sick.

Sorry, if that’s mental illness. As long as I win. And as long as we keep making videos.
Bob Zelin

Bob Zelin
Rescue 1, Inc.
bobzelin@icloud.com