Bob Zelin
7
COW Coins
Forum Replies Created
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Cal Digit, and Maxx Digital have one thing in commone with AJA – SUPPORT, SUPPORT and SUPPORT. They all understand what so many companies don’t understand – we are in busines, and we need to KEEP WORKING when things break.
I am sure that you will be very happy – and if your not – write back RIGHT HERE.
bob Zelin
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All NEW HDV cameras and decks, and NEW HD monitors have HDMI. Blackmagic wants to be at the head of the pack for this technology. Just remember – anything that is established is outdated technology, and something new is just around the corner. Just as HD stabilizes (1080i and 720p), 2k and 4K products will start popping up all over the place. You will face this for the rest of your career. New technology, new products, new connectors, new storage, new operating systems, complete incompatiblity with your old perfectly working equipment.
Get used to it. HDMI is the new “consumer” HD standard – even though most people haven’t even heard of it.
“They” could have simply stuck HD-SDI jacks on every HD product – BUT NOOOOOOO ! that would have been way to easy !Bob Zelin
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Joe –
I usually stick with Seagate or Hitachi – they work just fine.Just remember this – there are guys out there still using AVID Meridian systems, and Media 100 systems, and still making money. With that said, no matter what you choose, it will be outdated by the end of this year – so just jump in – it’s not as expensive as it used to be.
Bob Zelin
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I am copying this right off of the Cow press releases today. This is on the new ATTO SAS card – it is a piss poor confusing press release, on their amazing new storage host card, that controls EIGHT SATA II drives, and offers RAID 5 protection. It’s going to be a lot more than the Sonnet or Cal Digit by the time you get done, but it will give you an idea of how fast the storage world is moving, and what we can expect from everyone soon (meaning true RAID protection, like in the “older” SCSI arrays).
bob Zelin
With the introduction of the ExpressSAS product line, ATTO becomes the first manufacturer to deliver the affordable performance of Serial Attached SCSI RAID technology to the Macintosh platform. Designed to take full advantage of the high-speed PCI Express I/O architecture of Apple
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Give Maxx Digital a call at (714) 374 4944, and ask Ron for their aggressive pricing on both products. You will be surprised at the pricing compared to most mail order places. Both are excellent. I am not sure of what your application is. If you want do do standard def or DVCProHD, both will work. If you want to buy 10 drives, both will work. If you want to only buy 5 drives, and do uncompressed HD – there is only one choice – the CalDigit.
I don’t want to go into any stories here, but depending on what month this is, and what revision is released, Hitachi, Seagate and Western Digital (the 3 manufacurers of SATA II drives) all have their own horror stories – or success stories. And just to add to your confusion, Hitachi promises to release the 1TB drives this month – that means 5 Terabytes in a single 5 drive chassis !!!!!!!! Will this cause problems ? Who the hell knows (I hate new stuff, there are always issues). The point is – the world is changing VERY FAST. One thing for sure – I would never buy SCSI drives ever again.
Also remember, these products are RAID 0 or RAID 1 – NOT RAID 3 or RAID 5. Highpoint and ATTO offer SAS/SATA RAID 5 cards, but these products currently do not support the amazing port multipler chassis (like the Cal Digit and Sonnet), and the reliability of SATA has been pretty incredible so far.
Let us know what you decide.
bob Zelin
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this is not your problem, but it’s another little story. I have many clients with Kona and I/O, but just ONE client (on a Mac Pro) has an AJA I/O box, that works just fine UNTIL they switch to DV25 NTSC to capture from a Sony DSR-11 (firewire input – which I know “conflicts” with the AJA I/O. They disconnect the DSR-11 (even power down the MAC and I/O and reboot), and the AJA doesn’t work again, UNTIL they trash the preferences. This is repeatable – but if they NEVER switch to DV25, there is never a problem.
SO, you know what the answer to this problem was? I found them a used DSR-1500, so they could take their DV tapes, and go in 8 bit uncompressed SD (just like their Beta machine), and they NEVER have problems anymore.
See – it’s ALWAYS something.
bob Zelin
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TOM WRITES –
I measured the difference in ground potentials for the electricians and pointed to it and said:”See, look at that. It’s almost a two volt difference.” The electrician looked at me with the same look that my dog gives me when I talk to him. A couple of volts won’t hurt you was the reply.
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many people say “why is Bob Zelin nuts” – because I have to deal with this EXACT SITUATION you wrote about in real life on an almost daily basis, and if I become hysterical, these electricians will BEAT ME UP (so I take it out on you guys). The example you gave is often the EXACT SAME RESPONSE I often get – ” a half a volt won’t kill anyone” – and they look at you like you are an idiot. We all run so many wires, but for an electrician to run that extra white wire to the common “low” buss of the panel, and make sure all the grounds are in fact “grounded” back at the panel – well, this just KILLS THEM ! (“hey, my light bulb lights up”).Bob Zelin
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this is beyond the scope of the AJA Kona forum, but I will give you a quick overview. You can’t build a “cheapo” audio and video HD patching system. Milestek (a great company) sells AVP Video patch bays, which are about $630 each. You will realize that when you start adding all the analog composite, component, SDI and HD-SDI stuff from all of your VTR’s, AJA products, etc., you will start eating up an entire patch bay of video jacks. There is no way around this. I personally only use Canare 242U-DVJAW
video patch bays, which you can get a http://www.markertek.com for $499 each. You will need about 6 Video patch cords for this patch bay (about $15.25 each). Model CC-1074N. For audio bays, the CHEAPEST thing on the market, which works quite well is the very inexpensive Berhinger PX-3000 audio patch bay. I get these from B+H Photo, or http://www.americanmusical.com. Plenty of people sell these on the web. They are $49.95 each. It uses standard 1/4″ stereo phone plugs, so you don’t need to solder. The correct way to use any 1/4″ patch panel that uses “plug in” cords is to use these in a rack or rack box, that has a lacing bar on it, so you can cable tie the 1/4″ plugs to the lacing bar, so they don’t get yanked out.So, for $550, plus patch cords, and cables, you have yourself a little system. If you dont’ put these items in a rack or rack box, you will have yourself one hell of a mess.
bob Zelin
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I am confused by your post. You want to work in 10 bit uncompressed SD. Your HVRM-15 will allow you to downconvert right in the VTR to output analog component Standard Def video, if you are working in uncompressed SD. Why would you want to bring in a HD 1080i HDV codec signal into a standard def project, when the VTR will take care of all of this for you ? The same would apply even on an AVID Adrenaline system. Why go in firewire HD, when you can avoid all the aggrivation by inputting a SD analog component signal (with analog audio). You did say that your project is 10bit uncompressed SD, not HD – correct ?
Bob Zelin