Bob Zelin
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COW Coins
Forum Replies Created
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I just used an Apple XServe RAID with 14 drives on it, that was over 90% full, and it’s write speed was only 44mb/sec on the AJA Kona System test. So don’t start blaming SATA for being useless when it gets full. So is everything.
Go to http://www.barefeats.com to see performance tests on the Firmtek. You can get it at Maxx Digital in LA.
bob Zelin
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It makes me sick that there is a thread almost identical to this on the Blackmagic site. I find it hard to believe that AJA or Blackmagic would make rediculous statements (it won’t work with THEIR product). I can only assume your dealer is a moron. And I can only assume that the person on the Blackmagic site is talking to a dealer that is a moron.
The AJA HDP or the Blackmagic HD Link will take ANY HD-SDI signal – from a Blackmagic card, an AJA card, a Sony VTR, a Panasonic VTR, an AVID Adrenaline HD, an AVID Nitris – and turn the HD-SDI signal into a DVI signal. That’s it. They both work, they are both good.
I do not see an ATTO UL5D card on your purchase list. You will need a SCSI card (or fibre card) for your HUGE array, depending on what you are buying.
You will love the Kona 3 – it is a wise decision. Make sure to get the K3-Box, and make sure you already own a black generator, or buy one for your new system.
Bob Zelin
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yes
bob zelin
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the cheapest thing that will work well is a 2 port Firmtek SATA card in a 2 port Firmtek external enclosure, with 2 SATA drives (Hitachi, Seagate, Western Digital) – the size your choice. This will do 8 and 10 bit SDI and DVCProHD, no problems. Make sure you stripe the 2 drives together RAID 0 with Apple Disk Utility. 1 Terabyte will be under $1000, and of course, if you need less storage, it will cost less (the 250 Gig drives are pretty cheap these days).
Don’t cheap out with internal drives – the externals cause no heat issues, and let you swap out drives with no aggrivation. Everything is hot swap, like Firewire 800.
Bob Zelin
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this should be the new mantra – DVCProHD is your friend !!!!
Now, everyone repeat this !Bob Zelin
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if you are doing SDI, the G-Tech drive will perform no better and no worse than it did with the AJA I/O .
If you don’t get the Decklink Extreme, you will have no analog monitoring capability as you had with the I/O.
Bob Zelin
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SPDIF (Sony Phillips Digital Interface Protocol – I think) is an industry standard digital audio protocol. There are many companies that offer SPDIF monitoring. One of the original solutions from Blackmagic was to use the Edirol speakers (under $200) that offer a SPDIF input. If you just want to buy a monitoring converter, M-Audio (used to be Midiman) makes several boxes between $200 – $300 (like the Flying Cow) that will convert SPDIF to analog audio, so you can plug right into your analog amplifier.
If you say “but I want to spend less than 50 bucks – how can I do this” – I have only one word for you – EBAY.
Bob Zelin
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I am not familiar with your motherboard. However, Blackmagic and AVID both use the HP xw8200 PC’s for their PC systems, and I have used the Sonnet X4P (PCI-X SATA II card) with the same Fusion 500 enclosure, with identical results, in the HP xw8200. The Sonnet stuff is fantastic. The Sonnet X4P will ALSO work in an “old” PCI-X MAC G5 (like the dual 2 Gig or 2.7). If you do run on a PC, you will have to download the driver from the http://www.sonnettech.com site.
Make sure that you follow the install instructions from Sonnet on the PC installation – if you don’t follow EVERY WORD, the install will fail (Mr. Know-it-all over here didn’t follow the instructions correctly, and I could not get it to work the first time, and I said “what a piece of crap” – but I am an idiot, so you can excuse me).bob Zelin
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On a serious note, I was also wondering, do you think that most of the companies will release both PPC and Intel versions of the apps for at least next 3-4 years or am i way off?
Thanks
JasNo, I think that most companies want to go out of business, and will allow Apple to write the Intel version of the software. These other companies will only want to support legacy products, that are 3-4 years old (and older) – this is why you see support for so many OS-9 and Windows 98 applications on the market today. Now, is your question a serious question, or do you really think that ANY MANUFACTURER (except for crazy AJA and Blackmagic) gives a crap about 3-4 year old products. Your investment in your MAC G5 dual 2.7 and it’s related hardware and software will look pretty sad in 4 years. It does not mean that it still won’t be useful, and you can still make money with it. Proof of this is all the “old” AVID Meridian Systems, and 36 Gig SCSI drives that are still out there, making money. How much would you pay for a MAC G4 450Mhz machine running OS-9 ??? Just remember this – Sony 1″ VTRs and Sony D2 machines cost about $80,000 each – and today, you have to PAY to have a carting garbage company come if you decide to throw them out.
Bob Zelin
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thats the HUGE 4210, and it’s GREAT, and fast. This is what Blackmagic used
at NAB. HUGE is a FANTASTIC company, and is recommended by Blackmagic and AJA.BUT if you are looking to save money, you can’t beat SATA. The Sonnet E4P is a fantastic SATA card for $299, and the Sonnet Fusion 500P port multiplier SATA chassis is about $499. Add 5 500 Gig Hitachi SATA drives, and you are doing 220 mb/sec. Fast enough for uncompressed SD 8 and 10 bit, DVCProHD, and READING (not writing) 8 bit uncompressed HD-SDI. You can get all this crap from Maxx Digital at (714) 374 4944, but there are plenty of mail order companies to buy this from. If you put 2 Sonnet Fusion 500 boxes on the same card (it has 4 ports), you will get write speeds easily fast enough to do uncomressed HD (but no RAID – just RAID 0). But if you want to WRITE at uncompressed HD speed, the HUGE is the box to get. HUGE support is fantastic, unlike Apple support, which is non existant.
I look foward to seeing a review of the CalDigit on http://www.barefeats.com, before I jump in. In the mean time, the Sonnet is fantastic, and very reliable.
Bob Zelin