[Bob Zelin]

I am not familiar with the Smartview extenders. First, plug the Cinema displays DIRECTLY into the G5, bypassing the extenders. Is it still noisy? If the problem is from the extenders, I can recommend the Gefen series of DVI extenders. The CAT 5 5000HD is a dual DVI extender with USB for the keyboard – about $1299.

If the problem stil exists with the monitors right by the computer – I really haven’t seen any of the ATI or NVidia cards be noisy – even the cheapest ATI 9650.

Bob Zelin

[Bob Zelin]

well, here is my guess (in my typical fashion). I think that AJA will notify all of their users that everything they have ever made is now obsolete, and is going to release all new hardware that is PCI-Express compatible. Of course, Blackmagic, Aurora, and AVID will do the same thing. This will lead to a mass suicide of existing post production owners who can’t take all of these changes, and will reduce the huge number of people that compete for a finite amount of television work. See – God creates the hurricanes, and Steve Jobs creates these massive technology upheavals that “thin out” the overpopluation of the post production industry. A core group of 70 year old film editors will rise up again, reclaiming the commercial and film business that was stolen from them with all this new technology – with their weapons of choice – KEMS, Steenbecks, and Moviola’s.

Am I a genius, or what?

Bob Zelin

[Bob Zelin]

I think that it would be proper for Blackmagic to address what is going to happen to the current ENTIRE LINE of existing Blackmagic cards. Of course, this is going to apply to all AVID, AJA, and Aurora products as well (as well as everything else that’s out there from ATTO, Adaptec, etc.).

Bob Zelin

[Bob Zelin]

trust me – buy the sonnet card, and an EXTERNAL box, like the Firmtek, and you will have a wonderful, inexpensive system. The Firmtek SATA enclosures work great.

Bob Zelin

[Bob Zelin]

I have a new FCP Studio system with the G5 2.7Ghz computer running Tiger 10.4.2 and the AJA Io. I have loaded the latest drivers and firmware for the Io and I have an audio issue I can’t seem to resolve. The problem is very random. I hear occasional pops in my audio output and input, through analog and SDI. It isn’t captured with incoming media, but when I layoff a timeline it is laid to tape. Also, if I have Final Cut open and my audio board open to hear the output, I hear these pops randomly. Should I reinstall? Is the Io not compatible with the 2.7 Ghz G5 yet?

Hi Steve –
I have countless AJA I/O systems setup here with no audio popping. The audio popping or crackle problems that we saw were with the early AJA K-Boxes for Kona 2, not the I/O. IF its an AJA problem (thats a big if) – did you update the firmware for the AJA I/O? Download the AJA I/O control panel on the AJA support site, and when you open it, if it needs to be updated, it will say so on the bottom of the window in bright red. Once you do this, cycle power on the I/O, and try everything again.

The problem can be anything in your audio path – your mixer, your patch bays, the VTR itself. Check the firmware update on the I/O, and if it still does it, I will stop by. To directly answer your question – everyone here you know is using 10.4.2 with the AJA I/O and the G5 (yes, the 2.7’s – that’s what Ted and Greg are using at you know where).

Bob Zelin

[Bob Zelin]

load the new AJA driver, AND download the AJA IO Control Panel. When you launch it, it will update your firmware in the AJA I/O, and your SDI video will now come out of your AJA IO. There is nothing wrong with your Videohub.

bob Zelin

[Bob Zelin]

This is going to become another of my smart ass posts – but here it goes. To me, cheap HD (the most popular HD in Florida) is DVCProHD, which you DO NOT need a big drive array to accomplish. Even one Firewire 800, or certainly two SATA drives stripped RAID 0 will give you the ability to do DVCProHD (Panasonic Varicam footage).
When people moan about doing “cheap” uncompressed HD, to me, it usually means that they have footage from a Sony CineAlta, and have access to a Sony HD VTR – which are all EXPENSIVE items – even to rent. So if you are doing “expensive HD” with the “expensive Sony HD VTR’s” which require uncompressed HD – why do you have to cheap out on your drive array? A nice HUGE U320-RX or Apple XServe RAID will work flawlessly for uncompressed HD – and yes, they are both over 10 grand, but a fraction of the price of your Sony HD VTR.

Bob “stuck in Florida with “cheap” HD VTR’s” Zelin

[Bob Zelin]

I have never had them “side by side”, but they do sound like the Mackies (whatever that’s worth) – and they LOOK identical to the Mackie’s – including all the detailed silk screening and function switches on the back of the Mackie’s. It’s like a “replica Rolex watch”. I have never heard anyone complain about these speakers – but as you know, unless you do a true “side by side” comparison, it’s impossible to tell (although there are plenty of people on this forum who feel they can judge levels without scopes – so what the hell do I know).

bob Zelin

[Bob Zelin]

Hi –
there are no SATA cards on the market that have more than 8 ports on them. Becuase current SATA cards do not support “port multiplication” (looping SATA drives off one port) – you can’t have more than 8 SATA drives per card. 8 drives is enough to do uncompressed HD. I am told that the Highpoint RocketRAID 1820A does RAID 5, but I don’t know how it does it. The Sonnet Tempo X eSATA does not do a hardware RAID 5.
Of course, the Apple XServe RAID DOES do RAID 5 (and RAID 50), and DOES uses the same Hitachi SATA drives, but of course, this is a Fibre to SATA product, and costs $13,000.

The DR Group in LA have done a LOT of work with the Highpoint SATA card, so you might want to contact them. They are a good group of people to work with.

Bob Zelin

[Bob Zelin]

I don’t have any experience with their power amps, but I have been using NOTHING but Behringer B2031A speakers for FCP room installs for the past 1 1/2 years, and have never had a failure. The Behringer B2031A is an immitation (Chinese) of the Mackie 824 speaker, but it’s $339 per pair – these are powered speakers. I used to only use Alesis Active Monitor 1 speakers for installs, but since these came out, I am using these Behringers. They are cheaper than any of the equivalent “low end” Tannoy, Event, Alesis, etc., and they “do the job” – and yes, they are shielded.

If Behringer ever gets into the video business, they will copy the AJA IO box, and release it for $39.95.

Bob Zelin