[Dustin Barrons]

Fred and Dave,
Just wanted to start off by saying thanks for both of your inputs. It really, really is appreciated.

I think you both are understanding where I am coming from. Dave, you really hit in on the nose. Seriously. I’ve had the hardest time explaining my ideas to people about this, but I think you hit it.

I was not under the exact realization of the actual specs of RAID 10. I was thinking that 2 drives would be “whole” drives, not stripes. Thus, I wouldn’t need to archive them together and have to have both to rebuild with them both (double fault exposure).

I think the idea of an editing setup and an archive setup is really, really perfect. I’m coming to the realization that the time needed alone to rebuild a RAID everytime I want to re-edit a project would be far, far to cumbersome. Much more than just moving the files back to an editing drive. The only way I think I could do what I want would be to go single drive or RAID 1, but the speed (unless I went SSD, and WAY TOO EXPENSIVE right now) would be a huge problem.

Doing everything this way would allow me to build a very, very fast editing setup (going as large as 6-8 drives, or more) in a RAID 5 or 6 setup, and still having the archive capabilities of modern storage space.

As far as HDD’s for archiving, I’m not the biggest fan either. However, investing in a (IMO) dying LTO system is far too expensive an initial proposition as well as real limitations of usable space (unless I went LTO-5, which is over $100 tape at this point (too new).

Here’s the good news. I’m planning, if nothing else (aka, if I don’t use a NAS/SAN setup) to RAID 1 the archive drives. Thus, there is a little fault protection against HDD’s going bad. Plus, all projects are always mastered out to some form of media, whether it be DV or whatever so at least some type of master exists if the worst happens. Don’t get me wrong, would love to always keep the raw footage. However, if hell breaks loose, at least I’d have the masters.

Here’s a last quick question for you. If I was to say, build something on my own, what are your thoughts on SATA port multipliers v. a multilane bridge v. individual eSATA cables? Is there a tremendous bottleneck even with a really smart controller?

[Dustin Barrons]

Perhaps I was not clear enough. The issue isn’t with the input into the laptop, but rather the 4 bay chassis. Trying to figure out if a RAID 1+0 setup would allow me to remove 2 of the discs (of 4) and be able to retrieve usable data from them.

As far as I understand, RAID 1+0 is a mirror, then a strip across those mirrors. Thus, in a real world application, can 2 drives (project drives, one main and one mirror of main, as in a RAID 1 setup) be removed from a RAID 1+0 setup, and work independently without the other 2 of 4 drives, which I assume are striping drives?

Again, this is mainly a question of real world application of RAID 1+0.

I am trying to have to avoid having 3-4 HDD’s stored per project (minimum of RAID 1+0) as I would have to with say a RAID 5 setup, and still be able to plug in the drives and retrieve data.

I basically just want a RAID 1 setup. With the effeciency of RAID 1+0. If I’m still not clear, please let me know.

[Dustin Barrons]

Worked like a charm. You a a lifesaver. Thank you so very much. 🙂

[Dustin Barrons]

Thanks for the quick reply. I would have never thought of this. I’ll give it a try when I get back home and let you know. Thank you again so much.

[Dustin Barrons]

Thanks for the reply. Tried installing and reinstalling, using the Adobe Cleanscript, everything. As far as the restore, not a bad idea. If nothing else, I’ll give that a try.

[Dustin Barrons]

Yeah, I definitely agree with both of you regarding the 24p “phenomenom”. You know, it wasn’t so much a decision of 24p = filmic look. That’s all good and dandy and all, but not even really necessary for what I was doing. Besides, the GL2 I already own has “movie mode”, which is suppose to emulate 30p, but kinda just doubles the fields so as you do not end up with artifacts. It gives a wonderful “filmic motion” as well. Granted, it is still only small CCD’s and the contrast / chroms / gamma curves and levels aren’t of the highest quality, but, for a “low-budget filmmaker” such as myself, it is wonderful.*

*However, as a disclaimer, I will say that I strive to be well-versed in greater technologies than most “low-budget filmmakers”, and really enjoy true quality over “phenoms” any day. Unfortunately, I am broke and a still a student. But, either way…

Moreso, I felt that shooting 24p, even though I had no experience, was a better choice than 60i (for lots of keying green) and really the only choice I had. The JVC GY-HD100 does not support 30p in SD and quite frankly, my six-year old Pentium 4 Single Processor with a 2.53 CPU simply just could not handle HD. Trust me, I wish I could have shot HD 30p, but, oh well…

Now I know. And it was a very good learning experience either way. I thank both of you for the thought-provoking discussion.

[Dustin Barrons]

Dave, Kevin…
Looks as if we meet again. Through Premiere, there is a checkbox to remove the pulldown on the footage. Now that I understand what’s going on with everything, I am realizing that the video is coming in as 29.97 with pulldown (as it would have to be, recorded to DV), then once into the system, the pulldown is removed through Premiere.

I still am getting little issues that I’m not entirely happy with. Basically weird waves every 3-4 frames, but that is only periodically. What I mean by this is that if I play the raw footage through, lets say Real Player, or if I play it back from my GL2, I do not get these artifacts. It is only once it is in Premiere and AE that I get these.

I’m running some render tests through AE to see what happens when I re-render it both back (raw and with keying effects) to 23.97 with no fields, no pulldown, then a second time convert it to 29.97 with lower field first and a 3:2 pulldown added back. Those are still rendering. I am going to bring those into Premiere and recheck it, then also export it to tape and recheck it. If I am without artifacts or problems on the 29.97 pulldown re-added version, then I know that I am probably in 24p through editing, effects, then am adding the pulldown in AE before export. This will give me a workflow to work with.

If you understood that rant, which I hope I was clear about, then you’ll know that, in a nutshell, I’m pretty sure I still am in 24p. I just think something could be up with either a the previews within the programs or a setting still isn’t correct. If I still have problems, I am going to find a way to re-import with the original camera and start all over again :-).

About the tracking, thank you Kevin for the suggestion. I will try that later tonight to see if that helps. I’m pretty sure it is not interlacing that is doing this because the tracker will stick for a while, but it’s like the markers are not contrasted or luminant enough (at this point) to have it stick for long periods of time. So, I will try your method, then repost later tonight or tomorrow.

Thanks again guys.

[Dustin Barrons]

Hello Everyone,
Basically, I would like to extend my gratitude to all of you who helped me out with this issue. That’s what is so wonderful about forums; it allows me to pick the brains of geniuses from across the country :-). Anyway, thank you again for all of the support and I’ve decided my best bet would be to recapture with the camera that I’ve shot with and see if I then have any issues with interlacing, etc. Someone in the Premiere forum told me that they use the same camera to do his work in 24p and with shooting and capturing has not had any of these issues. Hopefully this will ring true. Again, thank you and I’m sure we will “speak” again down the road.

Dustin

PS – Next time I’m either sticking with 60i or going 30p. Screw these headaches 🙂

[Dustin Barrons]

Thank you very much for the reply. I am pretty sure that I will, one way or another, have to find a way to re-digitize with the JVC. One more question for you if I may. When you capture with the JVC in 24p, do you not get any wavy lines or interlaced artifacts? Do you notice alot of motion blur? I’m trying to figure out if any of this is normal in Premiere previews or if the capture is bad. Thank you for the reply again and hope to hear back from you soon.

[Dustin Barrons]

Thank you Dave. This is much appreciated. I truly do, now, understand what the problems would be. I will refer to the Premiere forum as I am sure they will be able to answer any questions regarding that. I do know that this was shot 24p, not 24pa, so this is not a problem. As far as the interlacing artifacts: I must say that this was a misjudgement. It is more of a “wave” every 3-4 frames that contain motion. No idea what this means. Not even sure if this is interlacing artifacts. I am, openly, admitting my ignorance regarding the subject of frame rates. Especially when it involves a conversion process.

Secondly, I would love to shoot 30p from this point forward. Can 30p be shot standard, or is it only at a HD level?

Also, Premiere (not that I’m asking a question regarding it) lists the 24p project settings for DV as having a 2:3:3:2 pullup for playback to a DV device. If a pulldown brings the footage into acceptable 29.97 territory, what does a pullup do?