Welcome to our community

Be a part of something great, join today!

Log in
  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

LightPeak & Red Station

Steve Johnson

Steve Johnson

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 2, 2009
Messages
1,009
Reaction score
0
Points
36
Age
53
Location
Glasgow, UK
Website
www.futuristdigital.com
Hi,

I think I remember some time last year, Jarred made a comment through one of the USB3 / LightPeak threads about supporting whatever becomes the next standard.

With all the potential hype going on at the moment about the imminent launch of LightPeak in the New MacBook Pros, and with the current RED Stations having support for E-SATA, FW800 and USB2.0, I was just wondering if RED has been testing any LightPeak connections on the RED Station.

Although I DO support the fact that a MacPro station is almost a requirement for DIT setup, there are some occasions on location when that it just not practical and having a MacBook Pro is needed to basically offload the footage from the SSD / CF cards to backup drives. LightPeak in the new MacBookPros would be a helpful addition to these situations.

Just wondering what peoples views on this (if it is true - we'll see on Thursday!) and how much we know if/when RED would implement LightPeak into the RED Station Modules.

Steve
 
Gerald,

Yeah - thats where I got the initial information from and why I posed the question about the RED Station getting LightPeak / Thunderbolt. Would make it an interesting portable Backing up system for those none MacPro DIT station situations.

I would imagine having a MacBookPro with Lightpeak / Thunderbolt would be handy for those doing documentary work / ENG etc. like Gibby who might want to off load the footage and backup whilst out in the wilds.

Steve
 
Steve Johnson said:
I would imagine having a MacBookPro with Lightpeak / Thunderbolt would be handy for those doing documentary work / ENG etc. like Gibby who might want to off load the footage and backup whilst out in the wilds.
Click to expand...
I think Lightpeak/Thunderbolt will be one of those "little things" that quickly becomes an absolute necessity for the DIT & post-production process. Just think about the reduced transfer/backup times this speed makes possible. I'm sure we'll see the next generation of MacPro's supporting Thunderbolt too.
 
After flying interstate to set up MacPro-based DIT station, edit assist and edit stations, I'm REALLY excited right now about Mac Minis and/or Macbook Pros with LightPeak/Thunderbolt. Hopefully Maxx Digital can come up with a LightPeak-PCIe box so we can use our Rockets with this new technology. OH YEAH! :thumbup1:
 
Shane Betts said:
After flying interstate to set up MacPro-based DIT station, edit assist and edit stations, I'm REALLY excited right now about Mac Minis and/or Macbook Pros with LightPeak/Thunderbolt. Hopefully Maxx Digital can come up with a LightPeak-PCIe box so we can use our Rockets with this new technology. OH YEAH! :thumbup1:
Click to expand...
That would be awesome, Bettsy! Great idea, and I hope that Maxx Digital is paying attention!
 
Personally, I couldn't use a notebook without FW800 and now that Thunderbolt is just few days away, I simply can't wait!!! I'm sure that after few days of using Thunderbolt it will be irreplaceable just like FW800 is.

Can't wait!!!
 
Mike Bell said:
Personally, I couldn't use a notebook without FW800 and now that Thunderbolt is just few days away, I simply can't wait!!! I'm sure that after few days of using Thunderbolt it will be irreplaceable just like FW800 is.
Click to expand...

I agree - I've been thinking of getting a new Macbook Pro since the last two updates, but needed FireWire (for audio devices I use) and also wanted fast data transfer - which meant I would have had to get the 17 inch for it's ExpressCard slot. But I also want the portability of the 15 inch - so I really hope Light Peak/Thunderbolt is as good as it's cracked up to be!
 
The good news is that Light Peak has been designed to work with docking stations that allow current connection types to be used - even USB! Expect to see Expresscard and e-SATA options for this in a couple of months - probably sooner. Those manufacturers have known about this for a year.

This means current AND future gear will work with it.
 
Last edited:
I think what would make sense for RED is to make a RED Station Lightpeak/Thunderbolt adapter that splits into eSata, FW800 and maybe USB2 or USB3. One of the really cool things about Light Peak is that it's basically protocol indifferent, meaning you can run both FW, USB and eSata connections on it at the same time. If you have an Expresscard slot then you'll be able to get an Expresscard adapter for Light Peak so there's no urgent need to buy new Macbook Pros unless you really have to be at the forefront of things... I love tech stuff! :-)
 
One of the things I'm looking forward to the most is the fact that it's possible to run all kinds of things on Light Peak; like HDMI, DVI and maybe even SDI signals. You could basically store away your computer in the basement and just run a Light Peak cable to your monitor and a sort of "breakout box". Pretty cool stuff.
 
When will Red Station be equipped with Thunderbolt?
 
Tony Lorentzen said:
You could basically store away your computer in the basement and just run a Light Peak cable to your monitor and a sort of "breakout box". Pretty cool stuff.
Click to expand...

It looks like Apple went with the copper implementation of Lightpeak not the fibre-optic one. Will that limit cable lengths?
 
Brent J. Craig said:
It looks like Apple went with the copper implementation of Lightpeak not the fibre-optic one. Will that limit cable lengths?
Click to expand...

According to Wikipedia, copper is limited to 3m per cable:
The same connector is used for both electrical and optical cables. Electric cables can be up to 3m in length; optical cables can be tens of metres long.
Click to expand...
 
the big advantage to optical would be the distances you could run with the cable -- about 100m while maintaining the 10W power, even more if power didn't matter to you. As far as speed, the same speeds can be had with copper. Intel went the copper route because costs of adequate grade multi-mode fiber would have made the cables prohibitively expensive.

There is still a good chance that Intel will be releasing an optical version in the future, but not as a replacement to Thunderbolt, but as a separate standard and probably marketed as a lower-cost, but higher performance, replacement to fiber channel and Infiniband.

I've been hearing both 12ft and 12m as limits to the copper cabling. I'm inclined to believe the 3m/12ft number that is on Wikipedia. Which is really just fine for most situations where consumer hardware, notebooks and desktop systems are concerned. Intel and Apple have not released all the specs yet. So the wikipedia numbers may be wrong.
 
Tony Lorentzen said:
I think what would make sense for RED is to make a RED Station Lightpeak/Thunderbolt adapter that splits into eSata, FW800 and maybe USB2 or USB3. One of the really cool things about Light Peak is that it's basically protocol indifferent, meaning you can run both FW, USB and eSata connections on it at the same time.
Click to expand...

Great idea! Lets look at the workflow of the MBP!

Esata connected to red station, and Esata connected to your storage... run them through the 1 port, and have all other ports available, plus have them running super fast! That is great for saving time!

things to now consider is, with the added speed you need really fast storage, to make it really fly! I wonder what storage would be best, speed wise given this whole new world of port speed. If the port won't bottle neck you, you have to get some storage that won't either and you can have one fast DIT station for saving out. Consequently I need a new MBP soon anyway so im happy as a clam...
 
Last edited:
ExpressCard 2.0 bandwidth is limited to 5Gbits/second. ExpressCard 1.0 is 2.5Gbits/second.
 
So here is my thinking now that the new MBP with Thunderbolt have been released. Tell me if I am off here...

It would be good to have a MaxxDigital Mobile Red Rocket connected via Thunderbolt to the MBP. Then have an additional 3 x Thunderbolt ports on the Mobile Red Rocket to go out to 2 x backup drives (what they are - I don't know yet!), and your Red Station SSD Module.

That way, you could have a semi decent system for offloading SSD footage from Epic / Red One, back up to your 2 x drives for backup and even do a R3D to ProRes etc ready for editing all whilst out on location.

Its a poor mans DIT station but quite good for those of us that will tend not to work too much on larger productions where a DIT cart with MacPro would be used. Don't get me wrong, I am all for MacPro DIT Station - where the situation arises. This is just another option for different types of productions. I would imagine Gibby using something like this for his style of work (or not!)

Steve
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top