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  • 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 :)

Building a DIT cart...

Yes the iMac does look really good, but I'm just gonna wait for the new Mac Pro. Thunderbolt looks really good and the speeds seem great for data transfers.

I think Red Rocket does work in the Sonnet Expansion Chassis with a MBP. I've read about a lot of people using it with pretty good results. Even Kwan on this thread posted a picture of it.

paul schefz said:
considering that an imac is a mbp with a 27 monitor, better cpu, better gpu, more ram for less money, i would go that way, you still need power regardless for all the other stuff...thunderbolt is THE answer for all externals....the pegasus raids are amazing....also: redrocket will work in an external thunderbolt box with iMac, not with mbp (right now)...the thunderbolt ports in portables are not the same as in iMacs, mostly the same speed (other then airs, i believe) but power is handled differently (mbps are all about power saving where ever they can)
Click to expand...
 
One question still remains...

The RAID that is always on a DIT cart usually has a lot of TBs. I am curious why all of that space is needed?

When I DIT small projects, the client provides me with hard drives to which I transfer data to (with R3D Data Manager).

I can see the benefit of having a RAID if I were transcoding and coloring, but why would one need a, let's say, 12TB raid? Are you storing the clients' footage on there for the day? For the shoot?
 
Actually think about repurposing a DJ rack on a cart—I like the self-contained concept and modularity of it all. I would imagine having raid arrays can create heat in an enclosure, having a 1U rackmount fans might help:
http://tinyurl.com/bxt982z or http://tinyurl.com/ap5ub5n. I like the ones with temperature gauges.




Here are some sites:
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/accessories/odyssey-fzgs1304-glide-style-combo-rack
http://www.planetdj.com/i--RRDJWS8

This guy has an awesome setup, but looks custom made:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-W_SQiBIFA&feature=related
 
Putting a DJ rack on a cart doesn't seem too bad of an idea. I guess it all depends what kind of setup you've got going.

Elan Gunos said:
Actually think about repurposing a DJ rack on a cart—I like the self-contained concept and modularity of it all. I would imagine having raid arrays can create heat in an enclosure, having a 1U rackmount fans might help:
http://tinyurl.com/bxt982z or http://tinyurl.com/ap5ub5n. I like the ones with temperature gauges.




Here are some sites:
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/accessories/odyssey-fzgs1304-glide-style-combo-rack
http://www.planetdj.com/i--RRDJWS8

This guy has an awesome setup, but looks custom made:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-W_SQiBIFA&feature=related
Click to expand...
 
Okay so I think I get it.

When on a larger production - the drives in your raid are given to the production company / post house for editing and so forth.

On smaller productions you would ask, as I do now, for the client to purchase a small RAID for themselves.
 
I do like how the DJ racks simplify everything. It still makes me wonder why people prefer open carts as opposed to self contained units. I am not a DIT, but I would imagine the main inputs you would need, for example on a Red shoot, is some way to ingest the media, a keyboard, mouse, or trackpad, and perhaps a portable color grading console and some type of shelf that houses a connected external portable drive for the client. Everything can be contained like the hard drives, the sonnet enclosure (if you're running an RR off a laptop), power, all the cables, etc. or at least have a shelf where you can close them up.

Plus with an enclosure, I would imagine it's easier to protect your precious gear from the elements, or if it's raining or dusty, etc. simply have 1 cover over the rack, and maybe for the reference monitor and laptop— and not have to worry about covering an entire cart.


Dominick Pietrzak said:
Putting a DJ rack on a cart doesn't seem too bad of an idea. I guess it all depends what kind of setup you've got going.
Click to expand...
 
That depends entirely on the type of jobs you do. If you're doing a feature film there's very often an expectation that you have all the footage at hand readily available in case the DP wants to see a scene you shot two weeks back and that he's trying to match a shot to. My workflow of late, though, for feature films - is to insist on having storage to keep at least 1080p ProResLT files (with LUT or Pre-grade) at hand at all times but only camera "negatives" one week back. I've made it a habit to ask the line-producer to give me a list of people who are allowed to see footage upon request. Sometimes I have a Light Iron Live Play server running for them to log onto (if that particular workflow requires H264 files to be created).

Being a DIT means your kit is forever changing, as well as your skills. Some jobs require specific gear as well as software and you have to come to terms with the fact that you'll never be paid the amount of money that you will need to buy everything unless you end up working HUGE, high profile jobs. Getting production to provide drives for you to work on is most often a bad idea, because they know absolutely nothing about your job and they will try to force you to work with cheap and slow drives that will make your working schedule a living nightmare. Invest in a decent (as fast and secure as you can afford) RAID for the kind of jobs you expect to get in the next year or so. Then look back and forward and reinvest in something better. If you can afford it then get something that's upgradeable.

As always - learn your tools to the point of obsession. You'll appreciate you did when sh*t hits the fan and something unexpected happens (and it does!) :-)

Best,

Tony

Dominick Pietrzak said:
One question still remains...

The RAID that is always on a DIT cart usually has a lot of TBs. I am curious why all of that space is needed?

When I DIT small projects, the client provides me with hard drives to which I transfer data to (with R3D Data Manager).

I can see the benefit of having a RAID if I were transcoding and coloring, but why would one need a, let's say, 12TB raid? Are you storing the clients' footage on there for the day? For the shoot?
Click to expand...
 
Dominick Pietrzak said:
The FilmTools carts have got to be the most popular. I keep hearing the name mentioned over and over, haha. Seems like a good, solid cart. And it's not too expensive. I am so drawn to those Inovativ carts but they're so damn expensive! Does anyone have one?
Click to expand...

I've got an Innovativ cart and it is excellent. Yes, significantly more expensive than the film tools carts, but it's very well built and solid. Very quick to assemble and great how it packs away into a self-contained box for travel. I also like how the height can be adjusted so I can either sit or stand at the cart.
 
I really like the Innovativ carts as camera carts, but I don't like them for DIT stuff. They're just too open and exposed for sensitive computer hardware. I like the Bigfoot Mobile carts that converts from a qube into a full working area and they have the ability to hold 19" racks which are perfect for stuff like RAID systems, a Mac Pro, UPS and stuff like that.

If you're looking into something more mobile then you should take a look at the DIT Station Rogue which is a Macbook Pro built into a custom Peli Case with different card readers, raid storage and other accessories.
 
I kinda like the idea that I can use the Inovativ cart as both a camera cart and a DIT cart when needed. I've heard that the BigFoot carts are very heavy. Also that would be a permanently built system, whereas, again, I could use a cart like the Inovativ one for more applications.

I've seen the DIT Station Rogue. It's a bit expensive though and I think I'd rather build a system around a Mac Pro. Not as mobile unfortunately.

Tony Lorentzen said:
I really like the Innovativ carts as camera carts, but I don't like them for DIT stuff. They're just too open and exposed for sensitive computer hardware. I like the Bigfoot Mobile carts that converts from a qube into a full working area and they have the ability to hold 19" racks which are perfect for stuff like RAID systems, a Mac Pro, UPS and stuff like that.

If you're looking into something more mobile then you should take a look at the DIT Station Rogue which is a Macbook Pro built into a custom Peli Case with different card readers, raid storage and other accessories.
Click to expand...
 
Thanks! That all makes sense. I do like the LightIron server to create dailies and stream them through that.

How do you go about giving the footage to the production? How long do you keep a backup of their footage?

Since I haven't been working larger jobs, I'm slightly out of touch as to how that works. For what I've been doing all that's been happening is the production gives me drives that I okayed and that is where the footage goes. They take them with them at the end of the day, and give them back to me the next shoot day. I know this is not how larger productions work.

Tony Lorentzen said:
That depends entirely on the type of jobs you do. If you're doing a feature film there's very often an expectation that you have all the footage at hand readily available in case the DP wants to see a scene you shot two weeks back and that he's trying to match a shot to. My workflow of late, though, for feature films - is to insist on having storage to keep at least 1080p ProResLT files (with LUT or Pre-grade) at hand at all times but only camera "negatives" one week back. I've made it a habit to ask the line-producer to give me a list of people who are allowed to see footage upon request. Sometimes I have a Light Iron Live Play server running for them to log onto (if that particular workflow requires H264 files to be created).

Being a DIT means your kit is forever changing, as well as your skills. Some jobs require specific gear as well as software and you have to come to terms with the fact that you'll never be paid the amount of money that you will need to buy everything unless you end up working HUGE, high profile jobs. Getting production to provide drives for you to work on is most often a bad idea, because they know absolutely nothing about your job and they will try to force you to work with cheap and slow drives that will make your working schedule a living nightmare. Invest in a decent (as fast and secure as you can afford) RAID for the kind of jobs you expect to get in the next year or so. Then look back and forward and reinvest in something better. If you can afford it then get something that's upgradeable.

As always - learn your tools to the point of obsession. You'll appreciate you did when sh*t hits the fan and something unexpected happens (and it does!) :-)

Best,

Tony
Click to expand...

Nice, that's exactly why I was drawn to the Inovativ carts. Thanks!

Caleb Heymann said:
I've got an Innovativ cart and it is excellent. Yes, significantly more expensive than the film tools carts, but it's very well built and solid. Very quick to assemble and great how it packs away into a self-contained box for travel. I also like how the height can be adjusted so I can either sit or stand at the cart.
Click to expand...
 
Kwan Khan said:
This may help;


523811_10151442709208084_1822673240_n.jpg

249582_10151442709608084_602768089_n.jpg
Click to expand...

I am simultaneously in love with this crazy juryrigging and terrified of it falling apart on you. Wow.
 
Nick Pasquariello said:
I am simultaneously in love with this crazy juryrigging and terrified of it falling apart on you. Wow.
Click to expand...

LOL, worry free.. I am very PRO guy in this game... Trouble-Shooter is my LAST NAME (lol)

I am full loaded with best cart, when I'm home (NYC). This is my portable solution.
Everything in my set are mountable, I call it Modular system - LOL (whole station ready to go in 15min)
I travel every 2nd week (by Air), can't have more than 2 pelican (don't want to make production cry for extra charges - lol)

I can built Station like Rogue myself, But I'm a tech - savvy person and test all new gears frequently. Sorry can't have Rogue like system cuz' my set changes month to month....

For all please try PELICAN CASES (with FOAM) and use PLASTI-DIP to secure your foam.
 
Dominick Pietrzak said:
... but I was just looking for some pointers regarding hardware and software. I've heard about the new Mac Pro so that's why I haven't updated my 2008 one. I think I'll upgrade once it comes out. Good point about redundancy, this is really important to keep going.

The reason I posted this question was to find suggestions so that I can slowly build up a larger kit as I go along. I was planning on starting out managing data and transcoding on set, then coloring, eventually doing dailies, and so on.
Click to expand...

I'm putting together a Comprehensive Guide for Rigging ANY Camera, posted on Reduser here. There is a chapter on Data Management that is written for the newbie in mind, but should give you some ideas. Here's a link to the chapter: http://wolfcrow.com/blog/comprehensive-guide-to-rigging-any-camera-8-data-management-part-1/

Hope this helps.
 
Adrian Jebef said:
But I'm curious. Why C-Stand and not a Rolling Stand. you know, so it's portable ?
Click to expand...
You can use any.... C-stand, rolling Stand (no limit - lol) which every is available on SET (lol).

And yes... ONLY IN NYC (lol).... But I be R-n-G almost every state with this.
 
Kwan Khan said:
You can use any.... C-stand, rolling Stand (no limit - lol) which every is available on SET (lol).

And yes... ONLY IN NYC (lol).... But I been almost every state with this portable rig.
Click to expand...


I bet when you show up from out-of-town the local DITs are like, "Oh Snap! This K-Wan is crazy! He can build a DIT cart from sticks and empty coffe cups!"

"Yo Dom, take note!"
 
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