Building System For REDCine. Need advice

[galexander]

Talk the talk, walk the walk

Talk the talk, walk the walk

Asus p5k-vm, stock
thermaltake lanbox, highly modified, chopped and channeled
intel q6600 stock, OC-ed to ~3ghz, stock 2.4ghz
Kinston X, 4Gb, stock
3Ware 8006-2LP,stock
150Gb WD Raptors x2 with modified heat sinks
300GB Seagate 7400.10, stock
Nvidia 7300GT, OC-ed (yes i know its lame)
HP server case fan x2, stock
HP Server 650W universal power supply,stock

 

[Simon Baechler]

if you're going portable why are you going bigger? especially with an external raid there's no reason to carry around a monster ATX case and 20" screen. if you have the $$, a nice 2U or 3U rackmount case is much easier in the field.

those nice big 20" screens look great in the studio but in the field with all of the natural sunlight flooding around, limited viewing angles, weight, etc., a smaller LCD that you can shield works much better.

The case has the screen built-in. It's a flip-out. And it could hold all the drives of the raid and the upc and maybe even the LTO drive all in one case. One heavy case.
I think I'm going to the place that builds the systems to have a look myself. It's a three hour train ride (one way) but then I know what is more usable.

i don't see any problems with obtaining this, but you haven't specified 4k, 2k or 1080p. you will need a bad ass system like the one in this thread.

It must be able to play back a 4K clip in 1/4 medium or high resolution or a 1K proxy with 25fps.

look around sourceforge.net, there might be something there. depending on the platform, just use perl and hook into md5, it has good CRC.

I was looking into Perl and Python today. Maybe I do write it myself. This language seems quite easy. I'm starting an open source project. Anyone interested in helping out???

it is already possible that you can run XP x64 today with the 32bit codecs. whether the codecs will be stable??? i experimented with xvid, ffdshow x64 with limited success. drivers are not stable at this point.

it runs "best" or maybe easiest or least painful, it seems so far on Mac platforms at the moment.

I'm definitely going to install a 32 bit Windows. Except if Red releases a 64 bit version of their software this month. I was looking into Windows 2003 Server. Its so expensive! I hope I can get it cheap from ebay. I don't know if it's worth the extra 500$ compared to Windows XP Pro just to have 4GB of Ram instead of 3.something.
And there is always the alternative with the Ramdisk trick:
http://www.computerbase.de/forum/showthread.php?t=305236 (german)

 

[Stacey Spears]

Jay,

Here is the machine I just built:

1. Supermicro XDW7A-N motherboard
2. 16 GB RAM (8 x 2GB 1.5v FB-DIMM (DDR2 800 MHz))
3. nVidia Quadro FX 4600 (SDI daughter card on order)
4. Xtore (XJ-SA12-316R-B)16-way drive enclosure
5. 16 x Seagate 7200.11 750 GB HDD (32 MB cache) for Xtore. (RAID 50)
6. 1 x Seagate 7200.11 750 GB for OS/Apps.
7. 3ware 9690 (about to toss and replace with either LSI 888 or Adaptec 3085)
8. Gateway XHD3000 30" LCD (2560x1600) (Has both DVI and HDMI in, with Silicon Optix Realta for HDMI input) It also offers picture controls, unlike other 30" LCDs. (Apple, Gateway and HP were all tested)
9. 2 x E5462 (2.8 GHz Quad Core) CPUs (Just shipped)
10. HP Ultrium 960 LTO3 drive
11. Adaptec SCSI for HP drive
12. Firewire 800 card (unibrain)
13. Sony BD burner
14. Sandisk Extreme Firewire 800 reader
15. Samsung SP-A800B 1080p FP DLP.
16. DVDO VP50 Pro
17. Stewart Grayhawk RS screen (72" wide)

I have been waiting on the CPUs to turn it on. They should be here by the end of the week. I am also waiting on the Xtore. I had started with a Supermicro 16-way, but it turned out to only support SAS drives. No SATA at all. I have been running tests with an 8-way using the 3ware and the card has been nothing but problems. Their support is also lacking. I had posted #s with the 8-way and 9690 in RAID 0 and 5. I will run new tests with the Xtore and RAID 0, 5 and 50 when it is up and running.

I will run tests with both Server 2003 and Vista 64-bit. Given the driver situation, I will probably have to ruff it with Vista.

I managed to pickup a new-in-the-box APC 2200XL UPS on eBay for half price. I also picked up the HP tape ($1k) and FX 4600 ($1k) on eBay as well.

The 30" will be for desktop UI. The 1080p DLP will be for color grading. It offers SMPTE-C and BT.709 primaries along with BVM gamma. It was designed to replace a BVM for color grading of HD. The workflow will be FX 4600 (HD-SDI) -> Tek WFM700 (HD-SDI) -> VP50 Pro (HDMI) -> Samsung FP DLP. The plan is to use SCRATCH for on-line. I will pickup a Macbook Pro when the camera ships for off-line.

 

[JustMe]

(unibrain) good luck

 

[number6]

ha ha i like this analogy but maybesomething more like "Shelby" taking a old classic 65 'Stang with an stock 289 and converting it to a GT550.

Yeah, I think the Carrol Shelby reference IS more appropriate. I actually ouned a 1964 Mustang. It was maroon with a white interior. Only had a 6 cylinder engine and three-in-the-floor, but it looked nice. (Sigh, even my cars were slow)

 

[galexander]

Jay,

Here is the machine I just built:

1. Supermicro XDW7A-N motherboard
2. 16 GB RAM (8 x 2GB 1.5v FB-DIMM (DDR2 800 MHz))
3. nVidia Quadro FX 4600 (SDI daughter card on order)
4. Xtore (XJ-SA12-316R-B)16-way drive enclosure
5. 16 x Seagate 7200.11 750 GB HDD (32 MB cache) for Xtore. (RAID 50)
6. 1 x Seagate 7200.11 750 GB for OS/Apps.
7. 3ware 9690 (about to toss and replace with either LSI 888 or Adaptec 3085)
8. Gateway XHD3000 30" LCD (2560x1600) (Has both DVI and HDMI in, with Silicon Optix Realta for HDMI input) It also offers picture controls, unlike other 30" LCDs. (Apple, Gateway and HP were all tested)
9. 2 x E5462 (2.8 GHz Quad Core) CPUs (Just shipped)
10. HP Ultrium 960 LTO3 drive
11. Adaptec SCSI for HP drive
12. Firewire 800 card (unibrain)
13. Sony BD burner
14. Sandisk Extreme Firewire 800 reader
15. Samsung SPH-800A 1080p FP DLP.
16. DVDO VP50 Pro
17. Stewart Grayhawk RS screen (72" wide)


...stuff deleted.....

and the cost please?

if you're having issues with the 3ware card, i seriously doubt it is 3ware card. my current, 8006 and previous 7000, and 9550, run and have run under WinNT4, 2k, Xp, both x86,x64, as well as server 2k3, x86,x64, RH linux, SUSE linux. i've swapped the raid arrays in different hardware/software configurations HP ML150G3, Intel boards, Asus, the card always recognized the array and the system always recognized the board, i.e., system independent.

you most likely have a IRQ conflict or bad chipset drivers from SM. the unibrain will also be 'recognized' as a 'SCSI' type device. here's what i'd do, remove all cards except the 3ware, use the onboard video. install 3ware HW/SW first, get it running, then install 1394 HW/SW. clean out all of the drivers or reinstall OS. since you have very limited options in a SM bios for IRQ, you should be banging on SM door.

supermicro boards, meh, mediocre at best, their support for non-traditional server configurations is lacking. Sata, PCIe are all 'new' to SM, they are used to SCSI/SAS big legacy type machines.

if you're looking to 'dump' that 3ware card, how much do you want for it?

 

[galexander]

The case has the screen built-in. It's a flip-out. And it could hold all the drives of the raid and the upc and maybe even the LTO drive all in one case.

they should easy be able to swap out the monitor and save a few Euro. i've lugged heavy scheisse around the death valley, zugspitze, the outback, a volcano.... if you're locations are fairly tame, ja ok du bist fertig in meiner meinung.

I was looking into Perl and Python today. Maybe I do write it myself.

perl and python, good choices for the discerning hacker. i've hacked a fair of perl, for some simple straight forward operations, you could code this in about 100 lines, much less if you hook into md5, CRC, or use quickpar and winrar. i might have a batch file laying around somewhere.

I'm definitely going to install a 32 bit Windows. Except if Red releases a 64 bit version of their software this month. I was looking into Windows 2003 Server. Its so expensive! I hope I can get it cheap from ebay. I don't know if it's worth the extra 500$ compared to Windows XP Pro just to have 4GB of Ram instead of 3.something.

i booted over to Xp x86, you will get about 3.4Gb of ram Max, see jpg. i can tune the starting memory footprint down to ~130Mb if i really tried. even if x64 drivers are released i wouldn't jump on the wagon. i get tired of being an alpha tester for commercial products.

Win Server has other options as well, you can fairly easily stream multimedia and create a Mac volume on your system for those people who want was to pull off data for FCP. you can set up the stream to go over copper or setup a really cool WiFi network. although WiFi streaming 4k would be tough, even broadcasters are only dishing out ~720p/1080i.

Server tends to be more 'hardened' out of the box than XP. you could set up two configurations, one for data acquisition, which runs lean and mean. second configuration, open up the server for file processing, serving or streaming. M$ treats Server customers different, you have much more control on security, control, processes whereas with XP, just install and reboot, everything will be.. ok ... sort of... we hope... ha ha.

Configuring Server is not for the weak in the knees but once you master it, it's really cool. a few days ago i configured Svr with a network config of HTC Touch, which has Bluetooth and WiFi, and an Apple Airport Extreme Base Station. I could see lots of unsecured networks and could route net traffic wherever i wanted.

And there is always the alternative with the Ramdisk trick:
http://www.computerbase.de/forum/showthread.php?t=305236 (german)

i like 'new' ram hack, it's similar to the old 'DOS' days, ha ha ha, sehr lustig. i would add these hacks to the boot.ini /timer=21000 /intaffinity

 

[Stacey Spears]

The 3ware card problems have been with a Tyan 2895 MB. Once the CPUs arrive, I will see how it behaves with the SM MB.

There were problems with 3ware under XP SP2 and Vista 32-bit. Even booting from DOS floppy and using their eval tool failed. Drives keep dropping (reported as inoperable). They even have a kb article on the 3ware site, but the tool they provide just locks up.

and the cost please?

1. $515 - Supermicro XDW7A-N motherboard
2. $1080 - 16 GB RAM (8 x 2GB 1.5v FB-DIMM (DDR2 800 MHz))
3. $1000 - nVidia Quadro FX 4600 (SDI daughter card on order)
4. $1575 - Xtore (XJ-SA12-316R-B)16-way drive enclosure
5. $2944 - 16 x Seagate 7200.11 750 GB HDD (32 MB cache) for Xtore. (RAID 50)
6. $184 - 1 x Seagate 7200.11 750 GB for OS/Apps.
7. $615 - 3ware 9690 (about to toss and replace with either LSI 888 or Adaptec 3085)
8. $1699 - Gateway XHD3000 30" LCD (2560x1600) (Has both DVI and HDMI in, with Silicon Optix Realta for HDMI input) It also offers picture controls, unlike other 30" LCDs. (Apple, Gateway and HP were all tested)
9. $1734 - 2 x E5462 (2.8 GHz Quad Core) CPUs (Just shipped)
10. $1000 - HP Ultrium 960 LTO3 drive
11. Adaptec SCSI for HP drive
12. $59 - Firewire 800 card (unibrain)
13. $599 - Sony BD burner
14. $60 - Sandisk Extreme Firewire 800 reader
15. Samsung SP-A800B 1080p FP DLP.
16. DVDO VP50 Pro
17. Stewart Grayhawk RS screen (72" wide)

 

[galexander]

The 3ware card problems have been with a Tyan 2895 MB. Once the CPUs arrive, I will see how it behaves with the SM MB.

There were problems with 3ware under XP SP2 and Vista 32-bit. Even booting from DOS floppy and using their eval tool failed. Drives keep dropping (reported as inoperable). They even have a kb article on the 3ware site, but the tool they provide just locks up.

...stuff deleted...

ah a Tyan, i've haven't used them in 5 years and i wouldn't recommend them to be honest. their opteron boards were good but i had a tiger x2, and thunder. nothing but problems.

check the tyan bios, see if there are any security settings that are preventing you from doing anything.

 

[galexander]

Yeah, I think the Carrol Shelby reference IS more appropriate. I actually ouned a 1964 Mustang. It was maroon with a white interior. Only had a 6 cylinder engine and three-in-the-floor, but it looked nice. (Sigh, even my cars were slow)

Arrr, arrr, arrrr, everyone would like an Elanor.... too bad she's a bit pricey for me as well. ha ha

for your Dell, cheapest, easiest, CVP is to upgrade the cpus. those 1.6GHz are killing your system. there are hardware hacks to bump up the 2.4GHz to 3GHz(w/correct CPU) but i don't recommend that unless you've done it before or are prepared to toast a cpu if you screw up. the next best, bang for the buck is your video card.

 

[galexander]

Can anyone point me to the most powerful wireless router that is out there? I am looking for range, range, range. If anyone has some advice I would be grateful.

Thanks
Jay

i'm toying around with Mac Airport Express Base Station. it supports all 802.11, a/b/g and most important N.

haven't tested the range but i'm designing and building my own high gain, patch antennas and should be able to push the range to about 5 km, which is not government approved.

 

[Jay A. Kelley]

GA

I need a router that can reach between two houses that are about 1/4 mile apart.

Any products out there that would do this in your opinion?

Jay

Any Linksys? Or how about that new router by bountiful?

 

[galexander]

GA

I need a router that can reach between two houses that are about 1/4 mile apart.

Any products out there that would do this in your opinion?

Jay

Any Linksys? Or how about that new router by bountiful?

depends on following answers.

environmental.
what type of buildings in the way? residental wooden house? concrete and steel skyscrapers? is the terrain flat?

specs.
how much bandwidth do you need? chatting? sharing desktop? streaming SD? HD? DiVx? a P2P net? MSN?

if terrain is fairly flat, mainly low single story houses, then critical factor is your content. if you live in an urban jungle, i would suggest alternate solutions.

generally
get the router with the highest output power and maximum gain you can afford. if the gain specs are dBi on one and dB on a different one, dB=dBi+2.14.

400 meters is a pretty good hop with the anything off the shelf and standard antennas. i don't know of anything off the shelf will give you any decent speed at that distance. you really need line of sight, LOS, antenna system for this application but you might be able to find something high power down in the 900MHz band that will connect but depending on where you live and how cluttered the frequency spectrum, your performance may not be that good.

however, if you really want a good cheap solution. find a small 2.4GHz parabolic mesh antenna, about the same size as directTV dishes but mesh. each person mounts them on the roof, make sure the router is designed to accept an external antenna connection. usually these connectors will be SMA or N-type. usually these antennas are about $100??

once you sort out your requirements and environment, i'll give you the system design so it will work.

 

[galexander]

8800gt?

8800gt?

jay,

where did you end up buying your card from? newegg has them one moment, then they're gone.

thanks
GA

 

[Jay A. Kelley]

Ummm (looking) I got a BFG from beach audio.. It came fast too. Tiger direct and Beach audio were both very quick. I made the order Friday morning, selected cheapest shipping, and both showed up on my doorstep today. MWave is not as fast, but they shipped out today.

 

[galexander]

Nicknames in Australia

Nicknames in Australia

everyone in Australia gets a shortened nickname, it's an Aussie thing. mine is 'Chaos'.

not only do i design and build hardware and software, i also test. my own as well as competitor's products. i am the ultimate QA in that aspect, if it does not meet MFG (manufactured guaranteed) specs, i will break it, if there is a bug, i find them. these include network analyzers, radar processors, Matlab, Intel Compilers, Linux kernels, yadda, yadda, yadda...

so while there is the old saying 'you get what you pay for', that doesn't hold in this case. i 'give' this advice and post because one of my truths is that what you give away is much more important than what you keep. i do actually get monetarily payment at the moment to build and design satellite communication systems, antennas, and phased arrays. in the past i have engineered from military specifications, real-time, in-flight, hyperspectral (300nm to 700nm) optical acquisition, detection, and identification systems.

if it seems like i'm breaking your balls and asking tough questions, it's because they are necessary and required. if you want amateur solutions, there is AskJeeeves.

my goal is to hopefully soon leave most of this behind, move to Paris, to do independent films.

Chaos

 

[Paolo Tinari]

Chaos...
Are you ok?

 

[galexander]

Chaos...
Are you ok?

Always

just getting some emails from people, so time to clear air so to speak.

 

[Paolo Tinari]

Wild.
Have fun in Paris. :red_bandana:

 

[galexander]

Camera Display HUDs?

Camera Display HUDs?

Has anyone looked using a HUD device like this instead of an LCD?

http://www.leadtek.com.tw/eng/hmd/overview.asp?lineid=20&pronameid=167