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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 :)

RED STATION

Dan Kanes said:
having just completed a 5 week feature as DIT on an MX shoot that shot almost exclusively to Red Drives I'm hoping there is a certified Red Solution for reading "Legacy" red drives over esata, as the firewire 800 ports on all the red drives we rented Didn't work - seems some people only have success mounting over FW800 with a windows system (something I'm not going to touch) Would love to see a legitimate resolution.
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Just curious -- we're you plugging in the Red Drive power supply before connecting the FW800 cable? It's my understanding that Red Drives cannot be reliably bus powered, but rental companies often neglect to include the power supplies, mistakenly assuming that the drives do not require them.

Bryan
 
Rick Burnett said:
This is why I buy and use Mac laptop/desktops instead of the cheapest thing I can find. They work. I pay for that peace of mind. With Red, that's what I will be looking for as well. I don't want to troubleshoot, I want to be productive.
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Agreed. That's why I offered my experiences using an eSATA interface on a MacBook Pro. eSATA workflow on a portable Mac is fragile, whether you're using a Red branded CF card reader, or any other brand of eSATA device.

Red has no control over the host card and host computer driver issues, and the lack of a secure locking mechanism for cards in the MacBook Pro Expresscard slot is a problem you will be acutely aware of if you use a MacBook Pro with an eSATA host card for portable backups.

But it gets the job done quite well, if it's all setup on a cart.

Best,
Bryan
 
For pro gear, this is cheap. All I'm saying. Red never said anyone needs this, just that they don't want to compromise and this is what it costs.

The one thing I've learned is Red never charge more just because they can. Everything costs what it does for a good reason.
 
Bryan Golder said:
Agreed. That's why I offered my experiences using an eSATA interface on a MacBook Pro. eSATA workflow on a portable Mac is fragile, whether you're using a Red branded CF card reader, or any other brand of eSATA device.
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I definitely thank you for sharing this as I was curious about this as well. The big thing for me is flexibility. I work regularly with a group of 10 to 20 filmmakers and they ask me to come be a second camera for them. At the end of the shoot, I either give them my card and they return it, or, I offload onto their portable computer.

With my Lexar, it has FW800 only. Some people do not have FW800 on their portable machines, so it was a problem.

With at least USB and FW, to me this seems I can cover most bases.

The eSata is not as important to me per-say, but having that option in the future is a good option.

With this entire thread I've come to the conclusion I will order the CF reader only and either keep the Lexar to let others borrow (as they will NOT be borrowing my Red CF) or just sell it altogether.
 
Rick Burnett said:
With this entire thread I've come to the conclusion I will order the CF reader only and either keep the Lexar to let others borrow (as they will NOT be borrowing my Red CF) or just sell it altogether.
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This is the beauty of a modular system.. you only buy what you need :)
 
Jarred Land said:
This is the beauty of a modular system.. you only buy what you need :)
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Agreed, which is what brought me to the red.com site so long ago when I made the comment to someone "man, I'd love a camera that was customizable" and they said, "Ever heard of the Scarlet?"

I'd say this mentality is one of my favorite parts of the Red design philosophy. Instead of trying to find a camera with everything I *think* I need. I can start with the basics and add as I find necessary.

Eli Whitney would be so proud of Red :)
 
Dan Kanes said:
I completely disagree with this statement and find rampant fanboyism something that actually detracts from the success of Red's acceptance as a Hollywood standard.

Please explain how we've managed to go two+ years without one of these, and then all of a sudden you are in "Big Trouble" when you hire a DIT without one. I'd say you are in bigger trouble hiring a DIT with one of these card readers but no Idea how a Red Workflow actually works.

No offense, I like new toys too and am excited to see more new Red Products - but a Red Authorized Lemo to Esata interface box as a module here would be just as, if not more exciting to me.
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+1 Dan
 
Bryan Golder said:
...One other thing to be aware of with Expresscard devices and the MacBook Pro -- it's really impossible to use an eSATA host card or any kind of Express/34 card which is cabled to external media on the MacBook Pro if the Mac & external media is not set somewhere solid and stationary, on a desk or cart. Express/34 cards do not lock into place in the Expresscard slot. If you gently bump or tug an eSATA cable plugged into a Sonnet Tempo Pro or other host card, it will very easily pop the whole card right out of the Expresscard slot, and the Mac will crash. The way the mechanism is built in the Expresscard slot, there's nothing that locks the card into place. According to Sonnet, it's entirely Apple's design and there's nothing the host card manufacturer can do about it. You can test it with the computer shutdown -- insert the eSATA card, it slides in and clicks into place. You think it's locked in there tight. Not so. If you just gently pull on it, it will fall right out of the computer.

Bryan
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Yeah, the MacBook Pro Expresscard slot is rubbish. You have to plug up all cables to cards before insertion as even the slightest push on it pops it out - pretty stupid design. One of the cases where it was obvious no one actually tried using in real situations before proceeding with it.
 
See, Red, you brought yourself into this. You teased us with the Red Station design at the same time you unveiled your forward-thinking interlocking modular camera design. And our minds started dreaming about forward-thinking DIT station design. The lack of external dangling cables, the vertical docking connectors, maybe even the nexto-like automated backup+verifying functionality.

And now you show us the backside. And it's just standard computer accesory readers with standard cables, and the non-standard cable is a bad non-locking design.

No wonder many are dissapointed with it.

It's RED's great design with black metal with a RED logo on it, which will increase reliability and also doesn't hurt those who feel like a computer nerd in front of their manly hollywood film crews (sorry, just kidding :P), but it's not precisely forward-thinking. Advanced DIT's have come up with flexible, custom solutions adapted to their needs before this.

It's ok if you want to sell testosterone, but I thought you sold next-gen stuff. The list of criticism on this product has already been compiled in this thread so i'm not going to reiterate.

Sorry Red, I love you, I'm just not a fanboy.
 
Daniel García said:
See, Red, you brought yourself into this. You teased us with the Red Station design at the same time you unveiled your forward-thinking interlocking modular camera design. And our minds started dreaming about forward-thinking DIT station design. The lack of external dangling cables, the vertical docking connectors, maybe even the nexto-like automated backup+verifying functionality.

And now you show us the backside. And it's just standard computer accesory readers with standard cables, and the non-standard cable is a bad non-locking design.

No wonder many are dissapointed with it.

It's RED's great design with black metal with a RED logo on it, which will increase reliability and also doesn't hurt those who feel like a computer nerd in front of their manly hollywood film crews (sorry, just kidding :P), but it's not precisely forward-thinking. Advanced DIT's have come up with flexible, custom solutions adapted to their needs before this.

It's ok if you want to sell testosterone, but I thought you sold next-gen stuff. The list of criticism on this product has already been compiled in this thread so i'm not going to reiterate.

Sorry Red, I love you, I'm just not a fanboy.
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I agree. We are used to RED putting out cameras, lcds, lenses, etc with great functionality and performance compared to their competitors for less than half the price of the closest competing products. This RED STATION on the other hand looks like it doesnt provide much more functionality compared to widely available products that we have been using for years and at a price higher than what we are used to for competing solutions. It does not meet the high expectations I have for RED, but I can understand its purpose and I don't doubt it will be useful to many people who buy it.

I think what we were expecting wasnt so different, but maybe it would have a cover on the back to protect and hold all of the flimsy connectors (making them more like internal connectors) but with a single esata port on the base station that connects to a port multiplier or sata controller inside the base and specific instructions to connect the units as desired, attach all connectors and attach the back cover, leaving only one power and one esata port visible and usable so that it would be in effect a modular system but once built it would be a solid system that would require only one bus cable and one power cable. Could even have designed it in such a way that the components could be proper 3.5" or 5.25"components and could, if desired, be installed into a workstation as internal drives for even more stability. Yes, and standalone functionality sure wouldnt hurt either. If it it had some of those functions I might buy it. Otherwise it sure is a nice external card reader, but I already have a couple of those. If I were to buy another card reader it would probably be the Sonnet Dual CF expresscard adapter as it seems to have very good reviews for its speed and functionality and price.
 
Thomas Koch said:
I use an Xserve with both slots taken up for unloading material, so I can't use E-stata. Which is why it's great that these use all the different options! Where is mini-SAS? Then I can read it! Edit, I think it's AWESOME and will use it with Firewire 800!
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What SAS controller are you using? Most SAS systems are downward compatible with SATA and if they are following the specs, you can have both SATA and SAS devices connected at the same time. All you need is a mini-SAS to eSATA cable.
 
Daniel García said:
See, Red, you brought yourself into this. You teased us with the Red Station design at the same time you unveiled your forward-thinking interlocking modular camera design. And our minds started dreaming about forward-thinking DIT station design. The lack of external dangling cables, the vertical docking connectors, maybe even the nexto-like automated backup+verifying functionality.

And now you show us the backside. And it's just standard computer accesory readers with standard cables, and the non-standard cable is a bad non-locking design.

No wonder many are dissapointed with it.

It's RED's great design with black metal with a RED logo on it, which will increase reliability and also doesn't hurt those who feel like a computer nerd in front of their manly hollywood film crews (sorry, just kidding :P), but it's not precisely forward-thinking. Advanced DIT's have come up with flexible, custom solutions adapted to their needs before this.

It's ok if you want to sell testosterone, but I thought you sold next-gen stuff. The list of criticism on this product has already been compiled in this thread so i'm not going to reiterate.

Sorry Red, I love you, I'm just not a fanboy.
Click to expand...

Hey what we (entrepreneurs with ideas) going to do? how we will make our living?

Wait a bit and you will see...
 
Question:

Would one be able to use other CF cards with the RED CF Reader?

Let's say for dumping out videos shot on Canon 5D/7D? *hides*
 
Zul said:
Question:

Would one be able to use other CF cards with the RED CF Reader?

Let's say for dumping out videos shot on Canon 5D/7D? *hides*
Click to expand...

I'll let you know :) I will be trying this. I'm also going to get a REALLY fast low capacity card so I can test the upper end range of my Lexar versus this one.
 
ericyoung said:
Yeah, the MacBook Pro Expresscard slot is rubbish. You have to plug up all cables to cards before insertion as even the slightest push on it pops it out - pretty stupid design. One of the cases where it was obvious no one actually tried using in real situations before proceeding with it.
Click to expand...

I have found this little port multiplier box to be a life saver with the Macbook Pro Esata Expresscard:

http://www.addonics.com/products/host_controller/extpm.asp

Just plug this into the card and then I can easily plug cables into this as needed. Plus two of these allow me to connect up to 10 Esata devices to my Macbook Pro. Not that I ever need that many, but it is nice to know I have the ports if needed.

Plus these ultra flexible Esata cables help alot too:

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Newer Technology/CBLESATAF05M/
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Newer Technology/CBLESATAF10M/

Haven't used the 1 meter cable yet, but have lots of the short ones.


Dusty
 
So are the sata power cables to link the modules necessary or not? No power between modules built into the connection?

Why add an extra little dongle off the side to get smashed when it could be in the stack out of harm's way?

Also any plans on RED's part to offer a hardware transfer tool to copy multiple CF Cards to a 3.5" drive or attached external RAID without a PC and run off a battery? I guess that's what I had thought RED Station was going to be. Something like this but for professional workflows:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0006SKK4C
 
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