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 :)

Shooting Documentary with Red One

Peter Majtan said:
Big-T was the first one who really nail it in this thread. Good on You mate! The only thing I would add is a good quality RAID card for the Mac Pro, like this one from CalDigit:

http://www.CalDigit.com/RAIDCard/

And get at least 4x internal 1TB drives, like this Seagate:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...10005N1A1ASRK_1TB_Barracuda_7200_11_SATA.html

You will need it... :)

If You need any help with the post, just drop me a PM, or just ask here on the forum...

Good luck!
Click to expand...
isn't there a raid card option for Mac pro?
and I couldn't understand the product in the second link you provided
what's it for?

that's lovely to offer your help...I'd definitely pm you when I'm in the post...
thanks in advance...
 
Pajo - that RAID card I linked is for Mac Pro - I have two and they work like a magic. The second link is to an internal Seagate SATA 1TB drive - I am sure You can get them locally in Your country - just ask any computer dealers. You can put up to 4 internal HDD's inside the Mac Pro connected to the RAID card. This will give You 3TB of protected RAID-5 storage (1TB is lost to parity for the RAID), which will play back 2K uncompressed without a problem. You will need to move the fifth HDD (the original system HDD of the Mac pro) to the empty optical bay bellow the superdrive and leave the main 4 HDD bays for the RAID...

PS: Hold of the purchase of the laptop for couple of weeks - brand new generation is coming out very soon...

Cheers

Peter
 
One more thing...

The CalDigit RAID card is a lot better the the Apple RAID card. Not only it has shown slightly better performance, but it allows You to connect up to 12 more external HDD's later on, when You get some more money. The Apple RAID card only supports internal HDD's - it has no external connector...
 
Peter Majtan said:
Pajo - that RAID card I linked is for Mac Pro - I have two and they work like a magic. The second link is to an internal Seagate SATA 1TB drive - I am sure You can get them locally in Your country - just ask any computer dealers. You can put up to 4 internal HDD's inside the Mac Pro connected to the RAID card. This will give You 3TB of protected RAID-5 storage (1TB is lost to parity for the RAID), which will play back 2K uncompressed without a problem. You will need to move the fifth HDD (the original system HDD of the Mac pro) to the empty optical bay bellow the superdrive and leave the main 4 HDD bays for the RAID...

PS: Hold of the purchase of the laptop for couple of weeks - brand new generation is coming out very soon...

Cheers

Peter
Click to expand...

Peter, what speeds are you achieving with this setup? Can you playback DPX?
 
Yeah, the 2K DPX playback is smooth. Before I switched it to RAID-5 I've tried RAID-0 performance and I was able to play real-time (24P) uncompressed 16-bit TIFF's at 2K in 16:9. After switching to the RAID-5 I can only play real-time uncompressed 16-bit TIFF's at 2K with 2.40:1 ratio. DPX of course play real-time at any ratio in 2K...

This is using 4x 1TB Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 drives mounted internally in the 4 main bays of the Mac Pro and connected to the CalDigit RAID card. This makes me believe that with the addition of 3 external HDElement enclosures this system should sustain 4K uncompressed. It will also give You 15 TB's of RAID-5 storage with 1 TB drives. Talking about room to grow... :)

EDIT: The sustained speed depends on how full (and fragmented) Your drive is, but it never dropped under 270 MB/s. In some instances I would get sustained speeds over 300 MB/s...
 
By the way, if You want to consider the CalDigit, I recommend the following:

A) Get the 1TB HDElement as ti comes with the RAID card under $1.5K (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ..._1TB_HDElement_External_Hard.html#accessories)

B) Buy 8x 1 TB Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 drives (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...0005N1A1ASRK_1TB_Barracuda_7200_11_SATA.html). The are $195,- from B&H, but if You shop around You can get them for lot less ($ 140,- at NEWEGG - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...TC-Froogle-_-Hard+Drives-_-Seagate-_-22148274)

C) "Throw away" the internal 250 GB drives from the HDElement and replace them with the 1 TB Seagates...

D) Put the other 4 1TB drives inside Your Mac Pro

Voila! You got Yourself a 7 TB RAID-5 storage (already deducting 1TB parity) for under $3K!!! It will easily sustain speeds well in excess of 500 MB/s...

I have spent couple of years researching all sorts of high performance storage system including some very interesting prototype technologies. Nothing comes even close to this deal. Highly recommended...

Hope this helps... :)

Peter
 
This is a solution I have been looking at, so good to hear some real world feedback on it. Is there a trick to getting the boot drive into the optical drive slot or is it pretty straightforward? Also, these are standard drives and not enterprise level right?
 
Peter Majtan said:
By the way, if You want to consider the CalDigit, I recommend the following:

A) Get the 1TB HDElement as ti comes with the RAID card under $1.5K (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ..._1TB_HDElement_External_Hard.html#accessories)

B) Buy 8x 1 TB Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 drives (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...0005N1A1ASRK_1TB_Barracuda_7200_11_SATA.html). The are $195,- from B&H, but if You shop around You can get them for lot less ($ 140,- at NEWEGG - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...TC-Froogle-_-Hard+Drives-_-Seagate-_-22148274)

C) "Throw away" the internal 250 GB drives from the HDElement and replace them with the 1 TB Seagates...

D) Put the other 4 1TB drives inside Your Mac Pro

Voila! You got Yourself a 7 TB RAID-5 storage (already deducting 1TB parity) for under $3K!!! It will easily sustain speeds well in excess of 500 MB/s...

I have spent couple of years researching all sorts of high performance storage system including some very interesting prototype technologies. Nothing comes even close to this deal. Highly recommended...

Hope this helps... :)

Peter
Click to expand...

Peter,
you're amazing, I never thought of this...
I might knock your door for more info
before I buy the mac pro...for the time
being I'll just use a macbook pro...I won't
be able to buy it before 2 months anyways(laptop)...

what I'm thinking is: because I'm gonna travel too
much for this doco I'll only be using macbook to
edit the proxies and when I'm done shooting I'll
buy a mac pro tower...maybe then things get
better...

thanx much for your valuable information...
I appreciate it...
 
Pajo, You are most welcome... :)

Steve - it is rather straight forward. You will only need a slightly longer SATA cable with right-angle connector on the motherboard side - this will make the installation that much easier...

Both of You let me know if You have any troubles...

peter (at) derylgroup (dot) com

Cheers
 
When are You leaving Pajo? I am right now developing a portable RAID-5 storage for on-location work. It will be slightly smaller then the actual Mackbook Pro and will fit underneath the laptop. Easy to transport (just like having another laptop)...
 
Peter Majtan said:
Pajo, You are most welcome... :)

Steve - it is rather straight forward. You will only need a slightly longer SATA cable with right-angle connector on the motherboard side - this will make the installation that much easier...

Both of You let me know if You have any troubles...

peter (at) derylgroup (dot) com

Cheers
Click to expand...

Thanks Peter!
 
Peter Majtan said:
When are You leaving Pajo? I am right now developing a portable RAID-5 storage for on-location work. It will be slightly smaller then the actual Mackbook Pro and will fit underneath the laptop. Easy to transport (just like having another laptop)...
Click to expand...

Oh I'm still waiting for the confirmation of my budget
so no time soon...
who are you developing that for?

and I really wonder about something? because
I'm alien to Red technology and to its necessities...
so forgive my ignorance but wouldn't a normal
external harddisk like Western D. work instead of
RAID? is there such a big difference in terms of performance?
 
Pajo Takamatsu said:
Oh I'm still waiting for the confirmation of my budget
so no time soon...
who are you developing that for?

and I really wonder about something? because
I'm alien to Red technology and to its necessities...
so forgive my ignorance but wouldn't a normal
external harddisk like Western D. work instead of
RAID? is there such a big difference in terms of performance?
Click to expand...

I am developing it for my own company. We will debut next year at NAB with range of accessories for various "redheads"... :)

As far as the RAID goes - it is not about the performance as such (for some this is indeed an issue), it is mostly about security of Your data and larger capacity. Just imagine having a laptop (Mackbook Pro) sized storage enclosure weighing less then 3 lbs (1.3 kg) that gives You either:

A) RAID-0 (stripe) of 2.4 TB with 500 MB/s
B) RAID-1 (mirror) of 1.2 TB (out of 2.4 TB total) with 200 MB/s
C) RAID-5 (parity) of 2.1 TB (out of 2.4 TB total) with 400 MB/s

Of course user selectable...
You have a choice of either "normal" HDD's or SSD's (in which case the capacity will be slightly less, but the price & performance a lot higher, not to mention the reliability...)

Wouldn't You want one (or two) in the field with You?

:) Peter
 
Peter Majtan said:
I am developing it for my own company. We will debut next year at NAB with range of accessories for various "redheads"... :)

As far as the RAID goes - it is not about the performance as such (for some this is indeed an issue), it is mostly about security of Your data and larger capacity. Just imagine having a laptop (Mackbook Pro) sized storage enclosure weighing less then 3 lbs (1.3 kg) that gives You either:

A) RAID-0 (stripe) of 2.4 TB with 500 MB/s
B) RAID-1 (mirror) of 1.2 TB (out of 2.4 TB total) with 200 MB/s
C) RAID-5 (parity) of 2.1 TB (out of 2.4 TB total) with 400 MB/s

Of course user selectable...
You have a choice of either "normal" HDD's or SSD's (in which case the capacity will be slightly less, but the price & performance a lot higher, not to mention the reliability...)

Wouldn't You want one (or two) in the field with You?

:) Peter
Click to expand...

Hey Peter,
it sounds like a very convenient option and
most probably I'd buy one according to my
budget...
one thing I'm wondering, I don't see a RAID
option in macbook pro to connect a raid drive...
do I have to buy an additional RAID card,too?
or the new macbooks will have it somehow?

it seems that I'll be in touch with you...
 
The Macbooks Pro will not include any RAID - all will be included in our package. The RAID controller is part of the main chassis and You will need a ExpressCard interface and short cable - which will also be included...

You can send me Your e-mail and I will keep You posted on the future developments...

Take care

Peter
 
Pajo Takamatsu said:
Big T said:
Hey Big T,
one last question...I really liked your Griffith Uni. ad
and I wonder if you have used any filters for that or
is it all done in the post?
This question can be taken as a general one about filters...
I'm wondering if people, who work with Red are keen on
working with filters to get the right color or rely on post-prod. -
color grading etc.?
Click to expand...

Every DOP is different, Me personally, I never shoot with GRAD's or colored filters, only ND's to keep my F stop shallow.
I like to have a raw un-effected image when I get into grading, The more info I have, the more I can play with later.
All the grading for griffith happened in FCP. no shit!.
I balanced a few shots up in RED alert, finalized the grade in FCP.
It was very simple and easy.

My colorist hates me for it, because I didn't use him for the job, I just graded it up as an experiment..... and it worked fine.
Click to expand...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top