Sonnet Qio + Mobile REDRocket

[Jordan Livingston]

I just got my Sonnet Qio today -- finally!

How amazing would it be if the Mobile REDRocket could work while daisy-chained through the Qio?

Even if the RR speeds were reduced, this would still be the ultimate way to use the RR, CF readers, and eSATA all on a single laptop.

- Jordan

P.S. My birthday's coming up soon... (hint, hint: RED + Maxx Digital).

 

[Stephen Lovett]

Keep us updated

Keep us updated

Hi,

I've been on the fence on this one.

I have had mixed experiences with Sonnet gear, some good, some not so good.

I love the concept.

What I'm most interested in is does it stay cool?
Does it perform consistently throughout the day?

I end up swapping out Lexar readers because the act up after then are on and heavily utilized (and therefore get hot)

What kind of transfer speeds are you seeing from the CF cards?

Cheers,

Steve

 

[Jordan Livingston]

Hi,

I've been on the fence on this one.

I have had mixed experiences with Sonnet gear, some good, some not so good.

I love the concept.

What I'm most interested in is does it stay cool?
Does it perform consistently throughout the day?

I end up swapping out Lexar readers because the act up after then are on and heavily utilized (and therefore get hot)

What kind of transfer speeds are you seeing from the CF cards?

Cheers,

Steve

Hi Steve,

I completely understand where you're coming from. I too was on the fence, as the Qio is not cheap (about $800 after tax + shipping).

However, I must say, I have had nothing but great experiences with Sonnet products. I have used their original ExpressCard / 34 eSATA adaptor, their Professional ExpressCard / 34 eSATA adaptor, their Fusion eSATA drives, and their E4P PCIe card - all with no complaints whatsoever.

It's true that Sonnet tends to release products while their drivers are still works in progress, but they have been extremely good in general about updating drivers and addressing issues. I think they're very comparable to RED in this regard. They are very honest about the features and limitations of their products, and they work closely with their users to constantly improve them. RED and Sonnet make great bedfellows in this respect.

Personally, I've had much of my collection of Sonnet products transition from Tiger to Leopard to Snow Leopard and from 32bit to 64bit drivers. In every case, Sonnet eventually came through to extend the useful life of the products I have already purchased.

As for the Qio itself, we just received our first unit yesterday. They are still extremely hard to get (I ordered it more than six weeks ago!) and we have not had a chance to test it in the field yet. I was however running it through it's paces in my studio all day yesterday, and continue to test it in the studio today. Tomorrow it goes into the field for a real 2-day RED shoot - the perfect proving ground to make sure it can hold it's own.

I also use Lexar professional CF readers and I have experienced the same problems you describe when they are in use all day. I've often swapped between two and even three different units! I'm hoping that the Sonnet Qio will eliminate all of that nonsense. For it's price, the product should be a robust and professional workhorse tool. I have no reason to believe that it's not, but you can be sure I will return it it if craps out like the Lexar readers do - or worse - the dreaded Dual Adaptor (quite simply the worst piece of kit I have ever had the displeasure of owning).

My only "complaint" about the Qio (which is not really a complaint so much as it is a pipe dream) is that I wish the Mobile REDRocket and other third party devices were compatible with it. In a perfect world, the Qio could be a way to bridge a MacBook Pro, REDRocket, and RAID enclosure into a useful download / archival station on the cheap. It's definitely not there yet... but I can always dream.

Best,

- Jordan

 

[Stephen Lovett]

Thanks Jordan,

I'm super interested in hearing about your real world experience with the product. Thanks for the update and the info.

I too own most of gear you've listed, but I got orphaned a couple of times over the years and had a processor upgrade back a long time back that was crap. My Tempo Sata Pro card is the little girl with the curl. It's faster than my other e-sata express card adapters, but it is more prone to spontaneously unmounting a drive than the slower cards.

What's the issue with Mobile Rocket and other third party devices?

I don't do a lot of onset work on my MBP, I've usually got one or more MacPro's so it's probably not an issue for me, but as you say, it's kind of a lot of money given what it does, so I'd like to be sure I understand any gotcha's before purchase. If it works reliably and it's fast, it's likely worth the money.

(I do wish the REDSTATION would ship, even if it had just the current CF module that comes on the RED, I've been half tempted to order a REDFLASH and build my own "FrankenReader")

Cheers,

Steve

 

[Jordan Livingston]

So here is my review of the Sonnet Qio after two days of RED production. Short version: it's not so good.

Day 1 was a 12.5 hour day, and we shot x13 16GB CF cards. The reader worked EXTREMELY fast, but a few times, it would not mount cards, requiring a re-start. Still, this was within acceptable tolerances, in my opinions. The time lost in re-booting was more than made up for by the time savings in speed and convenience.

However, Day 2 (earlier today) was a pathetic disappointment. Inexplicably, my system began to freeze up completely every time a new card was inserted. I thought a re-boot might be in order, but the problem just got worse and worse. By the end of the day, the reader was crashing my system completely - even when just sitting idle. I had to scrap it and return to my old Lexar CF reader. MUCH slower, but at least it didn't hang my system.

I can't offer any suggestions as to why the unit suddenly got worse. My only theory is that the wear and tear of the first day brought out the inherently buggy nature. I am extremely disappointed to say the least.

I will contact Sonnet, as perhaps they are aware of these issues and will issue driver updates soon. However, if this is the level of performance I can expect, it is certainly not a device that's fit for production.

I sincerely hope the problem is addressed with drivers or firmware ASAP!

- Jordan

 

[Stephen Lovett]

Thanks Jordan,

And that really sucks.

I just picked up another Lexar as I'm having issues with one of my Lexar readers, and I almost bought a QIO yesterday.

I'm definitely going to wait now.

Thank you for taking one for the team on this one, and I hope Sonnet gets you a fix pronto.

Steve

 

[Jordan Livingston]

Thanks Jordan,

And that really sucks.

I just picked up another Lexar as I'm having issues with one of my Lexar readers, and I almost bought a QIO yesterday.

I'm definitely going to wait now.

Thank you for taking one for the team on this one, and I hope Sonnet gets you a fix pronto.

Steve

It was really surreal. The unit worked fantastically well in my studio for two days. Then, I brought it into the field, and worked well for most of the day, with some very minor / tolerable glitches (cards not mounting; requiring a re-start).

Then, on day four, it was as if the unit had become totally inoperable. Boot-ups hanged. And system crashes became ubiquitous. Nothing had changed about my system. Nothing had changed about our workflow. Same hardware, same drives, same CF cards, same cables.

I find it hard to believe that the unit was worn out by only three days of moderate use. That is EXTREMELY disheartening, and unacceptable for something that price. That said, I was warned that the drivers are still very buggy, and updates are as yet forthcoming, so hopefully the problem will indeed by solved by software.

Given my past (highly positive) experiences with Sonnet, I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt... for a little while.

- Jordan

 

[Steve Sherrick]

Thanks for these reports Jordan. Keep us informed if the driver issues get worked out and your opinion of the unit changes.

 

[Alex Carr]

Too many drivers involved in the Qio for it to handle one type of media very well,

 

[Jordan Livingston]

Too many drivers involved in the Qio for it to handle one type of media very well,

I don't know if I can agree with that. Most "dumb" card readers have no drivers - the P2, SxS, and RED drivers (for example) are provided by the camera manufacturers, not the card reader manufactures. Those drivers have long since had to occupy the same computer, while we have previously had to swap out between numerous different card readers.

The Qio does have some complex drivers under the hood. It has to turn the ExpressCard / 34 slot into a PCIe bridge. Beyond that, however, the reader modules themselves don't each have separate drivers, nor do the eSATA ports - those simply rely on the existing drivers contained on your Mac.

I was actually very impressed to find that the installer for the Qio contained Sony, Panasonic, and other popular memory card drivers as optional installs. I had all of these installed already, and the installation routine offered to either "skip" or "upgrade" what was already found on my computer.

I also previously used the Sonnet Tempo Pro eSATA adaptor, and I noticed the Qio installer contained a newer version of that driver as well, which was mysteriously NOT separately available on the Sonnet support website (perhaps it's a beta version... perhaps that is the underlying problem here).

In any case, the unit is astounding when it actually works. Inexplicably, it all-of-a-sudden stopped working for me. I'm now in the process of borrowing some other laptops to test it with. I will report back if I find anything new, such as the problem potentially being unique to my laptop.

I've also been Googling and have yet to find any other reviews that complain about the system crashes and freezes. Maybe there's just a conflict on my machine that could somehow be resolved?

- Jordan

 

[Steve Sherrick]

I don't know if I can agree with that. Most "dumb" card readers have no drivers - the P2, SxS, and RED drivers (for example) are provided by the camera manufacturers, not the card reader manufactures. Those drivers have long since had to occupy the same computer, while we have previously had to swap out between numerous different card readers.

The Qio does have some complex drivers under the hood. It has to turn the ExpressCard / 34 slot into a PCIe bridge. Beyond that, however, the reader modules themselves don't each have separate drivers, nor do the eSATA ports - those simply rely on the existing drivers contained on your Mac.

I was actually very impressed to find that the installer for the Qio contained Sony, Panasonic, and other popular memory card drivers as optional installs. I had all of these installed already, and the installation routine offered to either "skip" or "upgrade" what was already found on my computer.

I also previously used the Sonnet Tempo Pro eSATA adaptor, and I noticed the Qio installer contained a newer version of that driver as well, which was mysteriously NOT separately available on the Sonnet support website (perhaps it's a beta version... perhaps that is the underlying problem here).

In any case, the unit is astounding when it actually works. Inexplicably, it all-of-a-sudden stopped working for me. I'm now in the process of borrowing some other laptops to test it with. I will report back if I find anything new, such as the problem potentially being unique to my laptop.

I've also been Googling and have yet to find any other reviews that complain about the system crashes and freezes. Maybe there's just a conflict on my machine that could somehow be resolved?

- Jordan

If you are able to get a system with a fresh install and minimal software/files loaded onto it, that might provide a good baseline for figuring out what's going on with it. Supplying Sonnet with as much info as possible about system config, patterns of failure, etc. will hopefully lead to a more stable product.

 

[sebastian toro]

HI Jordan are you using r3ddatamanager?

thanks in advance

 

[Jordan Livingston]

HI Jordan are you using r3ddatamanager?

thanks in advance

Yes, I am. Version 5.4.

- Jordan

 

[Curtis Abbott]

I have been waiting for the Qio to be released, but with issues like this it sounds like a no go. Are you working on 10.5 or 10.6? I have had a lot of issues with 10.6 and stick with 10.5 for on set work.

-Curtis

 

[Jordan Livingston]

I have been waiting for the Qio to be released, but with issues like this it sounds like a no go. Are you working on 10.5 or 10.6? I have had a lot of issues with 10.6 and stick with 10.5 for on set work.

-Curtis

I'm using 10.6.2. It's been working with everything I need at this point (except the dreaded Duel Adaptor).

The oddest thing about the Qio fiasco is that worked PERFECTLY for nearly a full before it began to crap out.

- Jordan

 

[Wil Klassen]

Thats always such a bummer when it works exactly how you want it to for a day (or at least enough to confirm its amazing) and then inexplicably decides its done. By chance have you tested any of the other ports or just the CF? Just curious. Thank you for the updates and testing sofar!!

 

[Jordan Livingston]

Thats always such a bummer when it works exactly how you want it to for a day (or at least enough to confirm its amazing) and then inexplicably decides its done. By chance have you tested any of the other ports or just the CF? Just curious. Thank you for the updates and testing sofar!!

Yup - that's exactly how it went down!

I tested the P2 ports in my studio, and they seemed to work perfectly, as did all the ports. The CF ports were the only ones that were used on the actual job (it was a single camera shoot).

- Jordan

 

[Wolf]

BUMP.

Any improvements? New drivers seems to have been out for a week or so...

 

[Jordan Livingston]

BUMP.

Any improvements? New drivers seems to have been out for a week or so...

Funny you should ask... Sonnet replaced my hardware, claiming it was an early production run and they made some changes to the physical device. I JUST got my unit back about an hour ago...

I will be testing it on a two-camera RED shoot later this weekend with the new drivers and will report back.

- Jordan

 

[Jordan Livingston]

As promised, here is my update on the state of the Qio...

My first unit died after less than two days of use. Sonnet felt this was a hardware problem, and mentioned that some early batches of the Qui had been 'recalled' (no, they did not use those words, but they said they had made changes to the hardware itself since the time of my purchase).

In any case, they sent me a brand new unit. I noticed that the serial number begins with the letter "D" (my previous unit was a "B" model).

New hardware. New drivers. Worked like a charm!

I just finished a two day shoot where I downloaded an average of 30 16GB CF cards per day (for two cameras) and I did not have one single problem the entire time. I was using R3D data manager to make simultaneous, verified copies on to x4 eSATA drives.

At this point; my verdict on the Qio is that it's a must have! Be careful that you get a late model and install the latest drivers, but when it works, it works fantastically well.

- Jordan

P.S. My only complaint remains; I wish I could somehow use the Qui and the REDRocket on my MacBook Pro at the same time.