Using EDIUS 4.5 and new pc config for capture of HDV

[Imagine Video]

OK This is the plan........

I want to keep everything seperate for each client so my idea is to have a drive bay in my new PC.

I want to use 300 - 500 gig SATA 2 drives in individual drive caddies and be able to capture HDV. Then edit in real time, upto 3 / 4 streams of video effects titles.

the system will be asus p5k based with care 2 duo chip 3 gig ram ddr2 and good 8600 gt graphics.........

Now my question is will a single SATA 2 drive be able to achieve this playback performance??

Cath

[Rusty]

Capture/HQ conversion will work fine. Multi-stream playback will encounter a bottleneck, but should work for less complicated projects and buffer pre-fill may be slower.

Rusty

[Imagine Video]

Thanks Rusty

So a raid setup is the only way remove the bottle neck.................

What raid setup would be best?

I would like a 1TB if I were to go that way so What would I need - The mobo has on-board raid ability

Do people here use raid without Mirroring?????

Cath

[GrassValley_BH]

Good site about RAID
Most often people go with RAID0 (striping), but I highly recommend going with RAID 5 (striping with parity) since it has fault-tolerance.

With striping alone, the more drives you add, the faster it gets, but the more likely it is that you lose a drive and therefore lose the entire array's contents.

At least with parity, you can lose a drive without data loss.

[Tobe]

why not use Raid 3?

[GrassValley_BH]

Mostly because RAID 3 is harder to find in both hardware and software controllers.

[Imagine Video]

Hi All

Thought I would raise this thread from the erm.......... dead!

I have been completing simple projects on a single drive But I have some multi cam projects and some multi PIP intensive projects comming up and I am just i need of some more advise on what Raid controller cards and raid setups you guys and Gals use with Edius?

I was sure the SATA 2 3 gigabit/sec drive data rate would be fine for multi track playback?

Before I go and Capture for these upcomming projects I seek your advise, BUT without the big expensive 1 box solutions from medea and such........Please!

[GrassValley_BH]

There are two things in play (storage-wise) when editing:

1. Can the data from the individual clip be read in a timely manner?
   Essentially this means, does the sustained data transfer rate meet or exceed the datarate of the individual clip?
2. Can the data from all clips being accessed simultaneously be read in a timely manner?

#1 would imply that you simply need to have a sustained transfer rate equal to your clip. For example, if you're working with HDV you'd need 25 Mbit/sec (3.125 MB/sec) for each stream. So if you wanted 4 streams, then you'd need 12.5 MB/sec sustained transfer rate.

BUT! #2 is where the train goes off track... When you're accessing more than one clip simultaneously, the drive head has to seek from one location to the other in order to get all the data for each clip.
This can significantly reduce the total sustainable transfer rate. Furthermore, fragmentation will cause extra seeking, further reducing the effective transfer rate for each clip.

RAID striping does not eliminate fragmentation - it can "delay" its ill effects to some degree since striping increases the throughput. (It's like if you have a high-performance car with engine problems, it still might beat out a normal car without engine problems).

So what you want to look at is how a storage device (RAID or otherwise) performs with multi-stream throughput.

For RAID striping, the more drives you have, the better the performance because more data can be read in each seek for the same stripe size.

Roadkil's disk speed diagnostic's random read and seek tests give good data points.

[Imagine Video]

Hey good info GrassValley_BH

So what do you recommend here for me to set up for reliable HDV multi stream editing with effects and multi PIP effects?

Without breaking the bank!

Cathryn

[GrassValley_BH]

If you're using native HDV (and not converting to Canopus HQ) then just about any RAID3 or RAID5 system will do. You'll run out of CPU processing power before you run out of storage bandwidth. 3.125 MB/sec is nothing these days.

If you're using Canopus HQ, then it's a bit of a different story as Canopus HQ averages 15-20 MB/sec, so I would recommend a RAID5 with 4 or more drives.

[Imagine Video]

Yes I will be using Canopus HQ WELL why would'nt I want the best :-)

So its a raid 5 then...........

[Imagine Video]

Can anyone reccomend components for this setup

I have 4 500 gig seagate drives already sata 2

So can anyone advise on raid card..................I am using a ASUS P5K mobo and would like to instal an NX card and output card I use one pci express slot for vido so I am all out of PCI-E slots but have pci free?

Will this syill be ok for data throughput for canopus HQ HDV editing?

This has become a bit more involved then I thought..............

Advise welcome Please!!!

Cathryn

[GrassValley_BH]

Users have had good success with the Areca and 3ware (now AMCC) in the past.

I have 3ware PATA RAID cards that have been running 24/7 (minus moves and power outages) continuously for over 5 years now. The SATA ones are even better as they support online expansion.

Speaking of which, if you're one that finds themselves always running out of storage, look for a RAID controller that supports online expansion. That way you can expand your storage without needing another array for temporary backup/migration.

[Jerry]

For RAID striping, the more drives you have, the better the performance because more data can be read in each seek for the same stripe size.

Roadkil's disk speed diagnostic's random read and seek tests give good data points.

Just to add to this: In general the more drives the better. However, there is a
point where adding 1 or 2 drives is not going to give that big boost that you might hope for or expect.

Also, Roadkills speed test is pretty good, I still prefer those that come with
AJA or Decklink cards. It is a more thorough test.

As far as a raid 0, I bought 4 250gb drives from newegg for $275 and installed them on my P5kWS SATA connectors and software striped. It gets 360 read and 360 write. Not too expensive, and really easy to setup.
I also have a 10 drive 3 ware setup and a 10 drive Medea setup.
The 4 drive setup took 3 minutes to configure and then I was off and running.
Also keep in mind, as the drives fill.....the raid begins to slow. Unless you are using pure SCSI (SCSI drive raid). As they fill the throughput remains the same.

[tingsern]

I have a mix of SATA hard-disks (huge and fairly fast) in RAID 0 configuration AND SCSI RAID (5 and 0). I capture from tape, using Sony GV-HD700E player - in HDV, if they pass me on tape ... on SCSI RAID 0 drives first - then after doing some preliminary edits, I move them across to my SATA RAID 0. For my own video - I don't capture at all - just copy the data from P2 cards.

The largest SCSI Hard-disks are 300GB only ... compared with SATA - 1TB Hard-disks are now available.

I use 4 SCSI hard-drives at 148GB each as RAID 5 and 4 SCSI Hard-drives at 300GB at RAID 0. The work disks are all on RAID 0. Since they are just data - I can recreate it any time if one disk dies. But, I copy or move the video data from SCSI RAID 0 to the SATA when I am done with the preliminary edits.

The SATA drives are internal in hot swap bays - 3 x 1TB disks. Enough storage for me.