Here at CMP, we recently started dipping our toes in the Thunderbolt water, specifically with a previous-generation iMac. I picked that model because, while not slim like the new ones, the RAM can be easily upgraded and it still had a legacy Firewire port.

For these tests, I used a LaCie eSATA hub, a NewerTech Voyager S2 drive toaster, and a 3 Gb/s Western Digital “green” SATA hard drive. I also tested Firewire 800 speeds using a 2-drive RAID, the OWC Mercury Elite AL-Pro. That 2TB drive has USB, Firewire 400 and Firewire 800 ports, but I only tested the FW800. Finally, I also tested a 120GB 6 Gb/s SanDisk Extreme SSD and the Seagate GoFlex Thunderbolt adapter.

The software used for the testing was the excellent free utility from Blackmagicdesign called Disk Speed Test.

So, now that you know the background, here are the results, some of which were a little surprising.
I benchmarked the WD drive on a different computer connected to an eSATA card at 45.2 MB/s write and 44.5 MB/s read.

 

Note the amazingly fast read speeds on that SSD when connected via the GoFlex adapter! This could be because the toaster I’m using might not support the 6 Gb/s connection that the SSD is capable of, but the GoFlex does. There is also likely an overhead penalty for using the LaCie hub.

Generally, the LaCie seemed to perform so close to the benchmarked speed on the bare drive in the toaster as to be functionally equivalent. This is a big deal for us, since we have toasters in every room and like the speeds of eSATA. For our MacPros, we have the option of adding eSATA cards or running cables from unused motherboard ports, but that was always a kludge on the iMac, at best.

So, what do the numbers really mean? Well, Avid codecs like DNxHD 220 are measured in megaBITS per second, not megaBYTES, so to make the numbers match you have to divide by 8 (because there are 8 bits in a byte). Ergo: DNxHD 220 requires throughput of 27.5 MBps per stream. ProRes 422 HQ is also a 220 Mbps codec, requiring 27.5 MBps per stream. Ideally, we’ll need an eSATA RAID connected via the LaCie hub in order to do any serious editing on the iMac, but this really does open up our options. Or I suppose we could just edit 13 layers straight from the SSD!

Well friends, the National Association of Broadcasters’ yearly convention is coming up, and I thought I would put a few tips on the blog. Although I missed going last year (which ended my 18-consecutive-year streak!), I’m very likely going to head out to the desert again this spring.

• Date: This year the exhibits portion of the event will be held from Monday, April 8 through Thursday, April 11th. I always try to arrive on Sunday so that I can hit the ground running when the halls open at 9am on Monday. Exhibit hours are typically 9a – 6p except for Thursday when they close at 2pm.

• Registration: Thanks to Sony, you can enter code LV4064 to change the $150 Exhibit Only pass into a free pass at the following link: http://registration3.experientevent.com/ShowNAB131/ExhibitsOnly/Login.aspx

• Getting there: I remember when roundtrip airfare was around $200 – $250 from OKC to Vegas, but alas, those days are long-gone. As of this writing, expect fares in the $380 range, or more if you fly an airline for which you have to pay for luggage. However, Bing’s Price Predictor says that fares have a 67% chance of dropping $50 or more, so their advice is to wait to book. And don’t forget, if you can jam everything into a “fit-in-the-overhead-bin”-sized bag, the cheapest flights might actually be on one of the major airlines like American or Delta.

FEBRUARY UPDATE: As promised, fares have dropped! Southwest Airlines has a $180 round-trip going right now. Make sure to book your flight by Feb. 7.

• Staying in Vegas: I put a great link up on the company Facebook site that talks about my methods for getting a great rate via Priceline – check it out here if you are so inclined. In the past, I’ve found some great deals at the Hilton right next to the convention center but nothing so far this year. For food, Travelzoo has a pre-paid deal for a buffet for 2 at the Palms for $29 if you purchase in the next few days. Of course, if you have a kitchenette you can grab the basics from the Walgreens on the strip and at least make breakfast in your room.

Please excuse the reorganization, but we’re moving away from the shorter-but-less-informative permalinks we’ve been using to a more ordered approach. The old links will be broken, and it might take a few days to sort out exactly where each article is going to end up, so they might change a few times.

Sorry for any inconveniences.

We recently shot an entire sporting event with our Red ONE camera – overcranked. That will be great when we need to show the cowboys hitting the dirt in slow motion, but we needed a way to create a DVD for viewing that ran at normal speed (in this case, double slo-mo = normal speed).

After poking around in the edit software without an easy answer, I came up with the following solution. I edited all the slo-mo clips into my Avid timeline and exported a same-as-source Quicktime movie. Then I used some free software from Apple called “Dumpster” to trick the computer into playing it back double-time.

Here’s a pic of the settings:

You just need to divide the duration number by two and set the timescale to double… in my case, I went from 29970 to 59940.

Since Apple’s Compressor takes these numbers at face value, it created the Mpeg2 for the DVD at double-speed, which was exactly what we needed for the viewing copy.

Our upstairs neighbor Sean just pointed me to a relatively-new music service that I’m excited to share with our clients: Jamendo, launched in 2009, claims to be “the world’s #1 website for free and legal music downloads under Creative Commons licenses.” With over 10,000 tracks from 4,500 artists as of this post, you just might find the perfect track for your next project.

Their annual rates range from $23 for a corporate video or internet use on up to $60 for a regional spot or $180 for a national spot. As a point of comparison, the track that Phuel Marketing licensed from Tenth Avenue North for a recent spot we lensed and cut cost considerably more than $60! Of course, you’ve never heard of any of the artists at Jamendo, but if budget is a concern it certainly is worth at least a glance.

We’re becoming familiar with the library, so don’t hesitate to contact us if you’d like some help finding the perfect track for your next project.