Written by Helmut Lottenburger
Post-Production Workflow SpecialistUntil Thunderbolt came along, the biggest hurdle in capturing high quality data on any laptop was it’s poor disk performance. Thunderbolt and a wide range of video I/O and storage devices are about to change the way people work on-set and in post-production.
I have taken a closer look at the UltraStudio and Promise Disk Array.
What I used:
MacBook Pro:
2011 model (2.2 GHz) with Thunderbolt, 8 GB RAM
Promise Pegasus R6:
Thunderbolt 6-bay mode with RAID5
The Pegasus R6 was filled to 25% prior to testing.
Fragmentation was introduced as well (using multiple copy processes).
Video I/O Device:
Blackmagic Design UltraStudio 3D with two connected SDI inputs and two outputs.
Video I/O Software:
Blackmagic MediaExpress was used for Capture and Playback.
It allows you to push the I/O hardware to it’s limits with the possibility to capture DPX uncompressed file sequences.
I tested with full resolution (dual-stream) Stereo3D.
MedaExpress is a good tool to test how far you can push the hardware setup.
It can capture DPX Stereo HD in Dual-Stream mode.
Clearly too much in this scenario!
| Dual-Stream Stereo , 25p |
Format |
MB/s |
Record |
| Full HD + Stereo Audio |
DPX 10bit RGB uncompressed |
414 MB/s |
no |
| Full HD + Stereo Audio |
MOV 10bit YUV uncompressed |
276 MB/s |
yes |
| Full HD + Stereo Audio |
ProRes 444 |
188 MB/s |
yes |
I used Dual Stream Stereoscopic material (15 minutes).
The video signal was looped through to a SDI broadcast monitor during record.
Stereo Audio was transmitted and recorded over SDI as well.
| Dual-Stream Stereo , 25p |
Format |
MB/s |
Playout |
| Full HD + Stereo Audio |
DPX 10bit RGB uncompressed |
414 MB/s |
no |
| Full HD + Stereo Audio |
MOV 10bit YUV uncompressed |
276 MB/s |
yes |
| Full HD + Stereo Audio |
ProRes 444 |
188 MB/s |
yes |
I used Dual Stream Stereoscopic material.
Stereo Audio was transmitted over SDI as well.
Test Results:
The Pegasus R6 is not designed for Stereoscopic DPX sequences. It will drop frames every now and then. I consider this still fairly good though, but it’s not good enough for actual use.
But then again, very few people would record anything else then compressed formats.
Having said that, virtually all ProRes formats can be easily handled by the used configuration.
Noise Levels:
The whole setup works perfectly in a small office room.
While the Promise Array is barely noticeable, the UltraStudio turns out to be noisier than expected. It’s little fans can become annoying over time. Same thing applies to the MacBookPro.
Both devices will increase the noise level when in use and heat up over time.
Certainly not something to use on a hot day.
Conclusion:
With a MacBook Pro, the Pegasus array and the UltraStudio 3D, you have a highly portable, very flexible and yet inexpensive video I/O solution.
All three components cost roughly around $5300.
It is worth mentioning that the UltraStudio can only sit “at the end” of a Thunderbolt chain. This is due to it’s single Thunderbolt port.