2.5k raw specs

[Asad J]

Hi you guys!

I know this is the sort of question newbies like me post out of insecurity all the time, and it's probs the kind of question you guys hate to see up here, but I can't find a better way to figure it out based on my research and I figured I'd bother you guys with this. I'm sorry in advance.

I'm working on a thesis feature film next year, projected 1h45m, and we're getting a BMCC 2.5k as our A-Cam. We'd been pretty set on using ProRes HQ as our go-to format during filming, but we just worked on a short all shot RAW, and like any blind-sided fool who didn't realize how good RAW turned out to be in post, we started to wonder if we'd like to shoot RAW instead for the feature.

The system we'll have to edit has the following specs.

Intel (R) Core (TM) i7-4510U @ 2.00 - 2.600 GHz
RAM - 16 Gb
Graphics Card - GeForce GTX 850M (4 GB)


We're running windows 8.1, and we're planning on using Premiere / AfterEffects > SpeedGrade as our workflow.

For storage, we're hoping to use a RAID0, 3 x 5TB for the primary storage to edit off of, and a JBOD 2x5TB as backup storage. Adding more space to either storage system is a definite possibility.

Do you think our humble unit will be able to pull off doing the entire feature shooting RAW or should we stay realistic and shoot ProsRes HQ, using RAW only in select scenes (low-light, vfx, etc)?

 

[Sweetie]

I don't know, but I do know you're missing some details in there for someone to be able to answer your question with anything more than a "probably".

Going by your description, you're using a laptop. How is your raid0 set up?

I have limited knowledge of the practical performance downgrade between desktop and laptop CPU performance.

A quick flick on google gives me this information on the BMCC Raw: "The BMCC can “only” shoot uncompressed 2.5K 12-bit RAW ... and can “only” handle up to 20 Gbs data rate"

First concern would be the bitrate your raid could output. This is most likely your biggest bottle neck would occur depending on how you set up your raid.

I'd be concerned with your video card only being a 10bit card.

The types of hard drives can also alter your file system performance.

Your workflow would also alter what kind of system you need.

You really need to test your work flow or talk to someone who uses the specifics you're using.

 

[Asad J]

Thanks Sweetie.

I haven't still set the raid up yet. We're still in the process of figuring out what all we need to procure to set up for post-production. The harddrives we were looking at were 7200rpm 5GB HDDs, like this one:

http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-7200r...=UTF8&qid=1428168600&sr=8-1&keywords=5tb+7200.

If you believe the graphics card is going to be an issue, it's probably best to dissuade myself from the RAW idea. That, unfortunately, I'm stuck with.

I agree that testing the workflow out is perhaps the best way to go about this; it was just that since a lot of what we want to procure is incumbent upon what route we take, I won't have quite been able to.

I'm sorry that I didn't include all the information one might need to be able to answer this better. If there's any other technical information I should be mentioning, please let me know.

 

[Sweetie]

If you believe the graphics card is going to be an issue, it's probably best to dissuade myself from the RAW idea. That, unfortunately, I'm stuck with.

Just to be clear, I didn't say I believe it will be an issue, I said I'd be concerned. As in worth looking into to see if it fits your needs. If you did switch to a 12bit video card, you'd need a monitor that can also support 12bit.

If there's any other technical information I should be mentioning

As I already said, how you're setting up the raid.

I've heard disaster stories from people setting up raids expecting high performance. They stick a bunch of hard drives in a consumer level raid bay, hook it up through a Gigabit network and wonder why they cannot get any more than 120MB/s peak performance from the raid, with some of those raid systems performing considerable worse. What kind of performance would you get from a wireless connection? usb2, usb 3, firewire etc.

Think of it like this. Imagine trying to pump as much water (data in your case) that firefighters use through a garden hose. You're going to bottle neck and restrict the amount of water (data) that can get to where you want it (the computer).

Make sense?

You'll reduce a lot of the complications if you use a desktop machine and keep that raid internal.

 

[Asad J]

Thanks Sweetie. Makes a ton of sense. I think its about time I think of dumping this laptop and get a desktop anyway, like a real boy.

Thanks so much!