Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/33055
tem outside of what Avid was providing. “We were after maximum throughput, and we felt Facilis off ered it,” Magid says. RTVF has upgraded its Facilis solution several times; it bought a new TerraBlock 24D last year and retired its old system. “People usu- ally don’t feel a need to keep up with storage advancements,” Magid observes. “It’s like an appliance you buy and then forget about because it does its job well for a few years. But like most technology, progress is constant, and better systems are always available.” Th e TerraBlock system off ers the high speed that RTVF needs for HD post, the security of knowing data won’t disappear in the event of a failure, and the fl exibility to work in any room, any time, with any material, Magid says. It’s also easy to administer and well suited for a small-size to midsize facility, he notes. Fur- thermore, it doesn’t require a lot of ancillary gear. “We have 8gb Fibre connections for six Avid seats without going through a hub or switch,” he adds. Magid notes that while the TerraBlock is one of the less-expensive options available, it does some things better than other systems. It’s quick and robust in volume-level sharing, something not off ered in all SANs, and that’s what RTVF’s workfl ow is most of the time. And it gives the facility the option to grow. “We’re at 42tb now, and a single unit scales to 48tb; you can also daisy-chain multiple servers for more storage space and add gear to support more clients,” Magid says. kids are curious about; Are We Th ere Yet?, a siblings’ world-travel show produced with National Geographic; and Dino Dan, the studio’s fi rst scripted, combo live-action/animated show for Nick Jr. that Bishop de- scribes as “Jurassic Park for kids.” Working with children, Sinking Ship typically shoots a signifi cant amount of content—the cameras are always running because you never know when a kid will uncover something magical, says Bishop. Th e company currently uses RED One cameras for Dino Dan and Pana- sonic HPX300s for its travel series. According to Bishop, the facility’s storage needs are gargantuan and encompass off -line, audio, and VFX. “We used to do a show on a 500gb LaCie drive, then collected Pro Avio E-SATA boxes,” he says. “We’ve Chris Magid and RTVF worked on the documentary , as well as on a marketing video for Suresmile. File sharing is off ered via a multi-user write feature. Magid reports that it is a simple, fl exible approach, but when compared to the tradi- tional volume-level sharing, there is a performance penalty. Whether companies choose Facilis TerraBlock or systems from other manufacturers, Magid suggests opting for a turnkey solution. “Don’t cobble together hardware from one manufacturer, SAN software from another, and a switch from a third,” he advises. “Go with a real turnkey system rather than home brew.” Magid expects to see major developments in storage soon. “For years, the sensible way to get the highest performance was investing in a Fibre SAN,” he says. “But technologies like Light Peak have the potential of delivering local storage connection speeds of 10g bit/sec or better, at low cost, using simple interfaces. So, I wonder how SAN manufacturers will take advantage of these breakthroughs.” Sinking Ship Toronto’s Sinking Ship Entertainment (www.sinkingship.ca) has carved out a new niche in children’s television: live-action shows focusing on kids fi rst—“almost reality TV for preschoolers,” says producer Matt Bishop, one of the company’s founders. Sinking Ship now has 15 seasons of nine series, including its fi rst, Th is is Daniel Cook, with a six-year-old host who explores everything constantly evolved our storage, which, thankfully, has come down in price. Th at means we can continue to put more money on the screen.” Sinking Ship purchased a 24tb Small Tree GraniteStor ST-RAID last May, a direct-attached storage solution for Mac OS X. “Once we switched to Small Tree, we were able to balance many projects because they can all sit in one home: Editors can be cutting off -line or online on [Apple] Final Cut Pro, artists can be doing VFX on PCs running Autodesk Maya, the audio engineer can be recording and mixing—they all share the same media.” Th e company initially planned to use the Small Tree system for off - line only. But with Dino Dan, even the CGI team is rendering to it. “To save costs, we used Ethernet runs out the back of our new Mac Pros, so everyone has his or her own direct attachment to the storage,” explains Bishop. “We were also able to plug our VFX artists and their PCs into the system. Th e price point and reliability of the Small Tree have been unparalleled. We never turn it off , and it’s never gone down. It has been rock solid.” Sinking Ship delivers HDCAM SR masters for broadcast using Apple ProRes 4444 and archives to Quantum LTO tapes, which are stored off -site. Th e Small Tree ST-RAID is easily expandable without a massive investment, says Bishop, which will be a plus for Sinking Ship, since May 2011 17 1 00 Y ear s of Amer ican Ener gy