Post Magazine

May 2016

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FIELD TESTED www.postmagazine.com 44 POST MAY 2016 ith a focus on episodic television series, Deluxe's Encore Hollywood offers a full range of file-based post services, including 4K workflows and near-set dailies, along with high-caliber vi- sual effects. Encore has been recognized with numerous Emmy and Visual Effects Society awards, and the team works on such high-profile series as The Flash, Supergirl, NCIS and House of Cards. The studio's engineering team recently adopted Thunderbolt connectivity for its operations. Driven by Thunderbolt connectivity and performance, Encore Hollywood's near-set carts enable on-lo- cation crews to tie set operations to pro- duction and move media around faster. They're able to shorten turnaround times for processing dailies and getting them to clients, a critical requirement when time- lines are moved up for show finishing. Two solutions from Sonnet Technologies are important components in the near-set carts, as well as in-house operations. Sonnet's Echo Express III-R Thunderbolt 2-to-PCIe card expansion chassis and Echo 15+ Thunderbolt 2 dock harness the power of Thunderbolt to provide powerful PCIe expansion and peripheral connectivity — all with a single Thunderbolt cable. FLEXIBLE & POWERFUL PCIE EXPANSION With the Echo Express III-R chassis, Encore Hollywood is able to leverage existing SAS-based storage through PCIe expansion. Users can plug PCIe cards right into the chassis and be up and run- ning, not unlike the pre-Thunderbolt days when earlier-version Mac Pros provided built-in expansion slots. If users have Red camera material to work with, they can simply plug in a Red Rocket card. They can add in other video capture and pro- cessing cards if they need to show clients material in full 4K resolution on a plasma or OLED screen. The Echo Express III-R occupies a 2U rack space, offering the flexibility for the on-location crew to keep a small footprint, a critical requirement in a space-constrained production. In addition to the PCIe card expansion function of the Echo Express III-R, Encore was also able to add in the mobile rack device mounting kit from Sonnet. This provides the ability to mount LTO-6 tape drives in the same 2RU space, saving additional real estate while also providing Encore with a solution for clients that expect LTO deliverables. A VERSATILE DOCKING SOLUTION Sonnet's Echo 15+ Thunderbolt 2 dock is a full-featured, 16-port docking sta- tion that offers a central hub for con- necting any Mac or Windows computer with a Thunderbolt port to multiple peripheral devices. With its support of FireWire 800 as well as eSATA and USB 3 devices, the Echo 15+ is valuable for Encore's numer- ous clients that still use FireWire 800 drives. A single box on the desktop deliv- ers all of the connectivity team members need and saves them from having to buy and install an assortment of adapters. The Echo 15+'s built-in Blu-ray burner is also very useful for client deliverables, and team members can install their own internal storage as needed for backing up critical projects and data. Encore originally deployed the dock in the near-set carts for use in the field, and they were so successful that the studio began adding them into its head- quarter's facility workstations. There, the Echo 15+ adds tremendous value for in-house technicians whose com- puters are housed in the machine room, anywhere from 10 feet to 200 feet away from their workstations. With the Echo 15+, it's as if the computer they're working on is right on the desktop. The dock puts everything they need right at their fingertips — Thunderbolt, FireWire 800, eSATA and USB 3.0 ports; and a Blu-ray burner — and all within one versatile box. According to Encore, the Echo 15+ was a great replacement for the studio's previous docks, which reportedly were overheating so badly they were burning out the transceivers in the optical Thunderbolt cables. Once swapping out that prior solution with the cool-running Echo 15+, Encore had no problems with the cables. A TRUSTED PARTNERSHIP With a deployment of more than 30 each of the Echo Express III-R and Echo 15+, split between the field carts and in-house facility, Encore has made Sonnet equipment a staple in its facility. The units have become mission-critical to Encore's work, and team members report that they can count on Sonnet for open communication and prompt and responsive support. According to Encore, Sonnet Technologies is more than an equipment vendor — the company is also a strategic partner. SONNET'S THUNDERBOLT SOLUTIONS DRIVE ENCORE'S DAILIES OPERATIONS THUNDERBOLT CONNECTIVITY SIMPLIFIES & SPEEDS IN-HOUSE & NEAR-SET WORKFLOWS W Editor David Schneider. Encore uses Thunderbolt in its workstations and near-set carts.

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