Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/87274
Storage news Cache-A appliances for on-set archiving M ORGAN HILL, CA — Cache-A (www.cache-a. com) was at last month's IBC show talking about how motion picture, broadcast and commercials producers are using its LT0-5 tape-based archive appli- ances in on-set production environments to safeguard the increasing amounts of data and video-related media they generate daily. Cache-A's archiving appliances can manage hundreds of Terabytes of data, and data can be written using the industry- standard tar format, or LTFS (Linear Tape File System) capa- bility, which allows users to interchange content across differ- ent platforms, software apps and physical locations, as well as deliver content to their clients. Cache-A products are now being incorporated into a wide range of on-set cart and data management systems and, as archiving is a chargeable service, they are delivering users with returns on their investments. Cache-A's compact and cost-effective Prime-Cache5 and Pro-Cache5 are particularly well suited for deployment on-set. The new Power-Cache is also being used in productions where massive amounts of data are generated each day. Fletcher Camera & Lenses, headquartered in Chi- cago, with facilities in Detroit and New Orleans, has integrated Pro-Cache5 into several of its COSMoS on-set carts. Pro-Cache5 has been used to archive camera data for several motion pictures, including the comedy thriller Freaky Deaky, musical drama Sparkle, romantic drama Love And Honor, and drug- addiction drama Cherry. Shed Media, a UK-based broad- cast production house, is using Pro- Cache5's LTFS capabilities as part of a larger DIT solution used in on-set production workflows of its recent pri- metime series, the BBC's Turn Back Time, and on Channel 5's romantic reality show The Bachelor. Post house The Chimney Pot in War- saw, Poland, which works on spots and features films, uses Pro-Cache5 on-set to archive camera footage (R3D, ArriRaw, MOV files) and Power-Cache in post to archive TV/cinema masters (MOV, DPX, MXF, TIFF and DCP packages). Maxx Digital, in Costa Mesa, CA, has equipped its on-set DAM carts with Prime-Cache5 and Pro-Cache5, and use them on film and broadcast productions. "The DAM cart is the hub between production and post," says Devon Cook of Maxx Digital. "From a single cart you can duplicate RAW files, verify materials, process dailies, lay off to LTO-5, color correct, set looks, preview/stream shots, control metadata tagging/management, and do rough cuts at the same time. By archiving to LTO-5 on- set, productions have a more robust backup of the RAW content. Having the appliance running LTO and checksums in the background, and compatibility with CatDV for asset management, are a huge advantage. " GB Labs offers 4K workgroup editing B ERKSHIRE, UK — GB Labs (www.gblabs. com) has introduced Midi Space SSD, a tower-based network storage device targeted at multi-user edit- ing workgroups. With 16 SSD disks and capacity options from 4TB to 10TB, Midi Space SSD can help production companies and small post studios deliver high resolution graded content quickly. According to GB Labs' Ben Pearce, Midi Space SSD is suited for "time-pressed editors, colorists and compositors working with multi- ple layers of uncompressed HD, 4K DPX and animation files. This new system is likely to find a place in film studios as a DIT device or as part of a renderfarm for graphics or transcoding." An Ethernet-connected device, Midi Space SSD runs on fast 10GbE networks. There are no drivers to install. It also benefits from net- work control — including remotely — for total system management. 18 Post • October 2012 www.postmagazine.com