Minimum PC requirements

Mathieu Kassovitz · June 27th, 2007, 04:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jason Rodriguez

Hi Matthieu,

Faster is always better from a pure performance point of view. But do you want to be fast, or trade-off for mobile (and battery time)?

If you're talking about recording and simple editing, a new T7700 laptop will work nicely for 2K (1080P and 2K aren't that much different, at least when it comes to editing them). But what are you trying to-do? That is the question that you're not quite answering . . . i.e., are we talking basically cuts (like a film), and some effects here and there, or are we talking visually intense commericals with tons of special effects, graphic overlays, etc.? I mean that makes a big difference in what I'd suggest. For instance, if you plan on muscling a lot of stuff through After Effects, I'd suggest quad-core. If you're only planning on editing single stream with the occasional dissolve, and then just color-correction, the fast mobile laptops work just fine.

It all depends on what you're trying to do.

Merci Jason,

As matter of fact, since my work is most narrative (cut based). Yes, with some effects here and there BUT with major color correction. So, the Intel® Merom Core 2 Duo Processor T7700 2.4GHz 4MB 800FSB will be enough, correct?

Although when you're referring quad-core, is the Intel® Core™ 2 Extreme Processor X6800 / 4MB L2 Cache, 2.93 GHz, 1066MHz FSB (with RAID 1 or RAID 0 or RAID 5) a quad-core solution? I thought it is not (only available at desktop or isn't it so?) *Sorry my IT ignorance but that's actually not my business. Only the narrative work.*

Anyways, I need both (for digital acquisition but also for editing and color correction): fast and trade-off for mobile (battery time is not a problem).

I've thought that the future proof (like future 4k) may have some advantage. But both can't handle 4k, I suppose or am I missing something?

(I 'd just like to figure out the real differences between both offers . . . will twice or even 3x the price be useless for the job?)

Jason Rodriguez · June 28th, 2007, 10:47 AM

The X6800 is a quad-core part.

As far as color-correction, that actually, for SpeedGrade HD, runs on the GPU, and the higher-end laptops now have pretty good GPU's (if they are 7600 or 8400 and higher series from Nvidia, or X1600 and higher from ATI).

I'm not up to speed on 4K right now, other than I would expect for any "real" work, you'll probably want a good desktop machine.

Mathieu Kassovitz · August 24th, 2007, 04:38 AM

Any update on faster hardware offer?

Merci

Jason Rodriguez · August 24th, 2007, 07:48 AM

The new 2.4Ghz Macbook Pro's work very nicely.

There are also some newer notebooks coming out using the 2.6 and 2.8Ghz Extreme Edition mobile parts (not desktop parts like the X6800 or E6600 which are fire-breathing monsters for a notebook, but true mobile parts . . . it's the T7800 and T7900 processors), and those will work very nicely as well.

Mathieu Kassovitz · August 28th, 2007, 08:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jason Rodriguez

There are also some newer notebooks coming out using the 2.6 and 2.8Ghz Extreme Edition mobile parts (not desktop parts like the X6800 or E6600 which are fire-breathing monsters for a notebook, but true mobile parts . . . it's the T7800 and T7900 processors), and those will work very nicely as well.

At the PC side?

Jason Rodriguez · August 29th, 2007, 08:09 AM

Yes, those will be PC notebooks, not MacBook Pro's (at least for now . . . I have no foreknowledge of any upcoming Apple product release dates).

Mathieu Kassovitz · August 29th, 2007, 10:43 PM

Brands? Availability?

Merci

Jason Rodriguez · August 30th, 2007, 05:58 AM

Well, I'm under NDA for now . . . sorry . . . Very shortly though the notebook in question (a really good one) will be out.

Sergio Sanchez · August 31st, 2007, 02:13 PM

Do you think you can post a list of supported network adapters for laptos, i`ve been looking all the web but most of the manufacturers dont specify the chipset they are using for ther Gigabit ethernet PCMCIA cards.

It will be very helpfull for all the people wanting to know if they can use their current hardware with the camera, and what kind of upgrades they need to make it functional.

Jason Rodriguez · August 31st, 2007, 07:26 PM

Hi Sergio,

As far as "certified" laptops go, we currently have the Dell M90 at 2.33Ghz processor speed and at least the QuadroFX 2500M GPU. You will also need at least 2GB of RAM. Finally you will need a gigabit ethernet ExpressCard adapter from Linksys, Addonics, or Abocom.

There are "pseudo-verified" laptops out there like the MacBook Pro at 2.4Ghz and 2GB of RAM, and some others that meet the hardware specifications of the Dell M90, but these are not verified platforms. While SiliconDVR should work, there might be little gotchas here that we've never seen, and you as the customer would have to report to us, and hopefully we can reproduce that issue on our systems, or else we're simply flying in the dark . . . you can't fix a bug you can't reproduce.

So, with the Dell M90, we've been testing them for quite a while, we know they work, and we have them in-house so if something goes wrong with yours, it should be re-produceable on ours, and if it's not, then it's most likely a hardware problem which Dell is typically very good at solving themselves with their great warranties and support services . . . so that makes trouble-shooting for both of us very easy.

We're working on some other platforms, and again, there are "pseudo-verified" configurations out there that basically mirror the Dell, but are from some other manufacturer, but we can't vouch for their reliability and whether compatibility issues might crop up.

That being said, we currently do not support ATI video cards. While the software will run, we've seen driver issues affect things and cause odd/sporatic/non-reproduceable behavior. So whatever you do, don't get something with ATI. If you have a problem, we're not going to be able to help you, since in our experience, it's typically a driver related issue, and that's too low-level for us to fix.

Sergio Sanchez · September 4th, 2007, 04:15 PM

Jason:

Do you know if the Linksys PCM1000 cardbus works with the camera.

Jason Rodriguez · September 4th, 2007, 06:26 PM

No, there are no cardbus cards on the market that work with the SI-2K because they don't support Jumbo Packets at 8K size.

Mathieu Kassovitz · September 21st, 2007, 06:08 PM

Any update?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jason Rodriguez

Well, I'm under NDA for now . . . sorry . . . Very shortly though the notebook in question (a really good one) will be out.

Jason Rodriguez · September 21st, 2007, 10:32 PM

Here's the new details on the M6300 from Dell:

http://www.dell.com/content/products...en&s=bsd&cs=04

I would get the version with the 2.6Ghz proc . . . that should be a good balance between price/performance.

Bob Grant · September 22nd, 2007, 10:02 PM

The M6300 looks very nice. One question. Any advantage to getting 2x 2GB cards over 2x 1GB cards when using it to capture from the SI-MINI?
How about the built in network controller, no big deal as we've already got the Addonics card but nice if we don't have to use up the slot.

June 28th, 2007, 10:47 AM	#62
Jason Rodriguez Trustee Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Virginia Beach, VA Posts: 1,095	The X6800 is a quad-core part. As far as color-correction, that actually, for SpeedGrade HD, runs on the GPU, and the higher-end laptops now have pretty good GPU's (if they are 7600 or 8400 and higher series from Nvidia, or X1600 and higher from ATI). I'm not up to speed on 4K right now, other than I would expect for any "real" work, you'll probably want a good desktop machine.

August 24th, 2007, 04:38 AM	#63
Mathieu Kassovitz Major Player Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: paris Posts: 289	Any update on faster hardware offer? Merci

August 24th, 2007, 07:48 AM	#64
Jason Rodriguez Trustee Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Virginia Beach, VA Posts: 1,095	The new 2.4Ghz Macbook Pro's work very nicely. There are also some newer notebooks coming out using the 2.6 and 2.8Ghz Extreme Edition mobile parts (not desktop parts like the X6800 or E6600 which are fire-breathing monsters for a notebook, but true mobile parts . . . it's the T7800 and T7900 processors), and those will work very nicely as well.

August 29th, 2007, 08:09 AM	#66
Jason Rodriguez Trustee Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Virginia Beach, VA Posts: 1,095	Yes, those will be PC notebooks, not MacBook Pro's (at least for now . . . I have no foreknowledge of any upcoming Apple product release dates).

August 29th, 2007, 10:43 PM	#67
Mathieu Kassovitz Major Player Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: paris Posts: 289	Brands? Availability? Merci

August 30th, 2007, 05:58 AM	#68
Jason Rodriguez Trustee Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Virginia Beach, VA Posts: 1,095	Well, I'm under NDA for now . . . sorry . . . Very shortly though the notebook in question (a really good one) will be out.

August 31st, 2007, 02:13 PM	#69
Sergio Sanchez Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Mexico Posts: 176	Do you think you can post a list of supported network adapters for laptos, i`ve been looking all the web but most of the manufacturers dont specify the chipset they are using for ther Gigabit ethernet PCMCIA cards. It will be very helpfull for all the people wanting to know if they can use their current hardware with the camera, and what kind of upgrades they need to make it functional.

August 31st, 2007, 07:26 PM	#70
Jason Rodriguez Trustee Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Virginia Beach, VA Posts: 1,095	Hi Sergio, As far as "certified" laptops go, we currently have the Dell M90 at 2.33Ghz processor speed and at least the QuadroFX 2500M GPU. You will also need at least 2GB of RAM. Finally you will need a gigabit ethernet ExpressCard adapter from Linksys, Addonics, or Abocom. There are "pseudo-verified" laptops out there like the MacBook Pro at 2.4Ghz and 2GB of RAM, and some others that meet the hardware specifications of the Dell M90, but these are not verified platforms. While SiliconDVR should work, there might be little gotchas here that we've never seen, and you as the customer would have to report to us, and hopefully we can reproduce that issue on our systems, or else we're simply flying in the dark . . . you can't fix a bug you can't reproduce. So, with the Dell M90, we've been testing them for quite a while, we know they work, and we have them in-house so if something goes wrong with yours, it should be re-produceable on ours, and if it's not, then it's most likely a hardware problem which Dell is typically very good at solving themselves with their great warranties and support services . . . so that makes trouble-shooting for both of us very easy. We're working on some other platforms, and again, there are "pseudo-verified" configurations out there that basically mirror the Dell, but are from some other manufacturer, but we can't vouch for their reliability and whether compatibility issues might crop up. That being said, we currently do not support ATI video cards. While the software will run, we've seen driver issues affect things and cause odd/sporatic/non-reproduceable behavior. So whatever you do, don't get something with ATI. If you have a problem, we're not going to be able to help you, since in our experience, it's typically a driver related issue, and that's too low-level for us to fix.

September 4th, 2007, 04:15 PM	#71
Sergio Sanchez Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Mexico Posts: 176	Jason: Do you know if the Linksys PCM1000 cardbus works with the camera.

September 4th, 2007, 06:26 PM	#72
Jason Rodriguez Trustee Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Virginia Beach, VA Posts: 1,095	No, there are no cardbus cards on the market that work with the SI-2K because they don't support Jumbo Packets at 8K size.

September 21st, 2007, 10:32 PM	#74
Jason Rodriguez Trustee Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Virginia Beach, VA Posts: 1,095	Here's the new details on the M6300 from Dell: http://www.dell.com/content/products...en&s=bsd&cs=04 I would get the version with the 2.6Ghz proc . . . that should be a good balance between price/performance.

September 22nd, 2007, 10:02 PM	#75
Bob Grant Trustee Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Sydney Australia Posts: 1,570	The M6300 looks very nice. One question. Any advantage to getting 2x 2GB cards over 2x 1GB cards when using it to capture from the SI-MINI? How about the built in network controller, no big deal as we've already got the Addonics card but nice if we don't have to use up the slot.