Transcript:

I’ve always been a huge proponent of the optical disc format, even after my ill fated investment in DVD-RAM back in the late 90’s.  However, as of late, my interest was beginning to wane, after not getting nearly as much client interest in Blu-ray as I thought I would.

After 2 days of searching, I was beginning to feel a bit let down.  Was Apple right?  Was disc dead – and streaming video was the wave of the future?  Had I not gotten the memo?

Then, off in the distance in the South Hall, I felt a relief as my disc heart became pacified: I give you Net Blender.

Net Blenders DoStudio 2.0, announced at NAB, offers Blu-ray authoring.  To those familiar with DVD creation, DoStudio has all of the features you’d expect: tree based layout, timeline views, Photoshop support for menus and graphics, and drag and drop functionality.  DoStudio also offers the first commercially available 3D authoring, whose specification was finalized just last December.  Yes – you now can convert those 3D movies we know you’re shooting of your kid’s t-ball game to Blu-ray.  Nothing like Billy’s line drive to dads groin for Americas Funniest Home videos IN 3D!

DoStudio authors in the newer and more feature rich BD-J format, as well as providing BD Touch : which allows for rich media access and the ability to download cool extras to your iPhone, iPad, and Android devices.  Do Studio also offers it’s own AVC encoder – to ensure compatibility with your Blu-ray encoded project.

Net Blender has a free trial of DoStudio online at NetBlender.com.

or

See my article from POST Magazine here.

Transcript:

There’s been an emerging trend in the post realm over the past few years and it’s not surprising that this year at NAB continues this trend…the trend of openness.  While companies and their technology proved to be much more initially lucrative when they were a closed ecosystem – the backlash from dead bolting ones product proved not only to be a revenue suck, but also caused the perception of arrogance or even ignorance.  The collective grumbling from the user communities of these products seems to have finally fallen on sympathetic ears, and a whole host of cross-armed, head shaking entrenched old world practices are now replaced and subsequently embrace the notion of collaboration and not confrontation.

Many examples can be found from some of the juggernauts at this years NAB.  As reported here on BuZZ, Avid is now warmly welcoming several other players.  With the adoption of Matrox’s MX02 Mini, editors now have an inexpensive, yet high quality output device from Media Composer – something users have been clamoring for since day one.  Until now, this functionality was only available on Avid hardware at 10X the cost.  Plus, the opening of Avid’s AMA to QuickTime, ensures that just about any video file that you may come across can now play natively within your timeline, thus negating the need to exclusively use Avids MXF or OMF file structure. Yes, this does mean that Avid’s biggest competitors video du jour ProRes, can be now be played within Avid.

Many examples can be found from some of the juggernauts at this years NAB.  As reported here on the NAB BuZZ, Avid is now warmly welcoming several other players.  With the adoption of the Matrox MX02 Mini, editors now have an inexpensive, yet high quality output device from Media Composer – something users have been clamoring for since day one.  Until now, this functionality was only available on Avid hardware at 10X the cost.  Plus, the opening of Avid’s AMA to QuickTime, ensures that just about any video file that you may come across can now play natively within your timeline, thus negating the need to exclusively use Avid’s MXF or OMF file structure. Yes, this does mean that its biggest competitors video du jour Pro Res, can be now be played within Avid.

Next, we have Squarebox’s CatDV – a fantastically robust digital asset management solution.  CatDV not only organizes, catalogs and manages data, but also has the ability to utilize the video data by creating Final Cut Pro sequences from collections of clips within it’s database.  It also can generate Avid compatible files and sequences.  This allows for an extremely easy interop between your NLE of choice and the asset management system.  As an added bonus, its database can utilize databases created from other asset management solutions.

Root6’s Content Agent – which is an intelligent node based encoding solution, announced the new ability to partner with and even utilize one of it’s competitors products - Telestream’s Episode Engine.  This powerful combination allows for the Windows based Content Agent to encode into ProRes.  With the Apple imposed limitation of only being able to decode ProRes on a PC, Content Agent becomes the first OS agnostic transcoding platform.  All with help from its market share rival.

These are just a handful of examples hopefully paving the way for the future of the industry: collaboration for the benefit of your user base.

Hear that Apple?

See my article from POST Magazine here.

Transcript:

There are several reasons to attend NAB.

1)    See where your co-workers and clients work now – because most likely they’re with some other company, doing the exact same thing.

2)    Be a geek, and yet be able to party like a rockstar – because everyone else is also a geek and also trying to party like a rockstar, so it’s OK.

3)    See what the latest and greatest is, and what you need to mortgage your house to buy.

While the first 2 will never change a small but very important portion of the “new” gear you’re here to see is aimed at making sure you DON’T have to sell your organs on the black market to afford.  They make your legacy gear future friendly.

Camera technology is probably the worst offender in terms of obsolescence.  Tapeless is becoming the status quo, but the cameras of yesteryear – and often only a year or so ago – lack the functionality most new shooters demand – which is the ability to interface with an editing system easily.  Your camera may be tapeless, but it may shoot in a format that is difficult for your editing system to understand without jumping through hoops.  Quite possibly, you may just love the glass on that old betacam and refuse to give it up for a new run and gun solution.  Whatever your reason, there is hope.

Convergent Designs nanoFlash device is a camera accessory that takes your cameras SD & HD SDI or HDMI output and encodes it on the fly into Sony’s XDCAM HD codec.  You have the ability to select bitrates for quality, as well as what file format the video is saved in – QuickTime, MXF and MPG – to ensure it will play in your NLE.  Instant tapeless for your beloved boat anchor, I mean, livelihood.

AJA’s Ki Pro – like the nanoFlash, takes the SD and HD SDI output of your camera and encodes into a digital video file. The Ki Pro records into Apple’s Pro Res codec, from Pro Res Proxy up to Pro Res 422 HQ –on the fly.  This unit has a more robust feature set, including removable storage that can be transported and used with your NLE, plus a web interface for management and control options.  Announced at NAB is the new ability to communicate with other Ki Pros for gang recording as well as RS422 support.  It even has a camera mount so it can mount between your tripod and camera.

A new device, which I am very geeked about, is the Cinedeck.  Not only is it a location encoder, like Ki Pro and the nanoFlash, but it comes with a crapload of I/O.  Yes, Crapload is the technical term.  It sort of resembles a Garmin GPS for your car in appearance.  Cinedecks I/O includes component and composite video, SD & HD SDI and Dual Link via 3G and HDMI, as well as digital and analog audio, and with storage encodes into an edit ready 10 bit 422 or 12 bit 444 CineForm DI codec in MOV or AVI format.  But wait, there’s more!  MXF, uncompressed and DPX file formats are also included – all the way up to 2K frame sizes.

There’s also a LAN port as well as USB ports for loading LUTs and an Esata with port multiplier and RAID support. Its touch screen allows for menu navigation and video playback.  All in the same size and weight as your 7” on camera focus monitor.

I’m not a shooter, but I think I want a camera, just to play with this.

So save your money.  Go tapeless and keep your beloved shoulder steel.

Transcript:

I came to NAB to submerge myself in all that is geek, and thus far I have not been disappointed.  I thought I’d share the things that have really piqued my interest and if you haven’t yet checked them out yet– do so!

1)    Cineform.  I recently spent an evening demoing this software for a few hundred people and it was definitely the belle of the ball.  Cineform has been a fantastic DI codec for years, but their product Neo3D takes that to a whole new level, allowing users to do stereoscopic within Final Cut Pro with RT convergence and color adjustments per eye via what they term active metadata.   With an AJA Kona3 card, users can output Full Frame left and full frame Right Eye – no rendering needed.  Definitely one of the coolest things I’ve seen in FCP in a long time.

2)    Telestream has been any industry leader for years with their line of consumer, prosumer and enterprise encoding and automation solutions.  Their latest product announcement is no exception.  Its called Vantage – and it’s built on their Flip Factory encoding engine.  Vantage allows for node based decisions and intelligent encoding.  This means that Vantage can analyze a file and perform encoding operations based on the parameters of that file.  A logic based tree – from a drag and drop interface – allow for complex workflows to be easily created based on any file it may encounter.

3)    NewTek.  Newtek may sound familiar to some of you, as they struck pay dirt many years ago with Video Toaster.  In the not to distant past, they introduced TriCaster – a broadcast truck in a box – a small form factor computer with a broadcast switcher like interface, enabling users to produce a professional looking TV show with graphics, lower thirds, with DDRs…AND stream it to the web.  Their HD unit, announced at the 2009 NAB show offered the same fantastic product, but limited with only 3 inputs.  This year, they announced the XD850 – an 8 input full HD TriCaster.  I could talk about this for hours.  Trust me – check out newtek.com  -the XD850 TriCaster is by far tops on my want list.

4)    StorageDNA.  This product has been around for a few years, but I think it’s finally hit its stride.  StorageDNA’s DNASync 3.0 offers scaleable peer-to-peer content synchronization, WAN and LAN acceleration, and the ability to delta sync – that is, only move or copy data that is changed.  Two major workflows involve SAN backup and sync. #1  Large storage solutions need backup – and using DNASync, less expensive storage can be used for disaster recovery. #2 –, which I love – is peer-to-peer file sharing.  Forget slow FTP.  I can now send and sync files from one user to another, faster than FTP.  I recently used this for a film I was working on – the editor had to get me QT files and cuts, and we had no time for FTP or shipping a hard drive.  The editor in Chicago dropped the collateral in a folder, and it instantly started copying to my hard drive – in LA.

And this is all just in the South Hall Lower Level.  There’s a ton more to come!

Aren’t you psyched?  I’ve been packed since Thanksgiving.

I’m lucky enough to be a part of many of the vendor meetings (yes, I still feel lucky) to hear some behind the scenes and roadmap information.  This year, I even get the added bonus to be a special corresspondant for the Digital Production BuZZ; the official (and on the show floor) podcast of NAB.  With this impending information overload, I’ve made a short list of the biggies I need to be sure to check out.

AJA: PCIe cards with 3G.  That would be friggin’ sweet.  Imagine your Kona 3 having two 3G outputs.  This kind of bandwidth would allow for for Dual Link 4:4:4 and perhaps even full frame Left and Right Eye 3D – at resolutions at or above 2K.  Michael likey.  I’m also hoping to see a more enhanced KiPro; perhaps a more robust web interface for metadata, extra storage, and *maybe* other codecs.  

Avid: Of course.  With Apple (still) not having a booth, that leaves Avid as the sole NLE juggernaut on the floor.  Due to NDA, I have to dance around the Media Composer 5.0 offerings, but I am excited about what will be shown.  Several game changers, in terms of media usage, management, and viewing.  Avid is really making a push, across the board, to be a bit more open.  Kudos.  I’d love to see Metafuze become (easily) cluster-able, and be a bit more efficient – if that is, indeed, how Avid will continue to utilize 3D.  The smell of a Unity revamp is in the air, and I can only imagine an ISIS / Unity / Cuisinart hybrid.

Blackmagic: DaVinci.  Lots of rumors about what the product is being morphed into since the purchase.  What will Resolve become?   

NewTek: TriCaster, natch.  The Standard Definition units and now the XD300 are some of the few products in the past few years that have really knocked my nerd socks off.  We lost 3 baseband inputs when the jump was made to HD – but I completely understand the limits of technology.  To do all TriCaster does – in real time – hey, ya gotta make some sacrifices.  A guy can hope that a unit with more inputs will be available.  I’d also love to see an easier way to make 3D sets; much like the old Virtual Set Constructor NewTek had.  However, perhaps an app that allowed for HD virtual set construction with user defined areas for super imposition / PIP, as well as reflections – like their pre-baked sets have.  Creating these without Lightwave would be a huge benefit. 

Cineform: I am totally in love with Neo3D for stereoscopic monitoring in Final Cut Pro.  I’m hoping for a more reliable way to reconform, rather than just pulling timecode from the “paired” file.  I’d also love to see distributed encoding into the cineform codec, so we can flip files faster.  Perhaps the ability to have different views between the Canvas and the video hardware I/O output.  Maybe more editing ability – like the 3D Stereo Tool box plug-in has.  

Root6: I’ve been jonesin’ for the ability to have web based interaction with Content Agent.  I’m also hoping to see some abilities to utilize more P2 based file formats that we use here in the States, but hasn’t taken off in the UK.   I’d also like to see the incorporation of Digital Rapids 3.x software into the fold.  Stream 3.0 introduced a host of features, and Content Agent is still utilizing Stream 2.5.x.

CatDV: Another piece of enabling software that is part DAM/MAM and part friggin’ awesome.  I don’t expect anything more than further ass kicking.   Automatic Duck:  Wes has always been finding new and creative ways for project and media interchange.  I can only hope that he’s been a bloodhound on the Avid 5.0 scent and will be ready to rock and roll.  (If not – Wes, call me Monday at 9.01am.  I have some ideas.  We’ll make MILLION$).  

Telestream: Can’t say much.  Just go to the booth.  Game changer(s).

Apple: Yes, I know you don’t have a booth, but you WILL be there…in some suite.  A shiny one, I bet.  Lurking.  Taunting.  iPadding.  I’d love to nibble on the cheese in the mousetrap of Final Cut Pro and Final Cut Server.  Who am I kidding?  It won’t happen.  But I can hope that maybe after the 5th or 6th round of Apple martinis, something will slip.  And if that fails, there’s always roofies and knifepoint.

Autodesk: SMAC – Smoke 2010 for Mac OS X – is generating a ton of buzz.  I’m hoping more modules will be written, and enhanced codec support.

Facilis: File Level locking is here!  Hooray!  But not for everyone.  Mac 64 bit, and a few other choice configs – not so much.  What say you, Facilis?

Assimilate: Lucas Wilson is the MAN.  When he and Tony get together, stars align.  Plus, their boss is named Taco…   How can that trifecta be ignored?  I’m gonna be looking for additional hardware options and configs for Scratch, and perhaps a wee bit more editorial options and project interchange.  Howabout more efficient use of the Red Rocket card and hey RED, howabout stability on a Mac?

Other Hot Topics I’ll be sniffing out:

Easier and less expensive Blu-ray authoring for Mac and PC.

Larger Stereoscopic monitors at lower price points, both in Active and Passive varieties.

Anyone who wants to buy me a drink.

Sonnet:  Following the success of the F2 portable RAID HDD solution, the previously announced F3 is slated to finally begin shipping by 5/15.  The F3, like the F2, is designed for road warriors who routinely deal with vibration, cramped quarters, and who rely on RAID storage and high bandwidth performance.  The F3 features multiple interface compatibility, including USB, Firewire 400 & 800, eSATA, and works fantastically with the Mac Book Pro. I frequently use the F2 when on mobile demos with my MBP, and easily get 120MB/Sec.

On the desktop side, an update to the R400Q “family”, is the R400QR5.  Same form factor, only now with more storage space AND with RAID 5.  This inexpensive mass storage we’ve used for inexpensive 2K playout.  Using Machina software (free from AJA) with an AJA card, along with this Sonnet storage is a very inexpensive 2K playout solution.  Turning an assist station or even a machine in your machine room into a layoff/back system is now possible – on the cheap.

Qio, a multi-format card reader (P2, SxS, 21 other various formats) features Read and Write ability to the aforementioned formats, all I one box, and under $1K.  Simple and elegant.

One down note:  I have been a proponent of the Sonnet CPU upgrade cards for some time (I cut feature films on my Quicksilver Mac for many years past what the system should have been able to handle; a single proc 733MHz for $600 became a Dual 1.8GHz with their Encore/Duet upgrade).  It appears that this is no longer a focus of Sonnet, and is being phased out until remaining stock is sold.  Bummer.

AJA: New products, natch.  Of notable mention:  The KiPro, Kona LHi, IO Express, and several converters.

The Ki Pro is a portable recording device that takes in SD/HD-SDI, HDMI, and analog formats and records the footage directly to ProRes to an onboard HDD.  This makes post much easier – no more RT capture or mixing formats in a timeline.  Control via a laptop or iPhone (WiFi) is also supported.

The IO Express, aside from appearing unsuspecting, packs a punch.  As the name suggests, it is a little brother to the IO HD.  Designed for mobile usage, it’s ExpressCard or PCIe interface allow for SD/HD-SDI and LTC/Ref input, and Component, Composite, HDMI, and unbalanced audio output.  I see this being extraordinarily useful in file-based workflows and for inexpensive, yet high quality video monitoring.  It was in a glass case on the show floor, so ship date is up in the air.

A gap in the AJA product line was HDMI monitoring.  None of the I/O cards had the ability for HDMI output with (of course) an AJA converter.  With the lowering of the price for their base model card (LSe or LSe) there was a $1400 gap in product pricing as well.  Enter the LHi, bringing some features from the Kona3 (RT up / down / cross converting) and adding HDMI 1.3 in and out plus the new(er) 3G SDI protocol.

I’d also recommend checking out 2 of their new converters, the Hi5-3G, which converts the previously mentioned 3G SDI protocol (simply: Dual SDI, commonly used for 4:4:4, on one SDI spigot) to HDMI v1.3 with analog audio.  This is excellent, as many camera manufacturers (Sony, for example) are adopting 3G.  AJA also showcased the HDP2, which converts SD/HD-SDI to DVI-D and HDMI; perfect for converting your baseband output to a digital display.

It’s no secret that I’ve been a huge Facilis fan for quite a while.  Not only is the performance well above par, its simplicity for the end user (as well as administering) is unmatched.  The only downside was that is volume locking – not file locking – which made it an immediate no-go for some shared storage environments. Although showcased last year, the reseller meeting and booth this year focused heavily on the file locking ability of the new software release, v. 4.  Although strictly on the Windows side until Q4, the file locking seems to work well – and was demonstrated mimicking the shared project ability of Avid.  A first, as no other SAN solution offers the same concurrent project sharing as Unity.  I am, however, concerned how it’s done.  With a fibre jumper cable of 3 meters looped back to itself on the client?  That concerns me as a band-aid type feature.  With Apple support not planned until Q4, I’m worried that there still may be some bugs or hurdles that may not be effectively overcome.   Facilis is on a roll, and I’d hate to see such a rich feature set, such as file locking, falter.

Avid:  I find it difficult to put into words just how disappointed I was in a good portion of the “offerings” Avid had at NAB.

The Avid Reseller Meeting, a closed door event strictly for…well, Avid Resellers, consisted of 2 hours of lecturing about the restructure of Avid internally, aligning all of the product lines under Avid as a brand rather than Avid “overseeing” the other acquired names.  “New Thinking” redux, me thinks.  We’ve seen a huge change in personnel and positions from a reseller viewpoint – and we understand that changes of this scale require time and patience.  I don’t believe it’s an understatement to be concerned about these changes and what the future holds for Avid.

Avid rolled out a new logo , website, as well as tiered support contracts…very similar to Apple’s Enterprise support contracts, based on uptime and “levels” of urgency.  The new logo reminds me of something from Tron; I am not pleased.

As far as new tools, Avid announced support for Final Cut Pro on Unity and ISIS.  I caught wind of this several months ago, but didn’t think it would be rolled out this quick, and apparently without any restrictions or throughput limitations.

The floor show was excellent, however, showing interop with Media Composer, Video Satellite and ProTools.  Cutting 3D picture, adding sound effects, music, and roundtripping them all in a 10 minute show was fantastic.

I think perhaps holding off on v3.5 for 45 days until NAB may have given Avid more of a Shock and Awe factor at the show.  But hey, that’s me.

Autodesk:  Great booth!  Autodesk showcased their previously announced Flare (insert obligatory Office Space joke here), a software only visual effects package, which contains many of the same features found in their Flame and Inferno systems, which cost up to 80% more.  For assist stations, or junior effects jockeys, this would be fantastic.  I understand, however, this is only available to facilities that already have Flame or Inferno in their workflow.

Fairlight and Euphonix:  Both now have their controllers able to manipulate Final Cut Pro – albeit expensive, they can control the UI.  Suggested to Fairlight:  if Avid and Digi have Video Satellite, what about using Fairlight to control Final Cut Pro as a Video Satellite-esqe workflow?

RED ROCKET:  more info as it becomes available, from POST magazine:

- R3D Decode, debayer and playback high quality realtime 4k at 30fps (or 5K at 25fps).

- Will accelerate FCP, Premiere, After Effects, RED Alert!, REDCINE, REDrushes or any application using the REDCODE SDK.

- PCI-Express, Output interfaces will include Quad-DVI and Quad-HD-SDI. Works with Mac, PC and Linux.

- Under $5k.

This is the same technology that DVS is showing at the show on their Clipster system. What this means is that 4K realtime from small files is an affordable reality. This also means that almost any third-party post tool can become 4K enabled.

More information as I sort through my notes!

Everyone has an encoder nowadays.  Final Cut Studio has shipped compressor for years.  Avid ships with Sorenson Squeeze, and I typically suggest some flavor of Telestream’s Episode family line.  All of these have varying degrees of quality and format support, and some go even above the call of duty with watch folders.

One fatal flaw is that they all rely on someone else’s engine with which to encode through.  Quicktime.  Quicktime, while being the pipe which leads to all things NLE, becomes vary narrow when it comes to efficient processor usage.  In fact, it’s pretty bad.

Ever viewed your system processing usage while encoding?  So much to be desired.

Root6 Technology, a player in the encoding and media market for over 6 years now, (BeamTV) has taken an innovative approach to this problem thus created an intelligent workflow device.

ContentAgent, at its core, is a software application, which can dig its claws into several hardware components.  Utilizing Root6’s solution to the Quicktime Bottleneck: their Platinum Encoder, it can regulate CPU usage during encodes.  Intelligently, ContentAgent farms out processor cycles for single or multiple encodes, understanding the limitations of each codec so as to efficiently disperse the workload across available resources.  ContentAgent also has the added ability to utilize GPU horsepower on a per encode process.

By way of comparison, an Avid on 8 core 3.2 GHz MacPro is processing RED files around 5:1 RT.  (1 minute of footage = 5 minute encode).  ContentAgent is encoding that file in approximately 2:1 (DNX36).  It should be noted that Avid is simply utilizing the QuickTime wavelet extraction files – not the R3D file.  ContentAgent has full R3D support.  This yields better quality at a faster pace.

ContentAgent RED Workflow

While that certainly enhances the turnaround time for encodes, it doesn’t solve the issue of baseband encodes.  This is where ContentAgents hardware hooks become that much more powerful.  Utilizing a Digital Rapids I/O card, either in an SD or HD Flavor  – the ContentAgent now has the functionality of batch or crash capture and layback from any SD or HD deck source with RS422 control.

So, now we have an encoding solution that is faster than most anything else out there AND can pull tape.  What else can it do?

Glad you asked.

Avid, for all its ability, has always had a proprietary media management system.  Depending on whom you ask, this is a curse or a blessing.  As it pertains to raw media files, it requires virtually all media (exception: AMA Volumes in v3.5) to be used in an Avid timeline to be encoded into OMF or the newer MXF format.  This ties up a considerable amount of time on a billable suite.  ContentAgent has the ability to encode media into OMF and MXF formats (even in the DNxHD codec) so as to bypass the “wrapping” OMF/MXF encode Avid does with non Avid Media.  This means instantaneous media access in the suite.  Those of us on Unity will appreciate the ability of ContentAgent to write the data to the Unity database for even faster usage.

Store

Metadata, especially when going tapeless, is almost as important as the pixels themselves.  Getting the metadata inherent in the filename AND header (*cough* RED *cough*) becomes a massive chore when the file conversions are not followed precisely.  ContentAgent has remedied that as well, utilizing an SQL database as the system’s backend to store and manage all data imported or encoded for referencing.  This means the link between the 2 files (pre and post encode) plus all pertinent data located within those file can be referenced (or in some cases, parsed) by 3rd party applications.

Oh yeah, ContentAgent has that feature, too.  XML schemas; which enable custom XML files to be written, containing the data from the pre and post encoded file, ready to dish out to applications supporting it.  While not the easiest to understand, the functionality is there.

Those of you who have edited on higher end finishing applications (Autodesk, for one), or even some DVD authoring applications (DVD Studio pro, for one), may be familiar with the concept of node based editing.  That is, each node (or “room”) contains parameters for a specific task.  The results of that node can then be fed to single or multiple other nodes, where the process continues.  This means intelligent, decision based workflows, easy troubleshooting and – drum roll – automation.  Watch folders, FTP, file copying, status emails, copy / delete responses – all handled by developing these node based actions – called workflows.  Once a workflow is devised, it can be saved and utilized by a few button pushes later.  This means your Tape Operator in your Core can initialize a workflow without reinventing it.  User permissions and a user interface with larger buttons create an environment designed for touch panel usage in a machine room.

Content Agent Workflow

Support for other hardware interop include Rimage support, for automating CD and SD and Blu-Ray DVDs with disc graphic design capability – either local or over a network.  Another facet of this is the ability to create basic DVD menu layouts, with slates, watermarks, and chapter breaks.  While rudimentary, for dailies and simple, trackable dupes, this fits the bill.

DVD Authoring Pane (Click to Enlarge)

DVD Label Editor (Click to Enlarge)

Saving you the headache of building some kluge machine is the fact that ContentAgent is built upon the same machine your PC Avid or Autodesk products are using.  HP Workstation CPUs.  As of this writing, the XW 8600 running Windows XP SP2 is the current config.  The addition of 4 15K SAS drives allows for the system to capture uncompressed HD locally prior to encode.  With the software understanding any volume the OS sees, shared storage is always an option.  Facilis and Unity showed no issues. ContentAgent utilizes the ATI Fire GL card for its GPU acceleration.  My tests have shown a 10-15% speed increase when this is enabled.

So, what are the downsides?

Update:  With NAB around the corner, updates promised in 2.5 and 3.0 software include: distributed encoding (Content Central) to further utilize horsepower on multiple machines, most notably, Blade servers.  Blu-Ray authoring support is also in Beta.

*Obligatory Disclaimer: My opinion on the technology contained therein is independent of my affiliation with the reseller of this product.