XRaid Performance Sub-Par for HD Video

Hey Guys....I'm testing out my fully populated XRaid with AJA's Kona 2 System Checker. Starts out great, writing at around 272 Mbps. But then after a few seconds, it drops off to around 60 Mbps. Read times are even slower at around 30 Mbps.
Here are my settings:
File System: Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
RAID Set Type: Striped RAID Set
RAID Set Size: 2.7TB
2 Arrays, RAID 5
Under Fibre Channel (Both Upper and Lower Controller):
Speed: 2 Gb/s
Topology: Arbitrated Loop
Under Performance (Both Upper and Lower Controller):
Use Controller Write Cache (Checked)
Use Drive Write Cache (Checked)
Read Prefetch:
128 stripes
I tried to change the read prefetch to 8 stripes, but it went even slower, around 30 Mbps. Any ideas on how to keep it from dropping off?

They're what I saw with the Kona Speed Test.
For optimal performance, ensure:
Use controller write check is checked.
Allow host cache flusing is NOT checked
Use drive write cache is checked
Use steady streaming mode is NOT checked
Prefetch of 8 or 128 stripes should be fine. If you're doing any writes, though, you want to use 8 and not 128 stripes.

Similar Messages

Considering dumping my iMac for a PC used for DSLR video editing on Premiere CS6. Help!

So I edit mostly 1080p DSLR footage taken from my canon T3i camera. I purchased a 2011 (the latest model) iMac a little over a year ago, upgraded the RAM to 12GB and it has worked reasonably well. I purchased the base model for $1200 which has a quad core i5 processor, 512mb of video ram, and a measly 500gb hard drive. The past couple of days I have come to the realization that I only use Adobe Programs for graphically intensive work (premiere, after effects, etc). I originally bought my iMac for final cut, but FCPX SUCKS and I switched to Premiere CS6 which works like a dream. Anyways, I'm a senior in high school and do lots of video editing (going to major in video production in college). I'm likely going to differ college for a year and continue my video production business (pretty informal) as well as video production internships at a couple companies (so don't suggest that I get a laptop for portability, not an issue). I just shot an entire wedding with 2 DSLR's and the footage takes up over 20% of my hard drive which is unacceptable. This is very troublesome for me and has been clogging up my computer considerably. I have realized it would make a lot of sense to sell my iMac and purchase a PC that's not only faster, but has much more space. I was ideally looking to sell my iMac for $1000, and from that get a better and faster PC setup for my video editing. $200 would be allocated for a 24" 1080p LED 5ms Asus monitor (from newegg) which would leave $800 remaining for the PC. Ideally it'd be nice to have a little cash left over. Some things that sound appealing to me are: an intel i7 quad core proccessor at least 3.0+ Ghz, 16 GB of ram (maybe 8 to start), 1 GB of video RAM (here is where I'm stuck, my Imac had a Radeon 512mb video card in it, but I've heard premiere runs especially well with nVidia CUDA cards? Don't really know too much about this stuff.) I have no idea what type of card to get, and if I would even see a performance upgrade from my iMac. For storage I'd like at least 2TB of space, should I get two seperate 1 TB drives? One for boot and software and another for video files? Anyways, I assume I can benefit from selling my 2011 i5 iMac to get a faster PC equivalent at a lower price since I mainly edit videos (which is pretty graphically intense) from an HD DSLR camera. I've noticed premiere rendering times on my mac are starting to get pretty slow these days. Ideally it'd be nice to buy a desktop (already assembled) maybe from HP for around $600 (not including the monitor). I'm not completely against building a PC from parts (since I know a friend who can do it for me) I just need help figuring out WHAT exactly it is that I need and would benefit from.

Buy a Desktop Video Editing PC
http://www.adkvideoediting.com/
-ADK Kudos http://forums.adobe.com/thread/877201
Build a Desktop Video Editing PC
-http://ppbm7.com/index.php/intro-part-1
-http://forums.adobe.com/thread/1098759
-http://forums.adobe.com/thread/878520?tstart=0
-http://forums.adobe.com/thread/815798
-http://www.shawnlam.ca/2012/premiere-pro-cs6-video-editing-computer-build/
-http://www.videoguys.com/Guide/E/Videoguys+DIY9+Its+Time+for+Sandy+Bridge+E/0xe9b142f408a2 b03ab88144a434e88de7.aspx

No Hopes for SMOOTH Video Playback in Adobe Bridge ?

Hi....
System Specs
MacPro Nehalem 16 CORES
32 GB RAM - 4TB RAID0
Lion 7.2
I have a bunch of video files that I would like to organize via Bridge.
Works ok but video playback is a slap in the face. Looks like jerky slow motion.
I have tried altering from hardware to software rendering. No remedy.
Bridge has been around for a long while and with each release the app actually performs worse.
Menus are ultimately slow in showing up and entering a folder with 16 video files (QT ProRes),
selecting them all, has Bridge freezing for 5 minutes supposedly creating previews.
Completey unuseable for video.... in my world !
So my question is this...
Are their any plans for implementing Video Capabilities in Bridge
or is some kind of 3rd pty. plug-in available that will enable Bridge to playback what ANY other app incl. the QUicklook and Finder can Playback.
Funny thing is that this whole app has been created to BRIDGE between apps created by adobe. If Bridge was a REAL bridge I wouldn't dare cross it.

It has always seemed that Bridge has been the stepchild of Adobe since its inception and that Adobe spends precious little effort and resources on it.
Remember that Bridge was born as nothing more than Photoshop's Browser. Nothing more.
Then, in a straight marketing stunt, Adobe decided artificially to lump together a number of totally unrelated applications into artificial "suites." These are in fact totally non-related applications that were artificially bundled by fiat of bean counters and marketers. The engineering teams for the individual point applications are totally independent from each other and are not only not in in the same building but in different cities, different states and, some, in different countries. They have pathetically little communication among themselves.
The humble Photoshop Browser was renamed Bridge and jerry-rigged to serve as some sort of go-between vehicle among the applications also jerry-ringed into artificial suites. (Definition of JERRY-RIGGED: organized or constructed in a crude or improvised manner <a jerry–rigged plan>.
Don't expect too much from Bridge, and don't complain about it too loudly, or you might find yourself among others who have been told, in effect, that "Adobe doesn't charge you for Bridge." As a "free" byproduct, you get what you paid for.
In this context, just look at what has happened to the value of Adobe stock in the last five years: –28.20% (minus).
Compare that to Apple during the exact same period: +358.43%.
Wo Tai Lao Le
我太老了

Par For each/ForEach

All,
Here s my situation:
I have performed a transformation step 1:N: where i split my messages N times.
After which i am sending my N messages one by one to the receiver.
Now should i use a Parfor each or a ForEach for this scenario???
In either way how should i define my parameters.My source is OrderRequest and my target is OrderResponse(N)
in my container step i defined these msg types
SingleOrderResponse TYPE: OrderResponse_ABS and MultiOrderResponse TYPE: OrderResponse_ABS and now i tried Parforeach in the trasformation step of my BPM:i specified my interface mapping gave source msg as OrderRequest
and target msg as MultiOrderResponse checked the multiline container element,and next is my send step which i included in ParForEachBlock, where i specified my multiline element as MultiOrderResponse and in the currentline i specified singleOrderResponse and in the stpe step i used the singleOrderResponse Msg type.
But in my tranformation step, i have this error msg saying cannot define multiline element....
Can anyone suggest me on what i should do?
Thanks in advance

Hi Aarthi,
Let me first make sure that I have your requirements right.
What you want to do is perfrom a 1:N transformation and then send each of your response to the receiver.
For this , in your BPM,
1. the first step will be receive step where you receive your request message.
2. the next step will be your Transformation step, where you perfrom 1:N mapping.
3. Finally, you will have to define a block with a send step. the bloack can be par for each or for each.
From what I understood of your definition of the problem, i think you have put your transformation step within the block and that should not be done.
Also, with the transformation step, the containder element for the reponse should be a MULTILINE element as the mapping will produces N messages.
DO let me know if i have understood your requirements well and if this solution does help you.
Regards,
Bhavesh

Possibility to assign a color profile in the color management tab for more video formats

Presently, in After Effects CS5, in the color management tab of the "Interpret Footage" dialog box the possibility to assign a color profile to footage is grayed out for many video formats.
Formats that allow to assign a color profile include Quicktime/JPEG2000, Quicktime/Motion JPEG A, Quicktime/Motion JPEG B, Quicktime/MPEG-4, Quicktime/Animation as well as various image sequences, like tiff-sequences. (Motion JPEG A,B and Quicktime/MPEG-4 are not very helpful in this context because they have a small color shift when reimported to After Effects.)
Formats that do not allow to assign a color profile include Quicktime/PhotoJPEG, Quicktime/H264, H264 main concept, DVCPRO HD 1080p30, F4V. (Here, H264 main concept has anyway the disadvantage that it has a color shift when reimported into After Effects.)
In After Effects CS4 it was possible to assign a color profile to Quicktime/H264, Quicktime/PhotoJPEG, DVCPRO HD 1080p30, but in CS5 this is no longer possible.
Those video formats that do not allow to assign a color profile automatically are interpreted as having the color profile HDTV (Rec. 709) Y'CbCr in case that the videos have 1920x1080 format; similar applies to PAL formats which get SDTV (Rec. 709) Y'CbCr color profile.
(I did not find anything of this automatic assignment to HDTV or SDTV color profile in the "interpretation rules.txt" file, therefore it must be written into the programme itself.)
With growing popularity of wide gamut monitors it becomes necessary to produce footage and other videos that have a color profile different from HDTV or sRGB. When such footage is reimported to After Effects it has the wrong color and the only workarounds are either to use (in After Effects) the effect "Color profile converter" which necessitates extra render time or to use somewhat unpopular formats, like JPEG2000 that has very large filesize.
Presently many footage is produced in Quicktime/PhotoJPEG and therefore it would be very desirable to allow to assign a color profile to such footage in the color management tab of the "Interpret Footage" dialog box.
Does anyone know why in AE CS5 the video formats Quicktime/PhotoJPEG and Quicktime/H264 do not allow to have an arbitrary color profile assigned (although it was possible in CS4), is it a bug, or does it have a deeper reason.
In this context I have a related question, often I read that Quicktime videos have a gamma tag. Does this mean that part of the color profile (the gamma value) is actually embedded/remembered, like you have it for images where the gamma is part the embedded color profile.
I use AE CS5 on Mac Pro 2009 with OS 10.6.7.
Thanks,
Volker

Thank you Rick for this interesting explanations and the links to articles.
In the past few days I performed a few tests in After Effects and it is interesting that you mention that cameras, like the Sony EX3, allow videos to have embedded color profiles. I am not working myself with cameras but either get footage from the internet or sometimes videos from our video department which produces videos with professional SONY cameras, usually I get them in a matrox mxf format.
As far as my test with After Effects show it is not possible to embed color profiles in the videos rendered with After Effects. Independent of the color profile in the working space and independent from the color profile in the output module I always get the same reaction if I reimport videos rendered by After Effects back to After Effects:
In AE CS5 videos made in the formats Quicktime/PhotoJPEG, Quicktime/H264, H264 main concept, DVCPRO HD 1080p30, F4V are always interpreted as color profile SDTV/HDTV (Rec. 709) Y'CbCr (even if I made them in other color profiles, such as Adobe RGB, Photo RGB, sRGB); and there is no possibility to change this interpretation rule.
In contrast videos made in the formats Quicktime/JPEG2000, Quicktime/Motion JPEG A, Quicktime/Motion JPEG B, Quicktime/MPEG-4, Quicktime/Animation are always interpreted as sRGB (even if if I made them in other color profiles, such as Adobe RGB, Photo RGB, HDTV); only this time I can change the interpretation rule. Therefore if I know for example that if I had selected Photo RGB in the Output module I can change after the reimport the interpretation rule from sRGB to Photo RGB and only then I get again the original colors.
The only exceptions are picture sequences, such as tiff-sequences, where the original color profile is automatically selected in the interpretation of the footage.
Therefore, unfortunately for videos produced by After Effects your advice "If it says something like sRGB and you can change it, in most cases you shouldn't change it because the guess is probably right. If there is no color profile assigned then you should assume that is correct." is not so easy to be applied. You have to know how you did it originally in the Output module and hope that you can change it to the proper color profile, in case that the original color profile in the Output module was different from sRGB and HDTV/SDTV. But it is interesting to hear from you that with cameras there seem to be more possibilities.
For this reason it would be nice if in future versions of After Effects one could change the color profile in the the color management tab of the "Interpret Footage" dialog box also for formats such as Quicktime/PhotoJPEG, Quicktime/H264, H264 main concept, DVCPRO HD 1080p30, F4V.
Of course one can always circumvent shortcomings by using tiff-sequences, QT/jpeg2000, or QT/Animation as formats for storing, which is anyway better for lossless or nearly lossless storing, but the files are then too large and also cannot be played easily with a player.
Volker

Performance Tuning Guidelines for Windows Server 2008 R2 mistake?

Hi all,
I'm reading the "Performance Tuning Guidelines for Windows Server 2008 R2" and I think there is same kind of error. At page 53 there is a sub chapter "I/O Priorities" that explain how to handle I/O priorities.
In the guide it is said that in the registry I have to have a key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\DeviceClasses\{Device GUID}\DeviceParameters\Classpnp\
Where {Device GUID} I think it is the value I get in device manager under one of my disks -> properties -> details -> "Device Class GUID"
the trouble is that under the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\DeviceClasses\ I've no subkey matching my disk's device class guid! Maybe I'm drunk but I've checked every sub key under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\DeviceClasses\
but neither of them as a subkey named "DeviceParameter"!!
So am I wrong?

Hi Andrea,
To find the "DeviceParameter", please try to follow the steps below:
1.Find this registry key and note the DeviceInstance value:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\DeviceClasses\
2.Find the device instance registry key under "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum" which contains information about the devices on the system and get the device interface GUID:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\USB\<hardware id>\<instance id>\Device Parameters
I hope this helps.

How is this for a PC spec for home video editing?

OK - we've decided to get the new PC now, focused around decent performance for video editing at home when we do it. Any feedback on the below would be greatly appreciated. I've tried to put in my "principles", but as you note I've highlighted some questions around these.
Principles
* Decent computer for Home Video Editing - so when we do it want it to be reasonable from a performance point of view (not annoying). Also want assurance for the video data that a single HDD crash won't mean lost data.
* Hard Drive Configuration - Assume RAID 1 for data
C: 500GB - Operating System (1 x 500GB)
D: 500GB - Swap Area for O/S (1 x 500GB)
E: RAID 1 Redundancy for Data ( 2 x 1TB )
* 64 bit Windows 7 Pro
* Questions re Principles
Is it really worth having a separate drive (D: drive) for Swap?
Is there any real need to have a drive F: (another one) for exports? This is non-real time so it shouldn't be an issue should it?
Any major improvement re moving say the C: drive to SSD? (or not worth the $$)
SATA II versus SATA III drives? (I've assumed both are ok when picking)
The Spec
CPU - Intel Core i7 960 Processor LGA1366 3.2GHz 8MB Cache CPU
Motherboard - Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R X58+ICH10R QPI 6.4GT/s DDR3 2000 PCI-Ex16 SATAII SATA3 USB3.0 RAID GLAN ATX
RAM - Kingston 12GB(3X4G) KIT 1333MHz(PC3-10600)
Video Card - NVIDIA GTX560 - Gigabyte GTX560 OC 1G GDDR5 PCIE DualLink DVI [?? matches motherboard / is this overkill ??]
RAID Card - Adaptec AAR1220SA-SGL SATAII RAID0 1 JBOD/2 PORT/Low Profile/PCIEx1/OEM/No Cables [?? is this ok - seems cheap ??]
HDD (non-RAID) - 2 x Western Digital 500G RE4 SATAII 7200rpm HDD 64MB Enterprise [?? only SATAII this is ok no??]
Case - CoolerMaster RC-942-KKN1 HAF X 942 Black No PSU [?? is this overkill - just took someone recommendation here ??]
Power Supply - Corsair HX-850 ATX Power Supply w 140mm Modular Cables [?? power ok? again just took a recommendation ??]
O/S - 64bit - Microsoft Windows 7 Pro 64bit OEM(Microsoft OEM Terms&condition apply)
Note - I'm looking at the following local site re where to source if this assists: http://www.umart.com.au

Greg (correct me if that's not correct!),
You're spec. looks like a great start for what you are trying to do. I have a few comments, and also two questions!
Comments:
- Spec. generally looks fine
- I particularly like your case and p/s choices!
- For a home PC, you may consider bumping up your OS choice to Ultimate, which adds some nice multimedia capabilities
- Regarding the D drive for swap (and I assume you mean Premiere Pro media cache and media cache database too) will definitely speed up aspects of Premiere Pro, but likely be unnoticeable for other home PC day to day use. Why not build out the system and decide then if you need the extra speed for Premiere Pro - it is so easy to add something like that later.
- I'd vote no regarding a need for a F output drive for this system
- Regarding your OS drive... Speed and responsiveness versus cost - what do you choose? This really is a personal choice. I will say that a 2x1TB RAID 0 OS boot array would probably be a bigger step up in performance than a similar priced SSD option and a 2xSSD (60 to 80GB) array will perform better than a single larger SSD.
- Sata II vs Sata III - I have some of each now, and I would agree with other posters and articles on the Internet that say the often larger cache size on the Sata III models is more important than the Sata III interface. Keep going like you are going, with the assumption that both are OK.
- finally, your CPU; personnaly, with the new lower cost pricing on the i7-970, I'd suggest you downgrade to a i7-950 and same some money or upgrade to the 32nm 6-core i7-970 CPU and jump to a significantly new level of performance and power per watt
Questions:
- what version of Premier Pro will you be running?
- what will be your workflow (i.e. DV, Sony consumer AVCHD, Canon DSLR, etc.)?
Cheers,
Jim

Best RAID option for old video

I want to create an inexpensive RAID for old video and data. The stuff is very important to me, but I don't need performance, as this is "deep storage." In order to save money, I'm thinking of using 2 500 GB drives and Disk Utility.
What would be your preferred RAID option and why? Thanks.

I would say RAID 1 "mirrored".
Your data would be stored on both disks and if you had a failure with one disk.
quote from Disk Utility Help:
+About mirrored RAID sets+
+To help protect your data against disk failure, you can create a mirrored RAID set, also called RAID 1. In a mirrored RAID set, your data is written to two or more disks at once. If one of the disks fails or is disconnected, your computer can still access the data from the other disks. If you reconnect a disk you disconnected, the RAID set can rebuild it in the background so that it contains the latest data.+
+You can add spare disks to the set, called hot spares, that aren’t written to unless another disk fails or is disconnected. The RAID set then rebuilds one of the hot spares. If you reconnect a disk after the RAID replaces it with a hot spare, the reconnected disk is treated as a hot spare.+
+You can choose to have the RAID set rebuild a reconnected spare disk automatically. Otherwise, you must rebuild it yourself.+
+You still need to back up your data regularly, even though you have a mirrored RAID set. Mirroring protects you from some types of hardware failure, but not from user errors or software corruption. If you delete a file, it’s deleted from the mirror as well. If software corrupts a file, it’s also corrupted on the mirror.+
Message was edited by: David Altonaga

Advice on used mbp for photo/ video tasks.

Good afternoon everyone. I'd just like to pick the brains of some of the experts here regarding purchasing a used mbp for photo/ video. for about $1300 (preferably less) which models would you look at? I'm open to 15 and 17 inch variants. The 13 is just too small. I've been trying to find a 15" with 2.4ghz and 16gb ram but they are very hard to come by in my price range. Is there going to be a huge difference in speed between a 2.2, 2.3, or 2.4 i7 quad core processor? I'm also aware that some models came with superior graphics cards although I can't remember exactly which ones.
one more question, regarding the high res matte screens, are these going to make my guis look weird? I actually had a 2014 13" mbp retina and was hugely disappointed in its performance and took it back. The retina display was not compatible with photoshop And made it look awful. This happened with some web pages as well. Is this going to happen with the high res screens available previous to the retina technology?
Thanks in advance for any help and suggestions.
One last thing. Am I better off waiting/ spending a few hundred more and looking at more recent units such as a 15" retina? I don't like that the ram can't be upgraded and that they can't be repaired by the user as easily but the lighter weight is certainly a nice feature.

I suppose what I'm asking is whether there are particular configurations that were better than others that I should look out for. you illustrated my point when you mentioned your friend's older but faster mbp. I believe sometimes there are configurations that seem to work better than others despite one being newer or having 'faster' or 'superior' hardware. I'm aware of the advantages of ssd's and had one in my last mbp along with maxed out ram.
Regarding the newer mbp 13 retina model my solution was to take it back. I simply was not happy paying more for a computer that was more expensive but didn't perform as well as my older model I had just sold. Also the size was not going to work.
Out of interest can anyone explain these anomolies in speed between newer and older models. Logic suggests that a newer model with faster processor and more ram should be faster but why is this not always the case?
Here's my predicament: 15" mpb with 2.4ghz i7 quad core and 16gb ram and ssd are running around $1400 used. This is more than I would expect to pay for a mid to late 2011 laptop but they seem to hold their value very well. There is a significant price jump between say a 2.2ghz model and a 2.4. Am I going to notice more performance on the 2.4 or is it not a big deal to save a few hundred bucks? Or do I just spend a few hundred more for a newer retina model? I just don't want to end up with a computer I cannot upgrade or work on myself and that is not a significant performance upgrade from my last model And doesn't even have a SuperDrive or additional HDD. I hope that makes sense.
So with all that said and considering that I use my laptop for photography and small amounts of video are there any particular models anyone would recommend Around the $1300 mark? Or other suggestions?

Need help with conversion progrma for MTS video files. Can't download videos from Sony TX-10 camera

Have new macbook pro 13". Can't download videos from our Sony TX-10 camera. I understand I need some kind of conversion program for MTS video files. Need recommendation for a good conversion program to convert the video files.
Thanks, chieftd

Well, sigh, that's not going to work.
I love how I can do months of research to choose the best camera for my needs and budget, which is NO easy task these days, but surprisingly find it on the unsupported list when it's a very popular camera. So, while it seems to support a whole bunch of other AVCHD options from Sony, not the NEX cameras.
The NEX cameras are the latest generation of mirrorless cameras (which, ironically, are great b/c they give dSLR quality still images while actually producing HD video that always records silently and stays in focus b/c it's mirrorless). The NEX 7 was just reviewed as Camera of the Year.
Bleh. Oh well. Maybe someday.
And, for anyone reading, Roxio Toast Titanium did convert it just fine but it took about 20 min or my time to set up a handful of clips and then a couple hours to complete converting them for the quality I was looking for. One was about 10 minutes of a kids' performance on Christmas and it took a long time. It's just not feasible given how many video clips I do with the camera a week - well, feasible when you consider all the cameras where this would be seamless.
Thanks for posting your reply - I appreciate it.

Bit rate standards for Compressing video for Captivate

I have been trying to decide whether rto use constant bit rate or a variable bit rate when compressing my video to embed in Captivate.
I have been told by Connect support that a constant bit rate is better for deploying video in Presenter but I am wondering if anyone has information as whether that is also true for Captivate. We are using captive as a means to offer a series of video question and answer sequence for a client of ours, and I am interested in getting the best quality with the smoothest performance in a progressive download flv format
For a simple talking head I am tempted to use a variable bit rate but, I cannot find anything in the seaces I have made that talk about the spec or any pros an cons to that quetsion for Captivate.
Doee anyone have any expereince with that?

I have always used constant bitrate for videos imported into Captivate and that has worked fine. However, I never tried using variable bit rate so I don't know if it will work better or worse.
My guess is that it would be better to go with constant bitrate though because Captivate do have some funny issues with FLV's sometimes and it's probably better not to "stress" captivate ;o)
/Michael
Visit my Captivate blog with tips & tricks, tutorials and Widgets.

What is the best system for HD Video Editing?

We are planning to upgrade our system for HD video editing and I am looking for a system that will perform better with Adobe Premiere CS6 and CC. These are the options that we have:
PROCESSOR : 4.3 GHz Intel Core i7-4960 OR Dual 2.6 GHz Intel Xeon E5-2630 (both with 6-cores and 15 MB cache) - Which is more powerful?
GPU : Dual NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 w/ 6GB GDRR5 OR Dual 3GB NVIDIA Quadro K4000 - Which is more stable? more faster for rendering?
Both will have 64GB of RAM and 512GB SSD 6Gb/s MAIN + 3TB 7200RPM Storage. Any suggestions would be much appreciated. Thanks.

First read Tweakers Page and all the articles there.
Then you will understand why it is better to opt for an i7-4930K and a single GTX 760 with that disk setup. Otherwise you will end up with a convoluted, unbalanced system, spending money unwisely.

Ideal system for HD Video/FCP?

Since I'm getting into the HD video world, I need to upgrade to a better machine, and was wondering what kind of requirements I'll need to import/play/edit HD Video using FCP. The camera I'll be using is the Panasonic TM700.
Will the base model dual 2.66ghz be sufficient? Or does the amount of RAM determine performance in this area?

According to the Final Cut Studio system requirements: http://www.apple.com/finalcutstudio/specs/ all you need is 2GB of RAM for compressed video which is what your suggested camera records.
However, I have a Macbook Pro with 2GB of RAM and it's a real dog if you're doing more than one thing at a time (not including FCS). It runs out of RAM easily.
What computer are you planning to get (Macbook Pro?, iMac? Mac Pro?). If you're serious I wouldn't settle for less than 8GB but you could probably get by with 4GB if you're over budget. You can always upgrade later.

Reminder: Adobe needs users for Flash video & button task studies - get an Amazon gift card

Adobe is looking for participants for a brief (~1 hour) online work observation and interview. Compensation will be a $100 Amazon gift card.
There are two sets of criteria, each applying to a different study. Read the criteria *carefully* before responding. Also, it is important to indicate in the subject line of your response which one of the two studies you meet the criteria for and wish to participate in.
There will be 2 studies of Flash workflows. One is about deploying video content in Flash. The other is about creating a button to perform some control of the Timeline. The studies will be conducted over the telephone and Adobe Connect (software for screen sharing).
For the video study, participants must meet the following criteria:
- some experience with Flash CS4
- some experience viewing video on the Web
- no experience using video in Flash
- have any version of Creative Suite 4 or Flash Professional CS4 installed (with most recent updates) on a computer that can be connected to the Internet
- ability and willingness to install and use Acrobat Connect on the same computer as the above software
- a 90-minute block of free time between 9am and 5pm Pacific Time on a weekday.
If you meet these requirements and would like to participate in this study, please contact me at jarmstrong [at] adobe [dot] com, with the subject line "Flash video study".
For the button study, participants must meet the following criteria:
- some experience with Flash CS4
- no experience creating buttons in Flash
- have any version of Creative Suite 4 or Flash Professional CS4 installed (with most recent updates) on a computer that can be connected to the Internet
- ability and willingness to install and use Acrobat Connect on the same computer as the above software
- a 90-minute block of free time between 9am and 5pm Pacific Time on a weekday
If you meet these requirements and would like to participate in this study, please contact me at jarmstrong [at] adobe [dot] com, with the subject line "Flash button study".
Participants in these studies will be thanked profusely in addition to receiving the Amazon gift card.
Jay Armstrong
Flash Professional documentation lead
Adobe Systems

@Karl, Thanks. If you are interested in participating, please send me an email as instructed in the original post. - Jay

How much ram do i need for serious video editing?

early 2008 2X2.8 Quad Core Intel Xeon Mac Pro, with 8 GB RAM (8X1GB sticks), 2 @ 1.5 TB hard drives +. Use Final Cut Express for video editing. CS4 for typical daily workflow. How much RAM do i really need to make this a powerhouse video editor?

To make any 'good' recommendations it would be helpful to know what you are editing - DV, SD, HD? That is a big factor in determining specifications.
If you do more than one stream of HD, you will eventually want an external video drive solution from CalDigit, Dulce, Promax, G-RAID, or any of the others you see on the side. And it also depends on what 'flavor' of HD - I doubt your running 1920x1080 uncompressed 10-bit HD off of one drive. an external RAID array might seem like overkill. Generally, the advantages are increased speed (necessary for dealing with uncompressed, high-res footage) and redundancy so you don't lose everything if a single drive dies.
Get AJA System Test to test the speed of your logical drives so you can get an estimate of what you are looking at.
You really DON'T want your OS and programs on the same drive as your media files. It'll cause performance bottlenecks and all kinds of grief.
Those WD 10K 300-600GB drive is perfect for your OS, applications, and swap files. That's ALL that you want to have on it, and add one or even two faster drives as a RAID 0 pair for more speed and space. Get at least one 7200RPM drive for video/graphics/etc.
For your video storage:
The hard drives you mentioned are fine for standard definition video. However, if you want to edit high definition or otherwise have complex / advanced ideas for your projects, you'll need something with higher read rates than just those single drives. This gets pricey, so depending on what you're intending to do, may not be appropriate for you.
During video CAPTURE your hard disks need to be able to write at a speed meeting or exceeding that video data stream. If other programs use the same disk you are saving too, then you have and increased change of missed writes to the drive. That is why they suggest having a seperate set of disks for capture. Not a bad idea.
*Strip size*
should be => 128K, I would use 256K. More importaint is cluster size. The default is 8 K which is good for the operating system plus programs as over 50% of the files are =< than 8K. For large files (is dot VOB can be 1 gig) it is not the best. When you write a large file each clustter contains a pointer to the next cluster that is to be read. I used 32K, or 64 K (at work so not sure) cluster size for my disk containing Pitures and video. The size of the file allocation table is also reduced by using the larger cluster size.
Back in 2007, this is what was recommended:
<a class="jive-link-external-small" href="http://">http://www.manifest-tech.com/mediapc/pc_syshd.htm
Compressor can do virtual clusters (you need at lest 2GB/core of RAM.
Apple Final Cut Pro
http://forums.creativecow.net/applefinalcutpro?view=s
Basics
http://forums.creativecow.net/applefinalcutbasics?view=s
Compressor - doesn't hold up well.
http://forums.creativecow.net/thread/20/865329
If you need to convert HD to SD, then you want hardware like the AJA Kona LHi or Kona 3 and those require a Mac Pro. If you go that route, get the fastest Mac Pro you can afford, minimum 8GB RAM, ATI 4870 card.
http://forums.creativecow.net/thread/200/888050
Final Cut Studio
http://discussions.apple.com/category.jspa?categoryID=123

XRaid Performance Sub-Par for HD Video

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