does anybody work without RAID?

[FoxAdriano]

Hi, I'd like to purchase a double processor Intel® Xeon® 3.2GHz and Edius NX.
I don't like RAID, can you tell me if I will use a Sata HD I will work in RT?
If I absolutely cannot work in RT, what RAID do you reccomand me?
Thanks

[bhiga]

Remember that RAID only increases throughput. Increasing the number of streams you can read simultaneously from a single volume (whether it's a RAID volume or not) is a side effect.

At some point, seek time tips the scale against you, no matter how good your throughput is.

So essentially the question becomes two-fold:
1) How many streams do you want to manipulate simultaneously?
2) What datarate is each stream?

A single SATA drive is adequate for 1-3 HD streams, unless they're uncompressed. For more than 3 HD streams, either split assets across volumes, or RAID them for increased throughput.

You can think of it like shooting at incoming asteroids. If you just have one person and a few asteroids, they can keep up as long as they shoot fast. But if there are a lot of asteroids, they may not be able to shoot fast enough, not matter how fast they shoot, so having two or more people shooting is necessary.

[siniarch]

fox,
I have a xeon 3.2ghz from dell (precision 670) without raid setup. I downloaded the Edius demo and it worked great in real time. I was able to get up to 3 streams of video in real time. But I must admit. If I could get a higher processing machine, I would. I suggest getting 3.6gh or something like that. the dual 3.2ghz give you 2 streams with some filters, but some filters use more processing power than others, and it seems like a little more power would make all the difference. So if you can spare getting a faster system I would.
Good luck.

[FoxAdriano]

bhiga (http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/member.php?u=13047),
I'm sorry for my bad english and my inexperience.
For "Streams" ... if you mean video tracks, I tell tou I use 3 video tracks only.
If I understand "What datarate is each stream?" I tell you I add 10-15 clips only (with their effects) to the principal video track.
My projects are enough simple because I make documentaries only.

siniarch (http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/member.php?u=17145),
I'd like to know if you use Edius demo with or without Edius NX card. I think if you make editing with that card, the PC will run faster. Do I make a mistake?
I'd like to use 2 Hds, one for OS and the second for storage.

Thanks a lot to both

[siniarch]

fox. I used edius without the NX card, but the card does not make edius or computer run faster. it only lets you input and output in High Definition. and even though I did not use a Raid Setup, I did use 2 hard drives. One for Windows and one for Video clips.

[FoxAdriano]

siniarch (http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/member.php?u=17145),
therefore you have make editing in DV only and not in HDV. I like to understand better.

[siniarch]

no Fox,
I was able to edit 3 streams of High Definition 720/24p video at the same time real time. (with 1 filter on each and transparency on 2. Although some filters did not work with 3 streams because they take up too much CPU power) That's why I recommend getting a machine that is a little faster if you can.

[Jason Ramsey]

HDV is going to be more demanding on your computer than DVCPRO HD. That said, I have had 4 streams or more, with color correction, transitions, etc running on my laptop. All in realtime. I do run a raid, however. But it is a very simple raid. No software involved. I just flip the switch on the back of my eSATA enclosure and choose raid 1 or 0. I am running raid 0, right now.