New Mac Mini = FCP media server... ?

V

VeryNewMediaGuy

Member
So apple finally put FW800 into the mac mini -- I've always wanted to use one as a file server for FCP. Got the higher-end model (faster processor and 2 gigs RAM), networked it through GigE to the NAS storage (for archiving) and daisy-chained a couple of FW 800 RAID drives and a GigE switch, plugged in the MBP to the network and the DVX to the MBP, created a logging bin, hit apple-8 and crossed my fingers.

All the footage captured flawlessly to the (now locally mounted yet physically networked) FW drives. AND it played out just as quickly as a local drive.

Am I going to regret this setup one day?

Is there any need to install FCP Server, OSX Server or XGrid?
 
Way out of my price range right now -- I'm a predator and recently got laid off from my studio job -- and I'm rebuilding a freelance business. Since I no longer have access to a proper edit suite, I'm cutting on a MBP. There's no one else cutting on the network (or on the network to begin with), so I should have plenty of bandwidth (I'm on all-GigE).

I've got two raid arrays daisy-chained to the mac-mini via FW800. What I like is that the drives mount on the MBP desktop, yet I don't have to worry about mounting and unmounting manually.

Things seem to be working extremely quickly -- no slower than the crowded XSAN, multi-client fiber-channel network we had at the studio, and I can take my edit machine with me for field assignments without dealing with complicated media management.

Essentially, I've networked my firewire array.

Anybody else go this route? Any tips, trick, suggestions, warnings? I'm mainly dealing with multi-stream DV25.

With two gigs of RAM on the laptop and two gigs on the mac-mini sever, I should have a lot of buffer and bandwidth.

Thanks!

http://benjaminchertoff.blip.tv
 
The amount of RAM in your computers has nothing to do with buffering a networked stream. If you're the only one accessing the video and it's only 1-2 streams of DV, then you probably won't run into much of an issue. I wouldn't try that setup for anything with a high bitrate than DV though.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top