Hardware Category: Digital Rebellion Blog

Third party Mac Pro Blu-ray drives

Tue, 01 Jul 08 23:55:31 -0600

MCE Technologies has announced the availability of an internal 6x Blu-ray drive for the Mac Pro that seamlessly fits into one of the existing bays inside the machine.

The drive alone is $499 but there is also a version bundled with Roxio Toast 9 for $599. An external version is available for $749. It requires OS X 10.5.2 or higher but no device drivers are needed.

Currently the only Mac applications capable of burning Blu-ray movies are Roxio Toast 9 and Adobe Encore CS3, however there are quite a few more available for Windows if you have a Boot Camp partition available.

[via TUAW]

Mac Pro and Xserve overclocking tool

Sun, 29 Jun 08 15:07:46 -0600

This has been going around the internet for the past couple of days. The German division of ZDNet has released an overclocking tool for Mac Pro and Xserve machines running Leopard.

Overclocking is the process of artificially increasing the clock speed of your processor and memory in order to make it operate at a faster rate. For example, you could make a 2.8 GHz processor operate at 3.0 GHz without the expense of purchasing a faster CPU. This is very popular in the Windows world, particularly with hardcore video gamers, who have managed to push CPUs beyond 4 GHz.

However, increasing the clock rate also increases the power consumption and heat output of the CPU. Upgrading the power supply and increasing the CPU cooling may be necessary - areas that may be tricky with tightly-designed Apple products.

I wouldn't advise doing this on a machine that you depend upon every day but it might be useful for a render farm machine where speed is important and the task will be taken up by another machine if there are any crashes or failures.

Another final thing to note is that your system performance will only be as fast as the slowest link in the chain. If you overclock your CPU but have a really slow hard disk or not very much RAM, the performance increase will be limited.

All in all though, this is a very useful tool for Mac users as long as they are aware of the dangers and potential issues. It could also encourage more video gamers to switch to the Mac.

ATI announces Radeon HD 3870 Mac and PC Edition

Sun, 15 Jun 08 15:50:16 -0600

ATI announced the availability of the Radeon HD 3870 Mac and PC Edition a couple of days ago, shipping in late June for a recommended price of $219.

This must be welcome news for Mac Pro owners, as the current alternative, the NVIDIA 8800 GT suffers from underwhelming ProApp performance, despite the recent improvements in the 10.5.3 update.

Here is a specification comparison:

	Radeon HD 3870	8800 GT
Stream processors	320	112
Core clock	775 MHz	600 MHz
Memory	512 MB	512 MB
Memory interface	256-bit	256-bit
Memory bandwidth	70 GB/sec	57.6 GB/sec
Price	$219	$279

ATI also claims a performance boost in Motion of 30-180%. Barefeats found a 21-41% performance increase over the 8800 GT - for $60 less. It is also compatible with ALL Mac Pros and available from most ATI resellers (the 8800 GT Mac Edition is only available from the Apple Store). This looks to be well worth buying.

More WWDC 2008 Day 1 news

Mon, 09 Jun 08 23:40:51 -0600

Since my previous post some more things have cropped up:

3G iPhone
* Not 3G but is actually 3.5G
* Thinner at the edges but actually thicker in the middle than its predecessor by 0.7mm and slightly taller (people are making way too big a deal about this)

AT&T
* Apple no longer gets a cut of the subscription fee from AT&T
* No more prescribed service plans - mix and match data and voice
* Starting price: $30 a month for unlimited 3G data plus $39.99 a month for voice. Text messages are no longer included so add $5. This means the price increases from $59.99 a month to $74.99 a month. And that is the base plan.

As someone who was put off more by the monthly price than the initial cost of the phone, this doesn't make me happy. And this is entirely an AT&T thing because Apple no longer receive money from them.

However, if you want to use your phone as an iPod Touch with internet access even when you're not near a WiFi point, this is a good thing. Or if you only use voice, for example.

* In-store activation only, no more activating via iTunes
* GoPhone service no longer available

[via TUAW]

So Apple adds features, AT&T takes features away. Great.

WWDC 2008

Mon, 09 Jun 08 13:03:06 -0600

It's Apple's WWDC (Worldwide Developer Conference) today and Steve's keynote just finished.

Here are the important announcements:

iPhone firmware update 2.0
* Released in "early July"
* Free for iPhone users, $9.95 for iPod Touch users (it's an accounting thing)
* Enables applications and the iTunes App Store as previously announced
* Enterprise features - Push email, push contacts, push calendar, autodiscovery, global address lookup, remote wipe.
* Positional audio (openAL) and fast graphics with OpenGLES.
* Word, Excel, PowerPoint and iWork document support
* Apps that are 10 MB or less can be downloaded over the cellular network - all others must be downloaded over WiFi or synced from iTunes.
* Enterprise users can set up private storefronts and distribute over their intranet.
* Push notification for applications - Instead of running in the background and wasting battery, the iPhone can receive messages and give you notification (alerts, sounds, badges) without needing to have the application running.

MobileMe
* The new .Mac
* Push email to all devices including iPhones, Macs and Windows PCs
* Online calendar and photo album - syncs with iCal and iPhoto. Drag and drop support.
* $99 per year, 60 day pre-trial available
* Available "early July"
* .Mac users get to keep their existing email addresses which will forward to a MobileMe address

3G iPhone
* Metal back replaced with glossy plastic
* Thinner at the edges
* Solid metal buttons
* 3.5" screen (same as original)
* Flush headphone jack
* "Dramatically improved" audio
* 10 hours of 2G talk time, 5 hours of 3G talk time, 300 hours standby, 5-6 hours web browsing, 7 hours video, 24 hours audio
* Built-in GPS - updates Google Maps live
* A LOT of extra countries - 70 new countries this year
* Price drop - Was: originally $599 for 8 GB. Now: $199 for 8 GB, $299 for 16 GB, $399 for 32 GB. These are the maximum prices for every country.
* Launches on July 11th (22 countries)
* Special edition white version

Steve went through the list of (almost) everything that was bad about the original iPhone and improved upon it dramatically. This is a great update.

As always, Engadget has the scoop + pictures.

P.S. I've disabled comments because whenever I post anything about the iPhone I get a TON of spam comments.

8800GT performance improvements with 10.5.3

Sat, 31 May 08 01:12:59 -0600

With the recent OS X Leopard 10.5.3 upgrade, several users are reporting performance improvements with the Nvidia 8800GT, which has received bad publicity over its poor ProApp performance.

As always, Barefeats have benchmarks comparing the card with and without 10.5.3 and against the stock Radeon graphics card. At Apple Discussions, users have also posted their comparisons.

Performance improved significantly with the update but unfortunately not by enough to warrant purchasing it over the stock card. In some cases it was still slightly behind the stock Radeon. But progress is a good thing I suppose.

One poster says:

...looks like for any real performance - it's going to take another video card entirely.

It looks like that could be the case. I hope that if it comes to that, Apple will do the decent thing and offer an exchange program.

Update: Some users are reporting graphical anomalies and Adobe CS3 suite problems with this patch

256 GB Samsung SSD announced

Tue, 27 May 08 14:48:34 -0600

Yesterday Samsung announced a 2.5in 256 GB solid-state drive (SSD) that will begin shipping in September (1.8 inch version shipping towards the end of the year).

Not only does it offer an unprecedented amount of storage space for an SSD but it also offers twice the performance of the 64 GB SSD that ships with the MacBook Air (Samsung's current high-end offering) with 200 MB/s read and 160 MB/s write. Also, the power consumption has dropped to 0.9 watts from 1 watt.

According to a Q1 2008 report by the semiconductor market research firm iSuppli, the SSD market will grow at an annualized average of 124 percent during the four-year period from 2008 until 2012. iSuppli now projects SSD sales to increase by an additional 35 percent in 2009 over what it projected last year, 51 percent more in 2010, and 89 percent more in 2011, and continue to show dramatic increases in subsequent years.

The 64 GB SSD in the MacBook Air costs an extra $999. This is too much in my opinion but a 256 GB drive with twice the performance and lower power consumption for a similar price would definitely make me think twice.

It is amazing how quickly these advancements are occurring.

[via TUAW]

PhotoJojo Final Cut Pro keyboard sleeves

Sat, 24 May 08 00:50:55 -0600

PhotoJojo is offering desktop and laptop keyboard sleeves for professional apps including Final Cut Pro and After Effects.

Applications
* Photoshop
* Aperture (1.5)
* Final Cut Pro/Express
* Pro Tools
* After Effects
* Logic Pro

Keyboards
* MacBook Pro
* Macbook (Black and White)
* Macbook Air
* Apple Thin Keyboard
* Apple Thin Wireless Keyboard
* Apple Classic Keyboard

They're rubber and are great at protecting your keyboard as well as being useful. Laptop sleeves are $30 and desktop sleeves are $40 and then $6 for shipping on top of that.

ATI Radeon 3870 due next month for Mac Pro?

Wed, 30 Apr 08 15:50:47 -0600

AppleInsider is reporting that the ATI Radeon HD 3870 will be due "next month" for both current and legacy Mac Pros.

Details are scarce (and possibly fictional) but the card is said to include 512 MB of DDR4 memory and support for CrossFire mode (linking two cards up to boost graphics performance, usually in video games) within Windows.

More importantly for professional users, it provides a mid-range alternative to NVIDIA's GeForce 8800 GT which has ProApp performance issues.

Color users are particularly advised to invest in an ATI card because they support rendering in 10-, 12- and 16-bit modes in addition to NVIDIA's 8- and 32-bit offerings. The NVIDIA card gives you a choice between best and worst, with no in-between values. This can cause problems for people wanting something higher than 8-bit without the massive performance hit when working in 32-bit mode.

At present, the only way to get a mid-range ATI card in your new Mac Pro is to buy one of the ones from the old Mac Pros and update the firmware, although this has the caveat that you have to install it in an older Mac Pro first in order to update it. This news would appear to be the answer to many professional users' prayers, although I hope that Apple introduce a driver update for those that have already upgraded to the 8800 GT.

CalDigit SAN announced at NAB

Wed, 23 Apr 08 16:13:42 -0600

I just got this in my inbox courtesy of the LAFCPUG mailing list.

Right now at Digital Rebellion we're running Xserve RAIDs on Xsan 1.4. I love these things but they're loud, they kick out a lot of heat and they're no longer being made. They're still pretty good and they're not out of date yet but I have been looking at alternatives with the future in mind.

CalDigit, famous for their hardware RAID cards, demonstrated such an alternative at NAB. One major departure from the Xserve RAIDs and their replacement, the Promise VTrak E-Class, is the fact that it does not use 2 or 4 Gb Fibre Channel cables (which cost around $80 per cable) to transmit data. It uses ePCIe which allows it to transmit data at speeds of up to 20 Gbps and allows for very long cable lengths of up to 300m.

With the recent announcement of the entry-level Scarlet camera, the demand for real-time access to extremely high resolution streams looks set to increase dramatically and, luckily, the CalDigit SAN has the bandwidth to transfer multiple 2K streams in real-time.

Uniquely, there is also an ePCIe ExpressCard device to allow laptop users (MacBook Pro only) to access the SAN. This is not currently available for fibre-based networks.

There's nothing on their site as of yet but they have a press release out and it looks like more details will be announced nearer the shipping date, which is currently unknown. This is definitely something I'm keeping my eye on.

Toshiba plans 512 GB SSDs for 2009

Wed, 23 Apr 08 14:34:10 -0600

Toshiba has announced that production improvements will allow it to ship 512 GB solid-state drives (SSDs) by 2009. This is a four-fold increase over its 128 GB drives that will start shipping in June.

The Japanese company estimates that it can reduce the price of making SSDs by as much as 40 to 50 percent every year, resulting in far less expensive drives at greater storage levels. While a 1.8-inch SSD costs 2.9 times as much as its rotating hard disk equivalent, a reliable price drop could reduce the cost to a comparatively reasonable 40 percent premium within the near future. When this will occur is uncertain.

This is important because SSDs are small, light, sturdy, less prone to physical failure, more power and heat efficient, and above all - FAST. This surprising rate of growth would mean that by the end of 2009, SSDs will be able to compete with conventional hard disks on space and, not long afterwards, price as well. Current models have some writing problems - namely, a lower maximum number of writes and slower write speeds than conventional hard disks. However, this is increasing all the time and will probably not be an issue in the next couple of years.

This is an exciting technology for the film industry for both acquisition, post production and, potentially, distribution that I will be keeping my eye on.

NAB 2008 Summary

Sat, 19 Apr 08 09:59:01 -0600

If, like me, you couldn't possibly keep up with all of the goings-on at NAB and decided to wait it out until the end, here is a short summary of the biggest announcements (or the ones most interesting to me anyway) in bitesize form.

RED
New low-end portable camera Scarlet

3K
Around $3000
Early 2009 release
New Mysterium X Sensor
1-120 fps (180 fps burst)
100MB/sec Redcode RAW and RGB recording via dual Compact Flash
4.8 inch LCD
Fixed 8x T2.8 lens
Auto and manual shooting modes
Wi-Fi control - this one opens up many possibilities

PVC Scarlet write-up

New high-end camera Epic

5K (up from 4K)
I have heard both $30,000 and $40,000 quoted (up from $17,500)
Early 2009 release
New Full-Frame S35 Mysterium X Sensor
1-100 fps (up from 1-60 fps)
100MB/sec (up from 36 MB/sec) Redcode and HDMI recording
6 lb body (down from 10 lbs)
RAW and RGB recording to Red Flash
Wi-Fi control
Fully upgradeable
You can get a full $17,500 credit for your Red One if you upgrade

PVC Epic write-up

New playback device RED Ray

Early 2009
4K in
4K, 2K, 1080p, 720p, SD playback
Can play back content from a regular red laser disc
Plays native R3D files from Compact Flash
4 HD SDI and 4
HDMI connections for 4K
2 HD SDI and 2 HDMI connections for 2K
2 hrs of 4K with 5.1 audio on a regular DVD
FireWire 800 for connecting external hard disks or cameras
Under $1000

PVC RED Ray write-up
Scott Simmons at the Editblog has several photographs of the various RED products.

Sony
PMW-EX3

Around $13,000
Uses SxS cards (similar to P2)
Removable lens
1080i / 720p switchable
Genlock and timecode inputs
Shoulder-mounted
Available late 2008

F35

S35-sized sensor
Extensive depth of field controls
Greater dynamic range than the F23 (800% more)
PL lens mount allows regular 35mm film lenses to be used

Panasonic
P2 Varicams (AJ-HPX3700 and AJ-HPX2700)

Now uses P2 cards exclusively. 5x P2 slots available on each camera
2/3" CCDs
Full-res 10-bit 4:2:2 AVC Intra-100 recording
Variable frame rates in 1-frame increments
Available fall 2008

AG-HPX170 solid-state camcorder

Improves on the successful HVX200
1/3" premium-quality CCDs offering increased sensitivity and lower noise
13x lens with 28mm wide-angle setting (widest in its class)
12-60 fps in 720p-mode
P2-only; no tape deck
Much smaller and lighter than the HVX200
Available fall 2008

Here is a great summary from DVXUser.com.

AJ-HVX200A camcorder

Successor to the hugely popular HVX-200
Incorporates the same lens and CCDs as the new HPX170 but with a tape deck for transitioning from a MiniDV workflow

Here is a great review from DVXUser.com.

64 GB P2 card

More than 4 hours of DVCPRO footage
More than 2 hours of DVCPRO50 or AVC-Intra 50
More than 64 minutes of AVC-Intra 100 or DVCPRO HD
Available fall 2008

AJ-PCD35 ExpressCard P2 drive

Allows P2 cards to be used in machines with ExpressCard ports
Can transfer from up to 5 cards at once
Available late 2008

Imagineer Systems
High-end finishing system mogul

Monthly subscription includes hardware, software and maintenance. Annual hardware upgrades
Open platform allows content sharing and management between multiple applications
Editing, compositing and grading integrated to allow you to switch from one to the other without rendering
Software "plugs in" to the architecture to perform certain tasks such as mogul/roto and mogul/comp with similar interfaces
mogul/serve shipping at NAB, other products to be determined

Studio Daily mogul interview

Matrox
MXO 2

Inputs: Component HD/SD, SDI HD/SD, Embedded SDI audio, Y/C, Composite, XLR audio, RCA audio, AES/EBU, HDMI, Embedded HDMI audio
Outputs: Component HD/SD, SDI HD/SD, Embedded SDI audio, Y/C, Composite, RCA audio, XLR audio, AES/EBU, HDMI, Embedded HDMI audio, Direct 5.1 surround monitoring
This does not have a DVI output like the MXO so it cannot output to a Cinema Display
Dynamic RT acceleration and hardware up/downscaling
Designed for HDMI monitoring with calibration and 1:1 pixel mapping
Black burst and tri-sync for HD
$1600
Released July 2008

Differences between the MXO and MXO 2 (PDF)
Shane Ross's write-up

Apple releases 8800 GT for old Mac Pros

Wed, 16 Apr 08 23:54:30 -0600

Early Mac Pro users can now use Apple's NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT Upgrade Kit to add the latest graphics card to their machine.

However, before you rush off to find your credit card, I would advise holding off for a while until Apple fixes the performance issues with an updated driver (these are normally included in operating system updates but sometimes are offered separately).

And if you're planning to use it with Color, you're better off with the original ATI Radeon X1900 XT as the NVIDIA card supports fewer working bit-depths.

But if you're a gamer, you're grand.

160 GB SSDs coming soon?

Wed, 12 Mar 08 12:08:11 -0600

This is a few days old but still worth mentioning. Intel has announced that it is entering the SSD (solid-state disk) market this year. In addition to bringing down prices through extra competition, Intel is also offering speed improvements over existing SSD drives from other manufacturers.

Details are sparse but enough to whet our appetites - there will be a SATA (3 Gbps) version and the drives will range from 80 to 160 GB in size (in comparison, the largest generally-available ones are 64 GB). This means that SSDs can, for the first time, directly compete with hard drives on a technical level. They can't yet compete with hard disks on price but Intel is predicting prices of less than $200 by 2010.

This means a lot because solid-state disks are considerably smaller, faster and more reliable than conventional hard disks. Tests with the MacBook Air have shown considerably faster boot and application loading times. The traditional downside to SSDs (and something Intel did not mention) is that their write speeds are considerably lower than their read speeds - in fact, lower than the write speed of a conventional hard disk. This will no doubt change with time but for some tasks such as high-bandwidth acquisition, they are not yet ready to replace something like the RED Drive.

They would be great in a video editing environment though, where you don't need to write large amounts of data very often and much of the your time is spent reading data. With a lot of editing systems (particularly with the advent of 8 core Mac Pros), the bottleneck lies in the disk speed. It can also improve the responsiveness of applications like Final Cut Pro that store only a limited amount of timeline information (such as clip thumbnails) in the main memory, with the rest on disk. I can't wait to see these new drives in a RAID 0 configuration.

Poor GeForce 8800 GT Pro App performance

Tue, 04 Mar 08 01:06:07 -0700

BareFeats has some benchmarks of the new Nvidia 8800 GT in Motion 3. The interesting thing is how badly the two Nvidia cards (8800 GT and Quadro FX 5600) perform compared to the ATI cards, causing many people to cancel their orders.

The Nvidia 8800 GT is meant to be considerably more powerful than the ATI Radeon 2600 XT but it beats it in all of the tests except gaming, which isn't much help to readers of this blog.

Then add the fact that Color doesn't work well on Nvidia cards as they only offer a limited set of working bit depths, and there is a serious problem for owners of the new Mac Pros. They do not have a high-end ATI graphics card option, and it seems like all pro apps are optimized for ATI.

Their only solution is to go back to the ATI X1900 XT, which is a great card, but it is old tech. You also need to jump through a few hoops in order to get it working. I think the ATI buyout by AMD has complicated the situation for Apple and Intel, which is unfortunate. Let's hope Apple will release some new drivers soon to at least reduce the performance issues.

New Macbooks and MacBook Pros

Tue, 26 Feb 08 09:53:27 -0700

Apple just refreshed its MacBook and MacBook Pro lines to support Intel's new Penryn chipset. Here are the specs:

MacBook

	2.1 GHz model	2.4 GHz models
CPU (Core 2 Duo)	2.1 GHz with 3 MB cache	2.4 GHz with 3 MB cache
RAM	1 GB	2 GB
FSB	800 MHz	800 MHz
Hard disk	120 GB 5400 RPM 160 or 250 GB 5400 RPM	160 or 250 GB 5400 RPM
Display	Glossy TFT	Glossy TFT
Graphics	Intel GMA X3100 144 MB MB shared	Intel GMA X3100 144 MB MB shared
Battery Life	4.5 hours	4.5 hours
Trackpad	Two-finger standard	Two-finger standard

More details here.

MacBook Pro

	15" model	17" model
CPU (Core 2 Duo)	2.4 GHz with 3 MB cache 2.5 or 2.6 GHz with 6 MB cache	2.5 or 2.6 GHz with 6 MB cache
RAM	2 GB	2 GB
FSB	800 MHz	800 MHz
Hard disk	200 or 250 GB 5400 RPM 200 GB 7200 RPM	250 GB 5400 RPM 200 GB 7200 RPM 300 GB 4200 RPM
Display	LED backlit Optional glossy display	Anti-glare TFT Optional LED-backlit display Optional glossy screen
Graphics	Nvidia GeForce 8600M GT: 256 MB with 2.4 GHz CPU 512 MB with 2.5 or 2.6 GHz CPU	Nvidia GeForce 8600M GT with 512 MB RAM
Battery Life	5 hours	4.5 hours 5 hours with LED display
Trackpad	Multi-touch	Multi-touch

More details here.

If you are buying an editing machine, you will want to choose a non-glossy display (preferably LED) with as fast a processor as you can afford. Buy the minimum amount of RAM and get it somewhere else for much less. Apple's memory is notoriously expensive compared to other retailers, even though it is identical. You are paying a premium for Apple's assurance that it will work, but I have never run into problems with third-party memory.

The biggest difference between the two is the fact that the MacBook Pro has dedicated graphics, which means that you will experience much better performance in applications like Motion. Color will not start up at all on a MacBook because of this reason.

The MacBook Pro also has the advantage of FireWire 800 ports for faster data transfers to external hard disks - essential for HDV editing.

So a MacBook Pro is recommended but you can get by with a MacBook if you are only editing SD footage and you will not be using Motion or Color.

Update 2/29/08: Engadget has some benchmarks showing that the speed is slightly faster between the new MacBook Pro and the old one but the heat output is considerably less.

Xserve RAID replaced by third party solution

Tue, 19 Feb 08 10:17:02 -0700

Today has been a day of good news and bad news. The good news is that Xsan 2 was released and it looks GREAT, and the bad news is that Apple has now discontinued the Xserve RAID. It's bad news but it's bad news with a decent solution.

There was no official statement from Apple but the old Xserve RAID page now points to the Promise VTrak E-Class RAID Subsystem. It's a shame as I love our Xserve RAIDs (we have three), even though they do put out a lot of heat and noise.

I can see why Apple did it, as the price and complexity did not help sales, and endorsing an established third party is cheaper and easier. The Xserve RAIDs were in need of a update, so it is refreshing to read the specs on this machine:

	Xserve RAID	Promise V-Track
Fibre Channel Port Speed	2 GB	4 GB
Fibre Ports per Controller	1	2
Max number of drives	14	16
Max drive size	750 GB	750 GB
Max storage	10.5 TB	12 TB (24 TB with expansion module)
Drive type	Ultra ATA	SATA / SAS
Controller cache	512 MB	2 GB
On-drive cache	8 MB	16 MB
Redundant controllers	No	Yes
Expansion	None	Expansion chassis adds 16 extra drives
Rack size	3U	3U

See more specs here.

Pricing Comparison

Low-End:

Promise:
6 TB: $11,999.95
Cost per GB (1/1024 TB): $1.96

Xserve RAID:
1 TB: $5999
Cost per GB: $5.86

Mid-Range

Promise:
12 TB: $14,999.95
Cost per GB: $1.22

Xserve RAID:
3.5 TB: $8199
Cost per GB: $2.29

High-End

Promise:
24 TB (12 TB + 12 TB expansion): $26,999.90
Cost per GB: $1.10

Xserve RAID:
10.5 TB: $13,799
Cost per GB: $1.28

Other Promise Configurations

4.8 TB SAS storage: $18,999.95
12 TB expansion chassis: $11,999.95
4.8 TB SAS expansion chassis: $15,999.95

This is without a doubt much better value for money than the Xserve RAID but the high initial cost will put a lot of people off, I would imagine. I think I am going to take advantage of cheap Xserve RAID units and get the maximum possible performance out of our existing units before shelling out for these.

I have spoken to a few people that own Promise RAIDs and they say they are very satisfied with them, so my mind is at rest on that front.

MacBook Air: Solid-state vs regular hard disk

Mon, 11 Feb 08 12:42:46 -0700

AppleInsider pitted a solid-state MacBook Air against one with a regular hard disk. They found that with large amounts of data, the read speeds of these drives were up to 18 times faster than regular hard disks. Write speeds were lower, at around 70% but when you compare a 30% loss in write speed to an 1800% gain in read speed, I'd gladly take that performance hit.

SSDs have other advantages:
* They are more reliable because they have no moving parts
* They are great for situations where data is littered all over the hard drive because they do not have heads that need to physically move from one area to another
* No noise
* Lower power consumption and less heat generated

Now, can you think of an application where reliability is important, you are transferring a lot of data that may be all over the place, where reading is more common than writing, and where noise and heat is undesirable?

I can't wait to throw out my Xserve RAIDs and replace them with SSD ones. They are noisy, they generate a ton of heat, I constantly worry about them failing on me, and they are really heavy and bulky. I would love to have a 1U SSD Xserve RAID that is lightweight, fast and quiet.

Unfortunately, price is the limiting factor right now. However, the proliferation of the iPhone and iPod Touch, and the increasing demand for SSD storage in compact notebooks will bring the price down with time. We're at a turning point right now because for the first time, SSDs have reached a size and price point that makes them viable for consumer laptops. There is no way they could have offered a 32 GB SSD with the Air. Ok, $999 is a lot for a 64 GB disk but it is within reach. It will probably be half that in 12 months' time anyway.

When the size and price becomes viable though, these will be great for editors.

NVIDIA working on Mac support for GPGPUs

Fri, 25 Jan 08 04:19:57 -0700

AppleInsider is reporting that, according to its sources, NVIDIA is working on General Purpose Graphical Processing Unit (GPGPU) support for the Macintosh.

Unlike conventional graphics chips, GPGPUs can perform general purpose processing tasks and are not limited to graphical calculations only. This allows non-graphical software to utilize the GPU for other processing tasks, speeding up calculations. Software like Compressor could use this to speed up rendering, and Motion and Final Cut Pro could re-use the graphics processor as a standard processor when it is not needed for graphics-accelerated rendering. It would also be beneficial to laptop users, as it would provide more power efficiency (performance per watt).

GPGPUs cannot process every task that a CPU could though. They are used to processing several streams of graphical data simultaneously, so they work best with parallel tasks in which several similar tasks are being completed at the same time (e.g. rendering video frames in Compressor).

NVIDIA's chips use a technology called CUDA (Compute Unified Device Architecture) that allows software to communicate with the graphics processor and issue commands to it. ATI has a similar technology called CTM (Close to Metal).

The important factor that people seem to be missing is that GPGPUs are present in Nvidia's GeForce 8800 chips. This is confirmed by this page. This means that the GeForce 8800 GXT for the Mac Pro is already a GPGPU; it is just a case of developing OS X software to utilize it.

NVIDIA has put out a job posting for a full-time OS X CUDA driver developer, so it looks like this process is about to begin. It will probably be a long time before we see GPGPU-enabled applications because Apple will have to release driver and framework support for it before any developers can start work on CUDA applications. It is a very exciting development though.

Macworld 2008 Keynote

Tue, 15 Jan 08 12:24:52 -0700

Here's what Santa Steve has in store for us:

* New Airport Extreme with built-in storage, called "Time Capsule". It's designed for Time Machine, so that laptop users don't have to keep plugging in external hard drives. Backup is better automated, as users will always forget or just be lazy. Two options: 500 GB for $299 and 1 TB for $499. It will ship in February.

* New iPhone features - Maps with locations (it triangulates both cell towers and wi-fi points), webclips, customizable home screens (up to 9 separate screens), SMS multiple people at once, chapters, subtitles, and language support in video, and lyrics support in audio. This is all via the 1.1.3 firmware update that was previously leaked, and it is out today for free.

* New iPod touch features - Now features Mail, Maps, Stocks, Notes and Weather, that were previously featured exclusively on the iPhone. The update is $20 for existing users but included in the price of new units. The charge is probably partly due to potentially cannibalizing iPhone sales and partly due to accounting (they're not allowed to add major new features later on for free).

* iTunes Movie Rentals - They have Touchstone, Miramax, MGM, New Line, Lionsgate, Fox, Warner Brothers, Disney, Paramount, Universal and Sony on board. New rentals come out 30 days after DVD releases, and they will have 1000 in the library by the end of February. You have 30 days to begin watching it and you must finish it within 24 hours once you've started. You can rent in both HD and SD quality. For HD: $3.99 for older titles, $4.99 for new releases. SD titles are $1 less. There will be software updates today to enable this functionality.

* Apple TV has a brand new UI. You can rent directly from your couch, using an on-screen keyboard to type things in. You can also get podcasts and music videos. It also has .Mac and Flickr support, allowing you to view friends' photo albums. All of this software will be enabled via a free software upgrade in the next two weeks. They're also knocking $70 off the price. You also no longer require a computer in order to use it.

* They now have a deal with Fox where all new Fox Blu-ray titles will have an iTunes-compatible version on the disc designed for iPod users.

* MacBook Air - "The world's thinnest notebook". It has a 13.3" widescreen LED display (not LCD) and is 0.16 inches at its thinnest end and 0.76 at its thickest. It weighs 3lbs. Steve even whipped out an envelope on stage and fitted it inside! It's aluminum with a backlit black full-size keyboard and trackpad. The trackpad supports advanced gestures (a la the iPhone), allowing you to perform extra application functions without needing the keyboard. It also comes with an iSight camera. 80 GB hard drive as standard or you can opt for a 64 GB solid-state flash drive (much faster but considerably more expensive). 1.6 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, with 1.8 GHz available as an option. It turns out that the processor inside is specifically made for the Air, and has been shrunk by 60% at Apple's request.

It does not come with a CD or DVD drive but there is an external one for $99 that is specifically designed for it. Apple has also created software called Remote Disc that allows you to browse other machines' optical drives via wi-fi and install software using their optical drives. You can do this with both Mac and PC machines.

It also has 5 hours of battery life when you browse the web with Wi-fi switched on. The price is $1799 and it will ship in two weeks. Pre-orders available now. It is also more eco-friendly than its predecessors, using less packaging and no mercury, arsenic, BFR or PVC.

Analysis
Ok, ok, I was wrong with my prediction of no sub-notebook. But it's good to see that Apple has dealt with the potential issues I brought up. This is a great machine for those that need something small and light without compromising power.

My favorite announcement today was iTunes movie rentals and how Apple has integrated these with the Apple TV. Steve acknowledged that the Apple TV had missed the mark somewhat, and that movies are the main driving point. I was expecting movie rentals but I was not expecting HD support as well. I was considering signing up for a Netflix account but this deal is much better. You can rent HD movies that will work on Macs, PCs, the Apple TV, iPods and iPhones for a relatively low fee. No other online rental company offers this. It is also considerably more convenient than sending and receiving discs in the mail.

I am also considering buying an Apple TV now. The device has considerably more use to me now that you can rent and watch HD movies directly from the comfort of your sofa. There is no word on whether purchased movies will be offered in HD as well, or even if they will continue to be offered at all. I will probably hold off purchasing it just yet though, as I am sure that Apple will put a DVD drive in it once a format "wins" the war. I may as well get one unit that does everything instead of 3 or 4, all with different remotes.

Steve mentioned the SDK briefly but did not really go into detail about it, which surprised me. And no 16 GB iPhone or new MacBook Pros either. I was certain they were going to be there. Maybe Apple will just do a minor update to the 'Pros without fanfare later in the year. Steve said that there were a lot of things coming in two weeks but that "there are another 50" afterwards, implying that the announcements are far from over. No new cinema displays and no mention of the Mac Mini either. Some rumor sites have been saying for years that the Mini is about to be killed off but it seems to be the one thing that no-one ever talks about. I think if Steve were to kill it, he would have something better to immediately replace it.

So, in summary, a pretty good keynote. I don't think the stock will jump as high as it did with the iPhone announcement last year but I think this will go down well with investors.

Update: Apple's site has more details on everything announced at the keynote. Also check Software Update because iTunes 7.6 and QuickTime 7.4 are already available for download (at least for me - sometimes they stagger updates across geographic locations). Do not install these on your production machine! Be especially wary of QuickTime 7.4 if you do not have an up-to-date version of Final Cut Pro.

Update 2: View the keynote video online.

Also, Blockbuster and Netflix shares dropped significantly after the keynote. Surprisingly, so did Apple's. It turns out that people were somewhat disappointed with today's keynote. The Macbook Air is a well-designed machine but the price is somewhat prohibitive, which is a shame. If you choose the solid-state drive, it takes the price to over $3000. The price per GB of solid-state memory is falling significantly every year so it would not make sense to spend that much on the solid-state version right now.

Cinital Previzion Advanced 3D Virtual Set System

Wed, 09 Jan 08 16:24:18 -0700

CinemaTech has an article about a startup company called Cinital that has developed a 3D keying system for virtual sets. This part is not new, as I have used Serious Magic Ultra 2 (now owned by Adobe) in the past for previewing the key on-set using virtual sets and images. I would not use Ultra 2 for compositing the final image as it did not offer nearly enough control over the final image, but this system looks like it offers plenty in that department.

Where this system really shines, however, is in the tracking system. I have not seen this anywhere else. You can move the camera about and rack focus from the foreground subject to the background and the virtual set will change accordingly. That is very time-consuming to perform in post production but this system does it in (almost) real-time. This is best illustrated by the video at the bottom of the CinemaTech link.

There are no pricing details on their web site but unconfirmed sources state that it is around $85,000.

[via HDForIndies]

New Xserves

Wed, 09 Jan 08 13:44:25 -0700

When Apple released the new Mac Pros, they also updated their Xserve server line as well.

	New High-End Model (Early 2008)	Previous High-End Model (Late 2006)
Processor	2x Xeon 5400 quad core (8 cores) at 3 GHz	2x Xeon 5100 dual core (4 cores) at 3 GHz
Cache	12 MB per processor (24 MB total)	4 MB per processor (8 MB total)
SSE extensions	128-bit SSE4	128-bit SSE3
Frontside Bus	1.6 GHz	1.33 GHz
Memory	800 MHz DDR2	667MHz DDR2
Max hard drive space	3 TB	2.25 TB
PCI Express	2.0	1.0
Power supply	750W	650W

I can't believe that they managed to get an 8 core machine inside a 1U server. Even more amazing is that you are essentially getting double the machine with only a 100W power supply increase. This is a major improvement in performance-per-watt. The Xserve also houses an array of sensors that intelligently monitor temperature and idleness, and adjust processor and fan speeds accordingly. The Xserve power supplies also exceed 80% efficiency guidelines.

I'm not going to go into the processor improvements here, as I already did that in my Mac Pro post, but the power of having 8 cores in a server can be seen on Apple's benchmark page. It's been a while since there was an Xserve update so this new model beats its predecessor by huge amounts. On average, this machine is about 90% faster than its predecessor.

If you have ever used an Xserve, you will also welcome the news that the new model features a USB port on the front so no more delving around behind it to plug in a keyboard and mouse.

This is a great machine.

New Mac Pros

Wed, 09 Jan 08 13:06:03 -0700

Yesterday, Apple released several updates to their Mac Pro line of professional desktop computers.

	New 8 Core High-End Model	Previous 8 Core High-End Model
Processor	2x Quad core Xeon 5400 at 3.2 GHz	2x Quad core Xeon 5300 at 3.0 GHz
Cache	12 MB per processor (24 MB total)	8 MB per processor (16 MB total)
SSE extensions	128-bit SSE4	128-bit SSE3
Frontside Bus	1.6 GHz	1.33 GHz
Memory	800 MHz DDR2	667MHz DDR2
Max. memory	32 GB	16 GB
PCI Express	2.0	1.0
Bluetooth 2.0	As standard	Extra charge
Keyboard USB hub	USB 2.0	USB 1.1

This is a big improvement over the previous 8 core model. I must admit that I wasn't a fan of the previous one because I felt that the other components were slowing down the processor. The reason for this is that the quad core model had a front side bus (FSB) speed of 1.33 GHz which means a speed of ~333 MHz per core. When the 8 core model was introduced, it kept the same FSB, meaning it only had access to ~166 MHz per core. This bottleneck caused the 8 core model to be rather underwhelming in certain situations, in some cases being outperformed by the quad core version. Overall it was a faster machine, but not as fast as it could have been.

This new version increases the processor clock speed, the FSB, there is more cache available and the memory bandwidth has increased too. If you increase one element, it will eventually bottleneck unless you increase the others, so Apple is doing the right thing by increasing them all at the same time. This thing will scream.

It's worth talking a bit about the new processor too. It is a Xeon 5400 (codename "Harpertown") with SSE4 instructions instead of SSE3 with the old model. What does this mean? Instruction sets are a list of commands that a processor can perform. They are stored in a native form which means it is much faster for the processor to execute one of these instructions to perform a task than it is to convert it from a programming language to its native form. SSE4 has several mathematical instructions that will greatly speed up video encoding and decoding, particularly when using high definition formats.

The Mac Pro now features PCI Express 2.0 which offers 500 MB/s per lane over the previous 250 MB/s. This means that the 16 lane slot for the graphics card can now transfer data at 8 GB/s over the previous 4 GB/s. Brand new graphics cards are available, including the NVIDIA Quadro FX 5600, with 1.5 GB of memory (!) and a price tag to match. The other cards are the ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT with 256 MB (the standard card) and the NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT with 512MB. This is great news for Motion and Color users.

Apple is now offering 1 TB hard drives with 32 MB of cache for use with the Mac Pro. This allows you to have up to 4 TB of storage inside the machine, up from the previous 3 TB.

This is a really great machine. Apple has a lot of benchmarks here. The new machine seems to be a consistent 10-20% faster than the previous 8 core model. And this is just the two base models with 4 GB RAM. Upgrading to a better graphics card and more memory for example would probably widen the gap even further in Final Cut Pro 6. It's also interesting to look back nostalgically upon the Quad Power Mac G5. In its time, this machine was a speed demon but the new Mac Pro is about 100-200% faster in most tests.

The fact that Apple is releasing these models now means that there will be no significant Mac Pro announcements at Macworld next week.

RED CES news - 4K delivery and Scarlet

Wed, 09 Jan 08 04:55:03 -0700

I know I'm late to the party but there were some important announcements at CES (Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas) by the creators of the RED camera.

Jim Jannard (head honcho) yesterday announced a 4K delivery system in response to the 4K displays announced at the show by Panasonic and Sony. He was not specific about what this delivery system would be comprised of but he has stated in the past a desire to create 4K projectors and it was interesting to note that he said "in the home as well as on the big screen".

I'm wondering what sized screen (and what sized house!) you would need to get the full benefit of 4K in your home (Panasonic's one is 150"), but I guess all will be revealed at NAB (the National Association of Broadcasters conference) in April.

Earlier in the week, Jim also revealed that there is a "pocket professional camera" in development called Scarlet. Further details will be given at NAB, but Jim did imply that it was intended to compliment, not replace the RED One.

That Jim loves to tempt us. It's a great way of getting people to talk and speculate about his products though. Apple adopts a similar strategy.

Matrox MXO now runs on Leopard

Thu, 27 Dec 07 15:02:21 -0700

Matrox has just released a patch for its MXO HD monitoring system. The patch offers "Mac OS X v10.5 (Leopard) support, Apple Color v1.0.2 support, Adobe Premiere Pro CS3 v3.1.1 support and genlock timing offset controls."

The Matrox MXO is a box that you connect between your graphics card and an Apple Cinema Display that allows you to perform accurate high definition monitoring for under $2000. This is a great product for indies, as monitoring solutions normally start at about $8000-9000, and the Matrox MXO is definitely comparable with these higher-priced solutions. The best experience will always be on a CRT monitor but this is a close second for a fraction of the price.

Visit Matrox's MXO support page to download the patch. Note that you will need to be a registered user on their site in order to do so.

[via Broadcast Engineering]

Apple to adopt Intel's mobile platform

Fri, 21 Dec 07 16:45:45 -0700

This has not been confirmed by Apple but AppleInsider is reporting that Apple has taken a liking to Silverthorne, Intel's new 45-nm mobile platform chip. The chip is slated for release in early 2008 and uses between half a watt and two watts of power.

Intel describes it as a "landmark" release. The chip is fast for a mobile chip, consumes very little power and is less than the size of a US penny. It is also incredibly cheap. Intel described an "average price" of a device with the chip as only $100.

The most obvious choice for the processor would be the iPhone. Currently it uses an ARM processor. This new chip would offer a smaller form factor, better battery life and more powerful capabilities. However, the best feature of the new chip in my eyes would be the fact that the iPhone would now be running on x86 hardware. This means that software such as Adobe Flash Player can be ported very easily, and is the reason why Flash support does not exist on the current iPhone model.

There are two reasons why I haven't purchased one yet. The first is the lack of Flash support (need it for web development) and the second is the fact that I want to completely replace my iPod and unfortunately my music collection is about 33 GB. 32 GB flash drives are available now so my hopes are high for an iPhone that fits the above criteria in late 2008 / early 2009.

New Firewire standard on its way

Sun, 16 Dec 07 03:13:22 -0700

The 1394 Trade Association, the body responsible for managing the Firewire standard, has announced Firewire S3200, the successor to Firewire 1394b (Firewire 800).

This new specification quadruples the speed to 3.2Gbps. Crucially, the specification uses existing Firewire 800 cables and connectors to make the upgrade process as painless as possible for existing Firewire 800 users. The standard is expected to be ratified in February, so expect to see Firewire S3200 devices 6-12 months or so after that. Apple has traditionally been a big supporter of Firewire so I would imagine they would adopt it pretty quickly.

It has stiff competition from USB 3.0 though, due to be released in the first half of 2008. It offers a 10-fold speed increase from USB 2.0, to 4.8Gbps. It also uses existing USB connectors for full backwards compatibility. CNet has an article about it here.

Each offers its own advantages and disadvantages. I tend to prefer Firewire over USB because it is rock solid whereas USB can sometimes be a bit flakey. Firewire also offers gives more power to devices such as hard drives, often making an external power supply unnecessary. But it doesn't really matter, as I'm sure the majority of machines will ship with both.

AJA releases new Leopard drivers

Tue, 11 Dec 07 00:55:31 -0700

Just a quick note to say that AJA has released new drivers for its popular KONA 3 and Io HD lines. These primarily add Leopard support but also add a couple of small new features, so they're recommended for Tiger users as well.

KONA 3
This release updates the KONA 3/3X to have OSX "Leopard" compatibility. The release also adds support for 720p50 and provides other improvements and fixes.

AJA Driver Compatibility as of KONA Version 5.0 is as follows:
FCP 6.0.x - Kona Driver version 5.0 (Leopard and Tiger OS compatible version)
FCP 6.0.x - Kona Driver version 4.0 (Tiger OS compatible version)
FCP 5.1.x - Kona Driver versions 3.1 through 3.4 (Tiger OS compatible versions)
FCP 5.0.x - Kona Driver version 3 (first Universal Binary version)

Io HD
This release updates the Io HD to have OSX "Leopard" compatibility. The release also adds support for 720p50 and provides other improvements and fixes. The archive includes software, release notes, user manual, and utilities. Please read documentation before installing software on your Io HD system. This software should not be used with any other AJA product (KONA, Io, Io LA, Io LD).

[via HDForIndies]

RED cameras delayed

Sat, 10 Nov 07 11:06:13 -0700

RED has announced that it is delaying the shipment of some of its cameras in order to resolve issues discovered with some of the earlier models. They are fitting a new daughter board to the cameras which should increase dynamic range and reduce noise at frame rates 25fps and below, and they are designing new PL lens mounts. The old mounts were causing focus issues.

They are adding these modifications to cameras 1-100 which means that cameras 101-200 will ship a month later on November 30th, with this update included.

RED has stated that it is taking on the full cost of the updates.

[via CamcorderInfo]

Various high def DVD items

Sat, 06 Oct 07 09:35:42 -0600

Best Buy has been named the top retailer of Blu-ray and HD-DVD discs "by a large margin", with Amazon at second place. Both companies attribute their leads to their informational approach to marketing, which aids consumer understanding of the technologies and the format war.

It is unsurprising that consumers are confused when the DVD Forum is close to approving a 51 GB HD-DVD disc. This would eliminate the main advantage of storage space that Blu-ray has over current HD-DVD discs. I prefer this to the HD-DVD group's previous competitive strategy of paying companies to use their product, as the consumer benefits greatly from this latest development.

Meanwhile, in the Blu-ray camp, they are giving away free Blu-ray discs with the purchase of a qualifying player. Once you buy the player you're pretty much locked to the format, and the studios know this. Universal has incorporated web-enabled HD-DVD features which extends HD-DVD's interactivity lead over Blu-ray and with higher capacity HD-DVD discs on the horizon, Blu-ray needs to fight with either marketing or technological advances. I'm hoping it will be the latter.

However, Sony is reporting that it has achieved high manufacturing yields nearing those of DVD. What that means is that there are fewer defects in the discs and so fewer discs have to be thrown away, resulting in lower manufacturing costs. The technological advances to HD-DVD could prove too confusing and expensive for the consumer so they may go with something cheaper and more reliable.

This war ain't over yet.