Re: How the IO does what it does...

Dan

I know exactly where you are coming from. I too had to question what the IO could/would do before I actually got hold of one and used it on our system.

Although I can't answer the technical questions of how the IO does what it does and the way in which it does it, rest assured that the data reaching your Mac (and hence your storage) is 10 bit uncompressed if you have your capture settings set for that. 400mbps is, as your math has worked out more than enough to transfer fully uncompressed 10-bit Audio and video through a standard firewire 400 cable.

But I think this is where your reasoning stops working. Using the Io, FCP 4, G5 setup your IO is purely your breakout box. The processing, the conversion and the realtime effects are all handled by Final Cut. Stick two streams of video with a dissolve and what FCP feeds to IO which goes to your monitor and your deck is 1 stream. FCP has done the RT effect - not the IO. In this case the only thing that needs to be able to sustain the transfer of more than 1 stream of video is the RAID/Fibre channel storage.

Obviously you've looked at other options - the Decklink particularly, which would be a benefit especially if you're looking at High Def production. We have a Kona SD card in our facility here and I have to say the the IO system is far more flexible with component/composite/S-video in and out as well as SDI - I can work with material on virtually every format. Without seperate converters, the Kona can only deal with SDI. Obviously if other cards give you hardware accelerated RT effects, that's a consideration... But for what it is and how it works, the IO, FCP 4, G5 setup really is second to none...

Chris


PS - we're running dual 1.4 G4's hereand I can still get a reasonable amount of RT effects out of the system!