Most likely this question is best answered by the sage Bob Zelin but anyone can answer and provide some sort of comment. The HD PRo from Caldigit seems to be quite a fine piece of gear but the latest to come from Dulce seems the Pro DQ (not Dairy Queen I might add)seems to be smoking hot as far as speed is concerned. Bob did give it some positive feedback on the Duo Quad so I assume this latest iteration will yield some equally positive remarks.
Any thoughts??
Re: Dulce vs CalDigit by Bob Zelin on Sep 27, 2007 at 12:14:32 am
This question is no different than "which is better - AJA or Blackmagic" - or "which is better, AVID or Final Cut Pro".
At this moment, compared to anything else on the market, in my opinion, the two best storage products for uncompressed HD editing, or editing with either Final Cut Pro or AVID are EITHER the Dulce Duo Quad OR the Cal Digit HD Pro. The Cal Digit is technically faster, but both with do uncompressed HD, and both will certainly do DVCProHD, ProRes422, and AVID DNxHD220. Both products are easy to install, easy to use, have great RAID protection that actually works, and both companies have great support. For the moment, I would say FORGET ALL THE OTHER COMPANIES and choose from one of these two. I have not tested ALL the other RAID protected SATA products out there, but I have tested many, and both the Dulce and Cal Digit excel in this catagory - certainly for what we do for a living.
I am sure that if Cal Digit and Dulce took over the entire professional editing market between them, they would both be happy. With that said, I can tell you ONE PRODUCT that you should avoid at all costs - LACIE.
Re: Dulce vs CalDigit by Jeff Brown on Sep 27, 2007 at 11:27:27 am
One salient difference: I think the CalDigit only comes in a PCI-e variety, while Dulce has either PCI-e or PCI-X options.
(I've been comparing both as well).
Re: Dulce vs CalDigit by Bob Zelin on Sep 27, 2007 at 1:04:20 pm
I am told that there are no MAC drivers for the Dulce PCI-X card (I could be wrong about this), so the PCI-X version would only be useful for a PC (like an HP workstation running Premier or AVID) - not an older MAC G5 with PCI-X slots.
Re: Dulce vs CalDigit by Jerry Lee on Sep 27, 2007 at 2:40:01 pm
How about expandability? I believe CalDigit's HDPro let you add another unit by using their 2 port card. Since I only have one available slot left on my Mac Pro, adding another raid card is not an option for me. One other thing is the cable length. In my work environment, I need at least 5m between my Mac Pro and the storage device. Caldigit doesn't seem to have that problem.
CalDigit eLane-2x, eLane-1ex, PCIx card will be available soon. by JonatCalDigit on Sep 27, 2007 at 6:20:44 pm
I tend to get a little preachy, blame my dad for that, but here's what you guys want to know.
1. We are manufacturing a 2 port PCIx card that will be available in 2-3 weeks for the HDPro, so the HDPro can be used on older G5's & PC's with up to 16 drives immediately. We have tested the engineered board, and the performance is quite good. We are also going to provide a switch (eLane Switch) that will allow 7 HDPro units to be connected to a single computer or multiple computers with many other caveats that we will announce later. Incidentally, we've conquered the 2TB storage limitation with Windows platforms.
2. If you buy the HDPro & within 30 days it doesn't do what we say it can, we will refund your money.
Jon Schilling | Sales Manager
CalDigit Inc.
Storage Solutions that work for un-compressed SD & HD, Photography & Audio
www.caldigit.com
Tel: 714-572-9889 X234
Fax: 714-572-9881
e-mail: jons@caldigit.com
Skype me: cgijon
msn: mpujon
Re: Dulce vs CalDigit by Jared Picune on Sep 27, 2007 at 6:54:10 pm
I'm not all that familiar with the Dulce product, but I have had the opportunity to play with the HDPro. This guy is supper fast, a real treat for finicky editors like myself. After working with with the HDPro, I want to kill myself waiting for a timeline to play off of a firewire drive. Seriously drives me nuts. I bought the Xserve RAID when it first came out, spent a pretty penny and now I see the HDPro, a fraction of the price for like half the cost. And yes, I have to cry myself to sleep over it.
But seriously this is why I love the HDPro. I get all of the advance features, that I need, like a redundant power supply. Long cable runs, the ability to expand (and for a low cost), and the box is sexy, cool and quiet. The Xserve RAID is super loud. I also just saw that they have express 34 card. That really excites me. I don't know when I will need to do that much work off my MacBook Pro, but I love the fact that I can. The speed in RAID 5 is big, and I really feel like this is RAID I have been waiting for.
Re: Dulce vs CalDigit by Bob Zelin on Sep 27, 2007 at 8:53:47 pm
there are so many different types of users out there. Some want the best performance, and full RAID 5 or 6 protection, others want to spend AS LITTLE AS POSSIBLE, no matter what it does or does not do. Personally I CANNOT WAIT for the eLane to come out for the Cal Digit, and I understand that Dulce has an expander coming out as well.
I hate these comparisons of "which one is better", when you have great products to choose from. What angers me (and I am always angry) is the user that can't be bothered with anything, runs over to the MAC store at the Mall, picks up a Lacie drive, and 6 months later it drops dead from heat failure (why are there no cooling fans in Lacie drives to this day ? ).
Like I said in an earlier post - if Cal Digit and Dulce jointly take over the drive market for the NLE business, I will be very very happy. But I know that people will continue to pick CRAP PRODUCTS based on price (and it's in stock at the local store).
Re: Dulce vs CalDigit by Michael Belanger on Sep 29, 2007 at 3:24:38 pm
Thanks for all the posts.
Bottom line for me is price and performance. I do believe that when you analyze this either product will do the job and realistically you are probably only going to need this for two years before the next greatest storage solution comes out. Basically I am planning on that kind of scenario.
Other considerations are heat and noise and cable distance , both of which seem to be identiical . Not sure how the dulce manages to output faster given it has the same number or drives as the HDPRO but I will trust they are correct.
Dulce has the card inside the computer doing the processing and raid configuration and the HDPRO has that card externally located in the box. Perhaps the advantage to the HDPRO is that the storage unit can be moved to another suite only needing the simple pci x card in the other computer.
Re: Dulce vs CalDigit by Bob Zelin on Sep 29, 2007 at 7:28:04 pm
One of the great things you said in your last post was
"realistically you are probably only going to need this for two years before the next greatest storage solution comes out. Basically I am planning on that kind of scenario"
REPLY -
Many people do not want to acknolege this fact. With that said, both Dulce and Cal Digit are about to start selling port expanders for these products, to allow you to keep adding on chassis. So you can start with a large single chassis (like an 8 TB chassis), and potentially grow up to 64 TB. This is an INSANE amount of storage by today's standards, but 5 years ago, 1 TB was an insane amount of storage for a product like AVID, so who knows what we will need several years from now.
As you well know, no one expected PCI-Express to happen, outdating all the "old" cards, so if there is the "next gen" of 128 bit products that comes out in 3-4 years, everything we own may go into the garbage - ONCE AGAIN.
And for that one guy on this list that is still using his MAC Quadra 9600 and 9 Gig SCSI drives - well GOOD FOR YOU PAL !
Re: Dulce vs CalDigit by Michael Belanger on Sep 30, 2007 at 12:49:22 pm
Thanks Bob
I guess I should qualify the 2 year prediction theory ... there are plenty of people who think they can hold onto gear for 10 years... talk to people who actually still have quantel products ie the mirage if you recall.... and but a few years later the world did change.... I do believe that you can hold onto stuff for awhile but with new things coming out... namely non moving parts storage... who would want to be using "ancient" disk drives from two years ago. I think it is important to know when to jump. I also feel when the 10 gig e solutions come on line at better pricing that those will be a preferred solution and on the protection side , so called "slice" technology will afford better protection without the performance hit of the raid 5 scenario. These are the reasons why I think these are really two year soltuions at least in my opinon. The adding of storage may prolong the useage of these boxes but if I can get shared storage without the hit of performance I would move. The Dulce and Caldigit products are both superb so either will suffice HOWEVER I would still love to know how Dulce can put out such high numbers given it is still an 8 disk array.
To speak to Shane's correction re cable length... I believe the HDPRO at 25 meters is pretty much a theoretical length . Current ship lengths are 2 meters. I would prefer at least 5-10 m .
Re: Dulce vs CalDigit by Tim Wilson on Sep 30, 2007 at 1:52:26 pm
[Michael Belanger]"think these are really two year solutions..."
Almost on topic: I remember my accountant telling me to amortize office gear over 5 years -- the desks, chairs, etc.
He told me that computer gear should be amortized over 3 years at most. His reasoning -- I couldn't sell 3 yr. old used computer gear for much of anything. (He's right. Try it.) He said this in the context of saying that I should budget for completely refitting the computer gear every 18 months.
He said that in 1992, when the world was moving much more slowly. At least it feels that way looking back. What do I know?
As for when to jump in, Dave Barry said they should have big trash bins just past the cash register, so you could dump your now obsolete computer into it on the way to the car. Much more efficient than waiting until you get home to throw it away.
Re: Dulce vs CalDigit by Shane Ross on Sep 30, 2007 at 8:23:48 am
[Michael Belanger]"Other considerations are heat and noise and cable distance , both of which seem to be identiical ."
Minor correction. The Dulce Raid has a 2 meter distance limit, while the HD Pro has a 25 meter limit.
I love the fact that there are multiple options out there. And that the leaders of the pack make stable units. I for one buy a product and intend to use it for 4-5 years...not 2. I am still on my G5...and plan to for a while...until I NEED to get a MacPro.
The good thing about these boxes is that they are not only for the people working with 2K or 1080 4:4:4 HD....but that they are great solutions for those of us working with compressed HD. I get SO MANY layers of RT it's great. Plus...raid 5 protection...definate plus. And coming from Avid land where drive raids are over $10k...seeing these options is a breath of fresh air.
