Quattrus/VelocityQ (release 10) and P2

Hi,
I would like to know how to copy my P2 card clips to my Fibrenetix VP-1252-U4. Indeed, each time I tried to copy something through the Windows Explorer, I got an error message. It seems the only things I can store are dps files (after conversion).

Handled by the Quattrus/VelocityQ (Release 10), the 12-bay RAID subsystem containd my VTFS Media drive (drive P). My goal is also to use it for storing the native MXF files.
Currently, these files are stored on a standard hard drive and I have some issues when I'm previewing them. Then, the only solution I have is to do a rendering.

Thanks for your help / Best Regards,
Gilles

Thanks Chris for your answer.
Then, I understand the "P" drive is useless because I cannot use it for standard storage. Based on that, I will try to re-configure my current storage bay for handling the 2 aspects (one RAID volume will be dedicated to VTFS and the a second one to a standard NTFS partition for the P2 clips).

In your situation, are you using 2 different bays?
What is the minimum rate required for 2 SD/DVCPro 50 streams?
Do you think I still need to have partion for dps files? Is the rendering still mandatory?

Thanks a lot / Best Regards,
Gilles

Chris,
Thanks a lot for all the information you gave.
I will try this weekend to update my current configuration for using my SCSI storage bay for the P2 clips; It should be enough for my requirements.

I will give you feedback next week.
Best Regards,
Gilles

It's likely the PC and it's subsystem. Non-native .dps file playback in Velocity 10 is CPU/Memory and motherboard dependent. What that means is it DOES NOT use the Quattrus hardware, but rather decompresses the video stream in software. So while your SCSI video drives are plenty fast enough to playback 2 DVCPro50 streams, your motherboard subsystem, CPU and memory are not.

When using older motherboards, you're severely limited by the PCI bandwidth of the motherboard and memory.

There is no solution on your current platform. You'd have to upgrade to a much faster PC with quad-core processing (at least) to playback 2 DVCPro50 streams in real-time. I believe Harris has a nice chart in the PDF manual that shows what the playback capabilities are for the software based video streams.



Chris Blair
Magnetic Image, Inc.
Evansville, IN
http://www.videomi.com

Yes I can confirm non .dps files are completely processed in software. The Velocity10 manual and release notes discusses this in depth and even has a chart for the real-time playback peformance you can expect using various formats.

Keep in mind that P2 is a wrapper and it can use DVCPRO50, DVCPRO-HD, or AVC-Intra streams. So I'm assuming you're only using DVCPro50 since it's the only Standard Definition format of the 3

The Velocity 10 release notes say that files are all processed in software and that 3 RT streams (DVCPro50) is the best performance you can expect. And that's with a newer, up-to-date computer with modern processors.

We only occasionally get P2 files. When we do, they're typically mixed with .dps files on a timeline. But if we try to do several transitions back to back with P2 files, we typically need to render as well.

All three of our VelocityQ systems are IBM Intellistation Z Pro 6221, so probably older than yours and we can do 2 channels of P2 and a transition as long as the whole timeline isn't P2 clips. But if we put several in a row, we eventually need to render the transitions to get reliable playback.

Here's an excerpt from their Release Notes:

The following list includes all the formats and codecs (both hardware and software) supported by version 10

• RT Streams are shown as maximum number possible without dropping frames

• RT assumes the clips match to the Timeline Settings and Playback Video Standard

• Software RT playback is a function of the CPU speed and Motherboard DMA potential with Altitude or Quattrus hardware

• Limitations in CPU and/or DMA will result in a lower RT Stream count without dropping frames, or may require rendering

• Preview may be possible for more software layers than indicated (up to maximum supported hardware channels for given format), though dropped frames will occur. This also includes HD formats on SD VelocityQ where preview is possible, though render is required for proper SD output

• Though native codecs are supported during editing, final Movie Output (even back to the same codec) requires re-coding all (native smart rendering feature not supported)

• Variable RT Stream performance indicates undetermined or variable performance based on CPU and actual codec



Chris Blair
Magnetic Image, Inc.
Evansville, IN
http://www.videomi.com