Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Ingesting content

This is topic Ingesting content in forum Digital Cinema Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Richard May (Member # 2627) on 10-02-2012, 01:21 PM:

What is a faster way to ingest content on a Doremi server? Right now, we are loading via USB and it takes forever......

Posted by Frank Cox (Member # 6258) on 10-02-2012, 01:55 PM:

It's my understanding that directly loading the drive into the CRU slot is the fastest way. That's how I always do it on my GDC server. This one time (at band camp) I had to ingest some trailers via USB because the drive wouldn't slide into the slot for some reason and boy, that did take forever. Can't imagine how long it would take to ingest a whole movie that way....

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 10-02-2012, 01:56 PM:

Does your Doremi server not have a CRU drive bay? (On the DCP2K4s they are hidden behind a front flap.)

Posted by Richard May (Member # 2627) on 10-02-2012, 03:29 PM:

The DCP 2000 only has the 3 raid drives.

Posted by Ken Lackner (Member # 1002) on 10-02-2012, 04:13 PM:

I don't know the exact specs on transfer speed, but I think that a network ingest over Gigabit Ethernet is faster than USB. Do you have an LMS or a TMS? If not, is there another Doremi in the building that has the trailers you want on it? If so, you can transfer between the two over the network if set up properly.

Posted by Richard May (Member # 2627) on 10-02-2012, 04:20 PM:

We have no LMS. 2 screens have Doremi's but our issue is loading features.

Posted by Jock Blakley (Member # 6552) on 10-02-2012, 04:44 PM:

We had the same trouble with our original ShowVault, which our installers specified for us despite our demands there be a high-speed ingest option.

The solution for us ended up being the purchase of an additional ShowVault, the four-drive model with DataPort, for use as a storage server. We ingest to that and then transfer over Ethernet.

Of course this is practical for us because of the sheer number of features we need to keep on the system, but it would be a bit of overkill if you never need that much space.

Posted by Richard May (Member # 2627) on 10-02-2012, 06:38 PM:

Just ordered ESATA connectors to mount in the Doremi.

Posted by Carsten Kurz (Member # 5396) on 10-02-2012, 06:59 PM:

quote: Jock Blakley
We had the same trouble with our original ShowVault, which our installers specified for us despite our demands there be a high-speed ingest option.
The solution for us ended up being the purchase of an additional ShowVault, the four-drive model with DataPort, for use as a storage server. We ingest to that and then transfer over Ethernet.

Your installer/integrator must be a very happy man. A second ShowVault just to ingest over a network...

- Carsten

Posted by Dave Macaulay (Member # 813) on 10-03-2012, 09:29 AM:

You can copy content from the distribution drive to any computer and then ftp it over the network to the server: this is plenty quick on a gig network if your computer has the fast network interface. You could get a CRU external bay plus a decent computer and come out cheaper than a SV-2K4, although having a "spare" server might be worthwhile in a large multiplex.
I would hesitate in adding an eSATA board to the server... it probably wouldn't cause any trouble but you're messing with the server warranty by doing that without Doremi's blessing (in writing!).

Posted by Richard May (Member # 2627) on 10-03-2012, 09:33 AM:

Thanks Dave. We have no network here. It's only 2 screens. They probably won't set one up either. No warranty either. These units are 4 years old and we got them used.

Posted by Carsten Kurz (Member # 5396) on 10-03-2012, 11:49 AM:

If you transfer from a second showvault through ethernet, you DO have a network.

And it wouldn't need a second showvault to ingest over ethernet - any off the shelf or second-hand PC could do it.

- Carsten

Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 10-04-2012, 11:13 PM:

Yes, but it wasn't Richard who said they ingested with a showvault.

Posted by Carsten Kurz (Member # 5396) on 10-05-2012, 04:05 AM:

True. Richard, you can use a networked RAID drive or a networked computer (any off-the-shelf machine, even second-hand-ones) for the ingest over ethernet. The machine should have or receive a PCIe Gigabit network card (no USB-Ethernet Adapters).
You should install a CRU drive carrier frame, so you can insert the distribution drives directly, so no need for another copy before you can ingest.

A small networked portable RAID could work as well, but usually you would first have to copy content from the distribution drive to this 'NAS' before you can ingest, which adds another delay.

It's needs a bit of tweaking, ext2/ext3 capability, FTP setup, so don't expect this to work out of the box like with USB 2.0.

In most cases, adding an eSATA port or the 1HE CRU box from Doremi is the easier way to have faster ingest - but if you have more than one screen, networking the servers and ingest machine might be worth the extra work, as you can distribute content and keys centrally to all screens, and also remote control every server.

- Carsten

Posted by Dave Macaulay (Member # 813) on 10-05-2012, 07:03 AM:

Well, it only takes a few minutes to network them. You just have to set up IP addresses on the servers' second ports and run an ethernet cable between them. You don't need a switch or a crossover cable, the ports figure out how to connect to each other. Use cat6 for runs over 50': cat5 should do 1000bT under 50' but using cat6 anyway is best.
You will need the root password to configure the second IP address. You may have them already assigned and usable, check in diagnostics. Make sure you don't mess up the settings on the port used for projection stuff: check which connector the existing ethernet cable uses! Usually eth0 is used first but not aways.
Then in the servers' control panels use content feed manager to set up the other server as a feed source. You need the IP address, you may have to set up the two account names and passwords (depends on software version I think). Now when you open ingest manager click the sorce box at top right and it will show a pulldown menu with your other server shown.

Posted by Richard May (Member # 2627) on 10-05-2012, 10:18 AM:

Well part of the problem is fixed. I installed the esata plugs. I ran a cable (esata to sata) for the drives. That solves part of the issue. Unfortunately, the rest of the drives we get are mini USB. I guess I can't do much to speed that up. We only have 2 screens digital and don't move prints around so the LMS isn't really going to help. Thanks for the info though.