Homemade Direct-to-Disc on the cheap

Sean Schult · June 28th, 2007, 03:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ron Arrivillaga

I did use a pretty beefy cpu for this test (Core2 Duo, 2GB RAM), but CPU usage hovered around only 10% and memory usage never exceeded 256MB.
...
If anyone is interested in this "investigation", I'll post my progress in this thread (or perhaps start another?).

Ron,

I would definately be interested in your findings and anything you may develop along the way. When you did the dual capture, were you previewing either of the streams? If not then I can understand the low CPU usage -- a simple transfer of data from one interface to another shouldn't be too tough on it. I would be curious what the usage would be if there was a scaled-down (25% maybe?) preview of both streams displayed on the screen.

-Sean

Ron Arrivillaga · June 28th, 2007, 09:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sean Schult

Ron,

I would definately be interested in your findings and anything you may develop along the way. When you did the dual capture, were you previewing either of the streams? If not then I can understand the low CPU usage -- a simple transfer of data from one interface to another shouldn't be too tough on it. I would be curious what the usage would be if there was a scaled-down (25% maybe?) preview of both streams displayed on the screen.

-Sean

I agree - for simple capture the limitation shouldn't be the CPU. Bus speed and hard drive speed maybe. Which is why I was thinking it should be possible to capture using a handheld WindowsCE device (no preview of course). I think drivers may be an issue on WinCE though, so I'm going to work the WinXP dual capture angle first. I'll see what I can do about adding preview for both streams.

Ted OMalley · July 3rd, 2007, 06:48 AM

Ron,

That's very interesting information - good work. After playing around with a stylistic 3500 (which was quite impressive for older hardware), I decided to back off - I'd still like a smaller capture device than that. So, instead, I've decided to sell mine on eBay.

I'll keep checking up on the great work you guys are doing over here, it sure sounds cool.

Thanks,

Anmol Mishra · August 26th, 2007, 09:09 AM

I am trying to do something similar but to make a portable 4:2:2 colorspce and 3:1 compression MJPEG recorder. DV gives us 4:1:1 with 5:1 compression so 4:2:2 would be a step up.
There is a Linux MJPEG page
mjpeg.sourceforge.net

Initially I am planning to get Y/C S-video input and then later use SDI/HDMI for a HD recorder.
Any ideas for the initial SD version ??

David Suthers · October 18th, 2007, 02:37 PM

Here's an update for anyone thinking about building your own portable capture rig running Linux....

dvgrab has been updated to version 3.0

The new version allows capture of HDV video and also allows DV capture via USB.

Since I don't have an HDV camera, I can't attest to how well the new features work. But for standard def I just keep plugging away with mine without any problems. Since August I've captured over 700GB of video directly to my tablet. The only dropped frames happened one night when I used a retractable firewire cable (no shielding) too close to some two-way radios.

David

David Suthers · November 7th, 2008, 10:12 AM

FYI to anybody who visits this thread...

While I don't visit the boards very often, I still use my Fujitsu tablet for capturing video. I used it filming 88 sporting events during the 2007-2008 school year and have already filmed over 30 events this year. All without lost frames or other issues. That's over 1.7 TERABYTES of video files in the past 15 months.

The proof is obviously in the results and I have been nothing but pleased with how the system works. If I had it to do over, would I? Absolutely!

- David

Bryan Daugherty · February 14th, 2009, 04:25 PM

David- thank you for posting this. It was quite a long read and I am happy to have learned so much. I actually was looking for Direct to DVD articles (and I may seek your advice when I find the right thread) when i came across this jem of an article. Thanks for sharing!

Jim Cowan · June 12th, 2011, 04:31 PM

Hi David and everyone,
You inspired me to stop dreaming and build my setup of a direct to disk system.
I'm running 2 FX-1s and 1 Z1u, via firewire to a 3 firewire PCI card inserted in an Intel
D510 atom mini-itx mb. It's housed in a Rosewill mini-itx htpc case, with a 2.5" 160
Gb 7200rpm notebook disk, a WD Blue 500 Gb 3.5" drive (handy), and one 1GB DDR
800 memory stick. H/W cost of around $300. Using left over keyboard, trackball,
15" LCD.

I installed Fedora Core 14, then followed the instructions for adding dvgrab 3.2, samba,
and setting up security and samba to share the 500GB where I put the video streams.

I tested it for a day, including recording one 3hr continuous take from the 3 cameras.
Yesterday was the first real test, I recorded 2 shows, for a total of around 120 GB.
No tape, no tape swaps during the show (which is a real headache),
no rewinding of 10 or 11 tapes and reading them into the computer, just a regular
file move from one computer to another (though I need to get a Gigabit switch now).

Another nice thing was being able to do a quick check during intermission and
between shows, we could see what each camera was doing for each scene and
talk about adjustments. That was really nice.

Next up is a 24 or 32 track recording setup with another computer using FC14.

thanks
jim cowan

Bryan Daugherty · June 16th, 2011, 11:56 PM

Jim,
That set-up sounds nice. One thing you might consider for transferring the data, assuming you are going from the HTPC to a desktop and assuming both have a full-size 5.25 external slot available for a drive is installing a HDD swap bay. I have two on my primary system and one on my secondary. It is awesome for taking back-ups off-site, transferring huge chunks of data between different systems or expanding storage on a system. I use the Kingwin SATA Black Alum Mobile Rack w/ Triple Fans from TigerDirect.com. This would be a quick way to take a data drive directly from your DTD machine to an editing machine for immediate work or full-speed sata dump to a drive on your desktop and would probably be less expensive than a gigabit switch. Thanks for sharing info about your build. If you get time, post a few pics so we can see what it looks like in action.

Jim Cowan · June 19th, 2011, 12:43 PM

Hi Bryan,
I put up a album with some picts from yesterday. Here is the final in theater setup:

I've already ordered the gigabyte switch, I've been out of room on my wireless router for
a while. With the switch I'll be able to put all of my computers on it and work on a new
backup scheme. Now that I'm not recording the shows to tape I have to think about how
to backup the raw data and I may rebuild one of the computers into a storage facility.
But thanks for the heads up on the kingwin.

Right now I'm running a notebook 2.5" for the system. I'd bought 2 with the intention of using
both, but ended up using a 3.5" 500Gb that I'd used with my 1st try that had parts of a show
on it. It was already formatted and I needed to if I had some usable video on it. The Rosewill
case has plenty (too much) room. If I rebuild I'll be looking for a smaller case and 2 2.5" drives
will used.

thanks
jim cowan

Kevin Richard · June 19th, 2011, 02:57 PM

So how does the Vacuum cleaner figure into the system?

j/k

Very nice setup.

Obviously I hope you are gonna use a headless (linux) system for your backup storage system on that spare computer you are talking about. You can jam in 3+ hard drives into a raid 5 setup for some redundancy in that backup. It is very easy to do and will work really well. I have four 2TB drives in a raid 5 giving me 5gigs of usable storage (1024 crap and file system over head ate up a whole gig!) I use rsync on several of my clients servers to backup data over the internet to this box and that is what I would do if I was doing something in house. It could easily be automated with a script and/or just use a script to fire off the backup when needed.

Hit me up if you need some help with that.

August 26th, 2007, 09:09 AM	#94
Anmol Mishra Major Player Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Sydney Australia Posts: 401	Portable 4:2:2 MJPEG recorder I am trying to do something similar but to make a portable 4:2:2 colorspce and 3:1 compression MJPEG recorder. DV gives us 4:1:1 with 5:1 compression so 4:2:2 would be a step up. There is a Linux MJPEG page mjpeg.sourceforge.net Initially I am planning to get Y/C S-video input and then later use SDI/HDMI for a HD recorder. Any ideas for the initial SD version ??

November 7th, 2008, 10:12 AM	#96
David Suthers Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Wytheville, VA USA Posts: 64	Still going strong... FYI to anybody who visits this thread... While I don't visit the boards very often, I still use my Fujitsu tablet for capturing video. I used it filming 88 sporting events during the 2007-2008 school year and have already filmed over 30 events this year. All without lost frames or other issues. That's over 1.7 TERABYTES of video files in the past 15 months. The proof is obviously in the results and I have been nothing but pleased with how the system works. If I had it to do over, would I? Absolutely! - David

February 14th, 2009, 04:25 PM	#97
Bryan Daugherty Major Player Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Lexington, Ky - USA Posts: 552	David- thank you for posting this. It was quite a long read and I am happy to have learned so much. I actually was looking for Direct to DVD articles (and I may seek your advice when I find the right thread) when i came across this jem of an article. Thanks for sharing! __________________ 3x-HD1000u - Ikan 8000HD- custom i7 PC - Vegas Pro 13 and 11 64 bit - Premiere Pro CS4 - and a whole mess of other equipment...

June 12th, 2011, 04:31 PM	#98
Jim Cowan Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 34	Re: Homemade Direct-to-Disc on the cheap Hi David and everyone, You inspired me to stop dreaming and build my setup of a direct to disk system. I'm running 2 FX-1s and 1 Z1u, via firewire to a 3 firewire PCI card inserted in an Intel D510 atom mini-itx mb. It's housed in a Rosewill mini-itx htpc case, with a 2.5" 160 Gb 7200rpm notebook disk, a WD Blue 500 Gb 3.5" drive (handy), and one 1GB DDR 800 memory stick. H/W cost of around $300. Using left over keyboard, trackball, 15" LCD. I installed Fedora Core 14, then followed the instructions for adding dvgrab 3.2, samba, and setting up security and samba to share the 500GB where I put the video streams. I tested it for a day, including recording one 3hr continuous take from the 3 cameras. Yesterday was the first real test, I recorded 2 shows, for a total of around 120 GB. No tape, no tape swaps during the show (which is a real headache), no rewinding of 10 or 11 tapes and reading them into the computer, just a regular file move from one computer to another (though I need to get a Gigabit switch now). Another nice thing was being able to do a quick check during intermission and between shows, we could see what each camera was doing for each scene and talk about adjustments. That was really nice. Next up is a 24 or 32 track recording setup with another computer using FC14. thanks jim cowan

June 16th, 2011, 11:56 PM	#99
Bryan Daugherty Major Player Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Lexington, Ky - USA Posts: 552	Re: Homemade Direct-to-Disc on the cheap Jim, That set-up sounds nice. One thing you might consider for transferring the data, assuming you are going from the HTPC to a desktop and assuming both have a full-size 5.25 external slot available for a drive is installing a HDD swap bay. I have two on my primary system and one on my secondary. It is awesome for taking back-ups off-site, transferring huge chunks of data between different systems or expanding storage on a system. I use the Kingwin SATA Black Alum Mobile Rack w/ Triple Fans from TigerDirect.com. This would be a quick way to take a data drive directly from your DTD machine to an editing machine for immediate work or full-speed sata dump to a drive on your desktop and would probably be less expensive than a gigabit switch. Thanks for sharing info about your build. If you get time, post a few pics so we can see what it looks like in action. __________________ 3x-HD1000u - Ikan 8000HD- custom i7 PC - Vegas Pro 13 and 11 64 bit - Premiere Pro CS4 - and a whole mess of other equipment...

July 3rd, 2007, 06:48 AM	#93
Ted OMalley Major Player Join Date: May 2006 Location: Tampa, FL Posts: 596	Ron, That's very interesting information - good work. After playing around with a stylistic 3500 (which was quite impressive for older hardware), I decided to back off - I'd still like a smaller capture device than that. So, instead, I've decided to sell mine on eBay. I'll keep checking up on the great work you guys are doing over here, it sure sounds cool. Thanks,

October 18th, 2007, 02:37 PM	#95
David Suthers Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Wytheville, VA USA Posts: 64	Here's an update for anyone thinking about building your own portable capture rig running Linux.... dvgrab has been updated to version 3.0 The new version allows capture of HDV video and also allows DV capture via USB. Since I don't have an HDV camera, I can't attest to how well the new features work. But for standard def I just keep plugging away with mine without any problems. Since August I've captured over 700GB of video directly to my tablet. The only dropped frames happened one night when I used a retractable firewire cable (no shielding) too close to some two-way radios. David

June 19th, 2011, 12:43 PM	#100
Jim Cowan Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 34	Re: Homemade Direct-to-Disc on the cheap Hi Bryan, I put up a album with some picts from yesterday. Here is the final in theater setup: I've already ordered the gigabyte switch, I've been out of room on my wireless router for a while. With the switch I'll be able to put all of my computers on it and work on a new backup scheme. Now that I'm not recording the shows to tape I have to think about how to backup the raw data and I may rebuild one of the computers into a storage facility. But thanks for the heads up on the kingwin. Right now I'm running a notebook 2.5" for the system. I'd bought 2 with the intention of using both, but ended up using a 3.5" 500Gb that I'd used with my 1st try that had parts of a show on it. It was already formatted and I needed to if I had some usable video on it. The Rosewill case has plenty (too much) room. If I rebuild I'll be looking for a smaller case and 2 2.5" drives will used. thanks jim cowan

June 19th, 2011, 02:57 PM	#101
Kevin Richard Major Player Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Lafayette, LA Posts: 270	Re: Homemade Direct-to-Disc on the cheap So how does the Vacuum cleaner figure into the system? j/k Very nice setup. Obviously I hope you are gonna use a headless (linux) system for your backup storage system on that spare computer you are talking about. You can jam in 3+ hard drives into a raid 5 setup for some redundancy in that backup. It is very easy to do and will work really well. I have four 2TB drives in a raid 5 giving me 5gigs of usable storage (1024 crap and file system over head ate up a whole gig!) I use rsync on several of my clients servers to backup data over the internet to this box and that is what I would do if I was doing something in house. It could easily be automated with a script and/or just use a script to fire off the backup when needed. Hit me up if you need some help with that.