Magma ExpressBox2

[Kaku Ito]

From my past experiences with Magma (we used to import and distribute them in Japan), I decided to give a try on Magma ExpressBox2 with RED Rocket™.

I'm hoping this will provide some support with MBP to use with RED Rocket™ and Calidigit RAID card that provides internal and external RAID drive configuration (although I would have to be careful with the bandwidth to reserve for RR operation) AND, more robust support with Mac Pro to provide full speed support on RR and extra PCIe bus for another card like eSATA card (since all of my busses are used up). I'm hoping that the second slot won't take so much bandwidth, so I can operate the RR fully.

And I'm hoping this will work with Rocket Fuel on HP Dream Color laptop, too.

I'll provide the report on this when I receive them.

[Sanjin Jukic]

Kaku,

looking forward to your test.

Also on the left side of aluminum "clap door" you can drill two holes to get HDSDI connectors out of the box

and also with a small piece of Velcro double sided tape you could fix it from inside.

I still didn't do this but have a plan to make it soon.

[Kwan Khan]

Looking Forward as well...

[Kaku Ito]

Sanjin, the ExpressBox2 is constructed little differently, so I have to see where's the best to drill the hole.

I was debating to buy this or another RED ROCKET card first, but expanding the number of slot for Mac Pro is a big gain.

[Kaku Ito]

My Magma got shipped out. It should be arriving next week Tuesday or so.

[Kaku Ito]

I took a chance and brought the Magma to InterBEE, then installed it to the Mac Pro we are showing at VPJ's booth. Worked flawlessly. Now after the show, I can check to see if the second slot works well with using RED Rocket on the first slot and using it with Mac Book Pro. VPJ booth is easy to find, across from Sony and Seika. I will be giving presentation there everyday from 11:30am about the feature movie I worked for providing R3D workflow consultation, and about the RR PrimeSuite, RED Rocket Equipped souped up Mac Pro.

[Kaku Ito]

Now, I'm back from InterBEE frenzy, I just set up my usual work environment with Mac Pro, but with Magma ExpressBox2. I installed the RR and a eSATA card with SiliconImage chip on (one external and one internal port).

I connected a LaCie LittleBig 400GB (7200rpm drives inside) with eSATA connection and it mounts no problem, and surprisingly, 4K material from LittleBig on ROCKETcine-X plays back with full res fine. With ExpressBox2, ExpressBox2 is recognized at x8 speed, Red Rocket at x8 and eSATA card at x1. I'm stocked this worked. Now I'm going to check to see how much it works on Mac Book Pro.

[Tai Wah Lim]

Now, I'm back from InterBEE frenzy, I just set up my usual work environment with Mac Pro, but with Magma ExpressBox2. I installed the RR and a eSATA card with SiliconImage chip on (one external and one internal port).

I connected a LaCie LittleBig 400GB (7200rpm drives inside) with eSATA connection and it mounts no problem, and surprisingly, 4K material from LittleBig on ROCKETcine-X plays back with full res fine. With ExpressBox2, ExpressBox2 is recognized at x8 speed, RED Rocket™ at x8 and eSATA card at x1. I'm stocked this worked. Now I'm going to check to see how much it works on Mac Book Pro.

Kaku, thanks for info. Any good piece of news from InterBEE? Lim

[Kaku Ito]

The Fuji PL mount zoom lens felt and work really well. Then had it with RED ONE on display with a couple of girls in front of it;).

There were a lot of 3D stuff.

[Chris Parker]

good stuff kaku. very nice setup for mac pro there. could you put a kona 3 in that thing and have good performance too??

[Chris Parker]

do you know how this one works kaku:

http://www.magma.com/products/pciexpress/expressbox4-1u/index.html

[Chris Parker]

actually, it is the one you have that looks perfect kaku. nice one. how are you finding the rocket performance when it is in this box?

did you put hard drives in there at all, as it seems to have some empty space for that if you wanted. wondering how those drives are then connected to the computer.....

[Kaku Ito]

I think the implementation is already in the control chip set of the PCIe, so 4 slot version won't make differences but the work load distribution could be a problem.

I put in a eSATA card with internal/external port so I can connect a drive (or drives but not sure about the cable) on the second slot and just playing 4K material from the drive was fine with Red Rocket especially with Mac Pro configuration which provides x8 speed.

I was thinking installing Matrox MXO2 card on the second slot because I wouldn't use the RR and MXO2 at the same time and MXO2 only requires x1 PCIe speed. I'd say Kona3 should work fine, too. Have you looked at Bluefish 444 Epoch instead of Kona 3?

Chris, now I have everything I planned pretty much and beginning to provide clips to the lessons... stay tuned.

[Kaku Ito]

I tested the Magma ExpressBox2 with the Mac Book Pro, the eSATA seems work well. Red Rocket gets recognized and ROCKETcine-X boots up fine, but it works smoothly only at 1/4 debayer. It was both the same data being on the Little Big Disk and the internal drive. This is with two generations old Mac Book Pro 2.6 GHz Dual Core. I'm going to get hold of the latest Mac Book Pro and see any improvements.

[Matthew Riggieri]

How about transcoding times?

[Su-Jeng Sang]

Any issues with the magma and RR yet??

[Deanan]

When we originally tested it a long time ago, the cooling didn't seem adequate for rocket.

[Su-Jeng Sang]

Ouch! Thanks for the note.