Comments

SonyPJM wrote on 4/22/2004, 9:49 AM
In the docs we specify 256 Meg of RAM and a 100 MBit Ethernet network
as minimum requirements for network rendering that go above and beyond
the requirements for Vegas.

The Network Render Service app (VegSrv) requires at least 20 Megs and
it is not uncommon for Vegas itself to go beyond 100 Megs. Also, when
you don't disable rendering in VegSrv on your editing machine, you'll
end up with two instances of Vegas running at the same time... I'd
recommend at least 512 Meg on editing machine. If you don't have
enough RAM, swapping will kill your performance.

For "the ultimate" setup, I'd probably wish for a dedicated file
server/stitcher/encoder machine with dual CPUs and RAID 0.
skibumm101 wrote on 4/22/2004, 9:53 AM
Where should the shared media folder be placed for best throuput and best usability of vegas while editing. Should the shared files be better used on one of the render machines, or should i have the folder localy on my editing staion for faster hard drive access.?
vitamin_D wrote on 4/22/2004, 9:55 AM
Hi SonyPJM,

Thanks for your responsiveness and insights. A few questions:

I've read that disk access and throughput at some point is the greatest bottleneck in network rendering. Supposing you're going to use the network renderer to work with HD material, would you then suggest that SATA RAID be used, or is SCSI the only truly viable option for the moment?

Also, given the size of HD media files, would it be wise or, more exactly, necessary to have gigabit ethernet?

Thanks,

- jim
Nat wrote on 4/22/2004, 9:59 AM
You will certainly have benifits in having gigabit ethernet... even for everyday use. I wish I could be wired at home but I have to live with a wireless lan.
fmc wrote on 4/22/2004, 10:09 AM
NAT:

I was thinking of wireless. Give some insight - please - no discussion of security issues.

Jerry Bryant
Nat wrote on 4/22/2004, 10:14 AM
fmc :

Wireless is very nice until you need to transfer large files.
I have the b type, so it's not the fastest available, but even g isn't fast enough for large files.

Wireless has a lot of advantages though. I can work in the yard with my laptop, work in the living room etc. I often have friends that comme to my house and they all have powerbooks, they are instantly connected when they open their computers, that's nice. We can share files and they can go on the net.

If you need to work with large files you will need some wired connection, 10/100 connection at miminum, firewire will be better, gigabit is the best.
SonyPJM wrote on 4/22/2004, 10:14 AM

I'd probably put the media on the editing machine or a dedicated file
server. Similarly, I'd want to save my output files to the machine
that does the stitching or a dedicated file server.

Generally speaking, you can get better performance editing off a good
file server with fast disks and a fast network than you can from
editing off local IDE disks. But on a tighter budget I suppose you
might lean towards beefing up your editing machine as much as
possible.
SonyPJM wrote on 4/22/2004, 10:25 AM

Disk access certainly CAN be the bottleneck but of course it depends
on the disks and the network... it also depends on the project.

There's also data replication strategies which can really
help... especially if you tend to render from the same source
material over and over.

I don't know if there's a big difference between a SATA RAID with 10K
RPM disks vs. a SCSI RAID with 10K RPM disks... both sound pretty good
to me.

I probably would want gigabit or fiber for uncompressed and/or HD
network rendering.
vitamin_D wrote on 4/22/2004, 10:28 AM
Thanks, again. You're making my gameplan more concrete.

- jim