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CALIFORNIA HISTORICAL RADIO SOCIETY IS PLEASED TO HONOR

EDWARD A. SHARPE
WITH THE
CHARLES D. 'DOC' HERROLD AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN THE PRESERVATION AND DOCUMENTATION OF EARLY RADIO.

BY THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS, 1992:

 

 

 

 

ed sharpe with red cameraGEEK’N WITH ED
Network Attached Storage

A 2 Terabyte Buffalo Terastation NAS For Your Edit Station

By Ed Sharpe - Glendale Daily Planet (www.glendaledailyplanet.com)

 

or… A Storage Space Dilemma Solved!

Even though I had close to 1 terabytes online with my Sony Vaio we have as an edit station, I found myself with only 56 gigabytes of storage left on the system. What I needed was a quick increase in storage! Even though I had other computers used for video editing, audio processing etc… I noticed there were many stock items being stored on each system that were handy to have online, but not really necessary to have on each system if we could keep them out on some slower storage on the network. Additional storage was also needed for backup of projects

 

 

I also wanted a solution that did not require a lot of time to set up as there were many tape conversion projects we were involved in regarding the production we were assisting with concerning Daniel and Phillip Berrigan  and their anti-war activities, release from jail and “die-ins at” the senate. With DVCAM tapes at over 12 gigabytes each piling up from all the decaying ˝ inch reel to reel video tape originally shot on an AV-3400 Sony Port-a-Pac.

 

Normally what I would have done is to build a bare bones system with a large number of drives and hang it on the network…. But no time to build system and certainly no time to format 4 separate 500-gigabyte disk drives! I needed a solution and I needed it NOW!

 

The way to have a central shared resource, fairly fast, and lots of it is to use NETWORK ATTACHED STORAGE devices. Out of the box, pre formatted, and taking only minutes to set up this was indeed the winning solution!

 

There are numerous companies making Network Attached Storage, however, I chose the Buffalo Terastation  as I had experience with the reliability of many of their wireless products and smaller disk solutions. Another deciding factor was the price of just over $1000. This unit will work on networks containing PC’s, Apple Mac’s or Linux workstations, however, in this instance the information  we are going toi relate in this test report is based using a PC.

 

The setup was a breeze… It consisted of…

 

-Unpacking the unit

-Glancing at the manual for less than a minute (You may want to spend more time)

-Plugged the unit into the network switch (you may have a hub..,)

-Plugged the unit into power.

-Placed the  TeraNavigator CD into the Computer’ CD drive.

-Set up a good secret password and user name.

-

-Yea! Start transferring files from other computers to the Terastation NAS device

 

I probably spent most of the time throughout this entire process wondering why it was so fast and where was the difficult part …

 

After having everything set up I decided to call technical support and ask a bunch of questions.  I found the customer support process at Buffalo to be quick and extremely knowledgeable. Indeed, the people I talked with were very patient as I droned on with a collection of simple and in-depth questions on system internals, network theory, applications, and product evolution. I give them an A+.

 

There are other bonus features of this unit.  One additional feature is the ability to have other external USB drives hooked to the Terastation. In this manner you can everyone on the network transfer data to this removable USB drive, detach the drive and carry it to another building, down the street or to take with you on a long airplane flight!

 

 The Teraserver will also act as a print server allowing others on a network to all share a non network printer with just a USB port on it. This feature allows you to purchase very inexpensive printers and run them easily as shared network devices.

 

With the Memeo™ AutoBackup software you may set up scheduled backup routines.

 

But Wait… THERE IS MORE!  TeraStation can also be used a Multimedia Server for direct streaming of digital media to your TV or HDTV in almost any audio, video or graphic format. Compatibility with Buffalo’s LinkTheater Network Media Player offers wireless streaming of all your music, videos, images - all directly to your TV.

 

 

 

A Few More Technical Specifications and Raid Info… :

 

Wired LAN Interface Transmission Rate 10/100/1000 Mbps   Transmission Distance 328 ft.

 

This unit is a trim… 6.6 x 8.7 x 9.5 inches and if you have a pair of them they stack nicely!. For such a small unit the weight is a surprising dense 15.8 lbs.

   

 

Here are the possible configurations of the internal disk drives in the Terastation unit.  We are only concerned with the   HD-H2.0TGL/R5    2 Gigabyte array.  

 

 When all these disk drives are configured in a raid 5 array you get 1.5 terabytes total of storage. This is, less storage than the full spanning mode of 2 Terabytes, but it offers protection so if one disk fails you still have integrity of data. To recover completely a new disk drive replaces the failed unit in the Terastation and the system will rebuild the missing data for the failed disc drive.

 

 

TeraStation uses RAID (“Redundant Array of Independent Disks”) technology to control the four

hard drives in your TeraStation. RAID may be configured several ways:

 

RAID Spanning - All four drives are striped into one large drive, giving the maximum capacity for

your TeraStation. This size is the one listed on your TeraStation’s box and shows the total capacity

of the TeraStation with no data used for redundancy. RAID Spanning is fast and efficient, but with

no redundancy, if one hard drive fails, all data on the TeraStation is lost.

 

RAID 1 (mirroring) - Hard drives (or spanned pairs of hard drives) are arranged in mirrored pairs.

Each half of the pair reads and writes exactly the same data. This costs you half the total capacity

of your TeraStation, but provides excellent redundancy. If a hard drive fails, the mirror continues

to supply data, so you may work on normally. You may replace the damaged or defective drive at

any time, and normal RAID 1 mirroring will then be automatically restored.

 

RAID 5 (parity) - All drives in a RAID 5 array reserve part of their data space for parity information,

allowing all data to be recovered if a single drive fails. The parity information takes up about one

hard drive’s worth of space, so if you set up all four drives in the TeraStation as a RAID 5 array,

your usable capacity will be about 3/4 of the total capacity of the TeraStation. RAID 5 is an

excellent compromise between efficiency and security. If a single drive fails, no data is lost. After

the damaged or defective drive is replaced, your TeraStation will automatically restore all data to

the new drive and resume normal RAID 5 operation. This is how your TeraStation is set up out

of the box.

 

Buffalo Technology recommends RAID 5 for its excellent balance of efficiency and security.

 

 

 

A full specifications package on this unit can be found at:

http://www.buffalotech.com/downloads/TeraStation-DSnew.pdf

 

The user manual for this unit may be found at:

http://www.buffalotech.com/downloads/TeraStation_Manual_Web.pdf

 

World-wide general web site for Buffalo at:

 http://www.buffalo-technology.com/

 

 

 

SUMMARY: 5-in-1: File, Print, Backup, FTP and Multimedia Server in One!

 

Combining advanced fault tolerant data solutions, robust file security and Gigabit

Ethernet networking, TeraStation allows users to deploy a simple, cost-effective data or

media server to their office or home network in literally minutes without cutting corners

on features or expandability. By offering a total of four USB 2.0 ports, the device can

accommodate additional external USB hard drives for expanded networked storage

or as backup targets. Additionally, a USB printer that can be attached and shared over

the network via TeraStation’s built-in Print Server.

 

ed sharpe with red camera

'Quick and curious and
in the know...
it's KKAT-TV'

 



video camera hints for web journalism 
 

 

We have a wide assortment of video gear we use, HDV, Betacam DV.

For quick "grab n' go camera we use some of the small cannon GS-35 video cameras. Main thing I liked about them is they HAVE EXTERNAL MICROPHONE INPUTS!

Really important if you are out on location and wish to pump external audio in.

Also better as you can clip lav mike on your subject..... also good as you can use a shotgun mike....but the visual...

Ya gotta be able to have a mike with a flag on it! Lets face it .. nothing cues the subject to speak as well s the mike being flipped towards them.

The little GS-35's cost us $250 on closeout and shoot DV tape..... I load the tape to the edit by and then just shelve the source tape in case I need it for later use.

Another nice thing to do with these... and although I many times I go on an assignment by myself..... you can set up 2 or three of these little guys and let them run and multi-cam edit in your NLE.... I have become the states poster child for the one man new media shoot....


Another plus of this small DV camera is the act you can purchase low priced telephoto and wide-angle attachment kits for them... We bought some of the 40 dollar variety at fry's and since the little cameras already had a 30 x optical zoom we set the tele-extender in the drawer and use the wide angle adapter. This adapter is a MUST when you are working in really close areas... beware though it will give your subject -horsey face if you have the lens too close to their face during an interview.

the adapters we use seem to 'zoom though' just fine

OK my parting comment on the tape cam vs the disc cam... yea both have an advantage but here is my rationale...

If you shoot video you have a source and an archive

With disc camera... you have to archive it off to another disc drive... expensive

With a tape camera you archive it on a 3 dollar tape ( or $12 if you like the really good Sony master tapes) Yea... it takes time to load the tape to the edit bay but... when I come into the office after a shoot I usually like to stuff my face... chug 1/4 pot of coffee etc... so not really time lost..

The tapes stack up well and are cheap compared to stacking up disc drives and tapes sure last longer when you drop them than the disc drives!

One added note... I believe the tape cameras stand up better than the disc cameras when dropped also!


Feel free to contact me if you have any other questions!

Ed Sharpe
www.glendaledailyplanet.com



Ed Sharpe, Archivist for SMECC

See the Museum's Web Site at
www.smecc.org
(alt+p)

 

 

 

ed sharpe with red cameraVideo camera hints for web journalism  By Ed Sharpe KKAT-IPTV

 


We have a wide assortment of video gear we use, HDV, Betacam DV.

For quick "grab n' go camera we use some of the small cannon GS-35 video cameras. Main thing I liked about them is they HAVE EXTERNAL MICROPHONE INPUTS!

Really important if you are out on location and wish to pump external audio in.

Also better as you can clip lav mike on your subject..... also good as you can use a shotgun mike....but the visual...

Ya gotta be able to have a mike with a flag on it! Lets face it .. nothing cues the subject to speak as well s the mike being flipped towards them.

The little GS-35's cost us $250 on closeout and shoot DV tape..... I load the tape to the edit by and then just shelve the source tape in case I need it for later use.

Another nice thing to do with these... and although I many times I go on an assignment by myself..... you can set up 2 or three of these little guys and let them run and multi-cam edit in your NLE.... I have become the states poster child for the one man new media shoot....


Another plus of this small DV camera is the act you can purchase low priced telephoto and wide-angle attachment kits for them... We bought some of the 40 dollar variety at fry's and since the little cameras already had a 30 x optical zoom we set the tele-extender in the drawer and use the wide angle adapter. This adapter is a MUST when you are working in really close areas... beware though it will give your subject -horsey face if you have the lens too close to their face during an interview.

The adapters we use seem to 'zoom though' just fine

OK my parting comment on the tape cam vs. the disc cam... yea both have an advantage but here is my rationale...

If you shoot video you have a source and an archive

With disc camera... you have to archive it off to another disc drive... expensive

With a tape camera you archive it on a 3 dollar tape ( or $12 if you like the really good Sony master tapes) Yea... it takes time to load the tape to the edit bay but... when I come into the office after a shoot I usually like to stuff my face... chug 1/4 pot of coffee etc... so not really time lost..

The tapes stack up well and are cheap compared to stacking up disc drives and tapes sure last longer when you drop them than the disc drives!

One added note... I believe the tape cameras stand up better than the disc cameras when dropped also!


Feel free to contact me if you have any other questions!

Ed Sharpe
www.glendaledailyplanet.com

 

 

 

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