[PLUG-AV] other system options

[James Bromberger]

On 2/06/2011 1:04 AM, Jason Nicholls wrote:
> - Dell Vostro 3550, from $599 with 15" screen, USB 3.0, eSATA, and
> ExpressCard. So +$40 for firewire card = $639 ea
> - Dell Vostro 3350, from $699 specs as above but 13" screen (more
> compact = better IMO) = $739 ea
>
> - 3x 3350 + fw cards = $739 x 3
> - 1x 3750 = $1189
> total = $3406
Nice; in light of the dual option of ExpressCard or USB3 probably
safeguards us best for now and the future. I'm in favour of the switch
to these laptops with ExpressCard firewire.

I called Dell; they CAN'T take Windows off this! They can't swap the HDD
for an SSD. There's basically no customisation of any parts on the
vostro series. Quote attached. I'm sure we could grab an SSD for the
video capture hosts if we want - small is fine - HT has a 16 GB SATA
Kingston SSDNow for $66, probably better prices around.

For the DVswitch host - looks like the fastest clock speed CPU is around
2 GHz with speed boost to 2.9 Ghz. DVSwitch wiki (a little out of date)
suggests "The DVSwitch GUI does require at least a 1 Ghz CPU, but the
GUI will flicker until about 2Ghz." Storage is going to be limited to
one disk - so would have to be a traditional HDD here for storage of
video in a combined dvswitch + encoding platform. Perhaps we still get
an Optiplex with a 3.4 Ghz core i7 as the encoding host (with the gobs
of storage) and have the DVswitch host swapped to an SSD too?

3 x 3350 + fw cards = $739 x 3
1 x 3750 = $1,189
1 x Optiplex 990 = $1,740.
PC total = $5,146

Turning to Audio for a second:
US$100 = 10 channel Yamaha mixer
http://www.amazon.com/Yamaha-MG102C-Input-Stereo-Mixer/dp/B000Z7C9T8/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1306932880&sr=8-4
AU$269 for the same at
http://www.proaudio.com.au/shoppingcart/products/Yamaha-MG102C.html
AU$49 for 3 wired mics
http://www.kosmic.com.au/Hi%20Tech/BEHRINGER/710?Behringer+XM1800S++Microphone+3+Pack
AU$45 for a 20 metre XLR cable - need three of these at least
http://www.kosmic.com.au/search/search_display.php?searchMediaType=8&brand_search=XLR&searchType=narrow&cid=&order_dir=asc&orderby=point&page=1

Hm. Perhaps a field trip to Kosmic audio? Cannington/Osborne Park? Open
till 9pm on Thursdays?

-- 
/Mobile:/ +61 422 166 708, /Email:/ james_AT_rcpt.to
PLUG President 2011: http//www.plug.org.au
Perth.pm Organiser 2011: http://perth.pm.org
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