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Issue link: https://digital.macdirectory.com/i/1471136
In DaVinci Resolve 18, now available as a public beta, part of their solution to the cloud conundrum is out-of-the-box software. In their case, it’s Dropbox (and coming soon, Google Drive). In an of itself, it’s not exactly the ultimate video server, but Resolve 18 makes use of its ability to sync files locally. And once the actual media files are distributed, updates to the project sync quite quickly. The system allows any number of collaborators, colorists, sound designers, effects specialists, to work on the project simultaneously. This isn’t really that big leap for Resolve. Projects have always been stored in a SQL database, not individual files. Within a given shop, a workgroup can enable real-time collaboration by bringing up a local MySQL server. The big news here is that you can now collaborate equally well with team members in other countries as well as other cubicles. To help support this, Resolve 18 has also greatly improved its ability to work with proxy files. Their new Blackmagic Proxy Generator App will monitor a watch folder and automatically generate H.264, H.265, or Apple ProRes proxies. Like the rest of DaVinci Resolve, the software has been optimized for Apple’s M1 chip. Resolve 18 has a new badge that shows if the clip is a proxy or original. The Need for Speed There remained one drawback to DaVinci’s approach to the Cloud. If you have a lot of people in one location working on a project or projects, that means a lot of redundant local storage. A central, local video server is the solution for that, especially if it is designed to collaborate with Dropbox and Resolve 18. Shops that have priced this out discovered that to go beyond network attached storage (NAS) and into a specialized video server with a six-figure price tag. Blackmagic Design came up with a way of providing the best of both, a NAS price point and capacity coupled with an architecture designed for video. This is the Blackmagic Cloud Store, a family of video servers that can sync across the cloud and positioned to be an industry game-changer. Blackmagic is also a strong believer in customer equity. They thrive on giving the smaller shops and independent producers as many of the same advantages that the big studios have as they can. This is built into the Cloud Store’s design as well, with models that fit just about any budget. At its heart, Cloud Store is a high-speed storage solution optimized for video, 10 Gb networking and even working with Dropbox. The Store can be managed from a connected computer and sports an HDMI port for a status display that shows activity and status in an easy to understand graphic display. The full-size Blackmagic Cloudstore is available with between 20 and 320 TB of flash memory configured as RAID 5. There are 4, 10G Ethernet ports and USB-C ports. The small tower was designed to be whisper-quiet so it can reside in your work area. Pricing for this version of Cloudstore starts at $9,995. The Blackmagic Cloudstore Mini is a compact sibling that will fit in a one half of a single rack unit and 8 TB of flash memory, that is distributed between four, M.2 flash memory cards as a RAID 0 for optimum speed. It has 10Gb and 1Gb network ports and built-in software that can serve as a switch. There is also an HDMI port for monitoring and USB-C for direct connection. The USB-C port has a built-in Ethernet dongle, letting it connect to both networks and external storage. It is priced at $2,995.