Author Archives: Mike McCarthy

About Mike McCarthy

Mike McCarthy is a technology consultant, with extensive experience in the film post-production industry. He started posting technology info and analysis at HD4PC in 2007. He broadened his focus with TechWithMikeFirst ten years later.

Storage-Interfaces

Well now that we have established the idea that SATA drives are usually the ideal choice, we have to deal with the next logical question: How should we go about connecting… Read more »

Storage-Hard Drives

There are many different issues that need to be taken into consideration when evaluating data storage options for post-production. Cost is a primary factor to consider, since without that issue,… Read more »

Offline/Online Paradigm

There are those out there, primarily DV and HDV shooter/editors that don’t understand the fundamental concepts of the offline/online process for high resolution post-production. This used to be required for… Read more »

Silicon Imaging SI-2K Camera

The Silicon Imaging SI-2K is a single sensor CMOS camera that mimics 16mm film camera optics. It uses a bayer pattern to derive RGB images from a single native 2048×1152… Read more »

Intel vs AMD

It was only two or three years ago that AMD had the workstation solution of choice, over the bigger Intel. AMD’s Opteron series was the first to offer many features that… Read more »

Blackmagic HDLink & Video Hub

Besides their Mac and PC compatible I/O components, Blackmagic makes a couple of utility devices that greatly increase the options available to a small post facility in using SDI video gear. Technically, the Multibridge… Read more »

Matrox Axio LE

Matrox’s Axio line of Premiere Pro based hardware solutions rewrite the application’s features much more so than most of the competing products. With a focus on broadcast television output, as… Read more »

Cineform ProspectHD

Cineform was one of the earliest companies to create solutions catering to the emerging HDV workflows, lowering the budget requirements for projects desiring to produce higher resolution images. Their solution AspectHD… Read more »

AJA Xena Cards

AJA currently has three main HD I/O cards for use in a PC, the Xena HS, the Xena LHe and the Xena 2Ke. The LH and 2K come in PCIe and PCI-X… Read more »

Blackmagic Multibridge

I was never all that impressed with original Multibridge from Blackmagic Design. It was not an I/O interface for your computer, it was just a Analog to SDI convertor, both ways. … Read more »