[AG-TECH] Help with hardware configuration

[Robert Olson]

Some comments on this:

I'd advise getting one of the WinTV versions that has S-Video in (the WinTV 
GO just has composite), as you can get better quality with S-Video 
connections, especially on longer cable runs.

I'd advise against G450s on the linux side (audio and video capture) at the 
moment, as they don't work in RedHat 6.2 out of the box. Dual head is not a 
need for those machines.

The ZIP drives are probably not necessary in the Linux machines as well.

We recommend the video capture box be a dual processor.

You don't need the Win2k/WinME and Office items for the Linux boxes. 
Control computer doesn't need Win2k or Office. Display doesn't need WinME. 
(Or are they pricing that as WinME+Win2k upgrade?)

We advise against the Cisco 3500 line of switches, due to problems in their 
handling of multicast. The Intel 460t does a great job for us.

>1. Instead of building our own PCs (the specs for which are in the pdf
>file), we're thinking of going with Dell (say) pre-built machines. Dell
>supply their standard workstations with Matrox G450 cards.

There have been reports of some Dell machines not supporting four video 
capture cards due to differences between the PCI slots. We've not had the 
chance to replicate that problem here.

>2. Our spec says only the display computer is dual processor, but we know
>they all should be.

Well, we typically just recommend the display and video capture be dual 
processors.

>3. Our spec says all the computers are Windows 2000, but we know only
>the display computer is; the video and audio capture computers should
>be Linux; and the control computer Windows 98.

Ah, okay.

>4. Bob Olson's spec on the web says a "Power Conditioner" is "highly
>recommended". Firstly, APS Technologies (www.apstech.com) do the kind of
>equipment to handle power surges, etc. Is this what was meant? Secondly,
>given the choice of more power for a PC (say) or one of these things,
>which would you buy?

More power in what sense?

The conditioner that we're recommending is the Furman box that's 
specifically engineered for audio applications. We've cases where some 
nasty audio noise problems just went away when the equipment was powered 
thru the Furman.

--bob
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