[Tig] where.. neutral review RED?

[Bob Friesenhahn]

On Fri, 4 Jul 2008, throb - Robert Nederhorst wrote:

> you are locked into their software, which is all available freely on
> their website.   most of it works on both platforms that most of the
> world uses (mac/windows) but some of it is OSX only.  it's OK by me
> because i finally switched to using a mac most of the time.

The notion that most of the world uses mac/windows is flawed.  It is 
flawed since the DI industry often uses Linux and other unix type 
systems.

Mac and Windows are expensive to purchase and maintain, and don't 
scale well.  They are best for end-user stations and not so much for 
"crunching".

Consider that it likely takes about 3 seconds (an estimate based on 
dcraw performance using a single CPU core) to convert a RED RAW frame 
to a standard DI format on a reasonably fast computer.  Then consider 
that some current scanners (e.g. Spirit 4K) can deliver 24 fps 2K 
performance directly to a standard DI format.  This makes a RED 
workflow a lot slower than a traditional film based process. 
Postproduction therefore becomes more expensive.

In order to speed up the processing, you would want to have a team of 
computers available to batch convert to a usable format.  Storage 
space requirements are large since 12-bit RAW formats are large.  The 
solution is much cheaper and easier to maintain if it is based on 
non-proprietary or free systems (e.g. Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris) which 
can be easily duplicated whatever number of times is necessary to 
satisfy throughput requirements.

It seems that RED favors Scratch and Final Cut Studio.  Users of other 
sytems will be at a disadvantage.

Bob
======================================
Bob Friesenhahn
bfriesen at simple.dallas.tx.us, http://www.simplesystems.org/users/bfriesen/
GraphicsMagick Maintainer,    http://www.GraphicsMagick.org/