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Fast central storage that provides simultaneous access to all your content as data or video

Increase productivity and make your color correcting non-linear with Sledgehammer as source or destination DDR or even both with the new dual stream(play/record) option

Sledgehammer SD!O is both an extremely fast network-attached file server and a multi-format video device that can handle SD resolution media in real-time. Incorporating both data and video functions in a single system makes it simple for you to access your images and audio as either data or video.

Post-production and broadcast facilities typically have been forced to have two separate networks, an Ethernet-based network for data, and an SDI or analog video network. Information on these two networks is often the same but must be handled in completely different ways utilizing different tools and techniques.

With Sledgehammer SD!O your content can be stored once and accessed simultaneously as both video and data.

Sledgehammer Bridges the Data and Video Gap

Sledgehammer SD!O is an extremely fast, multi-protocol NAS file server delivering in excess of 500 MB/s of sustained throughput over a Gig-E network. Sledgehammer supports any type of network clients, regardless of the operating system (UNIX, Windows®, Mac OS®, Linux®) with no limit to the number of network clients and no client-side software required.

As a video device, Sledgehammer SD!O can output, play back, and record uncompressed video in real-time in any industry standard format, at SD resolutions at either 8-bit or 10-bit color depth. Material recorded to Sledgehammer SD!O is saved in user-selectable, industry-standard file formats. Sledgehammer SD!O can be controlled externally via RS-422 as a digital disk recorder (DDR), operating in either master or slave mode.

Most importantly Sledgehammer SD!O delivers its contents over both the data and video networks at the same time without any system administration or scheduling. Sledgehammer video operations are always guaranteed to be real-time. Our automatic dynamic bandwidth allocation protects real-time performance and ensures that every bit of processing power is available to network clients and local image-processing tasks.

Now you can make your linear color correction systems truly non-linear using Sledgehammer as your DDR — and, with the new dual stream option, a single Sledgehammer can replace both the source telecine (after a flat pass) and the destination VTR at SD resolutions. The process can also be fully 4:4:4, maintaining a wholly tapeless and uncompressed workflow. Finally, because Sledgehammer is also an incredibly fast file server, all graded material is immediately available on the facility LAN to all authorized users, saving a huge amount of time and money from not having to redigitize the material multiple times in multiple locations.

Fast and Reliable NAS Storage

Employs hardware-based RAID 5 controllers managing FibreChannel or SAS based storage

Storage can be easily expanded without restriping or system downtime

A journaled file system provides a high degree of data integrity

Supports large file systems, with up to 16TB in capacity per file system

A Second Online Server (SOS) option provides automatic failover for mission critical environments and is available in both passive/active and active/active configurations

MAXmin—Sledgehammer’s web-based system administration tool—provides a straightforward way to manage your system with powerful performance monitoring tools and configuration utilities

Versatile Network Support

Sledgehammer provides an aggregate throughput exceeding 500 MB/sec via six bonded Gigabit Ethernet ports or 10Gigabit Ethernet

Supports multiple systems access through industry standard protocols (NFS, CIFS, AppleTalk, FTP, and others)

Provides simultaneous connectivity from heterogeneous network clients (UNIX, Windows, Mac OS, Linux)

Provides sustainable system performance under high loads

Tools are included to simplify mapping of existing networks, including user account information and individual authentication parameters

IEEE 1394/1394b (Firewire 400/800), USB 2.0, and Infiniband connectivity options available

Real-Time Video I/O, Playback, DDR Emulation

Sledgehammer SD!O systems support Real-Time Video operations with:

Real-time video capture and record to tape of uncompressed SD video in any format at either 8-bit or 10-bit color depth

DDR master or slave mode for capture and playback of multiple clips under RS-422 external control

Dual stream software option allowing simultaneous playout and record under external control from a real-time color grading suite (e.g. da Vinci 2K or Pogle)

Real-time 2:3 pulldown insertion in online mode, with near real-time support for 2:3 pulldown insertion/removal in offline conversion mode, including support for phase detection

Real-time support for key (alpha) channel during playback and layout (record) to tape. RGB and alpha channels originating from the same RGBA image sequence are played out as an RGB stream, an alpha stream, or both.

Real-time image crop, pan, scan and scale in online mode with near real-time support in offline conversion mode, including support for bilinear scaling

Real-time timecode/text overlay during playback and capture from tape; ability to add black segments and slates

Digital embedded and AES/EBU audio with up to eight channels (four stereo pairs) in 32-bit formats at 48 kHz stored as AIFF or WAV files

Media Assembly, Manipulation, and Processing

Sledgehammer’s MAXmedia interface is a web-based application (Java) designed to provide:

Streaming video playback through the MAXmedia web interface

Project-based workflow and content organization tools including clip/file browser with very fast media access and sorting

Timeline assembly and playback of multi-format (DPX, TGA, SGI, CIN, TIFF, and others) sequences via timeline interface

Frame-accurate, multi-user timeline editing and preview support in offline mode for image sequence editing, format and raster conversion, and media organization

SD resolution timeline support for display format conversions (fit-to-fill, letterbox, pillarbox, etc.) and variable play speed (e.g. play at 80% or 110% of normal speed)

EDL import, conform of standard formats such as CMX 3600, and support for vendor-specific formats such as Autodesk® Media & Entertainment DLEDL; standard EDL export for online assembly of multiple shots

Telecine workflows are fully supported by the ability to store timecode, keycode, and user-bit information in the DPX file header upon capture, including support for 3-line VITC

Enhanced segment editor with support for LUT editing, including import of LUT parameters, pan, scan, crop, and scale

Easy Upgrade Paths for Dual Link and Additional Storage

Any Sledgehammer SD!O system can be upgraded to a Sledgehammer SD!O dual link for the real-time capture of uncompressed 4:4:4 RGB quality SD resolution at either 8-bit or 10-bit color depths. Up to a maximum of 64TB of storage (16TB per file system) can be added at any time without the need to restripe or reboot the system.