Thunderbolt is here!

Thunderbolt is a new, high-speed, dual-protocol I/O technology designed by Intel and introduced by Apple that delivers amazing performance, with ease & simplicity. It makes attaching Thunderbolt enabled storage and I/O cards a breeze. All of the current Apple iMacs, MacBook Pros, MacBook Airs and Mac Minis have Thunderbolt. Today’s iMacs with Thunderbolt no longer have the drawback of limited upgradeability. They are easily expandable and support video capture and output as well as professional RAID storage solutions.

New Apple iMacs are an excellent choice for HD video editing.

The new iMac comes with two Thunderbolt super-high speed ports. We recommend a 27 inch iMac with Intel Core i7 processor and 16GB of RAM. This will cost you under $3,000 and it will do a fantastic job of running the latest Apple, Adobe and Avid software. You'll get outstanding performance and be able to easily handle AVCHD and DSLR footage with some pretty complex timelines. If you are on a tight budget, you could go with 8GB of RAM or an i5 processor but, you will sacrifice some performance as a result. You'll still be able to edit most flavors of HD footage, but the editing will be more sluggish and you may run into issues with multiple layers of HD footage and graphics. iMacs are not easily upgraded, so you may find yourself regretting not getting an i7 and 16GB of RAM - especially with Avid Media Composer or Adobe Premiere Pro CS5.5.

Avid Media Composer and Adobe Production Premium run great on iMacs!
We get asked all the time what kind of computer you need to run the latest NLE software. On the Windows side this is a complicated answer with many options. With a Mac it's easier to answer. If you go with the higher end model iMacs, Mac Minis or Mac Book Pros with i7 quad-core processors you will get excellent results.

If you want to edit HD footage with professional workfows, the latest iMacs will run Media Composer 5.x/6.x and Adobe Production Premium CS5.x with outstanding results. The latest versions (MC6 & CS5.5) now support Thunderbolt I/O hardware from all the leading vendors!

That means you will be able to attach an MXO2 LE MAX with Thunderbolt adapter to your iMac and get SDI,HDMI and Analog I/O plus accelerated H.264 encoding directly from the Avid Media Composer timeline! WOW!!

So where are Thunderbolt devices?
You would think that with Apple including Thunderbolt on almost every computer they make (except the old Mac Pros which are in desperate need of a refresh), that more Thunderbolt devices would be shipping. But two major forces impacted the development and adoption of Thunderbolt in 2011.

The flooding in Thailand created havoc for hard drive production this past year and caused massive product shortages. This left external hard drive vendors like G-Tech. Lacie and Glyph scrambling for allocations and availability. New technology like Thunderbolt had to be put on the back burner while they figured out how to deliver products and absorb soaring drive costs. As the hard drive industry comes back to full production, they can jump start their Thunderbolt development plans.

When Apple launched FCPX this past year, they did not include any ability for 3rd party hardware to be supported. At the same time Avid announced that they would open Avid Media Composer to all 3rd party hardware vendors. So, it's no surprise that vendors like Matrox, AJA, BMD, and Motu would target the bulk of their 2011 development and support resources toward Avid. Now that this work is done, we expect to see more Thunderbolt devices in the near future. Especially now that Apple has stated that the next major release of FCPX, coming in early 2012, will have 3rd party hardware support. Many speculate that this support will be optimized for Thunderbolt.

The first Thunderbolt devices are starting to ship!

• We have the Matrox MXO2 family of I/O devices with Thunderbolt adapters in stock. Just plug one into your iMac and you are ready to capture HD footage and play it back out. The HDMI output allows you to see your video in all its HD glory on your HDMI equipped HDTV directly from your Avid Media Composer, Adobe Premiere Pro CS5.5 or FCP6 timeline. (Note: The new FCPX does NOT support any 3rd party I/O hardware at this time.)
  
  The MXO2 Mini gives you analog & HDMI output, while the MXO2LE adds SDI I/O for professional workflows. If you deliver your video using H.264 compression for Blu-ray, Vimeo, Youtube, Flash, itunes, iPhones, iPads or other mobile devices, you'll want to get the version of the MXO2 device you need with the MAX technology for faster than real-time encoding to H.264. Matrox MAX is also very useful for professional post and broadcast environments that require uploading and sharing your video with clients, producers or fellow editors.
  
  For professional editors and post houses looking for SDI I/O, the Matrox MXO2 LE MAX with Thunderbolt for $1,495 is a great choice!
  
  
• The AJA  Io XT is now shipping! Io XT gives you all the features and performance of a Kona 3G card in an external Thunderbolt configuration.
  
  Io XT is the company’s first Thunderbolt-enabled professional video I/O device. Io XT connects to a Thunderbolt-enabled Apple computer via a single cable. An additional Thunderbolt port is provided, enabling users to daisy-chain Io XT to other Thunderbolt peripherals including high bandwidth storage and high resolution displays through a single interface; simplifying the connection of multiple devices.
  
  The highly portable device supports capture and playback of 4:2:2 and 4:4:4 HD and SD formats and can unify disparate formats via its 10-bit realtime Up/Down/Cross conversion capability. Io XT also provides compatibility with the most popular NLE programs, the newest codecs, video formats, stereoscopic 3D workflows, and more.
  
• Motu HDX-SDI with Thunderbolt announced at CES, coming this spring! With the plug-and-play ease offered by Thunderbolt Technology connectivity, users can connect any video source to their computer via the HDX-SDI, from SD camcorders to today’s latest HD cameras, then log and capture clips directly into their video editing software, including Final Cut Pro, Media Composer 6, and Premiere Pro. The HDX-SDI supports all standard SD and HD video formats up to and including 1080p30 (720p, 1080i, 1080p & 1080PsF).
  
  For the best-possible image quality, users can capture uncompressed pixel-for-pixel HD video input via HD-SDI or HDMI with 4:2:2 10-bit color depth and full-raster 1920 x 1080 resolution. For compressed workflows, users can choose ProRes, ProRes HQ, Avid DNxHD, or the codec of their choice.
  
• Black Magic Design has just been shipping the Ultra Studio 3D and Intensity Extreme Thunderbolt based I/O devices. Note: Videoguys does not currently sell Blackmagic Design products

Thunderbolt storage is also starting to ship.

• The Promise Pegasus RAID Storage (Pegasus R4 and R6) are 4-bay and 6-bay High Performance Hardware RAID Solutions designed to unleash the raw power of Thunderbolt technology. With I/O rates of over 800 MB/s, Pegasus delivers a massive and unprecedented leap in performance, allowing video editors to ingest, edit, and playback, multiple streams of uncompressed HD (8-bit and 10-bit) video, while protecting their valuable creative media content, with PROMISE's award winning, enterprise level, RAID6 engine for the ultimate in data protection.
  
  
• G-Tech announced an 8TB G-RAID with Thunderbolt that will deliver a new level of speed, performance and value. G-RAID Thunderbolt will give you amazing sustained throughput for handling multi-stream compressed HD workflows including REDCODE, DVCPro HD, XDCAM HD and ProRes 422 . At 8TB it is also the highest capacity, two-drive, RAID 0 external storage device in the world for storing hours of clips, composites, digital intermediate (DIs), proofs, effects and more! Due to hard drive supply issues the 8TB G-RAIDs are delayed until early 2012. We had hoped to see 4TB & 6TB Thunderbolt G-Raids before the end of 2011, but it looks like these will be coming in early 2012 as well.

Thunderbolt is coming to PCs in 2012!
It took a while, but Intel has now said that Thunderbolt will be coming to the PC platform. It looks like we will see it first on high end laptops from Asus, Toshiba and Aspire. The new X79 Sandy Bridge-E Enthusiast motherboards are now shipping, and unfortunately they do not support Thunderbolt yet. They do have USB3. The good news is that it looks like the next generation of Enthusiast motherboards will in fact have Thunderbolt. I don't expect this to be a new series of motherboards, but rather just the X79 modified to offer one or two thunderbolt ports. I can't wait!

2012 - The Year of Thunderbolt
While Thunderbolt was introduced in 2011, we expect to see it really take off in 2012. Not only do we expect to see a wide variety of Thunderbolt devices, we expect the speeds, which are already phenomenal, to get even faster. The current version of Thunderbolt is copper based, although the actual original design is optical. Intel & Apple launched the copper version last year with the intent of upgrading it to optical when the costs came down. I'm not sure where these costs arte today, but I have no doubt in my mind that when we do see Thunderbolt is all its optical glory, it will become the new standard for high speed connectivity. I can't wait to see what new I/O and storage devices come out this year, and I can only imagine what kinds of additional computer power could be added externally via Thunderbolt - Rendering engines, converters, encoding accelerators, multi-ingest cards and more. 2012 is going to be a thunderous year!

Videoguys Thunderbolt wish list
OK, I have a couple of dream products I'd love to see someone make. I think they would fill some huge holes in the market.

1. Thunderbolt Legacy Converter
   Let's face it, there are millions of older DV and HDV camcorders out there. We also have tons of older analog devices, both SD and HD. Well, we need an affordable way to get this legacy footage into our new tapeless workflows. Firewire ports are getting harder and harder to find as most of today's laptops, desktops, workstations and motherboards do not have FireWire anymore. I've never been a big fan of USB2 based capture devices. We need something better, something more than just I/O.
   
   Now a $500 Thunderbolt box that allows you to capture these older legacy formats via Firewire and/or analog I/O, and include the ability to up/down/ & cross-convert would be just what I need. If you need to tap into the CPU it's not a problem, since this device is for people with new computers that lack FireWire.
   
   Ideally, this device would support all of the popular tapeless CODECs including ProRes, Avid DNxHD, XD CAM, AVCHD, H.264 and more. That would allow me to bring in my legacy footage at the same settings as my preferred tapeless format, streamlining it into my overall workflow. If we could get some basic proc amp type of controls on ingest that would allow me to improve the image quality during capture, that would be even better. Give the pros some scopes and waveforms and it's over the top.
   
   I could also see a $249 Thunderbolt I/O box that only had I/O without any of the up/down/cross conversion for the FCPX crowd.
   
   
2. Thunderbolt Multi for Streaming
   I can't tell you how many times I get asked for a multiple Input device that would allow you to feed 3 or 4 HD cameras into a laptop or iMac for use with programs like Wirecast or Boinx TV. Basically it would allow anyone to have a completely portable production studio. Since this device is input only, I don't see any issue with bandwidth, although the device might need hardware encoders inside to get the job done.
   
   I see several flavors of this box as well - an all HDMI version, an all SDI version and a deluxe unit that allowed for both HDMI & SDI.
   
   
3. Thunderbolt PCIe Expansion Box
   My last product comes from one of our subscribers, who replied to our Thunderbolt Guide email. How about an external box that would allow you to use your older PCIe devices? This would allow you to keep your old Kona or Declink card and attach it to your iMac via Thunderbolt. I'm going to take it a step further. What if it allowed Adobe CS5.5 owners to attach an NVIDIA CUDA card in order to get the full benefit of the Mercury Playback Engine or allow you to attach multiple GPU cards for faster rendering in 3D applications? I like this idea - I like it a lot.
   

Thunderbolt vs USB3 vs FireWire vs HDMI
While we expect big things from Thunderbolt this coming year, we do not expect it to replace USB3. According to Intel, they expect to see both Thunderbolt and USB3 side-by-side in all new computers down the road. This makes both technical and economic sense. USB3 is far less expensive to implement and it has backwards compatibility with all the existing USB devices. The Thunderbolt interface requires additional hardware and chips to achieve it's high data rate, which is great for devices that demand that data rate, but overkill for so many low cost peripherals like mice, keyboards, webcams, card readers, etc.

It is clear that the days of FireWire are numbered. As I mentioned earlier, fewer and fewer computers come with a Firewire port, and with the move to tapeless acquisition, today's new camcorders and DSLRs use USB and HDMI as their connections.

We do not see Thunderbolt replacing or even impacting HDMI in the short term. HDMI has become the standard for connecting HD televisions and home theater gear. Thunderbolt is not intended for the living room..... however .... if and when Apple decides to ship an IOS equipped Apple iTV television it would most likely have a Thunderbolt port on it. So depending on how fast this new Apple iTV gains marketshare, you could see Thunderbolt become integrated into other consumer electronics devices, but that is several years away.