Red Camera Users Embrace Drobo

Data Robotics, Inc. announced that its Drobo is the go-to storage solution for video professionals using the state-of-the-art RED ONE 4k Digital Cinema camera. RED ONE cameras are used by digital filmmakers to get the quality of film with the convenience of digital media. With the ability to do tapeless capture on location combined with a low-cost editing drive and archival storage for project video assets, Drobo has become the ideal storage solution for all stages of video production. Drobo has been used in conjunction with RED ONE cameras recently by both Two Brothers Entertainment and The Pixel Corps.

Drobo is a four-drive external storage array whose capacity can expand up to 16TB as drive sizes grow. In the field, connect Drobo to a computer via FireWire 800 or USB 2.0. Drobo stores your valuable video footage on a redundant disk array. When you return to the studio, simply dock your Drobo with the optional DroboShare for instant Gigabit Ethernet connectivity. When you need to increase storage capacity, simply add a drive, or replace an existing drive with a larger one. Drobo automatically configures itself so users can focus on the creative process rather than managing complicated and tedious storage management tasks.

Independent filmmakers Two Brothers Entertainment filmed its web series, ‘Loveless,’ using a RED ONE. The company needed a storage solution to take on location with them for filming. During filming, video footage was transferred from the RED ONE’s P2 cards to Drobo. Drobo also stored photographs and behind the scenes video taken on location during production. When filming was complete Drobo was transported back to their studio for post-production.

"Drobo streamlined our editing workflow and saved me time and money," said Christopher Parker, President of Two Brothers Entertainment. "Renting time at editing facilities is expensive, especially for independent filmmakers. The Drobo allowed us to have the same type of storage capacity within our smaller, localized, editing bays, which reduced our production costs. With Drobo there is nothing technical to figure out and no maintenance to do, meaning I no longer need to rent time at editing facilities or hire a network administrator to manage RED’s raw files, which can be a huge expense. Other filmmakers can benefit using Drobo in the same way it allowed us to share large amounts of data between any computer and Drobo — just plug it in and you have a mass storage device."

The Pixel Corps produces video both for its clients and its own web shows. "We shoot many of our projects, including web projects, in 4k with a RED ONE. This sharpens our skills and builds our pipeline for larger projects," said Alex Lindsay, Founder and President of The Pixel Corps. "Pixel Corps shoots a tremendous amount of data for our clients — up to two terabytes a day. We don’t think data is ‘real’ or safe unless copies exist in two places. Both of those should be a Drobo. We have an absolutely enormous amount of data. At Pixel Corps we use six Drobos for storing raw footage, Final Cut project files and finished projects. We are even delivering projects to clients using Drobos. We are consistently researching new technologies and staying on top of new trends — it is very exciting that the paradigm-shifting RED technology and Drobo are coming together at the same time."