server Editing server

[chatminingitalia]

Hi, we are a group of italian guys. For fun almost one year ago we started a youtube channel (about cryptos ). in the past months, we created a new channel about technology, especially old ones. We are big fans of all the ltts crew and we take inspiration form they "render server" for our project. Basically, we are 5 people each of us is in a different city during the year. We would like than to create a server/ powerful workstation which can be reached by remote desktop and the editors can edit on it. What do you guys think about it ? is it possible or not? which are your suggestions for the hardware ? of course please stay on budget 

Thanks to all of you guys 
regards form italy

[Salv8 (sam)]

you are best off looking at how 7 gamers 1 cpu (a project LTT did a while ago) was done and work off that concept

watch the video as it will give you the necessary info on how to create your own system like this

remote editing isn't that great unless you have a fast network connection and also can cause compression which can affect your videos as it will look different on the remote system then what is actually seen, your best bet is to do what LTT did and do away with the remote connection stuff

[chatminingitalia]

first of all thanks really a lot for reply to me, I really appreciated it. Let's talk about the problems. We are 5 guys distributed around a county. Between us there are around 600kms each and the people witch edit are two. For us, a little channel, with little/no income, it's impossible to think about to build at least two different edit workstation and anyway the videos are recorded in my place (i actually live in another country in Europe).  For now, waiting to finish our studies, we have to think about some solutions like this. 

About the project, we already saw this video and we decided that this was a rejected solution because if you see the video, Linus uses a motherboard which alone costs around 400 euros. Adding CPUs and all the necessary the price will skyrocket. I would like just to say that we do indeed have the GPUs already (come on we speak about mining). 

About the internet, I think that here is the best speed of all Europe so internet should be ok. Maybe some concerns about security tough...

Thanks again for your time and excuse me for my English I know is not perfect i just hope it works  
 

p.s. we need to upgrade this infrastructure not for the current workflow but for an expansion that we are planning in the next couple of months 

[Salv8 (sam)]

41 minutes ago, chatminingitalia said:

-snip-

well mate there isn't much i can do, getting a work station is expensive and this is probably the cheapest one out there the can handle 4k footage and allow mutiple users on one system. without the GPUs it's still expensive as you need 4 cores per user (not forgetting the host OS) and shit load of RAM (again not forgetting the host OS)

if you can't afford something like this then having multiple workstations connect up to a remote server hosting your files would be your best option, it will be slow but apart from that i don't know of any other cheep method that could work for you, sorry dude

also your English is better then "Cinglish" (poorly translated Chinese to English) and i can understand it (which is saying something)

[chatminingitalia]

 

we never thought about using it simultaneously. We just need one powerful machine not a virtualized server with 2 or more instances. We also thought about to buy a used server for using all the Xeon processors cores, but usually, they don't support PCI x16.  

[Electronics Wizardy]

4 hours ago, chatminingitalia said:

 

we never thought about using it simultaneously. We just need one powerful machine not a virtualized server with 2 or more instances. We also thought about to buy a used server for using all the Xeon processors cores, but usually, they don't support PCI x16.  

Do you have a budget here?

 

What programs are you using?

 

Editing over remote connections with those distances is going to be a bad experience, Id just edit on your laptop when your away.

 

Dual xeons really aren't that great at editing, and often slower than a single cpu.

[chatminingitalia]

Our budget is (for now) around 600 euro, considering that we already have 4gb ddr4 a 1000w cooler master PSU a 1050ti and a good lga1151 motherboard. Of course, we will need a case, other 8 GB of ddr4 and a good CPU. But honestly, we were thinking about some scalable solution for storage for example. About the program, we use premiere pro. Speaking about the distance editing we never tried and we appreciate your opinions and comments because we have no experience. The problem is that we have two editors and not enough money to buy two machines. You are our only chance to have suggestions for editing on cheap.

[MikeManNZ]

So I would grab 3 x 4GB RAM so that you can get to 16GB (eBay UK has some around 20 quid a module), an i7 CPU (You do not say which chipset the board is but look for a non-K SKU like the i7-6700, eBay UK has some for about 100 Pounds) and 2 SSD's One small one for OS (Amazon has a 120GB A400 for 30 Pounds) and a bigger one for editing (MX500 500GB is 90 Pounds at Amazon).  Add a set of mechanical drives for Video archive (3 x 2TB for around 40 Pounds each in a RAID-5 set) and you are away.  Build using Windows and use RDS for connections. Throw in a case and you have about 550 Euros.

 

Depending on how many SATA ports the boards has you many need to throw in a SATA card.

 

Bear in mind editing over a remote connection is going to be a little laggy, latency is the enemy here rather than bandwidth.

[jkirkcaldy]

My two cents, I work in a TV production company in England so have a fair bit of experience with what you are trying to do.

 

First of all, as it has been said, do not try and remote edit. It doesn't work. There is too much latency and compression involved to make it worth while unless you have specific infrastructure in place. (I'm talking dedicated lines from your ISP that I can guarantee you don't have now as they are thousands per month)

 

Now onto the solution:

You could have a central file server where your editors could download the footage if your upload speeds are any good. 

 

But honestly, with 600€ I think you are going to struggle to buy anything new. I would check ebay and pick up a used workstation. Have a look at HP Z820, Z620, Z420 or newer.