Blackmagic Cloud Pod Review
Setting up a shared, high-speed ten gig network for video editing has just become accessible for everyone. I just purchased the Blackmagic Cloud Pod to use with DaVinci Resolve 18's shared project libraries. So today, we're diving into the top 5 things I love about it and a few opportunities to explore the unmet potential.
If you're curious what the heck the Blackmagic Cloud Pod is, the simplified TLDR explanation is that it turns an off-the-shelf USB hard drive into a network shared storage volume that can be mounted and used by several editors all at once.
So just one copy of the footage, all inside one shared project. This helps you work faster to complete a video and helps boost the quality of your masterpiece by sharing ideas and collaborating throughout the whole postproduction process.
The Cloud Pod also connects to the internet to push and pull files to dropbox so that you can work from wherever in the world with another editor or colorist. Just think about the power this has to improve your quality of life!
Pro 1: Local Collaboration
The Blackmagic Cloud Pod has two USB c ports. One is initially used to configure and update the pod with the free Cloud Store Setup driver, but both will accept any disk as long as it's formatted as Mac OS Extended or exFAT. That means I have some reformatting I need to do with my SSDs that are APFS. I have a pair of one terabyte Sandisk drives plugged in for my initial testing.
Turning these direct-attached storage drives into network-attached storage is as simple as plugging them in after connecting the Could Pod's 10gig ethernet port to your network switch. Then your network switch should be plugged back into each of your computers.
Stay tuned toward the end of this video to learn what specific gear I'm using in addition to the Cloud Pod. The reason it's so simple to set up is because you can leave all the settings to configure with DHCP, which means you don't have to learn how to assign a static IP address. It's on auto mode.
Side note, if you need that control, you can certainly enter a static IP and route your traffic accordingly.
To mount a Cloud Pod volume on a mac, just open a finder window and go to network.
Click on Blackmagic Cloud Pod
And then click the disk you want to use.
If it doesn't appear on your mac desktop, just go to finder preferences and check the box for connected servers.
Every computer on the same network can mount these drives simultaneously, and once they're mounted since you can open a shared project using the Blackmagic Cloud tab, enable multiple user collaboration and work together in the same project, at the same time. The whole setup is that simple! I'll tell you, I've been working post for 20 years, and Resolve's sharing toolset blows all the other NLE's collaboration features out of the water. So I have a free in-depth tutorial on all the collaboration features built directly into DaVinci Resolve 18 that you'll want to watch after this review.
Pro 2: Remote Collaboration
The next thing I love about Blackmagic Cloud Pod is the Cloud part of it. And I can't talk about the cloud without Proxies. The Cloud Pod is excellent at syncing Proxy files to help enable collaboration in different physical locations. That could even be in other countries. And what's unique to using a Cloud Store or Cloud Pod is the ability to choose to sync the proxy versions exclusively, which live in a folder right next to the camera originals. This saves you bandwidth time and cloud storage space. Speaking of cloud space, it uses Dropbox, which has worked fine, but they will have Google Drive support soon as well. Oh, and don't worry, if you choose only to sync proxies, it will also include all of your non-video assets in the synced folder. In contrast, if you use the desktop dropbox app, you'll need to do some manual moving and extracting of proxy files.
Proxy files are lower bandwidth, easier to edit and send over the internet stand-in video files for the larger camera originals. They're enabled by default under the playback - proxy handling dropdown and just work behind the scenes. And your exports will use the full resolution, high-quality footage for exporting as long as they're connected to your computer. Creating the proxy files is super simple with the new free app they include called Blackmagic Proxy Generator. You add a folder with video files. Pick a format, and it will create six megabits per second copies of the original footage, and it will happen in the background. It could even process with another computer you're not using to edit with, on the same network.
So the Cloud pod is a set it and forget it tool when used in conjunction with the Blackmagic proxy generator app. It won't tie up a video editing workstation's resources with an extra app running (like the dropbox app) because the device itself is hooked into the interwebs over the ethernet cable.
Premiere (Pro) 3
That's it. Yeah, it's acting as a NAS, so I opened up Premiere Pro, and it works! What I wasn't sure about is if IT WILL also easily connect to the Proxy files created by the Blackmagic proxy generator for smoother playback. But it does!
To hook those proxy files up, which by the way in Resolve is just all automagic, is in Premiere - Select the Clips and right-click to choose Proxy and Attach Proxies. Now you can edit like a hot knife through butter.
If you needed to collaborate on the same project, you could look into using Premiere Pro Productions. I wouldn't recommend it when DaVinci Resolve also exists, but it's there, and yeah. Did I mention that collaboration works with the FREE version of DaVinci Resolve 18? All you have to spend is 5 bucks a month on a cloud project library - and only one person on the team spends that, and also your projects aren't stuck there so you can cancel that fee after a month if you needed to. Oh and it's backed up by their servers too!
Final Cut (Pro) 4
See what I did there? Uggh I'm aweful. The fourth thing that's helpful is that the Blackmagic Cloud Pod also works with Final Cut Pro. Mount it just like any other external hard drive. And the proxy files work there too. To connect the proxies in Final Cut go to File, relink files, and choose proxy media.
Using the skimmer on the timeline, and you can see the monitoring app starting to dance as it's reading and writing to the disk.
Pro 5: Silence
I love a quiet space. Silence helps me think and process ideas. It's also helpful if you record YouTube tutorials like this one and many others I have here on Creative Video Tips that are here to help you create videos that make a difference and stand out. While you're thinking about and processing the idea of subscribing right now, just know that if you pair the Cloud Pod with a solid-state drive and a quiet laptop, you'll likely be a very happy camper. Alright, you get the picture - I make tutorials on DaVinci Resolve. Let's move on to the cons.
Con 1: USB-"C"
The Blackmagic Cloud Pod uses Gen 1 of USB-C. This puzzles me why they chose this because it maxes the USB throughput to 5 gigabits per second, and the device advertises AND HAS a 10-gigabit Ethernet connection. NVMe SSDs like a Samsung T7 are faster than 5 gigabits per second. I think this was an opportunity to explore the unmet potential.
Maybe it was for the cost savings to us consumers? But I would have paid a little extra for Gen 2 and a faster USB port. Would you? Let me and Blackmagic know in the comments - I'm really curious. The 10-gig speed advertised on the Blackmagic page is misleading because it's only talking about the ethernet port, but you'll never see 10-gig speeds from a Gen 1 USB-connected disk.
However, using the Blackmagic disk speed test app, I averaged around three to 3 and a half gigabits per second over my 10-gig capable network. This would be half of the SSD's speed if it was directly connected to my MacBook Pro. Butt and this is a big butt that is important to understand.
When I'm working with six megabits per second proxy footage, or even my Sony FX3 100 megabits per second footage, I don't even come close to saturating a single gigabit worth of bandwidth. That's like 6 or 100 out of 3,000 bits available. So for a small post team of 3-6 editors, I don't know that this is much of a limitation. And you can still push 80 gigs of video over this connection in just three or four minutes. But it is frustrating that it's advertised with ten gigs all over the website.
Con 2: The Extra Gear
The second thing you need to be aware of is that the Blackmagic Cloud Pod is not the ONLY bit of KIT; you need to get the most out of it if you're not already set up with ten gig networking equipment. A standard switch and port on a computer is generally one gig. That will work, but that's the most you'll ever get. With a ten-gig router and thunderbolt adapter, you will easily triple that speed. But it'll cost you.
So the gear I ended up purchasing was a pack of five Cat 6A ethernet cables. Cat 6 should also work fine and is all you should bother using if you're going to go with a single gig connection.
Then for the 10 gig switch. I picked out the Ubiquiti USW Flex XG. This runs around $300 and I picked this over another option that is popular the Mikrotik 5 port desktop switch because I already have and love using Ubiquiti access points and it's easy to manage with a single controller to see all of my networking gear. I'm a big ubiquiti fan.
The Mikrotik also has SFP ports which means you also need to purchase RJ45 modules, which makes the switch more expensive than the $175 bucks that it seems on the surface, but it's probably more flexible because you could use fiber optic cable.
Both of these switches have four fast ports. You plug the Cloud Pod into one of them and then plug up to 3 computers into the others. So they're suitable network switches for up to 3 editors. That other port is for your internet.
And then, since I use a Macbook Pro, there isn't an ethernet port on it, so I'm using an OWC thunderbolt 3 to 10 gig ethernet adaptor. They run around $200 each, and in hindsight, if I didn't already have an OWC dock with a one gig port, I would have purchased the OWC Pro Dock, which has a ten gig ethernet port built-in, but that does run you up to $400. It would just be less gear on the desk.
I put affiliate links to these products down below. If any of my tutorials help you make better videos, this is one of the best ways you can help support the channel, so I can purchase more tools to evaluate them for you, like this Blackmagic Cloud Pod.
And a side note to the external ethernet adaptor. If you run a PC, you can likely add an internal 10 gig card for less than $200. I just don't have a specific recommendation. And if you buy a Mac Studio - they come standard and mac mini's have them as a worthwhile upgrade.
Con 3: HDMI Monitoring
My next opportunity to explore unmet potential is that I want to monitor the Cloud Pod activity by typing in an IP address into a web browser instead of plugging it into an HDMI display. The HDMI is fantastic and clever, but I want to see this blinky light show from any desk in my network - heck, I'd love to log in outside of my network to see it to help troubleshoot any issues. If this is possible, please let me know. Maybe I missed something there.
So who's this device for? I think anyone who edits videos with another person or team of people, remotely or in the same building.
Or it's also great for editors that might work in multiple locations on different computers and would like to use dropbox or google drive to send proxies to their home or office rather than carry around an external hard drive.
But I think the best use case is for collaboration - working from the same media, at the same time, inside the same project.
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