M6600 Reliability and Stability

This past weekend we had Fall Commencement on campus. My team oversees the streaming of live video from the arena. We had over 800 unique viewers that watched online. May Commencement usually has around 2000. In my mind, these viewers could be families sitting around a computer watching their friends or relatives celebrate the completion of their college degrees. The emails I have gotten from viewers support this. Sometimes those thankful emails come from other continents.

Since the event is live, you only get one shot to get it right. If hardware fails, so does the video stream, and so does my team. We would fail those people that want to share in the experience as it happens. We would fail the students becoming alums.

To keep from failing, we use the best hardware that we can find and we always have a backup for everything. 2 encoding computers, 2 DV decks, 2 network paths, 2 streaming servers, 2 people watching the encoding.

Our current encoding methods require a quad core processor. The primary and backup encoders are M6600s. We are also able to use an M6500 and Latitude E6520 if we have to work in multiple locations at the same time. We had been running a quad core Macbook Pro as an alternate encoder, but after updating to OSX Lion, the Firewire port no longer was stable.

So, on to some pictures...

Here we have the layout of the Holmes Convocation Center. Seating for 8,500 people. To the left is the stage with a large rear projection screen behind it. To the left, center, and right are the 3 cameras used for the shoot. In the very back, the production crew is set up under the seating.



Here is the reason why we are here - a great big stack of degrees to be handed out. These only represent half of those awarded.



Here is a closer shot of Camera 2.



Behind Camera 2, you can look under the seating risers and just see the blue screen of the M6600. This is where we have to set up for ceremonies.



The encoding setup. Two M6600's, 2 Sony DV decks, 1 Macbook Pro 17 (used by our programmer to monitor servers). I monitor audio through Shure SE425 headphones.



Here is the Audio mixing station along with main tape playback and recording.



Video mixing console.



Ryan and Zach say hi.



Sign Language Interpreters.



5 Minutes until the start. Lights still on. Left M6600 encoding 3 streams using Flash Live Media Encoder. Right M6600 recording and monitoring video through Adobe OnLocation CS5.5. If the left M6600 were to fail, the right M6600 would pick up encoding.



Lights are out and we are live. Thank goodness for lighted keyboards!



Here is why I use the M6600. Almost 7 hours of continuous streaming for 2 Commencement ceremonies and not a single frame dropped. Not a single error message. Not a single warning. Rock friggin solid.



Going back to the second M6600 recording 3MB/sec in AVI format, I now have 2 hour long video files that are approximately 30GB each. It takes less than 30 minutes to transcode the uncompressed file to an H.264 with a VBR between 1 and 1.5Mbits/Sec. I have seen this take up to 8 hours before. This allows us to get a fast version of the video out the same day. The video production crew will take their recordings and make a version that is complete with titles over the next couple of weeks. We will encode their version and replace our "quick" one.

I have been using Precisions to do this for 5 years now. I have used the M90, M6300, M6500, and now the M6600 and have never had a failure. I always buy them new. I always buy them with the RAM I will be using in them. The only parts I add occasionally are hard drives and I only use Western Digital or Seagate for platter drives and Intel for SSD drives. I don't overclock the machines. If I do work on them I take precautions for static and I am very careful. I also knock on wood every time I talk about how reliable they have been.

I would consider a refurb machine for personal use, but it would take a lot for me to trust it in a can't fail situation. I would rather buy the machine new and not have to worry about what someone else did to it. That is just my opinion.

 

that is a brutal setup, I am totally jealous of your occupation. awesome work

good to hear the M6600's are a solid platform (when dell gets it right)

 

I keep trying to come up with a specific list of things that make the M6600 have issues.

We know some SSD drives will.

We know it is sensitive to RAM. Or maybe the Hyper X ram is not what it used to be. I do know my 1600mhz Dell factory ram is normal Kingston.

We know that the refurb machines seem to be hit or miss.

I wrote a review based on my experiences with 3 machines personally and another 6 at work. None of these machines are having the types of issues people talk about here. I want to know what is going wrong with the machines. We are 9 for 9 here. There should not be this many random issues.

 

Other than no video when cold, my refurb is rock solid. I just hope my replacement doesn't introduce any additional issues. Being a computer tech in the past (I now maintain servers remotely) I find that many (but not all) small issues are user error. It can also be a combination of components that is to blame; in the case of the M6600 this is pretty much limited to RAM and HDD.

For what it's worth my M6600 came with Hynix memory. I replaced it with 16GB of G.Skill.

If I was in your position I would only buy new as well. You don't have the luxury of time when it comes to recording a live event.

 

Nice to see those M6600s at work. I was going to get a refurb, but figured new would give more reliable. Had some issues with refurb products in the past.

Is the stock Dell ram bad? I was assuming that when they charge $6000 (with tax) on my ram, it would be a top notch quality in the industry... Let me know since this is a huge bummer....

 

The ram isn't bad, but they go by what usually cheaper and available vs better IMHO. I have only seen brands like Samsung, Hynix, and a few others.

I have never seen name brands like Corsair or Kingston offered generically in a Dell system.

The one thing you are paying for is the support on it. Have a bad module? A new/refurbished module its in your hands usually next day.

 

Great post as always from you Bokeh.

I love my M6600, it is solidly built, any concerns I may have had at the beginning about an off centre keyboard proved unfounded, and I just love it, and will be sticking with the future top of the range precisions in the future.

The issues I am having with my M6600 include BSODs (different errors), random and immediate shutdowns for no apparent reason at all, and sometimes when I am not even doing anything. The Optimus often gets turned off when these things happen, so you have to go back into the BIOS and change it.

I have done two full diognostics, ran multiple RAM tests for long periods on each RAM individually. I found one RAM to be faulty, and that is being returned. I replaced it with RAM from my XPS (Samsung) so I now have three HyperX and one Samsung RAM from Dell and the problems persist.

This weekend I am going to do further tests, removing all the HyperX RAM and putting in just 8GB of Samsung RAM which came with my XPS.

If the problems stop then voila, we have found the culprit (at least in my individual case). If they continue, I will remove the HyperX HD from the second HD Bay.

If they still continue then I can only presume it may be a software conflict, something like the AV you use, or possibly a programme like ccleaner.

I will definitely report back on the results, as it seems from the Owners Lounge thread that I am not the only one having the exact same problems.

 

The only way to make that a fair test is to restore or reinstall windows at the same time. After so many BSOD's and unclean shutdowns you are bound to have some corrupt files. These can exacerbate the current problem and cause problems even after the original cause has been found and corrected.

 

Now you have Still Hynix ram, just Kingston Hynix ram. The machine came with 4 sticks of this.

 

Good point, but if it does work and I have no problems after than I will be happy. If I continue to have problems after all the tests, then I will use the system image I took when the laptop was brand new to do the reinstall, that seems to be the easiest way to reinstall the system without having to go through the driver nightmare. Thanks.