Testimonials - Michael

Michael

Michael Gay is a freelance editor, based in the San Francisco Bay area. Nearly 30 years of formats, bulky gear and various tech?sector edits, gave way. In 1999, a phone call, asking for an editor to work a burgeoning event known as the "X?Games." Since then, sporting events became the norm. Most of Mike's efforts have been aired on ABC, ESPN, NFL Network, ESPN-U, NBC and FOX.



Check out Michael's thoughts on the CalDigit HDPro2:

"When you're a freelance editor as I am, "busy" is a term you love (well?ost of the time). But, the only way this state of mind can be achieved is when you're NOT being forced to engineer technical issues. "Downtime" is a dreaded term. Working for 3-? networks per year, doesn't leave a lot of free time.

As an owner/operator of 2 Final Cut HD-road systems, this fast paced world of live sports, doesn't allow much time for tech issues (unless it's of?-season!!). Since 2006, I've been in the thick of overlapping Saturday Night College Football & Thursday night NFL Network seasons.

This past year, my fibre RAID went South and I was forced to make some blind faith decisions on storage that would meet the demands of HD sports. Coming from years of being a "fibre guy," quick research and trusted industry opinion pointed out that fibre will no longer be my future storage answer. At this point, I decided it was time to dive into the eSATA world and I went with CalDigit and their HDPro2. This HUGE leap was not without interpretation, believe me. I had the gear delivered just hours before a big, national college football game. Installed an eSata card, installed the drives, and?t worked. Plain and simple. A beautiful thing.

As Superbowl XLIV approached, a related gig in Dallas required 2 edit systems and twice the storage of my existing fibre RAIDs. Without skipping a beat, the second HDPro2 unit was ordered and shipped to location. And honestly, I haven't looked back. Out of the box?t worked! No surprises. Craftsmanship and speed?'ll take it!

Over 3x the storage and double the speed compared to my fibre configuration? No brainer. My one tech support call was a simple driver fix and included a very informative conversation. In my world, the equipment has to work week after week. I push my gear and expect it to last. I'm very happy to have CalDigit's gear in my fleet."