Total Cost of GB Equipment?

If anyone here is knowledgeable about digital recording studios, than I have a question for you: how much do you think the total amount is for all of Giant Bomb's equipment? Specifically their digital capture, streaming, editing, and audio equipment. I've always been curious about this, and what exactly they use. There have been videos the team has put out in the past for behind-the-scenes features, but they were more about how the site's content is put together, rather than the hardware itself.

I can only guess... I know they have a Behringer X32 Digital Mixer and the MSRP is $4100 ($2300 on Amazon right now though). They use a tricaster, I am not sure what model they have, but the Tricaster 430 (4 video streams instead of 8 in the pro version) bundle costs $40,000 on B&H. I am positive they have a LOT more gear than that though. If I had to put a random guess on the cost of their studio I would put it at $200,000.

someone's planning a burglary!

Maybe it's the person who stole the e3 equipment a few years back, finally trying to offload now that the heat died down.

Gotta say, this was the first thing that came to mind when I read the post.

I'd say a few hundred grand at least. They do enough weird video capture and things that the equipment they use is really specialized and expensive, even more so than your average production equipment on say, a TV news show. Drew has mentioned how hard it is just to find equipment that will output an HD signal at 60fps - totally common for games, but just about unheard-of for traditional media. I have a feeling that things are going to get rough when 4k becomes a standard resolution. All that bandwidth....

Hey guys, what is the security like at CBS? I heard Giant Bomb dot com moved to the first floor. Asking for a friend.

But no, really. I would probably estimate somewhere upwards of about $125 ~ $150k.

Around 150k to 200k? Damn, that's a decent chunk of change.

Hey completely unrelated, if anyone needs a driver in the San Francisco area just hit me up through a PM I'll get back to you.

When you throw in the taxidermy ferret it's probably closer to 500k.

North of $250K at least. Don't forget about all the capture gear they use to.

Just hold some tools in your hand and you can walk in, grab some stuff and walk out. If a guy named Brett starts asking questions tell him you are there to fix the internet.

Damn, the jig is up!

Seriously though, thanks a lot for the input y'all. I've been toying around the idea of a company that produces live and recorded content, and I figured it would be price, but needed a more rounded figure. What GB produces with such a small time is really impressive if you think about it. Drew, Vinny, and Jason are some really talented people, and Giant Bomb would be nothing without them!

@drewbert If you do read this: would you mind giving me a general rundown of your setup and cost? I would really appreciate it!

I think people might be overestimating just a bit here. Even if the Tricaster were 70k, the rest of the gear probably runs 50k at most. A lot of the gear is priced reasonably. The AV gear I use in my work (a prosumer setup more focused on audio), was about 15k. And it supports 1080p60, 8 inputs (w/SDI/HDMI) and 48 channels of audio. Nowhere near the scene/transition flexibility as a Tricaster, but its not computer-based.

Joking about committing crimes on a public forum is fucking dumb. Don't do that.

Someone has a sense on humour. I am sure the FBI will be raiding those posters as we speak.

@alternate: Just because its unlikely for them to get in trouble doesn't mean it's not a dumb thing to do. It's also against forum policy. Also, it isn't funny.

Also FYI: if this thread gets taken down/comments deleted I didn't flag anyone. So don't take it out on me. Just calling bullshit when I see it.

Shit man, I had no idea. All this stuff I thought was funny, turns out it's all a lie. Could you let me know what else isn't funny? I just wanna be sure before I laugh at something that isn't funny.

Look y'all, this was just a harmless inside joke from the GB community. As the OP and intended person for the joke, I am not at all offended, and thought it was funny. I understand the form rules, I am not offended, and I wish for this topic to stay active in order to be made useful without anyone getting into trouble or pissing one another off.

To be fair Jeff and the boys joke about a lot of crime on various podcasts A LOT.

@doctordonkey: Alright then. Wasn't trying to slight you or anything like that, but it seems you took it as such. I said my piece about the comments, and that's that.

I'm going to infiltrate the building as a roaming Taco salesman and wrap the tricaster up in a burrito, hop out the window onto the stuffed ferret and ride off into the sunset. Then trade in the Tricaster for like 50 tacos.

Does anyone know the cameras/lenses the staff uses to video record live shows? I was under assumption that after joining the CBSi family, they might share similar equipment with GameSpot, but is it just me, or do the live shows/productions on GameSpot look sharper and crisper?

GET BACK TO WORK, DAN

I'd wager its upwards of 50 dollars.

Not quite 91 bucks.

I'm so proud of this thread that no one has mentioned a certain large monetary value.

100000 x 10

That's million bucks!

Whatever it is, it's nothing compared to cardboard mountain.

$1! I get to keep everything if i win, right?

I'm glad these particular posts were back to back, but if I had to guess I'd say somewhere in the region of 775 million dollars.

There is nothing against the rules going on in this topic. What you should be doing is flagging comments you think are a problem, or alternatively, sending the moderators a group PM. The link can be found in the right column of every forum thread. What you're doing is kind of disruptive.

Please let the moderators do the moderating. Thanks.

@mike: if you think it isn't against the rules then its probably a good thing I didn't flag it. I guess I read the rules too literally, because talking about "illegal activities" is definitely something on the no list. Either way, joking about committing a crime on the internet is still dumb.

@stonyman65 I forget where, but Drew/Vinny said that the potential benefit of increased use of 4K equipment in the future is built in support for 1080p/60 minimum, so it will actually make things easier to get a hold of for GB.

I find threads like this super interesting!

Actually you should flag it rather than comment about how bad or dumb you think something is. The moderators will then review the flagged item in question and decide what to do with it. In this case, that would have been nothing.

@dodgyc: They have said that many times with different wording but i mean ofc new technology eventually is gonna push up the standards everywhere thats nothing new. The stuff they do now would have been insanely expensive just a few years ago.

But really you'll have to eat your way through Ryckert's chicken fries first anyway.

Fourty Thousand Dollars, Bob.

@rongalaxy: Here's an important tip to remember. You not finding something funny does not equal it not being funny for anyone else.

Sorry I'm late guys. $775 Million.

I was listening to Tested.com maybe last week where Norm was talking about a camera that used a high-res capture to switch between just sections of the view area to do automated cuts and pans that you woudl have needed a Tricaster for in the past. I cannot explain it well...obviously...so go listen think it was 01-05-16. However, it made be think about GB's use of a Tricaster, but soon even a kid at home could do a 'live' production like Unprofessional Friday or video from four person podcast with just one camera all done automated.

Just a side note:
At my workplace have a three camera video conference room set up. It can display & send four views at once (one camera taking in the whole room; one camera that spot lights whomever is talking; one camera that can zoom from back of the room to show what is is on two HDTVs connected to computers, cable tv, bluray, etc; and the final view is from any connected av-device in the room.) Its all automated too but was expensive when we bought it two years ago, the camera Norm talks about could do "some of what our system does" at a consumer price level. Still that fact I COULD call twenty of you on your smartphones and we could chat as I played my PS4, you'd all see my screen as well as whomever is talk....is still neat. That is where the big expense of our room and the tech comes in handy.