This is an evolving document... As new information arrives, this article will be updated. Please check back often.

The server was successfully built on Saturday October 1st. For the build, Robbie broadcast the whole thing (all 9 hours) and described everything that he was doing to the viewers in the first-ever live online system build.

A while back, the Category5 TV studio got hit by a surge bad enough to get through our commercial-grade UPS systems, and we lost a lot of equipment (we're still to this day discovering other equipment which had been damaged).

Perhaps the worst loss was our broadcast server. This is the system which all our cameras connect to, and which encodes the show in realtime and streams it out to the Internet. It also acts as a live video recorder, saving the live show direct to disk during a live broadcast.

Since that system got fried, we have done our best to stay on the air as best as possible. It has not been without issue. From audio problems to choppy broadcasts, bad recordings and being late to air. It's been a hard time, and now we are excited to be ready to start assembling the replacement server.

Thank you to all the viewers who have been able to support us with a donation toward this. Thank you to our advertisers for their continued support, and thanks to the hardware and software vendors who have been gracious in providing their products to us for this build, and to power the broadcast in the shows to come.

If you see something on the list that you'd like to help with, please contact us. We'll give mention to your brand and product, and thank you on air. We will be doing the unboxing and system build right on the show, so it's a great opportunity to get involved in Category5 TV.

Thank you for supporting Category5 TV with this project:

• Category5 TV Viewers
  You really came through for us, once again. I cannot thank you enough for all your support and understanding as we deal with this. It could have been really stressful. Instead, it's been nothing more than a test of patience. Your donations have made this all possible. While our original plan to buy a used HP server for $500 fell through, I believe the best option is now to build our own system since we can re-allocate the $500 raised toward an OEM build. Combined with hardware donated by companies, and some advertising dollars, I have big hopes that this broadcast system will be sufficient to get us through the next number of years (the last one worked for around 3 years). Thank you!
• LEI Electronics Inc. - leiproducts.com
  LEI heard about our server woes and made the decision to purchase some advertising to directly help us with the fact that we do what we do for free. This financial boost will not only help pay for parts for the new server, but there may even be some residual funds to help us prepare for Season 5. Thank you!
• Thermaltake - thermaltakeusa.com
  It's no secret, I love Thermaltake products. I use all Thermaltake power supplies, and most of my own computer builds have found their way into Thermaltake a chassis. Thermaltake heard about our need for a new server and offered to offset some cost by providing the chassis, power supply, and cooling system. Thank you!

Hardware Which has Arrived

• Chassis (computer case)*
  Level 10 Snow Edition
  This case was chosen due to its sleek design (it's nice on the eyes), its exceptional cooling capabilities, and also the fact that it has a durable carrying handle, since we hope to increase our number of out-of-studio broadcasts in Season 5.
  Current Status: Received September 13, 2011
  Furnished by Thermaltake - thermaltakeusa.com
• Motherboard*
  ASUS P8P67 WS Revolution REV 3.0
  This board was chosen primarily for its ability to support multiple Blackmagic Intensity Pro cards (PCIe x1)
  Current Status: Received August 29, 2011
  Paid: $299.45 after HST
• CPU*
  Intel Core i7 2600k
  This processor was chosen since it's a decent processor at a reasonble price, and after testing Core 2 Quad and Dual-Dual Xeons, we decided i7 would be a better option for us at this time. Going with i7 instead of Dual-Dual Xeon meant also that we could get a motherboard with more PCIe slots, which we require for our capture cards.
  Current Status: Received August 29, 2011
  Paid: $341.26 after HST
• RAM*
  2x Kingston Hyper-X 8 GB DC 1600 MHz
  We chose this RAM opting for more RAM rather than faster RAM. While I would have liked to go with faster RAM off the get-go, I did not want to purchase less than 16 GB. Going with faster RAM on the motherboard we chose and with current availability from our supplier, we would have only been able to do 8 GB.
  Current Status: Received August 29, 2011
  Paid: $122.04 after HST
• Monitors
  The 22" Acer display we had been using for the camera operator/studio display also got fried in the power surge and we needed to find a replacement.
  Update #1: I'm trying to find a local television repair shop that will have a look at the Acer monitor. I am hopeful that we can get it fixed cheaper than replacing it.
  Update #2: Based on my verbal description over the phone, the technician thinks it is the power supply (internal) on the monitor, a ~$40-75 repair, he says. I will drop it in this weekend for an actual assessment, as that's still quite a bit cheaper than replacing.
  Update #3: The monitor was not fixable within a reasonable price (required replacing the entire internal board). The cost for the diagnosis was $20 even. The good news is, the repair shop had a 24" monitor that had been repaired and was for sale. He gave me a deal of $85 + tax. So I feel like we 1) got a good deal and 2) still got to save going to a big box store and supporting the man. In the end, we have a 24" monitor (which looks great) and cost $116.05 after tax. Still cheaper than buying new.
  Current Status: Received September 26, 2011.
  Paid: $116.05
• Optical Drive*
  I chose an LG Blu-Ray burner to be forward compatible. It will, of course, also do DVDs, but should we decide to offer Category5 on Blu-Ray down the road (any takers?), this opens that option. I figured, no point buying a DVD drive only to replace it. Blu-Ray drives are only $99 these days.
  Current Status: Received September 29, 2011
  Paid: $111.87 after HST
• Card Reader
  Our cameras use SD cards so a card reader expedites the import process when working with video
  Ordered an internal unit. Supports all major card types. Uses on-board USB 2.0 header.
  Current Status: Received September 29, 2011
  Paid: $11.30 after HST
• Power Supply*
  Thermaltake provided an exceptional power supply for the Category5 TV studio broadcast system: a Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 850W
  Current Status: Received September 30, 2011
• Cooling System*
  We chose to go with a Thermaltake cooling option, since they're so cool. Literally.
  Thermaltake shipped us the incredible Frio CPU cooler.
  Current Status: Received September 30, 2011

Unboxing Videos

Hardware Which is Ordered or Provided and On Its Way

Hardware That Has Not Yet Been Ordered or Provided

• Hard Drives
  Ideally, two very fast SSD drives. One for OS and applications, the other for write operations to store video on the fly when encoding the show in realtime during a broadcast.
  If drives cannot be purchased, or are not provided by a sponsor, we may use old 7200 RPM drives in a RAID 0 for now, and order SSD when budget allows.
• Video Card
  The more CUDA cores, the better, since Wirecast will tap into them for live encoding while on the air. An NVIDIA Quadro FX would be ideal.
• Video Capture
  We need either 2 or 3 Blackmagic Intensity Pro cards in order to camera switch and bring in the desktop of the demo system when showing applications on the show
• Audio Capture
  We may use the motherboard's integrated audio if it sounds fine. If a better option becomes available, we'll look into it.
• Uninterruptible Power Supply*
  We must replace the UPS that allowed the old server to get fried. The UPS must be able to provide at least as many watts as the PSU that Thermaltake sends us.
• Keyboard
  We may use our existing keyboard, unless a better option is presented.
• Mouse
  We may use our existing mouse, unless a better option is presented.

* We can't proceed until this item is procured.