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PDZ Browser
(I posted this on another forum…copied and pasted here for anyone else that may have not seen it)
So, who here uses the PDZ Browsing software?
We’ve stopped holding our breath for a Mac version of this and have been strictly using the PDZ Viewer software.
Maybe I’ve posted this before, but essentially all of our producers are using 80gb Firelite drives to log footage. We shoot on XDCAM, mount the disc on our Macs, and then drag and drop the “Sub” folder to the corresponding producer’s Firelite drives. They can keep literally several shows worth of proxies on a drive they can store in their pocket.
After that, it’s still a very down and dirty process. The PDZ Viewer just takes the place of the archaic VHS dub with a TC burn-in style of logging. We are getting to the point where our producers are very spoiled with the on-demand quality and portability of proxy files, but on the FCP end, the PDZ Viewer is pretty limited as it does not offer any means of manipulating labels or metadata. Our FCP guys just get alot of numbered clips. We really want to start taking advantage of what XDCAM can do, but we can’t think of a feasible way to integrate the PDZ Browser into our workflow.
Here are my questions for ANYONE:
1.)Does Sony plan on releasing ANYTHING comparable to the PDZ Browser for the Mac?
2.)We have 10+ producers in the studio and in the field at anytime. When using the PDZ Browser, the idea is to be able to write BACK to the disc all the metadata changes you might have made. Obviously, all of them having access to an XDCAM or XD Deck at their desk is not feasible, so is there anyway the producers could say, send a completed file to someone else (me for example..with an XD Deck on my desk) who could then write back their updates to the XDCam disk from a centralized location?
Any help is appreciated!
replied 19 years, 3 months ago 4 Members · 7 Replies
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7 Replies
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Good opp for 3rd party software developer.
Regards
Steve -
Good opp for a third party? Hahaha….how about a good opp for Sony??!
I do think they are missing the boat in a big way when it comes to post production workflow. The PDZ Browser software feels like it was designed by a “one man show” type of user….the cameraman/editor. It really is about as intuitive as a box of hammers in a real world post environment.
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You mentioned the “PDZ Browser software” (PDZ-1?) and “PDZ Viewer software” (I think there are two, the one that comes with PDZ-1 and the PDZ-VX10 separate download app), but both of these are Windows only, right?
If you’re thinking about Mac / FCP editors, have you tried the XDCAM Transfer software for the Mac? To be fair, the current version (only 1.1) is aimed squarely at getting clips from XDCAM into FCP and putting sequences and clips back again, so it probably doesn’t fit your current workflow. But it would be really interesting to hear what your top 3 missing features are?
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Well sure..we use the Mac Transfer app every day, all day!
We have it on 6 machines and it’s always in use.
Like my original post said, PDZ Browser is the only app (and it’s windows based) that allows you to alter metadata. Without this, the editors are just pulling in a bunch of numbered clips. Sony pushes this PDZ software as a solution to this, but this only seems to work if you are a producer in the back of a news truck plugged into a camera or if you are sitting in a hotel room and you have access to the camera guy’s XDCAM.
What about a post production facility like ours where we have 10+ producers all looking at XDCAM proxy footage. How can they commit their metadata to the XDCAM disc they are working on without having to drag a XDCAM and firewire cord to their desk everytime they are done logging?
It’s actually been very hard to find anyone online or “out there” who is trying to integrate XDCAM into a traditional post facility with producers who spend a great deal of their day logging footage…not just a one man band of a camera guy with FCP at his house.
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Great minds think alike 🙂
Yeah man..we have even written them and told them that we’d gladly BETA anything for Xdcam! You are totally correct.
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[Proper Modulation] “feels like it was designed by a “one man show” type of user”
That is correct; one early TV-Show adaptor of XD-CAM with a 1,000 disks, a big server and several producers, found to their “annoyance” that the PDZ software would only deal with 1 tape-number which I seem to remember as being “001”.All the Best
Mads
LondonMac Million Ltd. – HD Production & Editing
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