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Media Library Options
Hi everyone. Though this is my first post, I’ve been hanging out here for a few months now, and i’m really grateful for the resource so many people have provided through the COW.
I know it’s been discussed here before, but I’m curious about the options I have for a searchable media library. Our department at the university is based almost completely on Final Cut Studio and we’re interested in implementing a media library that’s searchable using tags. I’d like this to be a one-step process that involves entering basic info about the tapes that other editors can search using keywords. Because we’ll likely have student office workers entering this information from our current tape-based library, the process will need to be simple in order to keep training time down.
1) I know FileMaker Pro is capable of this, but i’m concerned about how long that option will last before the department outgrows it…
2) We’re also considering a PHP script that uses the FCP XML data…
3) What other options do we have? i.e., software made specifically for this purpose? Other ideas?
Please share some of your knowledge about creating a workflow that’s simple, reliable, but will allow for growth. If there’s something I’m not considering, feel free to enlighten me!
Best regards,
Nathan. -
4 Replies
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For my modest purposes, iDive from Aquafadas is enough, for your department you are likely to need something like CatDV from http://www.squarebox.co.uk. Trial version is available.
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Not sure about the status of Final Cut Server, but it looks to be a fairly powerful solution for FCP-based facilities. CATDV has great support and is updated frequently, but I haven’t tried it on a massive library. iView is also an option. Good luck!
Paul Allman
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Final Cut Server is not available and Apple is not telling us about its prospects.
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Thank you for contributing your ideas. Our department hasn’t settled on a workflow yet, but we’re seriously looking at logging tapes in FCP and exporting the XML data files. We are looking for a workflow that will accept the XML data so we dont have to re-enter the info more than once.
Besides CATDV and Final Cut Server, what other options do we have. What do the larger companies use to catalog their tapes/video on their server?
I’ve looked at Media Batch and I like the product, but it doesn’t seem to provide XML support from Final Cut Pro logging info.
Best regards,
Nathan.
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