CatDV for a two-person documentary company?

[Jeff Orig]

Hey Carsten,

In the setup you describe above, what version of CatDV are you using?

And what are you thoughts on the Student bundle of Bru found here: https://www.productionbackup.com/info/bundles.php

Our production is mostly centered around 30 minute local talk show television production shot on Canon 5DM2 and old footage shot on HDV.

This might be too little information.

Thanks.

-Jeff

[Carsten Orlt]

Hi Jeff,

I use the Pro – standalone version (always latest version number)

As for the Bru student bundle: I personally wouldn’t buy a DAT tape drive as I think it doesn’t provide a high enough storage per cartridge amount. Working with 1080 ProRes or Prores(HQ) fills up the 800 Gb LTO cartridge quickly. Last time I looked DAT had a max capacity of 80 or 160 Gb. The drive Bru is offering is only 36 Gb. Also it only has a USB connection which I do not think is fast enough to be workable. Yes time is your friend when you’re are your only client but the last thing is you want to spent it on is waiting for backups to finish…
All said I’m very aware of the very high cost for a little shop but in the moment I do not see a way around it 🙁
LTO drives are expensive to buy but very cheap to run long term.

Hope this helps.
Cheers
Carsten

[Bryson Jones]

A good compromise might be an LTO-3, if you could find one.

I have to agree that USB plus slower smaller tape, is a bad idea.

bryson

bryson “at” hidefcowboy.com

hidefcowboy.com

[Carsten Orlt]

gee – can anyone decipher my english with half of it missing..
sorry guys 🙂
I need to work less and get more sleep…

Carsten

[Jeff Orig]

Thanks for the tips, guys!

I’m liking CatDV. Still getting the hang of it and figuring out my particular workflow.

I have been looking for a solution like this for a couple of years. Thank you, creative cow for the info and great community.

-Jeff