EX media management

[Michael Palmer]

First off the E3 is limited to 35Mbps and a 16 gig card yields 57 or 53 (depending on your firmware version) minutes of media record time. Not sure who told you about 50Mbps with the EX3 but not true.
So if you use 16 gig cards you could barely make it on the laptop drive. I wouldn’t even attempt this because it might lock up being so full.

Either replace the laptop drive with a larger one or transfer directly to the external drive.
You may want to look into renting enough cards for the entire job to be safe. I wouldn’t rewrap the files in the field either because you want the native files for archive and having 2 sets of files can cause human error and something can get deleted.

Good Luck
Michael Palmer

[Mike Sweet]

Thanks. I think my solution is going to be for me to transfer directly to an external drive. I dont have time or the support here in Greece to add more HD memory to my Powerbook.

I have an added complication in that not all the software components of XDCAM Transfer work on my Powerbook, as I cannot run the newest version of FCP. But I assume this will not affect the XDCAM Transfer’s ability to set the import function in its preferences to an external HD.

Would you suggest getting an external drive that can connect to my Powerbook via Firewire? Would the XDCAM transfer tool allow the Firewire port to be used rather than USB? I’m thinking of transfer times between the camera, PB and external drive.

[Craig Seeman]

If at all possible get a MacBook Pro. PowerBook is a G4 PPC. Yes, ClipBrowser will not run on PPC computers. Any backup of BPAV is going to be risky without CRC. XDCAM Transfer may work slowly re-wraping to MOV (and do you have FCP 6.0.2 and up on the Powerbook) which won’t leave you with BPAV protected master. ShotPut may work with PPC though which will verify BPAV copies.

Suggestions

• Buy or rent MacBook Pro
• Get more SxS cards
• Consider shooting on SDHC with adaptor making sure the EX3 has current firmware.
• Use ShotPut if you stick with the PowerBook. Buy a rugged external drive (or two and make duplicate backups of BPAV)

[Bob Tompkins]

You can buy 32GB SDHC cards for $65.00 each. Consider buying 10 or even 20 of these and keeping all of your footage on these until you you are able to download and back them up correctly. It is cheaper than a new laptop.

[Mike Sweet]

Many thanks to all. I’m hamstrung by the fact that in Greece it’s difficult to get sxs cards at short notice. I’ll be using as many 24GB sxs cards as the facilities company have got. I’ll have to rely on ShotPut and external drives. Is using XDCAM transfer, albeit without all its componenets, definitely to be avoided?

[Craig Seeman]

[Mike Sweet] “it’s difficult to get sxs cards at short notice.”

That’s why I mentioned SDHC cards.

[Mike Sweet] “Is using XDCAM transfer, albeit without all its componenets, definitely to be avoided?”
It’s a rewrap to mov program, not a backup utility. You need to backup the BPAV.

[Mike Sweet]

More complications. ShotPut now only runs on OSX 10.5. I guess I definitely need to buy 10.5

[Craig Seeman]

10.5 is generally no longer available. Some outlets may still have it but the few that I’ve seen charge a significant amount above it’s original price. With all the extra money you’re spending you really should consider a MacBook or MacBook Pro. Even a new inexpensive Windows laptop may be more viable.

[Daniel Startek]

I am running OS X 10.4 PPC and looked into upgrading to 10.5. It’s very hard to source and the prices are outrageous!. I currently use a Dell laptop with an Express card slot running Windows XP. Clip Browser and ShotPut work great. I can download to a connected Firewire drive and then access the BPAV with XDCAM Transfer into Final Cut. Windows computers are less xpensive and I don’t have to worry about damaging a costly Macbook Pro out in the cruel, cruel field!