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General questions for CatDV configuration/setup (THANK YOU!)
Hi Forum! Thank you in advance for your input on these questions. My questions are a bit loaded. Sorry.
1. What are the best settings for preview movies? Some of the online tutorials made me come to the conclusion that Photo-jpeg was a good choice. Our final video products I already have compressed and exported in a bunch of different flavors (Master file is a QT ProRes Animation codec). At first I was cataloguing all of them, but it’s redundant. It’s the same file. Only reason for different compression is different purposes PRIOR to us having CatDV. Second question, now shouldn’t I just catalogue the Pro-Res file to ensure when a request is made to the Worker Node it is pulling from the highest quality version?
2. Why is my local catalogue on my server machine increasingly SLOW? My computer that is directly attached to my harddrive is SLOW when trying to open files. I read the entire manual and it said to help this make lots of catalogues instead of just one master one. So I corrected that, built some preview movies and it is still slow. Is there a setting I need to adjust?
3. Why is the catalogue that I published to the server showing up as READ ONLY when I log into a machine in another building? All the items are showing up RED. I am still logging in as ME and I have all permissions and admin rights. It’s even a catalogue that I created.
4. When I add all my metadata to a clip and then I encountered a second clip that has the same metadata (atleast the entered stuff) how do I copy just the entered metadata info to the second clip? A tutorial indicated there was a Paste Metadata field, but in version 8.1 I don’t seem to have it? Or is it a preference setting I have missed? Ability to copy the event markers would be really helpful. I HOPE 8.1 has that ability…
5. My CatDV client on my server machine is crashing as I am trying to figure this all out. Even when working in a small/select catalogue, it keeps crashing as I attach the metadata. I am only working with a small amount of clips and forcing it to see preview movies. Not sure what the problem is.
6. Right now we have server machine, with client and worker node, and external harddrive with video source and preview files in Building A. And client machine in Building B. The only way we could get Building B machine to see the PREVIEW video media on Building A machine was to map it right to the external harddrive where this is all stored. This isn’t correct is it? Shouldn’t the client/server software be retaining the preview videos somehow? And not expecting client seats in another building to go to the external harddrive? Seems dangerous to give people that access.
Thank you again for your help. This is our first effort to get organized in this fashion.
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6 Replies
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1. It’s worth doing some tests to see which combination of file size and quality settings make sense for your purposes but you can always delete those test files before building your proxies “for real”.
2. Need more data. What exactly is slow? How big are your catalogs?
3. If you click on a catalog in the tree initially you will quickly browse its contents in a read only view, without replacing the contents of the window you’re in. To open it fully for editing, right click on it and choose Open For Editing (also available in the Server menu) or double click it.
4. You might need to enable Advanced Menus via the General tab of Preferences to see the Paste Metadata command.
5. If crashes occur they aren’t usually related to what you’re doing but to playback of QuickTime movies. In Preferences on the Media Playback tab check the Protected Player option.
6. Proxies are usually accessed via the file system, yes, but there’s nothing to say you have to give everyone write access to the network share. You should be able to share it as a read only volume I would have thought.
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Yes, a agree on the proxy. h.264, mp4, photojpeg, all are useable depending on your needs. If you interact with PC’s and share files on the internet you might choose mp4, for instance. If you need frame accuracy for editing, photo jpeg is good but larger for the same quality. It’s all a balance but as Rolf says, test a lot first.
Agreed “slow” is hard to pin down. Slow to open, slow to save? There are tons of threads on here about proposed catalog size. Dig in a bit and you’ll find your answer.
The rest is just operational stuff that should be sorted by training or your integrator. If that’s you, then you’ll have to poke around a bit and do some reading. The interface is a bit deep at first, I know. A training session from your dealer or a remote training session purchased from JB&A would make your life far easier.
Rolf has laid out the basics but a full discussion of permissions and network layout is a bit hard to do on here. But I agree, share proxy read only to the users and r/w to the people and machines that make proxy. In our shops usually only the worker nodes and server have r/w to proxy.
Keep us posted.
bryson
bryson “at” hidefcowboy.com
hidefcowboy.com
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Thank you for the input!!!
By slow, I think I resolved it by limiting the size of my catalogues. By project or theme seems to prevent that. It was initially slow to open the catalogue.
So we really do need to have folks connected to the actual harddrive that’s storing the original and preview media? I am surprised. I will adjust permissions on the drive, but the folks that are benefiting from this program are two different groups. Group A is much easier to control. More limited content which I’m very familiar. Group B, is decades of STUFF. And if they can only read the shared drive and not write to it, it’s going to give me another step to get the media over to the drive, no?
Thanks again. You guys are great. I’ve watched your videos Bryson and feel like i know you. lol
Best,
Mel -
Hi Melanie
I think we touched on this when we spoke last but yeah.. Basically speaking you need your machine clients attached to storage where your Hi Res and Proxy reside. This doesn’t have to be the same machine that your CatDv Server resides on but as long as you are on the same LAN.
Your permissions for, for instance Group A and Group B can all be set within CatDV, thus giving catalog and group access to some and not others.
SAN directories can be shown or hidden to the relevant users
Thanks
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Nice to “meet” you, Melanie.
The idea is a networked approach, it’s not to have them connected to the hi-res necessarily, but to have a network connection to the proxy. This is done in all MAM systems but some share the media through the client. CatDV requires a separate share for the proxy, which is actually nice when you get deeper because you can share proxy to large groups by having multiple, synchronized proxy shares. You can even host proxy is different physical locations and or keep a copy of the proxy on a portable drive so that you can view proxy in the field or at a client site on a laptop.
I have some new videos coming this year so stand by!
bryson
bryson “at” hidefcowboy.com
hidefcowboy.com
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Yeah sure, “connected” is a loose word when talking about workflow, and depending if you’re working with online, offline, logging etc- the list is endless. But in order to view content with CatDV, you need to be connected to something that holds either a proxy file, the hi res or if you can and it needs it, both.
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