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Good logging tools compatible with FCP
Been looking for logging tools for a small company. They only need to log tapes and have a searchable text database, no need for lowrez movies and other fancy stuff.
Any suggestions ?
Anders
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5 Replies
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Heisann!
Regner med vi kan ta dette p
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I used HDLog recently and the app is super easy to use and setup. Too bad the 40k dollar Sony DVCam didn’t have firewire out so that I could also capture media while we logged. But if that was the case, I would have simply used FCP on the same laptop instead. With all the downtime between setups, I think I could’ve had half the show edited by the end of the shoot. Not to mention catch a few foulups that would make editing easier if we reshot right then. I’m sure Sony has a good reason for not putting firewire on those expensive cams, but sticking on everything that costs less than $500.
One thing that was annoying when we exported the log to FCP, and it’s really yet just another idiotic idiosyncracy. When logging the shoot, I’d name the shot something like “Open 2 shot.” There is a field for take and scene so for once I thought I’d actually use them. It incremented each perfectly, keeping the name the same. So when we exported/imported to FCP, I didn’t see the option to add the take and scene to the clip name. Which is fine, we have columns for that in FCP. No need. But FCP got all annoyed when I tried to batch the 100+ clips, which amounted to about 10 setups and 10 pickups/takes/angles, etc because the clips names were going to be the same. You’d think there’d be a checkbox in FCP that simply says “increment file names on hard drive automatically” but no, I had to do them all by hand before it would begin to batch capture. Not that big a deal, just took a couple minutes, but what if I had 2 weeks of shots?
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You could rename with an increment number using an applescript.
I’ve done a massive rename with applescript and excel, explained here:
https://forums.creativecow.net/cgi-bin/new_read_post.cgi?forumid=8&postid=890943
You could also write a shell script in the terminal using the unix mv command, but that’s a little trickier.
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Thing is I don’t want to rename the clip. But FCP insists on me deciding what the name on the drive is. Who cares. FCP should just have a checkbox or something to allow FCP to rename clips.
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I’ve been using CatDV Pro with good results. It’s inexpensive and you can build preview movies with it when needed. I really like that feature as I’ve been able to store a huge doc project on my powerbook and log clips during commutes on the train, or during downtime on shoots. Here’s a link:
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