HPX-500 Workflow

[Arthur Aldrich]

Here are a few things to remember about P2 and HD in general.

DVCProHD is not data intensive on the processor or the drives. You do not need a raid system to edit DVCProHD.

AVC-Intra is a different animal. If you plan to work with this format, you will want the fastest processors and a fast disk system (raid 0).

I prefer to use raid 5 for my scratch disks to prevent a drive failure from shutting me down. With the hardware raid option now available from Apple, this is quite easy to do inside the tower.

You did not mention tape backup, but I would strongly suggest DLT or LTO drives from Quantum that support MXF data. Hard drives are great for short term storage, but not for long term archive.

Bluray is a consideration for backup. I do use a bluray burner and toast to archive smaller jobs. The problem is the speed (lack of) and capacity (46gigs on dual layer).

If you want to author bluray discs, you will need CS3 Production, as Encore is the only package for Mac to author bluray.

Kona 3 is great card for input and output. I use it for doing real time down converts to SD. Consider the IO HD if you need SD and HD capture.

Hope this helps.

–
Art Aldrich
OTEK TV
Leader, NJFCPUG
http://www.njfcpug.org

[Adam Smith]

Just as a rough estimate, DVCProHD at 1080p comes in around 1 GB per minute of footage… I believe I get 70 mins of record time from my combined 64GB of P2 storage. DV50 and 720p-Native clips are around half the size. I’m pretty happy with my 1.5TB RAID so far, but I don’t tend to work on any really long HD projects either.

You’ll probably want enough internal drive space to keep copies of any current P2 footage in addition to any footage on your RAID. For unimportant footage I offload with verify to an internal drive, then duplicate the clips I need onto my RAID. For paying-client type footage I keep another copy of the footage on an external firewire drive. Anything that’s worth saving gets backed up to VXA tape later in the workflow.

And just to be clear, the HPX-500 cannot shoot in the AVC-Intra codec.

– – –
Video Photographer / Avid & Final Cut Editor

[Bill Thomas]

[Arthur Aldrich] “DVCProHD is not data intensive on the processor or the drives. You do not need a raid system to edit DVCProHD. “

Arthur – could you elaborate? I thought I needed the super duper fast RAID setup to edit my P2 stuff?

I’m running a Caldigit 2.5 TB now. Are you saying I could get away with single SATA drive?

Bill

[Steven J. gilbert]

Adam,

I am aware of the HPX-500 not having AVC-Intra codec. Thanks for the reply. If I want to work up to a system that has the MacPro 3.2 Ghz (8-core), 8Gb RAM, 750 Mb system HD, 3 – 1 Tb Internal HD’s, Blu-Ray recorder, Panasonic P2 Deck for ingest, Maxx Digital or Dulce 4Tb RAID and Quantum tape drive for archive. What can I start with to start a P2 workflow? I want to phase in this upgrade if at all possible. I am considering Crucial technologies matching RAM and ordering the drives from NewEgg (Seagate Barracuda). I save about $700.00 doing it that way. What path should I take? Thanks.

[Adam Smith]

If I were doing it again today and planning to start adequate and upgrade from there, I’d get the MacPro with a 250 or 500 GB internal drive and the minimum (1GB?) RAM. I dunno which is the preferred video card on these new MacPro models, but don’t skimp on it. Order 8GB RAM and a couple fat internal SATA drives from trusted 3rd party vendors and install. BTW – I don’t know what the current wisdom is for RAM placement but for my system the sweet spot was 4x 2GB chips and pull out the 1GB Apple-provided RAM.

You should be able to work with DVCProHD from a single or striped pair of SATA drives, and while it won’t get you the best realtime performance ever, it’ll get you going until you can buy the big RAID.

If you don’t have a specific NEED for the P2 Drive, I’d skip it for now too… I get by just fine using the camera to offload cards (firewire or USB) and $1800 is a big chunk of cash for a card reader.

You will want some sort of backup system fairly quickly, but whether it’s the BlueRay drive or some sort of data tape is up to you.

-Adam

– – –
Video Photographer / Avid & Final Cut Editor

[Arthur Aldrich]

The throughput of DVCProHD at 60fps is about 14Mb per sec. Less at 24pn.

You can edit that from a bus powered drive.

I still prefer the security of a Raid5 setup.

–
Art

–
Art Aldrich
OTEK TV
Leader, NJFCPUG
http://www.njfcpug.org

[Nate Stephens]

Steven,

I just completed your upgrade at my place.. I was going to purchase more gear, but the client cut 40% off my summer budget…. so I skinnied down and still went HD…. this is what I got well under 25K….

HVX200, 24″ Westinghouse cheap monitor and a MacBook Pro and the Duel Adaptor for P2 off loads purchased last Xmas, –this June– HPX500 with rebate and No Lens (using my SD lens off Sony DXLwsl Betacam), JVC 24″ broadcast LCD, Pioneer 6X Blu Ray with external esata case, Mac Pro 3.2 + 16gb ram (recommended-Transinternational.com) 320 system drive and 3 x 1 TB Western Digital drives, Sennheiser wireless Lav, UPS-surge protector, Adobe CS3… Sony Blu Ray Player w/HDMI & Component..

Yes, this is budget HD.. But as the work comes in, the Westinghouse becomes a location monitor replaced with 2 matching Dells with the JVC going on the wall when I can cash a Kona 3, The Western Digitals have a 3 year warranty so in 2 years they become archive HD for the file cabinet, A CCC Lens is on this years Xmas list, as is a 8 drive raid 5 array. I have FCP Studio #1 so I am holding out out for FCP Studio #2.5 with Blu Ray support..

2 camera HD with location editing. I can use the MacBook Pro w/ esata drives mirrored to record hours on location… The HPX 500 is gorgeous with the SD lens (just becareful were you point it)

All under 25k and pretty 1080HD with some change still in the bank…

FCP, Mac Pro, Mac Book Pro, HPX500, HVX200, Betacam, Dvcam
Write for the Edit, Shoot for the Edit, Edit…..KISS Principle