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P2 and Mac
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[Graeme Nattress] “Sony deck that did that was not cheap either!”
Neither was a hdtv camera at that time.
This does not mean that we couldn’t buy one with 6k -
Indeed, but who’s going to put energy into tape formats, now that they’re dead. Just because it’s possible, doesn’t mean that it’s probable!
Graeme
– http://www.nattress.com – Film Effects and Standards Conversion for FCP
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Yep, seems to be that tape is dead in acquisition, but very much alive and kicking in archiving.
I believe the latest news were that hd-dvd drives are going to be delayed.
Might be that panny gets pal-hvx out before we have any brd/hd-dvd to archive with.
So next year we might need a quite lot of raid5, but that will be useful also in the future. -
As is the case in this thread, everyone is wondering about backing up from P2 drive to hard disk — if htat is POSSIBLE. Panasonic rep Steve Johnson succintly said: “The AG-HVX200 will output (usb-2, eee1394) just about anything (720P 1080i 480P)-> to a firestore or to a laptop computer for instance, make sure it has the speed to keep up though.” AND much FURTHER — and in my view, more importantly– he said that the 200 can output/record DIRECTLY to a hard drive that can keep up with the data rate. Is tha true?
If it IS true, then the whole situation is different than anyone seems to know. In THAT case, you can plug in, as Steve said you will be able to, into a G% mac with an SATA speed drive, and record til the drive fulls up. The resulting file is then what you edit, as well as being your archive. Hard drives are now avaliable from places like Staples or Tiger for 50 cents a gig or less. That makes ardiving huge video files not TOO TOO expensive — just expensive. Meanwhile, down in the trenches, it seems like half the people are expecting the P2 card to be an archive media— which you seem to be trying to correct as fast as you can — and the other half are worried about whether the P2 care can be backed up to a hard drive AT ALL. This seems strange, taken as a whole. But as I say, much more strange, if what Steve said aboutr direct recording to hard driv is true, is the fact that people are completely unaware that the 200 may record DIRECTLY to a superfast drive. The thing there is, MANY shoots have ac power on hand. Not everybody is trying to climb Everest with video cameras! For my money, it is perfectly acceptable to decidate a mac tower to the shoot, and let it record away. Is everybody missing that point, or does that wonderful possibility simply not EXIST?
Amadon
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Problem is that HDD is not really good archive. Every hdd brakes at some point. So you need at least raid5 and that you can’t fit into G5.
If you have hardware raid card and that brakes and there’s no more same kind in a stores you might even need two raid5 boxes regularly mirrored. -
You know sometimes I just want my 3 bvw75s and grass valley switcher back. I just want to do good work in the field and maybe keep a little money to pay my mortgage and buy a beer after work. I have an Ikegami HLv59w that works almost every day, a sony Z1 that gets out and about and a VariCam that is getting busier every day. The 200 is a natural addition to the package. And frankly I am looking forward to getting it. But. When I get calls for DV or HDV or minidv it seems that the producers are looking for a lower cost solution. I’ve been spending some time thinking about how I would have used the 200 on some of my recent shoots and be able to keep up with the shoot and dumping the material off the cards. All I can see is adding a person with the drives and perhaps a computer to do that while my soundtech and I fill ’em up. Most of what I shoot is eng or doc style so having the time between fill ups to download seems like it is going to put a dent in the flow. I know that I can get more cards but again the costs keep expanding. Don’t get me wrong I am looking foward to the P2 or similar answer but would like to wake up tomorrow morning and have all of the variables worked out!!
As always I enjoy energy that the cow creates on these topics.
Best to all
dwDale West
Dale West Video
12225 NE 13th Court
North Miam, FL 33161
305-892-1201 -
[Amadon amadon] “In THAT case, you can plug in, as Steve said you will be able to, into a G5 mac with an SATA speed drive, and record til the drive fulls up. The resulting file is then what you edit”
Yes you can do exactly that. As long as you’re running a capture utility that recognizes DVCPRO-HD data streams (and FCP5 or FCP-HD will do that), then yes, you can do what you’re asking.
On the PC Side, Canopus and Avid offer the same type of thing, and Serious Magic has talked about coming out with a version of DV Rack that supports DVCPRO-HD, so there will be several options.
[Amadon amadon] “people are completely unaware that the 200 may record DIRECTLY to a superfast drive.”
Well, we have to be careful with the terminology here. The HVX can copy the contents of a P2 card directly to an external firewire hard disk, yes. It has to record to P2 first, but once it’s recorded, it can then (by itself) communicate with and transfer files to a firewire hard disk. And it doesn’t have to be a “superfast” drive; it can be any firewire drive.What it cannot do is record live to a regular hard disk *instead* of to P2. It can record directly to a FireStore hard disk, but not just any old off-the-shelf hard disk.
[Amadon amadon] “For my money, it is perfectly acceptable to decidate a mac tower to the shoot, and let it record away. Is everybody missing that point, or does that wonderful possibility simply not EXIST?”
The possibility definitely DOES exist, and not only that, it’s already there. FCP already supports capturing live firewire streams. That was what the FCP-HD update was all about. So if you’re willing to be cabled to your mac tower, you can be shooting HD straight to your computer immediately — you don’t even have to have P2 cards or a FireStore or anything, just plug in and go.
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Get the most from your DVX camera. The DVX Book and DVX DVD are now available at https://www.dvxuser.com/articles/dvxbook/ and at Amazon (https://tinyurl.com/54u4a) -
Thanks a lot for answering my query. Pardon my apparent or real thickness, but your answer SEEMS at times contradictory:
I said: ” . . . you can plug in, as Steve said you will be able to, into a G5 mac with an SATA speed drive, and record til the drive fulls up. The resulting file is then what you edit”
Tothat you replied: “Yes, you can do exactly that. As long as you’re running a capture utility that recognizes DVCPRO-HD data streams (and FCP5 or FCP-HD will do that), then yes, you can do what you’re asking.”
But then, to my confusion, you made a statement that SEEMED to contradict your previous one:
“The HVX can copy the contents of a P2 card directly to an external firewire hard disk, yes. It has to record to P2 first, but once it’s recorded, it can then (by itself) communicate with and transfer files to a firewire hard disk. What it cannot do is record live to a regular hard disk *instead* of to P2.”
Of course, the statements above cause m to ask if you mean, EXCEPT in the case I mentioned (a mac G5 tower running FCP and an SATA drive?
But then, restoring hope to my previous high level, it seems like this last statement of yours returns full circle:
“FCP already supports capturing live firewire streams. So if you’re willing to be cabled to your mac tower, you can be shooting HD straight to your computer immediately — you don’t even have to have P2 cards or a FireStore or anything, just plug in and go.”
Thus, I remain, in my way, confused. But here’s my secret. I’m getting this camera this month, and can’t afford the card for another month or so.
Anyhow, I got most of the distinctions you made. Thanks again.
And thanks for your patience with a novice brain
amadon
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Okay, here’s what you want to know: yes you can capture straight to an FCP5 computer, without having to use a P2 card at all. If you’re running FCP5, it can capture the HD stream coming down the firewire port. Now, this means of course that you’d have to have a firewire cable plugged into the computer to do this, but yes it can be done.
In addition, the camera has the capability of controlling a firewire hard disk (for the purpose of copying its files onto). So if you did record to P2, you don’t need a computer available to offload the footage; instead you could just plug a hard disk into the camera and have the camera copy the P2 card’s contents onto the hard disk.
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Get the most from your DVX camera. The DVX Book and DVX DVD are now available at https://www.dvxuser.com/articles/dvxbook/ and at Amazon (https://tinyurl.com/54u4a) -
Got it loud and clear this time. Thanks! And finally, I can see why not too many people pay much attention to that option: Who wants to walk around on the sidewalks with their HD camera connected via firewire to a G5 on a long AC power cord carried by a poor sweating assistant who hopes nobody trips over ANY of those wires, unplugs something, and loses the shot? Maybe in a wedding — no, part of a wedding, you could do that.
So yep — in normal video reality, its back to P2, or firestore. And as usual, the bleeding edge earns its name. You never seem to quite get what you need right out of the box. I suppose happiness is being OK with that. Thanks again.
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