P2 transfer to Mac

[Dave Neyman]

Refer to the “P2 Work Flow and back up” thread posted a few below. It’s outlined really well there. The big key is to have the P2 cards backed up in multiple places (Raid 1) and make sure they are readable in FCP BEFORE you reformat the P2 card.

[Chris Detjen]

Thanks for the info!

[Chris Detjen]

Is the process detailed below the correct way to transfer P2 data from the HVX200 to a Mac? We will only have the camera on our short production, and will not have a P2 store. Just want to make sure we do the proper thing when offloading the clips.

>>File transfer (only for the data recorded on the P2 card):

1. Connect the AG-HVX200 to the MAC through IEEE1394.

2. Press the mode button to light up the MCR lamp and then hold the button (for 2 or more seconds) so that the PC lamp lights.

3. When communication has been established normally, a drive is mounted on the MAC.

4. Copy the CONTENTS folder in the drive to some folder on the MAC.

5. Select “PanasonicP2” in “Import” menu of FinalCutPro, and select the folder, in which the CONTENTS folder is contained. (File –> Import –> PanasonicP2)

[Dave Neyman]

Drag the whole card into a folder on the hard drive. You want to make sure you have the “CONTENTS” folder as well as the “LAST CLIP.txt” file. I make it a habit of labeling the P2 cards which come up “NO NAME” once they are transfered to the hard drive.

[Barry Green]

[Cutter_Jones] “4. Copy the CONTENTS folder in the drive to some folder on the MAC.”

No! Do not do this. The possibility of glitching files on a Mac makes a direct Finder copy a non-recommended way of doing it. Panasonic recommends you use P2CMS to do the copy instead.

I’ve dealt with too many threads where people with Macs end up with glitched/ruined footage, so I do not care how many people chime in and say “it works for me, I’ve never had a problem” because that DOESN’T help the people who end up screwed over because of glitched footage.

Executing a direct copy via the Finder is not guaranteed to work, and Panasonic recommends not doing it. Heck, Apple recommends not doing it. Apple recommends you make a “disk image” of the P2 card, rather than copying the files.

P2CMS can do a verified copy. That’s why it’s far and away the best choice for this process.

Step 0 is WRITE-PROTECT THE P2 CARD before ever exposing it to a Mac, to prevent the Spotlight journaling that goes on and that may be at the root of the glitching issue.

Step 4 is to run P2CMS (free download from Panasonic) and execute your copy step from within there. Select all the clips that show up in the window and export them to a directory on your hard disk, and tell it to do a verified copy.

Step 5 is okay if you’re using less than FCP6 or you’re not using Raylight. If you’re using Raylight you’re already done, you don’t have to import anything. If you’re using FCP5.something, yes you’d use file->import->Panasonic P2. If you’re using FCP6 or later that menu item is gone and you instead use “log & transfer”.

[Mitch Ives]

[Barry Green] “I’ve dealt with too many threads where people with Macs end up with glitched/ruined footage, so I do not care how many people chime in and say “it works for me, I’ve never had a problem” because that DOESN’T help the people who end up screwed over because of glitched footage. “

You really should care, since it’s probably at the heart of your eventual enlightenment…

[Barry Green]

[Mitch Ives] “You really should care, since it’s probably at the heart of your eventual enlightenment…”

I’d love to be enlightened as to how these problems can go away, so the dozens of reports I’ve seen on this issue can be solved to the point where nobody will ever run into this issue again.

Any advice?

[Gerret Warner]

I tried copying P2 card files to my Mac using P2CMS last week, but I can’t figure out how to send files to an external drive, which is what I must do given my small laptop hard drive. So I ended up copying on the finder level, in spite of all the warnings, since it’s worked for me for a year.

Even so, I’d rather follow Apple’s/Green’s/Panasonic’s recommendation. I just can’t figure out how to direct the export to my chosen target.

[Alex Petrovitch]

Hey-
I have FCP7 now, which w/ LOG AND TRANSFER allows me to import by opening up FCP7.
However, I overheard another person saying that you should not use the LOG AND TRANSFER function at first to import off P2 cards, b/c it imports using a H.264 codec. Instead, I should plug the camera in, and get the data off, use a converter like MPEG Streamclip, and convert all files to Apple Pro Res 422 Light.

How do I get the data off the camera w/o using FCP7? Why is H.264 so bad???

[Gerret Warner]

I have FCP 7.0.1 and use Log and Transfer all the time. I typically shoot 720PN, 24, and when I check the QT files in my Capture Scratch they aren’t H.264; they’re DVCPro HD 720p60, as expected. It’s been working fine for me.

btw, I use Shotput Pro on my G4 laptop to ingest data from the P2 cards. That too seems to work without a hitch.

Good luck.