P2CMS for Power Mac?

[Shane Ross]

P2CMS works on PowerPCs and Intels. I have it on my Powerbook G4, my Dual 2.0 Ghz G5, AND my MacPro. As long as it is the Mac Version, it will work on all. Just need to have Tiger or Leopard as your OS.

But P2CMS doesn’t offload cards…not in the way you think. It will offload the card and then organize the footage…but in a REALLY odd way. It will take each shot…and make a whole new CONTENTS folder and TXT file for each one. SO if your card has 45 shots on it, P2CMS will organize it into 45 separate CONTENTS folders. Ugly, IMHO. I used to use it to look at the footage, but NEVER to organize it. Horrid software.

I use HDLOG (or P2 Log, cheaper) to offload my cards…or I just drag and drop on the finder level. Yes, I do know that Barry Green REALLY advises against Finder level drag and drop…because apparently many people report issues with that. Most of this could be attributed to pilot error, but apparently there are legitimate issues. There used to be wonderful $33 software called P2 Genie, but that is no longer available nor supported. So I recommend getting P2 Log by imaginesoftware.com. $200. This will offload the card for you, And verify the transfer…something that FInder drag and drop doesn’t.

BUT…I have never had any problems just copying over on the finder level. Here’s my workflow:

P2 Workflow with FCP 6

Shane

GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def

[Brian Wiebe]

Thank you for all the great info.

[Brian Wiebe]

So I purchased P2 log at your suggestion, and I am not understanding how it functions or what it does–I want to transfer files from a P2 card to an external hard drive for use in AVID.

This is what the help menu gives me to work with:

“Export to Avid (and others)

With P2 Log Pro, you can also create new P2 volumes of desired Clips and save them for direct importing into Avid (or another P2 compatible editor).

To do this, drag and drop clips into an open P2 Volume, or perform a P2 Volume Search, then save the result to create a new P2 Volume. You can also perform multiple searches and append the results by saving to an existing P2 Volume.”

So according to this, I should open up the P2 card and then save it, but when I save it–I am given no options as to the location I wish to save it to. Maybe I am missing something right under my nose, and if so please point it out.

Or is the only purpose of this software to verify something that I have already dragged and dropped on the external hard drive?

[Shane Ross]

[Brian Wiebe] “is the only purpose of this software to verify something that I have already dragged and dropped on the external hard drive?”

It does more than that, but that is a big thing. Now, pardon me but you did ask what software would be good for this…

“everything seems to say that I need P2CMS to transfer footage to an external hard drive”

Normally I just use the Finder, but it doesn’t verify the transfer. So for that I recommended P2 Log. There was a demo for you to try.

BUT, I did find this in the HD LOG help menu:

“Select MXF ONLY if you wish to copy just the MXF video files to a new folder. Since this option does not save metadata, it should only be used in conjunction with NLEs that read only raw MXF files (e.g. Avid).”

Since Avid reads the original MXF files, there is no real need to use this to convert to anything. You had asked for software to help with offloading, and P2 Log is great for that.

Shane

GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def

[Brian Wiebe]

I see what you are saying now–I guess I expected the P2log program to perform the transfer–if that makes any sense? As I understand it now–I drag and drop the p2 contents onto an external hard drive at the finder level, and then open it up in P2log to check it.

I really appreciate all of the helpful info you have supplied–so thank you again.

[Noah Kadner]

[Brian Wiebe] “see what you are saying now–I guess I expected the P2log program to perform the transfer–if that makes any sense? As I understand it now–I drag and drop the p2 contents onto an external hard drive at the finder level, and then open it up in P2log to check it.”

If you’re just looking for a copier/offloader try P2 Genie:

https://www.p2genie.com/

-Noah

My FCP Blog. Unlock the secrets of the DVX100, HVX200 and Apple Color and Win a Free Letus Extreme.
Now featuring the Sony EX1 Guidebook and Sound for Film and TV.
https://www.callboxlive.com

[Jeremy Garchow]

P2CMS can work great for offloading as well without making the new contents folder for each clip. Simply add the P2 volume, select them all (Command-A), then right click and choose export (Command-E).

From the resulting dialogue menu, choose Kind, “Copy” and Other Settings, “Do Compare”. That will run a verification. Choose a destination at the top and let it do it’s thing. If you log metadata with P2CMS all of the info will get export as well.

Jeremy

[Shane Ross]

Glad you figured that our Jeremy. P2CMS isn’t the easiest application to figure out. There is NO WAY I would have found that.

Unless I read the manual. Is that in the manual?

Shane

GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def

[Jeremy Garchow]

[Shane Ross] “Unless I read the manual. Is that in the manual? “

If you think the app is hard to figure out, wait ’til you read the manual.

It’s a little goofy. Yes, it’s in there.

The only thing that I have found out using that method is that the ‘last clip.txt’ file does not export. So far I have had no problems without it.

Jeremy

[Shane Ross]

[Jeremy Garchow] “The only thing that I have found out using that method is that the ‘last clip.txt’ file does not export. So far I have had no problems without it.”

Hmmm…well, that’s not good. Many people can’t work without that txt file. YOU might not have issues. I don’t have issue with Finder dragging, but others do. And it is always good to have verification of copying, so that is why I like P2 Log and HD Log. P2CMS is complicated, and doesn’t keep the exact directory structure. That to me is a deal breaker.

The P2 Gear copies to bus powered USB drives…and verifies. But is a TAD more expensive than P2 log. The price needs to come down on that unit to make it viable.

Shane

GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def