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PictureReady questions:
Hey guys,
So I’ve been struggling to find something that records live events to a server in a ready-to-edit format. I looked at VirtualVTR, but saw that PictureReady is a much better option. OK, so here’s the problem:
I work for a local ABC and NBC affiliate in Florida. Of course as you know weather is a big thing here. We want to record everything that goes on the air locally… but that isn’t always on a timed schedule. Sure, I could set it to record newscasts on their timed schedule… but what happens if there’s severe weather? That stuff isn’t scheduled. Breaking News… big accident on the interstate… traffic is stopped for hours. That’s not scheduled either. But that’s the MOST important stuff we would want recorded. So I have a solution, but I don’t know if PictureReady can handle it. Everytime we do something locally, our master-control switches to the news-control room. When they do that, a tally is sent to a light in the news-control room to let them know they are in-fact on the air. So everytime that tally or GPI goes on, we could have it act as a GPI on the PictureReady to start recording. When it goes off, it stops. Is that possible… can it handle that?
Secondly, we were looking at using Kona cards to do this. Is it possible to put 2 Konas in 1 machine? Since we’re 2 news-producing stations… we have 2 newscasts going simultaniously. So I guess there would be 3 issues there. 1: can it handle 2 cards at the same time? 2: if it can, will the software drive two cards? and 3: is pretty much the only way we could make it go to an external drive through fibre? We’d be doing DV.
Thanks for any help.
Chris Kelly
Promotions Producer – Waterman Broadcasting -
1 Reply
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1.
2 computers, 2 cards, 2 copies of picture ready and 2 firewire drives. DV codec should be available without FCP installed on these computers. If you ever step up to DVCPRO HD, you’ll need final cut installed. I’m not sure if DV50 is a codec provided with QT.2.
software will drive 1 card. some kona cards have two inputs, but you can only select one as the “in”.3.
if you record to a firewire drive, you just need a firewire cable. if you are recording to xsan or another san, then fiber is usually necessary.a lot of people use this app with xsan because you can edit the material being recorded by PR while it is still recording. The way it works is that it records a video, audio and quicktime reference movie. the reference movie points at the video and audio files. you can open the reference movie in FCP (if you are able to share files between a record and edit computer) while the underlying video and audio are still recording. If you don’t need to edit while the file is still recording, then firewire drives are a great option.
there is a Yahoo Picture Ready group which you can post questions to. The proprietor of the co is very keen on making advancements to serve the news market. I don’t believe that gpi triggering is built in now, but it could probably be done. If you can’t find the yahoo group to sign up, shoot me an e-mail and I will forward it to Gallery. keith_koby@hotmail.com.
by the way, I use the program day in and day out and can recommend it.
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