Shane, any thoughts? P2 store – do I have to copy to harddrive first? then import.

[Simon Sommerfeld]

Hi Todd,

I’ve transferred to computer directly from P2 card via the P2 Store many times and never had a problem. The blinking light on the P2 Store is fishy, can’t see anything about that in the operations manual. It is normal for the Power light blink upon startup while the hard drive is spinning up so maybe there is a problem with the actual drive? Sounds like you need to send it in to Panasonic.

Best,
Simon

Simon Sommefeld
Redwood City CA

[Todd Reid]

When I returned the drive to use their other one, it worked perfect at their facility.

They tried to blame mac and going direct to computer.
I think going to the harddrive first is an unnecessary step.
But I am a freelancer who gets paid by the hour, so if they want me to transfer twice, who am i to argue?

Any others take the step to transfer to harddrive first?

[Jeremy Garchow]

I transfer to a hard drive first, then that hard drive becomes an archive of the MXF files. If the P2 store gets deleted, you will only have your Quicktime files which is not ideal, especially if you are working between both macs and pcs.

The P2 store has to be configured to work with a Mac or PC. If they are using PCs and you are using a Mac, you will have to setup the P2 store when you switch machines:

ftp://ftp.panasonic.com/pub/Panasonic/Drivers/PBTS/engineering/EB_P2_Store_Compatibility.pdf

Could that be it?

Jeremy

[Todd Reid]

This may be what was happening. I knew about this, but I never had to do it before, it always just worked. They have pcs, but all their edit stations are macs.

What I think may have happened is that most of the times the editors do the transferring with their macs (they go to the P2 store harrdrive then to the AVID). Which may be why I never had to switch modes and it always worked fine. For whatever reason someone must’ve used it on a pc, then when I tried to use it (one card came in successfully, then freak out) since it wasn’t in mac mode, it crapped out.

I normally send a Lacie designated to only holding P2 (content and last text) that we transfer during breaks or driving back from the shoots (gotta love power converters). But my producer forgot it, so we were stuck with the P2 store and cards.

All is well.
Thanks for the input

so just to clarify…
you got to a harrdrive for archive purposes only, and it is not recommended to go from P2 card to P2 store harrdrive, then transfer to computer. Just seems like a waste of time since the P2 store is always erased and not saved for any back up reasons.

[Jeremy Garchow]

Think of it like this, the P2 store is an intermediary. Anything that’s on there needs to be taken off in it’s raw mxf form and backed up somewhere. I transfer all of the material off of the P2 store on to an external hard drive (I use RAW SATA drives and a webietech FW800<->SATA converter). I then import (log and transfer) with that SATA drive and the P2 store is then deleted on to the next thing. I then archive the MXF files and not the quicktimes.

Jeremy

[Steve Wargo]

[todd reid] “But I am a freelancer who gets paid by the hour, so if they want me to transfer twice, who am i to argue? “

How much time are you charging for plugging something into a computer and hitting “GO”? i would expect to pay for about 90 seconds of your time. Or do you charge for sitting there and watching the light blink?

Steve Wargo
Tempe, Arizona
It’s a dry heat!

Sony HDCAM F-900 & HDW-2000/1 deck
5 Final Cut (not quite PRO) systems
Sony HVR-M25 HDV deck
Sony EX-1 on the way.

[Jeremy Garchow]

So you don’t charge for log and capture time, Steve? You just throw that in?

[Shane Ross]

Sorry man. I am in D.C. and the only internet connection I have is my iPhone. Loading COW pages on it takes forever, and typing, even longer. And you seem to be in capable hands with these other guys.

Plus, I don’t have a P2 Store in my possession, and I used it a grand total of 3 times…so I am not up on the finickiness of the darn thing.

I’ll be more available after the new year.

Shane

Littlefrog Post

GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD now for sale!
http://www.lfhd.net

[Steve Wargo]

Actually, I was referring to this comment >> “But I am a freelancer who gets paid by the hour, so if they want me to transfer twice, who am i to argue? << This is not log and capture. Because of where the post showed up, it was way out of context. We charge a fair amount for all we do, except, when we are transferring large files, we set that up to happen when we're at lunch, after hours or on a second machine. We try to avoid doing it during edit time because that's not really fair to anyone. By the way, we bill the same for log/capture as we do for edit if it's the same person. If it's a student intern, we adjust the rate. The students do not work on critical jobs but they can capture a feature film or doc. Our interns also make $12 or more an hour. No students are exploited here and clients are not charged overcharged for anything. Steve Wargo Tempe, Arizona It’s a dry heat! Sony HDCAM F-900 & HDW-2000/1 deck 5 Final Cut (not quite PRO) systems Sony HVR-M25 HDV deck Sony EX-1 on the way.

[Todd Reid]

That was kind of a joke, but since you flamed it, I’ll respond.

As most editors, importing/digitizing/exporting/ftp/converting and such are “grey areas” that can be variable when charging depending on the client and situation. I never charge actual hours for these situations, I also have a lower rate for these activities.

I made that comment as a joke, but I see absolutely no problem with including at least some of this time on an invoice.
Even if it doesn’t require any skill to “watch a blinking light”, it is part of the process of getting media into my system in order to apply my skill and craft to it.

You may like this….
I also charge for long render times…….

ok, that joke was uncalled for 😉
actually I usually put that in the “grey area” too.