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The Final Cut Server conundrum
I work at a small production company, doing mostly shows for broadcast on Discovery and other networks. We have two new Final Cut Pro suites, each with an evoHD RAID from MaxxDigital and a Kona card. We also have an Avid Media Composer Adrenaline, but it is currently on the market, and we have made The Switch to FCP.
We work almost exclusively in 1080p 23.98 (originating from our HDCAM deck). And we’ve been capturing to ProRes 422 HQ with good results so far. We will online several shows this summer in Uncompressed 10bit, color correct using Apple Color, and output to HDCAM.
Right now, we have a Dell server, to which we connect the edit suites and the office computers downstairs (3 workstations right now, all PC… for now.) We use the server for file sharing and backup of office docs (to a Lacie NAS device), but obviously it’s not fast enough to share media.
Which brings me to my question: We are trying to figure out the best way to share projects and media between FCP systems without investing in a SAN, and we’re wondering whether Final Cut Server is the way to do it. Even if we had to take the time to copy media back and forth to the two local RAID arrays, it seems from the descriptions I’ve read that Final Cut Server can make sharing FCP projects over a LAN much easier. (In particular, the ability to check in and out one project, rather than duplicating the files and having to constantly check with the other editors to make sure you’ve got the most recent one.)
Another issue I foresee is that I’ve been stabilizing a lot of clips using Motion, rendering them out and reimporting them to FCP. It seems to me that Final Cut Server can help keep track of this created media (stuff that can’t just be recaptured from a tape) and help track it if projects move from one system to another.
So, does it seem worthwhile to anyone out there to set up Final Cut Server without a SAN? Is it a waste of money/time when we’re really only sharing between two suites? Any opinions welcome.
Also – if we did really need a SAN to make it worthwhile, what would you do with two brand-new 4TB RAID arrays. (They work great, and we invested a bundle in them. Could we attach both to a server and share them over gigabit ethernet? Or is Fibre Channel the only realistic option for HD work?
I’m fairly certain that we’d have to buy an XServe or at least another MacPro to run FC Server, but if it made project sharing more fluid and straightforward, and left us with the possibility of adding a SAN down the road perhaps it would be worth it.
Okay – long enough…. Someone tell me why I’m crazy please….
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Jason Mann
Compass Light, Inc. -
9 Replies
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Final Cut Server is not an editing SAN…it is not like UNITY. It is a sharable library of footage that creates low res proxies for producers and writers to look at the footage and make notes…and it is a way to catalog all of your footage you have stored. It is NOT a system for sharing media for editing.
For that you need XSAN, MetaSAN, SANmp, SAN box…
Shane
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Like Shane said, FC Server is designed to really work along side, and help organize, a shared storage environment. If you can’t afford to buy a faster enough SAN to support all your clients editing from the SAN at ounce FC Server has a function that, when you open up a FCP project, copies all the required assets from the SAN onto your local machine. It’s not as good as editing directly from a SAN, but it’s better than sneaker-net.
-A
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Final Cut Server is an asset management software. These assets can be video and audio and as well as pictures, music files, documents, etc.
The comparable Avid product is Interplay. The Unity equivalent in Apple world would be XSAN.
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Thanks for the replies everyone.
I understand that Final Cut Server isn’t SAN software. I guess my question (never having used Interplay) is whether Final Cut Server’s organizational tools are powerful/desirable enough without the addition of a SAN.
(And yeah, I know that ultimately we have to decide that based on experience.)
One more tech question: If you were going to run FC Server without a SAN, what hardware would you choose? XServe? A Mac Pro? Then we’d need to attach some kind of storage to that as well. (We tend to have at least 15-20 hours of 1080p material online, sometimes more.)
Thanks again.
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Jason Mann
Compass Light, Inc. -
Hi Jason,
So all the previous posts are helpful but let me throw in my comments.First FCSvr is primarily a DAM (or MAM) system with powerful metadata tools. It also has very powerful automation tools to streamline the workflow process as much as possible . Things like automatic transcoding and email notifications are examples of this.
When media is uploaded into FCSvr it creates an asset in the FCSvr database (or catalog). These assets include a lo-res proxy for browsing over IP. The specific proxy settings can be customized to meet your needs. I just did an install where we built a custom Compressor preset just for this purpose.
Another feature FCSvr has is what is called “Edit Proxies” these are PreRes 422 versions of your assets used by editors when the original format is too large to handle over IP. While ProRes 422 is still a bit large it is NOT as large as uncompressed.
Finally, if a SAN is available FCSvr can be set up to use what is called “Edit in Place” this recognizes the SAN storage and the media in it as a Device for FCSvr and allows other SAN clients to access the full-res media asset without copying it to the local cache.
There is a lot more than that, but I hope this helped clear it up a bit. If you have more questions, feel free to contact me.
Jon R
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Hi Jon!
It seems like you know a lot about the Final cut server, so I would like to use this opportunity to ask you a question: I run a small postproduction company with an open Avid Unity server and three mac based editing suites. Soon we will get a huge project wich is filmed with a panasonic camera and the AVC intra 100 codec. Because Avid doesnt support this codec we have to edit on Final cut. Do you, or anybody, know if we can use our Avid unity server with the Final cut server software? No companies here in Norway has ever used the final cut server on big projects.
If anyone has any other suggestions to do this workflow I will be greatful.Thank you
Charlotte Kahn
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Hi Charlotte,
I understand your environment and would love to discuss this in more detail. It is really not something that can be easily handled via forums due to the back and forth discussions. If you would like get in touch with me and we can discuss further.Looking forward to chatting.
Jon Rutherford
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Hi Jon
Thanks for the quick respond.
I would love to discuss this further with you, but how?I have to run in a meeting right now Im afraid, but if you have any suggestions on my question please send me an email, and I can get back to you tomorrow morning (Norway)
I just read on the internet that the server software can only be installed on leopard, but the clients that includes in the software works on both mac and windows based computers -my problem is that our server is a pc!
Are you working on the Final Cut server now?
Thanks for your help
Charlotte Kahn
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Charlotte,
Here are my replies. Since you are in CEST we are 6 hours apart (I am in USEST).Tomorrow is a bit busy for me but I could do a call if you are available.
A Mac is needed to run FCSvr, but it can be either a server or a Macpro. Must be running Mac OS X 10.5.2.
I have been working with FCSvr since July 2007 and have just completed our 5th install. I am also a contributing writer and technical editor for the upcoming book from Peachpit Press.
Hope we can work together.
Jon
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