Andrew Johnstone
Forum Replies Created
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But a blu-ray holds what 25GB? That’s only about half a small project. I’d need a wardrobe full of disks to archive what I want to!
Andy Johnstone
Wild Dog Limited
film & multimedia production
http://www.wilddogworld.com -
The issue as I see it is that depending on what you shoot on, there are two sets of data to archive a) the Raw camera files from the shoot (in my case P2) and b) the Quicktime files generated by FCP.
If I have to re-cut any sequences I prefer to have the ingested ProRes Quicktime files as I am never sure that re-ingesting from the shot masters (in this case my P2 footage) is a secure workflow. I could be wrong as I have never had to do this yet.
Perhaps the solution is to buy two cheap USB disks and archive to these. But then again trusting my content to cheap media also seems like a dumb thing to do.
The bottom line is that for a small production company storage is major and on-going expense!
Still keen to hear about better ideas!
Andy Johnstone
Wild Dog Limited
film & multimedia production
http://www.wilddogworld.com -
Are you using a sound card to monitor audio through studio speakers?
Often if you are using a USB sound card you can experience a slight delay. Trying unplugging the audio card.
Otherwise you can just drag/nudge the audio timeline along to match up the sync visually….
Andy Johnstone
Wild Dog Limited
film & multimedia production
http://www.wilddogworld.com -
I am in similar solution and I have just bumped my head on my data storage ceiling!
I run a small film company and of course we shoot digital. I have a single drive that I use to store rushes and then a scratch disc for FCP where all the files are ‘logged and transferred” to.
Neither is a raid drive which is not very secure, but at least I do have two copies of the original content just to be sure, but I’d still like a better solution.
I have a couple of small raids, to which, from time to time I archive older projects, but I am right out of space and need to find a really good solution.
I can see 4/6TB G-TEch raids and LAcies raids for sale for around £450 ($600) here in UK, but I am pretty sure that I will fill a 6TB raid in a few short months, so what to do? The cloud is not really a solution for this much data – too slow.
IS the best solution to walk the drives round to an offsite data centre and dump the material off an pay for data storage?
I’d really like to hera about an affordale solution for all this data…
Andy Johnstone
Wild Dog Limited
film & multimedia production
http://www.wilddogworld.com -
I looked into this issue in some detail and eventually came up with a great solution – the Focusrite 2i2!
Far from being the wrong thing, the Focusrite works brilliantly with FCP7, in fact it works so well, I am kicking myself for not picking one up sooner! I am now able to monitor my audio directly from the timeline, both through my new studio speakers and through the headphones. The Focusrite has a nice chunky volume knob for the main speaker output and the layout means that the box can sit discretely on my desk, where a mixer might dominate completely.
The Focusrite has 2 audio inputs, phantom powering my v/o mic and now I can record v/o direct to the FCP time line with no perceptible audio lag and at proper volume levels. My previous USB mic seems to mash the audio level, requiring me to add about 130% gain in the FCP v/o tool. The clarity of the recording is great, so it is doing the job right out of the box. Could not be happier!
Andy Johnstone
Wild Dog Limited
film & multimedia production
http://www.wilddogworld.com -
i am also looking for audio solutions for FCP, hoping to improve my audio capture capability for v/o and also have more flexibility monitoring sound out via studio monitors (rather than being confined to headphones)
I currently have a USB condenser mic which is fine, but I want to get rid of the lag with a decent mic/preamp.
The focusrite 2i2 looks fine, but it does not seem to work with FCP for monitoring audio out of the system.
Am I right in thinking that the mackie onyx balckjack does? In other words, can I use that box as my default audio out from the mac to adequately monitor audio from the FCP timeline during the edit?
Currently running FCP 7.latest on MBP. Lion OS.
Thanks
Andy Johnstone
Wild Dog Limited
film & multimedia production
http://www.wilddogworld.com -
That’s interesting. Have been having the same issue. Had not tested a shorter clip to see if Quicktime will export video.
Whatever Apple have done, it is very annoying. Anyone found a fix?
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…and of course the new MBP’s have USB3 connections and I expect these will be rolled out on other models soon, but as you say if you are running an older machine, then Lacie have USB3 cards/drivers.
Given that USB3 is over 6 times faster that FW800, I would imagine that it is a pretty good option for an FCP system drive – in fact I am looking ant one my self. Lacie do a 6TB USB3 Raid drive – very tempting, but it is pricey.
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A little more digging on this dark P2 footage issue and I have come up with this thread on DVX forum:
https://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?170715-P2CMS-Avc-Intra-plug-in-smack-head-against-wall
I am also not able to view AVC Intra directly on my MBP – the image is blank on P2CMS player. I am then left wondering if part of the reason that material looks dark/dull/not right on import etc may be down to the fact that machines for post-prod require some serious horse-power to manage/run/edit P2 material properly.
Certainly when the material is exported to QT from FCP after the edit it all looks peachy.
Thoughts?
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Hmm.
I am also dealing with this issue. P2 footage on import looks 1/2 a stop a stop darker by eye both in P2 CMS and in FCP.
I am not sure I follow the logic about not trusting FCP or QT for colour correction, is that not what we are supposed to be using FCP/Color for?
Monitors make a difference, but my studio monitor is well/reularly calibrated. I ran a test and output some RAW footage from the timeline to QT and the material looked fine, so there is something fishy going on. I’d post a sample here, but have hit another snag. It seems that Lion has crippled QT’s Export facility and I can now only export an audio file rather than being able to do a quick down size to 480p for the web. Anyone know what that is all abotu?
Andy