Barry Green
Forum Replies Created
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[Bill Paris] “if you were putting together the “dream” workstation for P2 field work, what would that system look like?”
A Windows laptop. And before anyone rolls their eyes, I am not being facetious or being any sort of mac-hater, I’m telling you the facts as I’ve come to embrace them after working with P2 over the last 18 months. Nothing compares to a Windows laptop in the field.
The P2 Gear will also do most of what you’re asking (except for offloading to two drives at once); it’s $4,000 and a Windows laptop can be bought for under $500.
[Bill Paris] “It seems like there’s a market for a “rock solid” P2 off loading system that did the following:”
Windows laptops are rock-solid for P2 transfers every time, and they don’t require any sort of adapters. You can buy a laptop for $499 that includes a built-in PCMCIA slot.
[Bill Paris] “1. Off loads to two drives for backup”
Trivial on a Windows laptop. In Windows Explorer, drag the card contents onto your internal drive, and also drag them to an external drive. It’ll copy to both drives simultaneously, without even slowing down.
[Bill Paris] “2. Modular so that you could add storage in the field as needed.”
Plug in or unplug USB, Firewire, FW800 or eSATA drives all day long on a Windows laptop.
[Bill Paris] “3. Easy to use”
Drag ‘n’ drop, done. Or use P2 Genie, which automates the whole process for you and creates reel names, and also includes data verification so it’ll verify the card transfer when it’s done so you’re 110% assured it transferred properly.
[Bill Paris] “4. Has some way of checking your transfers on the spot to make sure you have a good capture before deleting cards”
P2 Viewer is a free application that lets you view any clip on any card, in a small window or full-screen, copy clips between cards and “virtual cards” on your drive, annotate and edit metadata, all sorts of things. And, as aforementioned, the PC version of P2 Genie includes data verification on a bit-by-bit level.
[Bill Paris] “4. More compact and rugged than a laptop running Final Cut with Firewire Drives hanging off it.”
Er… can’t help you on that one, they’re equally bulky… 🙂
[Bill Paris] “5. And last but not least…..fast! The faster the better!”
My laptop copies a 4GB card to its internal hard disk in about 2:40, or a full 8GB card in about 5:15. If copying to an external raid it might be even faster.
Using a Windows laptop is a reliable, rock-solid, extraordinarily inexpensive way to handle P2 offloading in the field. Even if you use FCP to edit, use the Windows laptop (with built-in PCMCIA card slot) for your transfer station. It’s bulletproof, fast, and cheap, and if you get one with a decent processor you can use the P2 Viewer as sort of an ultimate script-supervisor tool. And seeing as you can buy new ones at 1/4 the cost of a P2 Store, it makes for a compelling case.
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At their NAB booth in April, Apple showed FCP editing AVC-Intra files by using their ProRes 422 codec. I’m not an Apple user so I didn’t really check it out, but as I understand it it’s a file-based import, not a live “capture” system like HDSDI would require.
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Also, ALWAYS write-protect your P2 cards before ever putting them in a Mac or letting a Mac have access to them.
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Get the most from your DVX camera. The DVX Book and DVX DVD are now available on ebay and at Amazon (https://www.fiftv.com/db) -
Actually I’ve been hearing that cards are comparatively easier to get in Europe; might call ahead and see if you can get some reserved at a French dealer for when you get there?
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The HVX200 already does 1080p. But no there’s not likely going to be variable frame rates in 1080p, the DVCPRO-HD 1080 codec doesn’t really provide for that.
Unless you go with Hydra, which will let you get variable frame rates in 1080p, but that’s not using P2, that’s a direct cable connection to a computer.
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Hey, I’m no Alice Cooper… 🙂
But yeah, stop by, I’d be glad to talk to you!
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Get the most from your DVX camera. The DVX Book and DVX DVD are now available on ebay and at Amazon (https://www.fiftv.com/db) -
Looking very much forward to going back to Sydney too!
I missed the metadata question though…
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Get the most from your DVX camera. The DVX Book and DVX DVD are now available on ebay and at Amazon (https://www.fiftv.com/db) -
The thumbnails are just .BMP files, you find them in the P2 card’s CONTENTS/ICON directory. You should be able to print those from any image-editing program.
If you’re asking if there’s an automated dedicated special-purpose program for that, I don’t know; I mean, you could display the thumbnails from P2 Viewer, and do a printscreen operation from there, I guess…
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Seems like the only problem you’d have with firewire is that FCP isn’t inserting the flags on export, right? If FCP would add the flags then your firewire export should work…
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Get the most from your DVX camera. The DVX Book and DVX DVD are now available on ebay and at Amazon (https://www.fiftv.com/db) -
Right now there is only one hard disk recorder on the market that works with the HVX200, and that’s the FireStore FS-100.
There is a second manufacturer that offers a competing device, the Citidisk, but search around for user reports on that one.
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Get the most from your DVX camera. The DVX Book and DVX DVD are now available on ebay and at Amazon (https://www.fiftv.com/db)