[Bob Cole]

[Jack Myers] “we decided to go with the original Sony EX1”

Just curious: why the EX1 and not the EX1R?

Bob C

[Bob Cole]

[David Bush] “This is my first post on creative Cow “

And a very valuable post it is. This is the first I’ve heard of this problem, but with the growth in LED usage it could be a big deal. Thanks.

Bob C

[Bob Cole]

[Jeff Greenberg] “check the integrity of the backup”

Is there a copy utility which verifies the integrity of a backup? I use a couple of dedicated programs to copy and verify my SxS memory card data. My LTO backup software (Retrospect) has verification. But it would be much faster to have verification for all files, copied from the RAID to a hard drive.

[Bob Cole]

I hear you! If only you could see my editing room: I have an LTO3 backup device, quite a few external hard drives, and I use the three internal “extra” hard drive slots to copy the current materials from the RAID.

The problem is – the problem! If my RAID were working properly, I wouldn’t need to reformat it, but because it isn’t, the process of making backups is incredibly dicey.

The only backup that I totally trust is to LTO tape. When I make an LTO backup of the material from the RAID, my backup software will do a “verify” which reports back that some of the backed up files did not match the originals on the RAID. So I wind up making several “passes” on the LTO tape, just to be sure that I have good copies of everything.

[Bob Cole]

I have recurrent difficulties with my CalDigit RAID (HDOne, 8x1TB, RAID 5). I have to run Disk Warrior almost daily. I’m told by CalDigit that I have to reformat the RAID, but I always have a lot of projects in mid-completion, so it is tricky to find the time to back up the data so that I can do that.

Bob C

[Bob Cole]

Hi Olly,

I suspect you have to adjust the back focus. A back focus problem is indicated when you focus at tele, zoom out, and find the image is soft.

There is a special automated procedure for this, but it is deliberately made rather inaccessible. I think you can mess the camera up by doing this so be warned! Take a look at this web page from the excellent and generous Don Greening: https://reeltimevideoworks.com/blog/pmw-ex1r-flangeback-adjust/

My personal experience: After putting the camera through the automated flange-back adjustment procedure, I still found it very difficult, even with a large star chart (16×24″), to verify correct back focus. The peaking does tend to indicate falsely that all is well; and even with a large monitor, I find it very tough to verify perfect adjustment by looking at a star chart. At some point, the radiating “rays” of a star chart blend together, and how can you tell whether they’re blending at the correct point or not?

The most effective quick test I have discovered is to set the camera up inside, using ND2 and high shutter to give you a wide aperture, aim at some trees outside through a traditional window with muntins. Focus at tele on an intersection of muntins. Slowly zoom out, observing the tree branches in the distance. They should not be in focus; peaking will confirm this.

Good luck.

Bob C

[Bob Cole]

Thanks for sharing this tip. This service would have saved me a lot of time and money this year alone.

[Nick Griffin] “the mark-up function where you can draw on the screen to indicate changes and leave time-specific markers with notes,”

This feature sounds fantastic. A shame about the Apple/Flash divide.

Thanks Nick!

Bob C

[Bob Cole]

Thanks. Do their batt’s give intelligent monitoring through the viewfinder?

[Bob Cole]

The Media Batch demo looks great, Nick.

Are you using the full or “Lite” version?

I take it that the files are stored on your own server. I’ve been tempted to use YouTube or Vimeo in order to take advantage of their huge server farms (and the price is right). Do you find that your server can hold its own, performance-wise, with those alternatives?

Bob C

[Bob Cole]

Wow. Interesting problem! I’d love to know the answer.

Perhaps you don’t have the right Sony utility installed on the MBP. I’m sure someone more expert than I can weigh in on this, but the Sony software can be confusing, with similar names meaning very different functions. The most recent installation file I see on my system is
“XDCAM_EX_Log_and_Transfer_Plug_In_1_2_0.dmg”. Your version seems different. Is it correct? Or perhaps I’m just not able to find the most recent version I’ve installed.

Failing that: Will the MBP read ANY BPAV folders? You say it won’t read anything over the network – what about a locally-installed BPAV folder?

SDHC cards have been the subject of many posts here – could that be part of the problem?

In my experience, FCP will bomb out before Clip Browser will. When FCP has given me the same “unsupported media” message, I’ve discovered that Clip Browser will open all but the problematic clip(s). That at least narrows it down. Then, using Clip Browser, I’m able to copy the folder, minus the bad clip, and FCP will open that copied BPAV folder. (It still won’t see the bad clips, because Clip Browser didn’t copy them.)

Also try Clip Browser on the Mac Pro, same thing. It sounds as though Clip Browser on the Mac Pro should see the entire BPAV folder. Make a clean, new copy of the entire BPAV folder on the Mac Pro, and see whether FCP on the MBP will read the copied BPAV folder.