Clint Fleckenstein
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COW Coin
Forum Replies Created
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We’re setting up an iMac with a big FW800 RAID box that is shared over gigabit network. This machine will be the center of our ingesting to keep things centralized and standardized. Only the Quicktime rewraps of our footage will then go out to the edit stations. We keep burned discs (DVD-ROM now, XDCAM data discs later) in a giant fire-safe. We also have an automated semi-daily backup to SAN running on all our Macs, video and otherwise. That backup doesn’t do video files (we still use a central Capture Scratch directory to store video files on our FCP machines) but only project files etc.
It’s a work in progress, but we’re feeling pretty good about it. We have an Access database set up for logging taped footage, we’re going to try to work our tapeless footage into it as well. Our hierarchy is going to be set up to correspond footage folders on the RAID to a physical disc in the safe in case of a meltdown. Our office manager used to do database work for a living, so I’m confident we’re in good hands.
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A little bit of friendly correction here, Hugh:
“the mp4s are not recognizable by FCP so the XD CAM program converts them into movs.”
It exports them to Quicktime for editing in FCP, but it also makes MXF files for software using them. Don’t think of it as a “convert” as much as an “export.” I’ll explain below.
“And those movs are the edit masters. So a PC could read an MP4? I would just export the clip as MP4 (using quicktime conversion)?”
Those movs are not the edit masters! The edit master is the BPAV folder. Not the MP4 files in it; the whole folder. Digging around in that folder and picking the MP4s causes nothing but problems (as you’re finding out). If you export to Quicktime and toss the original files, you’re forfeiting the flexibility this system provides.
Stick with the Sony software–it translates the BPAV folder into clips with metadata and will export clips and subclips in the format you need. The BPAV folder is your camera master. From that master you can export MOVs today, MXFs tomorrow. It’s a really sweet setup, really.
Cf
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That’s exciting…I just got two MxR readers in the mail, gotta go get some SDHC cards for ’em!
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“That’s why I say the first thing is workflow, not files.”
I’ll have to shout out a big Amen on this one. At our little company, everybody gets a weekly “one-on-one” with our manager to chat about how things are going in and out of the office. This morning was my turn, and one thing that I brought up is that we need to train/retrain our folks with tapeless. You’re going to have to come up with a good standard operating procedure and follow it now, since you don’t have tapes to throw into a box for later. It’s also going to require some technical knowledge, but as you get into this I’d worry more about concepts first and details later.
Our shooters are young, which has its good and bad points. It means they don’t have 20 years of habits to break, but sadly college doesn’t teach much regarding workflow. There are blessings and curses in starting with a blank slate. In this case, I’m trying to share technical knowledge with them so we can brainstorm our workflow together. I spent most of my time in this business on the control room and edit bay side of things, so I’m stronger on the nuts & bolts stuff than on the videography. I’m also totally neurotic when it comes to archiving, which has saved our butts on numerous occasions. That’s why, when it came to going tapeless, I made workflow and archiving the #1 factor driving our decisions in purchasing. Due to the nature of our work, it’s a certainty that an occasional project will need to be “resurrected” for updates.
Back to our morning discussion: the days of bringing footage back, throwing the tapes into the safe, and logging etc. “when we have time” are over. Tape gave us the opportunity to be lax in some areas where shooting files is less forgiving. To some it might seem like tapeless is more work; I’m more of the opinion that tapeless requires a diligence that denies you the same opportunities for bad habits (such as procrastinating) that tape allows. Before the fact that we’re a small shop and very busy crew became an excuse to put off some things…now there simply is no room for that unless we want a real mess later.
Now that we’ve beaten you over the head with the “archive your BPAV” jawbone, it’s time to suggest that you figure out a game plan. Since you work alone, you know your business better than anyone else. Figure out answers to questions like “how can I store these files after shooting so I can make sense of them while editing?” or “how am I going to archive this footage for use down the road, as unlikely as that may be?” At least you’ve already started thinking this way, or you wouldn’t have asked that question about which files to save in the first place. That’ll save you a lot of headaches down the road.
I’d love to just sit down and reflect on our learning curve on this stuff, even though we’re really just getting into it too. We have done a lot of “little” projects with our XDCAM gear but nothing on the scale of our larger projects. Jobs like that come and go in a cyclical pattern, so that gives us plenty of opportunity to learn on the small stuff before the big jobs start coming around in the spring. Hopefully you’ll have the same opportunity.
Cf
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Let’s reboot this thread. Brian, I suggest you scroll down to the following threads:
“Whats a good reason to keep Bpav folders after exporting to MXF?”
“Should I archive MXF or Native XDCAM files?”
“EX-1 Footage Issue – I only have the clips”
Those will help put things into perspective. Bottom line, you should keep every BPAV folder intact. Nest it in a folder with a more descriptive title. If you rename that folder, or mess around with its contents, you’re in the hurtlocker.
Hope this helps. And we really are helpful around here, it’s just that we get this question a lot. Welcome!
Cf
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As an aside, I’d like to point out that it’s simply amazing how corrupted Preferences can screw up a Mac, even to the point of emulating hardware failure. Therefore, it’s also amazing how many freaky malfunctions can be solved by simply hunting down and trashing a few Preferences files.
Cf
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I’m blown away with the picture quality of the EX series. I do a lot of chroma keying as well and don’t have the greatest background and lighting combination. No worries. These cameras are simply phenomenal.
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You won’t see a desktop icon until a card is inserted into the unit…I couldn’t tell from your post whether you were doing that or not. Also, don’t try the USB port on the keyboard like I did 🙂 That’s not a high-speed port. I thought it’d be nice to have the card reader right there but it didn’t work as planned.
We have SBAC-US10 devices on our quad-G5 and my Intel Mac 8 core. I don’t remember even installing any software to make them work.
Cf
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One more vote for Doug’s Vortex Media discs. It was included when we bought the “accessory kit” for our EX-1 from B&H. I evaluated the cost of all the items vs. the accessory kit and it was a good deal, so I then poked around for reviews of the included DVD. They were all positive and said that the videos help you operate the camera quickly and teach very important nuts & bolts fundamentals. I was not disappointed.
When I ordered the EX-3, I did the same thing. I haven’t watched the EX-3 video yet (I’m not our primary shooter, just resident nerd) but I expect it’s just as good as the EX-1 video.
Cf
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Which formats can be written to the disk? Is the data section of the disc still unavailable?