[Gary Hazen]

I’m not familiar with Playback Pro. I am familiar with Brightsign players. With Brightsign you have dedicated player for each screen. For synchronized playback one of the players is designated as the master and the others are slaves. As Walter pointed mentioned, you can sync 2 players with a simple ethernet cable or sync as many as you want with the addition of a simple network hub.

Playback Pro recommends a MacPro desktop for the controller (and playback?). I can’t imagine a MacPro being less expensive than 3 digital signage players.

[Gary Hazen]

We installed a Pro-Cache a few months back. I haven’t had a chance to archive a project yet – I’ve been back logged with other stuff. We’re on a Unity system. FWIW, my plan is to create a new workspace on Unity. Consolidate all the media for the project to this new workspace. Then push the entire workspace to the Pro-Cache. In addition to the media itself I’ll also push all the non Avid files (After Effects, Photoshop, Original Audio, Word docs, etc.) to the archive. Folders will be logically named to sort it all out during the restore process (media files, graphics, audio, scripts, etc.) before moving them to tape. Once everything is safely archived to tape I’ll clear all the media off the workspace and repeat the process for the next project to be archived.

That’s my plan anyway. I’m not sure if it’s right or wrong, just a plan at this point.

[Gary Hazen]

Have a look at Snapstream’s servers.

https://www.snapstream.com/enterprise/HD.asp

Typical use of these servers is for recording multiple channels, such as news monitoring, but it may fit your needs for air checks, etc.

[Gary Hazen]

If I had the need to archive 2000 hours of footage and I had multiple FCP suites available for ingest – I would probably choose ProRes 422 HQ.

Just an opinion.

[Gary Hazen]

[Gautam Pandey] “We’re looking for a codec which will be cross platform and stand the test of time.”

It doesn’t exist, that’s probably why you haven’t had any responses here. Both ProRes and DNxHD are fine for the near term. There’s no telling if either codec will be in use ten years from now. Some people are using h.264 (at higher data rates) for archiving. Will h.264 still be used ten years down the road? Who knows? Improved algoritms allow for more efficeint high qulity codecs. Better is always around the corner. It’s a moving target.

Just make a decision that will best fit your needs. I know of one large enterprise level facility that decided to use ProRes as their codec for archiving. I know another (Avid based facility) that archives everything in DNxHD. And a third facility (a network) that is storing everything in XDCAM HD. Each of these choices was the right choice for that particular facility.

Whatever you choose to use just be mindful that you may need to rewrap or transcode the files at some point in the future. By then we will have supercomptuers that will transcode your 2000 hours of footage in less than 10 minutes. Piece of cake.

[Gary Hazen]

I think it’s a good idea. A set of minimum stadards, such as broadcast monitoring, that would need to be met in order to carry a qualified tag. If they attempt to make the qualifications too complex it will never get off the ground.

If such a standard had been in place prior to the launch of FCPX would that have made any difference in the development of the app?

IMO, doubtful. Apple being Apple they probably would have said, “screw the standards – we’re doing our own thing”.

[Gary Hazen]

Overstating the obvious, is the deck in remote?
The control switches on the front of the unit are very small so it’s easy to be in local mode instead of remote.

Have you tried a device preset that uses the Sony protocol, such as DVW-500 or BVW-75 ?

[Gary Hazen]

The fastest NLE is the one that you use all the time. With the keyboard mapping available in all the NLE’s it’s easy to put the power at your finger tips instead of the mouse hand. The hard part is building the muscle memory to execute the commands without pause.

[Gary Hazen]

You’re at the mercy of the broadcasters. Make sure everything is center cut safe, deliver in HD and move on. This awkward transition period will end within the next 5 years when HD market penetration is deep enough that the broadcasters no longer care about the customers that have SD only.

[Gary Hazen]

[Stephanie Hubbard] “Say $100 each”

I disagree with the unit pricing strategy.

I don’t know anyone that has been in business for more than 5 years that prices video production per minute or per finished piece. It’s bad business. As Mark said, charge a day rate for shooting and estimate the editorial.

[Stephanie Hubbard] “also put in your contract that if changes are made after the intial approval it will cost more”

This is good advice – being up front and clear about the potential cost of major revisions can help in avoiding conflicts down the road.