[Glenn Sakatch]

From an Avid standpoint, assuming you are using Avid Media, not AMA links, or even fast imported items, as they may give you different results as well, but for a basic workflow, I would go into my Avid MediaFiles Folder, and rename the “1” folder to something else…perhaps “2”

I would then go into Avid and Consolidate my timeline, with handles, as was pointed out here earlier, duplicate it first, and put it into a new bin. Name this “consolidated Sequence”

Once complete I would probably go back to my Avid Mediafiles Folder and move the “2” folder up a level, so that Avid doesn’t recognize it. I would also rename the brand new “1” folder to something like “project name media”

Go back to avid, load your consolidated sequence, and make sure everything is online. If anything is offline, then your source material may have to be dealt with differently. (you may require a transcode pass as well)

If everything is there, and all looks good, you can now copy your “project name media” folder to your archive location.

Find your project folder from your Finder or Windows explorer, and copy it to your archive location. (I typically zip it up first then copy it across)

Copy any elements you need to your archive location.

Its not a bad idea if the project had any “gotchas” to write up a quick text document explaining, or reminding the future you what you did and why.

You can now delete your “project name media” folder from your system, and move your “2” folder back into its original location.

When you launch avid, you should now see your consolidated timeline offline, but your original timeline is back online…this media is coming from the “2” folder. If that is the only thing in the “2” folder, you can delete it. If there are other projects in that folder, you may want to go through media tool to delete the media related to the project you just archived.

As you can see, this is where it is nice to control your media folders, from the start, on a project by project basis. There are plenty of posts here with peoples workflows for naming and managing folders. Takes a bit to get used to, but in the end, makes media management quite easy.

When its time to restore the project, put your “project name media”
folder back into the Avid MediaFiles folder, put your project folder back into your projects location, and launch the program. Your consolidated sequence bin should be back online. You will also see everything else in your project offline.

This tactic does not backup camera originals. That would be a process outside of avid. It also does not backup media not used in the final edit. If you want to do that as well, then your probably looking at simply copying all your original “1” folder…before you renamed it to “2” across…again, depending on how you manage your folders and media from the get go.

There are lots of variables that will come into play when doing your archives. How much original avid media you are dealing with being one of the main ones. If the consolidated version of a project is not much bigger than the original version, I might just archive everything and skip the whole consolidate process. Also, if this is a project or client that is always coming back for changes and versions, or reusing old material for new jobs, I would again probably just archive everything. If it is a one off, cutting 6 hours down to a 30 second spot, I would probably consolidate, and recommend the client has their originals backed up.

Every situation is different.

Do some reading on the managing of folders, naming them for individual projects etc, and then this all becomes quite simple.

Glenn

[Glenn Sakatch]

unless it has changed in recent versions, I believe every node has its own set of undos. So hitting undo on a shot you haven’t actually tweaked in some time can become quite confusing, as you could be undoing something you did hours before.

Glenn

[Glenn Sakatch]

Also remember to backup your elements.

Nothing worse than needing to go back 1 step on something, and you don’t have the photos you started with , or something like that.

When I do an archive, i have everything i brought into the system as far as music, stills, animations, scripts, notes, lists.
If it was associated with the project, it gets put into my archive.
I usually leave the archive of the camera masters to the producer/camera op, unless they specifically request it.

I also archive a digital copy of my master output.

As far as LTO equipment goes, there are cheaper ways of building a system.
We used to have a Cache, which was quite expensive, and was never my favourite.

I’ve since built my own system, and its been running perfectly for a couple of years now, at about half the price.
Mac Mini
Expansion chassis with mini sas interface
Quantum LTO 6 Drive
software – I’m using BRU PE, and find it very simple, the catalog system is great, and if your client wants their LTO tape back, there is no charge for a restore only version of the software. In fact you have the option of burning it to disc when you do your initial archive for them.

I also do some LTFS archives, but find them much harder to go back to if i need to pull out a couple of files. A lot more scanning of the tape when you use that system. Software for it is usually free though. Do some research and (eventually) some testing.

Glenn

Glenn

[Glenn Sakatch]

LTO is one of your best bets. I consider hardrives as storage not archives. At some point you will either want that space back or it simply wont mount anymore. LTOs are battle tested,dont take a lot of space, and are fairly cheap for the storage. I have an lto 6 drive,but find the price change from lto 5 to 6 media vs the size difference still makes more sense to use lto 5 tapes.

Just make sure you pick software that is easy to use…proven… and doesnt tie your hands down the road.

Glenn

[Glenn Sakatch]

BTW, are you saying this same box with an earlier version of resolve runs the footage OK? or was that a different box?

Glenn

[Glenn Sakatch]

No, I’m curious as to how fast Resolve is managing to play back this footage. Your initial post refers to the footage not playing back smoothly.

In the color page, when you play your show down, it will show you a fps that it is playing it back at. If you are in a 23.976 timeline, playing back 23.976 footage, you want to see a little green light over your UI monitor, with a 23.976 speed indicator. If the footage is playing back chunky, or slow, you will see a red light, and resolve will tell you how fast it is managing to play back the footage. (15 fps, or 1 fps or what ever) this might help you figure out if the box is simply not strong enough, or if Resolve says its playing back fine, but you still see slow playback somewhere else, maybe the issue is somewhere else.

you also mentioned the sata interface on your hard drive, but how are you attaching it to your computer? Usb 3 or 2 , Firewire? MiniSas Connector?

Slow playback is usually either a slow hard drive…not enough ram or graphics power, or really heavy footage. R3ds at full res or something like that.

As you said, you would expect, the ripple footage should play back pretty easily.

The green blotches could be bad footage, or the Nvidia card having issues.

I’m not sure the Extreme 3d is supported anymore, but I don’t know if that would be your issue. You could in theory remove it from your system, and your box should still be able to play back the footage inside resolve, you just wouldn’t see it on an external device.

Do you know how much ram is in your 4000 card? I have the K4000, but have no experience with the 4000. (I think its an older card correct?)

Glenn

[Glenn Sakatch]

the green flashes could be corrupt media or something along those lines. you never said what the fps was showing when you played back in the colour page. (I’m assuming you have no colour nodes attached yet)

Your Cuda should be good at 6.5.

Does seem a bit strange that it works with the older version. Might want to try a reinstall.

Glenn

[Glenn Sakatch]

what interface is your drive using?

Have you tried putting the material on a local drive and running it there?

When you are in the colour page, what fps do you get?

disk speed is a program that comes with the blackmagic desktop video program. You should see it in your programs listing under that heading.

Glenn

[Glenn Sakatch]

what flavour of HD,(what are your source files)
what is your hard drive setup?

Have you done a disk speed check?

quadro 4000 or K4000?

(personally, I just ignore the mismatched driver errors from Avid..or you can edit the config file so it doesn’t bug you)

How about your Cuda version. Is it up to Date?

Glenn

[Glenn Sakatch]

send a new list to resolve and color trace it to your original edit?

Glenn