[Kevin Duggan]

HI Ryan

I have a 7D and record to a Zoom 4N PinkNoise in the UK make a really nice Y adaptor that takes the splits headphone output pads it down to mike level with is what your`r DSLR needs and you plug it into the input of the camera. In this way you get monitoring and a clean feed from the Zoom or in your case the TASCAM . This may be all you need and use the Tascam as a backup. If you want to go one step further then , I would recommend Plural Eyes , brilliant stuff, uses the guide track of your camera and pattern matches it to your Tascams files , no need even for a clapperboard. and batches . If you want to go the route you outlined , Goto Qtime Player Pro , this lets you cut and paste tracks into the DSLR qtime files, Then you have to sort out sync, the same would apply in CATDV so I recommend either of the first two options , Also check out 5DtoRGB or magic bullet grinder to transcode to PRoRes as its easier for most NLE`s to handle. Catdv is an asset management tool , it can do lots of cute tricks , but just because it can does not always make it the right way to do things . Its always best to create your assets in the form you want them to be in finally before dropping them into Catdv,. Our worker product facilitates this style of workflow , if you don`t you then have to manage the partial`s that led to the final files creation as well, Can make thinks more complicated. I prefer simple and ditch the transitional files.

Hope this helps

Kevin Duggan
CatDV/MME

[Kevin Duggan]

HI Chris
I have a “legacy” multbridege Extreme box. I too cannot see the desktop feature. If it is not supported now , will it ever be? From my dodgy memory I seem to recollect it was initially , then this feature disappeared . Do you have a definitive list of what will and not work by any chance?

thank you

Kevin Duggan
CatDV/MME

[Kevin Duggan]

HI Hallie
BINS in Catdv really relate to the enclosing folder of the Assets. As such you can use it as Primary metadata. As Bryson alluded to the real mechanisms of Catdv are the Query and Filtering. I have written a lot about this in these forums. So you can set up a Query for Bins … now you know how they are defined … If this is how you think of your collections of data. This would be good for searching for a particular P2 card . Here my usual advice is to create an enclosing folder that describes the P2 Card and its subject matter , then put the contents of the card within it . So P2_Car_Rally_10/12/08 , could be found by searching for in the Bin field as P2_Car_Rally .. It is really just another virtual container , in the way that when you save a Catdv catalog , you give it a name. That name is a metadata tag which is searchable , it returns the hits for this in the database , then you can use other filtering mechanism, look at the automatic filters in the tree on the left and , it will for example give you a whole list of extra things to filter the primary query for. So may mantra is , do a fuzzy search , get everything , then filter.. Its very quick to drill down and then go back to the top..

hope this helps

Kevin Duggan
CatDV/MME

[Kevin Duggan]

HI Halle
if you look at your activity monintor , is Applications/Utilities/Activity Monitor you will see whilst Catdv or the Worker are doing transcoding all of the cores are involved. There is a concept of “niceness” which means that you want your code to play ” nicely ” with other apps and not trample over other apps and cause digital mayhem . So within these parameters Catdv and Worker max out the cores.

Kevin Duggan
CatDV/MME

[Kevin Duggan]

HI Halle
I should have added that tools like PluralEyes and FCPX itself mitigate the need for totally accurate timecode in multi-camera shoots as the THM and the method I described in a previous post get you well into the ball park where these audio pattern matching tools take over and sync your footage with remarkable accuracy and speed. As ever its all about figuring out a workflow and trying to minimise the manual steps that need to be taken to meet your goals.

Kevin Duggan
CatDV/MME

[Kevin Duggan]

Hi
it seems Bryson and I where thinking along similar lines … at the same time .

Kevin Duggan
CatDV/MME

[Kevin Duggan]

Hi Halle

I now use a 7D to shoot stuff, also have a RED One , horses for courses, however with each the workflow has differing challenges. For 7D Catdv can easily import it and you can add a timecode track to the source which will be respected by any conversion to ProRes , if that is what you want to do with the footage . You could use the creation date as a seed and cut and paste that into Catdv`s Timecode window . Then bring it into FCPX or FCP 7 or whatever. In addition you can add metadata to help you track stuff, if you are really creative you could use the source as a proxy and the PRORes as your editing media or vice versa and archive the smaller source and alt drag the proxy via the OTHER TAB into FCP which drops the proxy into the FCP bin. Anyhow timecode addition Window shown in screen grab.Hopefully Below.

screenshot.jpg

Kevin Duggan
CatDV/MME

[Kevin Duggan]

Hi All
its funny how this one keeps coming back , Catdv server is a query engine , you do not have to open catalogs at all. Catdv standalone has a mechanism of saving clips in a file called in CATDV speak a catalog.
For this I would go with 2-3000 clips as being the sweet spot. A lot of confusion comes about because the Server version still has the ability to save catalogs , think of them as folders. Now it does not make sense to put all of your media on the root of the directory of your hard drive without using folders to provide a modicum of structure , and indeed this is true in Catdv Server. However any query transcends these boundaries and looks into all of the CATALOGS or FOLDERS in this analogy. On a Mac think of it as a Spotlight type of search , it looks everywhere. Again though to be efficient in your searching do not do “brute ” searches on “any logging field” help the system and yourself by giving it helpful hints .. SO YEAR > “search term” will be very much quicker as it will discount all entries that are outside the parameter of the year specified. This makes it quick and is what we mean by an indexed search. Note the catalog name is not required, but of course you could use it to restrict your search to a specific catalog. Hope this makes sense..
If you search this forum you will find I have written many words on this subject . Hi Valentin … you can also increase the memory allocation to the Catdv Client in the preferences for very large catalogs , this would help your current situation…

Kevin Duggan
CatDV/MME

[Kevin Duggan]

Hi Lindsay
what you outline is very easy in CatDv just open up a new window and drag and drop between the two. Also you could use the scratchpad and just drop your selects into it , they show up in the scratch pad and also in the tree, as befits a scratchpad they only last for the session you are in , so make sure you save your work !
Cache workflow is also as you expect. Select your assets send to Cache-A. You need our Cache-A plug-in for this of course. I am often asked why so many options. In short we don`t sell you stuff you do not need. If your workflow does not need Cache-A functionality we don`t make you pay for it. Seems simple but its because CATDV can scale from a standalone product to a mega-server product managing multiple petabytes of data and archive but you get the same ease of use right through the range.

Hope this helps

Kevin Duggan
CatDV/MME

[Kevin Duggan]

Hi Lindsay
currently MME does not do the trip ” the other way ” ie AAF out . It will do so in the near future. A log file or ALE is applied to a file that has the correct TAPE and TIMECODE attribute . If these conditions are met then markers and metadata are “applied” to this file within Catdv. I admit there is a lot to learn about this modern file based workflows , but apparently they are the future 🙂

Kevin Duggan
CatDV/MME