Michael Kammes
Forum Replies Created
-
I believe Media Composer 3.0 introduced it, which was about 2.5 years ago now, if that helps.
.: michael kammes mpse
.: senior applications editor . post workflow consultant
.: audio specialist . act fcp . acsr
.: michaelkammes.com -
Wow, that’s a REALLY open ended question. There are a ton of solutions, so I’ll briefly name a few…with some personal observations.
Avid Unity (Fibre) will give you storage as well as the ability for native Avid project & media sharing. Large file counts, however (over 500,000) are a problem. If doing multiple streams of uncompressed, you may be limited in bandwidth – it is on the slower side of 4GB Fibre. Unity is file level locking, as opposed to volume level locking – meaning, everyone can read and write to the same workspace at the same time(with permissions). Unity has been around for quite a while and is probably the most mature solution out there.
Avid ISIS 5000 – Avid’s newest offering – will also give you the ability for native Avid project & media sharing. It’s over Ethernet, so typically your bandwidth is a bit less (100MB/s, unless bonding connections) – but if you’re just doing Compressed HD or graphics, it’s fine.
Facilis is another option, and is Fibre. It’s traditionally faster than Unity, however, the project sharing and file level locking across all platforms is not as robust as Avid. I like to use it for RAW throughput for finishing / uncompressed systems.
Rorke has HyperFS, which, thus far, has had great results. I cannot personally vouch for it, but I have yet to hear anything negative about it.
Apple XSan is another large solution. Like Unity, it’s file level locking. It’s Fibre as well. It’s Mac only, and traditionally requires a bit more tech knowledge on the backend than Unity / ISIS / Facilis.
Depending on budget, you may want to look into Isilon. It’s not the least expensive out there, but is rock solid in terms of backup, and reliability.
Apace is a unique SAN company, in that it has built in asset management. I’ve seen great success in smaller shops.
You also have the option of buying your own hardware and using something like SAN MP or metaSAN.
I highly recommend that ANY SAN you decide to try, look into what technology is behind it. There are a lot of SANs, and many use the same technology as others, and just sell it with cheaper hardware – and less support. This is, of course, bad.
Any reseller worth their salt should be happy to provide you with clients of theirs you can contact to get feedback on the SAN, how they use it, and how the install went.
Good Luck!
.: michael kammes mpse
.: senior applications editor . post workflow consultant
.: audio specialist . act fcp . acsr
.: michaelkammes.com
.: michael A T michaelkammes.com -
If you can test this first, do so.
Reflecmedia’s solution will always put a small halo (what looks like a very slight shadow) around any of it’s subjects. If the space is lit well, and there is good backlighting (and you can open up the iris a little bit) and you have a decent keyer you can get good results.
It’s great for down and dirty setups, but the damn halo / shadow is really a pain.
Rent or test with it first!
~Michael
.: michael kammes mpse
.: senior applications editor . post workflow consultant
.: audio specialist . act fcp . acsr
.: michaelkammes.com
.: michael A T michaelkammes.com -
Hey Bob:
ProTools – which is pretty much the standard in Post Audio for feature films, have templates you can work off of. Adding a track with the same naming convention as the group you are adding it to is only a few mouse clicks.
Typically, the sessions from the picture editor (or prep from another post sound person), when imported, can be ‘mapped’ to that same template.
.: michael kammes mpse
.: senior applications editor . post workflow consultant
.: audio specialist . act fcp . acsr
.: michaelkammes.com
.: michael A T michaelkammes.com -
D-Vision, 1996. Then Premiere, then FCP.
Now Avid & FCP.
.: michael kammes mpse
.: senior applications editor . post workflow consultant
.: audio specialist . act fcp . acsr
.: michaelkammes.com
.: michael A T michaelkammes.com -
Nothing to add – but damn – great real world reply, Bill.
.: michael kammes mpse
.: senior applications editor . post workflow consultant
.: audio specialist . act fcp . acsr
.: michaelkammes.com
.: michael A T michaelkammes.com -
My apologies, I should clarify:
The Cineform codec allows for the use of Active Metadata, which allows Cineform applications (such as Firstlight) to manipulate and adjust the Cineform encoded media in real time, without re-encoding. The adjustments are stored on the computer.
Now, that media can certainly move to a different machine, and can be played, but the metadata adjustments that were made will NOT transfer over unless the proper Cineform app is installed (Neo3D, for example).
Hope this clears things up a bit!
~Michael
.: michael kammes mpse
.: senior applications editor . post workflow consultant
.: audio specialist . act fcp . acsr
.: michaelkammes.com
.: michael A T michaelkammes.com -
It will work…but be aware…
The DS machine needs Neo3D as well, or all of the metadata you have generated while using Neo3D during the edit will be lost.
Good Luck!
~Michael
.: michael kammes mpse
.: senior applications editor . post workflow consultant
.: audio specialist . act fcp . acsr
.: michaelkammes.com
.: michael A T michaelkammes.com -
No need to.
Dialog is always recorded Mono. This is mainly because when mixed, dialog is usually set dead center of the mix so it is easily understood and reproduces easily on virtually any kind of speaker system.
Recording stereo dialog is jarring for the listener, as the “placement” of the person after a cut to a different angle is a dead giveaway. A stereo recording would change from each cut, as the audio would follow the picture. In addition,a stereo signal ties the hands of the mixer, because they are bound to the environment that the stereo recording was made in.
In the mix, we’ll pan if the off screen direction calls for it (i.e. running across the screen, would require a subtle Pan to match onscreen action).
The only things ever recorded in stereo are ambiance or Foley / SFX, and that is still not a guarantee.
.: michael kammes mpse
.: senior applications editor . post workflow consultant
.: audio specialist . act fcp . acsr
.: michaelkammes.com
.: michael A T michaelkammes.com -
Hey Gang-
A few things to consider:
FCP is still 32bit. Thus, throwing more RAM at it won’t help much, if the application has already hit it’s “saturation” point (4GB).
A 3 drive array (internal) on a Mac Pro at RAID 0 should give you about 150MB/s – by far enough for ProRes editing.
This will, however, not be suitable for uncompressed or uber high end codecs.
Codecs, like 32 bit apps – can also be written in 32bit. This means that encoding / decoding with them will also not full utilize the horespower of a 64bit OS. In addition, if the codec is older, or not written well, it may not ave the ability to take advantage of all of the CPU you’ve got. This is where virtual clustering or encode farms come into play.
AJA has a free utility called “System Test” which will test the Read / Write ability of your drives. It’s a good tool to test with.
~Michael
.: michael kammes mpse
.: senior applications editor . post workflow consultant
.: audio specialist . act fcp . acsr
.: michaelkammes.com
.: michael A T michaelkammes.com