[Nigel]

Thanks guys.

Shane, I meant, are your 4 x 500GB drives in a Mac Pro for your uncompressed HD?

Walter, thanks for advice there. When you say you don’t know what uncompressed SD is going to get me from HDV format. Well I figured on going in via HD-Connect LE via SDI/SD as I can’t see the point of mastering a HD DVD for duplication as knowbody can watch them yet, not for a few years so I figured shooting in 720p/25p and converting to SDI/SD would give me decent quality and I will lose the dreaded GOPs by doing this as the HD-Connect imports into FCP in native uncompressed SD on the fly so editing is easier.

Any other suggestions on my workflow will be greatly appreciated of course.

[Nigel]

Shane, are they all in a new Mac Pro?

[Nigel]

Thanks for tip. What brand of Hard Drives would you recommend, 7200rpm too I assume.

[Nigel]

Nothing taken to heart.

Thanks guys.

[Nigel]

Thank you guys. Great input so far. I am simply looking for comparisons on the XDCAM workflow from production to post, same for P2, whether it is HD or SD, does not matter.

I understand about renting, but getting stories from users who have used both is good and a bit of healthy debate on which is most suitable for certain shooting and editing situations is only a good thing.

After all, if Sony were the only maker out there and Pannasonic, JVC, Canon, Ikegami, Infinity and er Red; well almost for the latter, it would be dull and Sony would rest on their laurels. Having competition keeps the other guys on their toes.

Personally, I am a bit scared of P2 as it could die a death over the next few years. Laptops no longer support the slots for this old technology and Panasonic promised at NAB 2003 (3 years ago) that P2 cards would double in size and half in price every year. Now, 3 years ago when they said that they had an 4 GB card for $675. In 3 years it is still the same and Panasonic even admit that they might never reach 32GB cards; not even in 10 years.

I would hate to buy into all that only to find that 4 years from now I have a wallet full of P2 cards worth a few cents and a worthless camera. Remember those guys who paid $15,000 for a 2GB HD back in the early 80’s, or $2,000 for a 64MB stick of RAM 😉 could happen all over again with this P2 thing.

As for Sony XDCAM HD, I think the same could happen. It would not surprise me if this format died 3 years from now due to lack of sales and take up. In the UK the XDCAM did not do well at all, admittedly the XDCAM HD is doing better, but not anywhere near as good as P2 from what I’ve heard.

[Nigel]

I’m after other peoples findings for now.

[Nigel]

Not compairing cameras, simply compairing formats, P2 and XDCAM as in workflows.

[Nigel]

I agree, FCP is a totally different beast to FCE. There is a whole ton more to it than the basic fact that FCE is based around DV/HDV only. There are pages upon pages of differences. It’s only because you never need/or use them that you don’t know they are there. Just ask any Pro Editor who uses it for a living to try FCE for a week and see what he/she says 😉

[Nigel]

Does this latest version support 720p/25p PAL ?

[Nigel]

And the reasons?