[Ron Priest]

[T. Payton] “If I were you I would load up FCP X on your second machine (the license allows it) and just try an Camera Archive.”

I’m a little apprehensive about installing FCPX on this old Mac Pro. I’m worried that it would might get jealous of FCPX and make things difficult for FCS3 and give me problems. I also have a Matrox Compress HD card in the old fella and don’t want to loose the good standing relationship it has with the old version of Compressor, if you know what I mean. I might change my mind though if BlackMagic ever gets their act together and provides a working FCPX driver for the Intensity Pro card that I also have stuffed in the Mac Pro.

Looking at the image you provided of your movie files, it looks like FCPX is assigning a file name based on the time of day timecode versus the tape timecode? Is this correct? If that’s the case, it might well be more beneficial to have FCPX name the files according to time of day, and I can always keyword the files shot with different cameras.

Ron Priest
Videographer
Louisville, KY

[Ron Priest]

[T. Payton] “Sure. Whatever works for your workflow! I would try the Create Archive in FCP X and see if it offers you any advantages. For me just the ability to not have to bother with any transport controls or buttons is a blessing. I just put in a fresh tape click “create archive” and in a bit it is done.
“

So, I’m assuming you don’t have the ability to provide a starting file name like C1T1 (for Cam 1 Tape 1) to then have it auto name each additional file in proper numerical increments such as C1T1-2, C1T1-3 ect..? If not, I believe it would be more beneficial for me to capture on the old Mac Pro in FCP7 then. That would allow me to be capturing one project on the Mac Pro, while editing another project on the iMac.

One of these days I’ll get to graduate from tape, but for now, I had to spend my money on new computers and new software. I might even start shooting some stuff on DSLR’s you never know, sometimes old dogs can be taught new tricks! LOL

Thanks for your input.

Ron Priest
Videographer
Louisville, KY

[Ron Priest]

Hey Mark, how many streams of ProRes 422 can you run off that mini drive without dropping frames? Or, do you edit ProRes Proxy?

Ron Priest
Videographer
Louisville, KY

[Ron Priest]

Hey David

Im just now working on my first FCPX project, so I don’t have much of a proven workflow that I can recommend, but until I can purchase one of the Promise TB RAIDs for my new iMac, I’m using an external eSATA drive enclosure that holds 2 separate SATA drives (no RAID) with their own eSATA connection per drive. I normally devote a single drive to an entire wedding project since it will take up a great deal of space due to the size of ProRes 422 captured files and the amount of footage shot at a wedding via 3 different tape based cameras.

With this first X project, I’m simply using the original ProRes 422 source files captured on the external eSATA enclosure via my old Mac Pro in FCP7 and creating a new FCPX event and saving the Event and Project files associated with each event on the corresponding drive containing the original source files. So my point is, I can connect this enclosure to my MacBook and edit for a while in X and then simply disconnect it from my laptop and connect it to my iMac (via the Sonnet Echo Thunderbolt adapter) and pick up where I left off without having to worry about copying anything since everything is self contained on the eSATA drives. I can even plug that drive back up to my old Mac Pro with FCP7 and edit a sequence in 7 if need be, but so far I have’t needed to do that, as I’m finding FCPX can almost everything 7 could do and do it better and faster!

Until I can get the Pegasus enclosure I will probably continue this workflow. Actually I should be able to continue the workflow with the new Pegasus enclosure just connecting it to the MacBook or iMac depending on which machine I want to work on. Of course, carrying a 6 drive enclosure around with a MacBook Pro isn’t what you would really consider portable, so I may have to purchase a smaller TB drive for the MacBook when I need to take a project on the road, or otherwise edit away from the studio when needed.

Ron Priest
Videographer
Louisville, KY

[Ron Priest]

“Once the Camera Archives are created they behave just like solid state media which each take is timestamped and broken up into individual clips. I can understand that the whole tape capture doesn’t work for everyone, but for me it has been a great timesaver. (If I was still editing in FCP 7, just this feature alone would be worth the $300 for FCP X.)”

I’ve just recently made the switch from FCP7 to X along with a new iMac which doesn’t even have FCP7 on it. So, Im in the middle of editing my first X project with the ProRes 422 footage that was actually captured to an eSATA drive on my old Mac Pro in FCP7 from tape.

I simply plugged the original eSATA drive up to my iMac via the Sonnet Echo Thunderbolt Adapter and created the new X project using the original source files captured in FCP7. This has worked out great because If needed to, I can still connect that eSATA drive up to my old Mac Pro and edit in FCP7 since the original 7 projects files are untouched by FCPX on the iMac.

So, I’m wondering if maybe I shouldn’t just continue capturing ProRes 422 files for future projects on the old Mac Pro in FCP7, and edit them on the new iMac in FCPX. Since the files are already ProRes 422, they don’t need to be optimized for FCPX. I also like the fact that FCP7 creates new files for every take on the tape. My past workflow has been to capture the complete tape in FCP7 with the base name of C1T1 (Camera 1 Tape 1) and as it captures it will create the files C1T1-2, C1T1-3 etc… for each time I paused or stopped the camera during the shoot, until it reached the end of the tape. Then I start capturing the tape from Camera 1 Tape 2 and assign the base name as C1T2 etc…

So my question to you is, I have heard that FCPX doesn’t capture a new file for each time I paused or stopped and restarted the recording on the tape. I’ve been told that FCPX will just create one long file the length of the tape and overlook the start and stops. However, your post seems to indicate that FCPX will in fact create a new file for each take on the tape. Is this the case, or did I misunderstand your post?

Thanks

Ron Priest
Videographer
Louisville, KY

[Ron Priest]

Now, I can see editing FCPX projects on your iPad such as shown in this video! As the guy in the video explains, it would come in hand if you were just wanting to walk across the hall to show a colleague an edit your working on. He is not actually running FCPX on a self contained iPad app, he’s just using the iPad as an interface to a more powerful computer with FCPX on it. What would even be cooler would be several persons working on the same project on different iPads at the same time!

https://fcp.co/final-cut-pro/news/457-fcpx-on-the-ipad

Ron Priest
Videographer
Louisville, KY

[Ron Priest]

Im sorry guys, but this is about the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen! It may look cool, like it’s right out of CSI or something, but it’s certainly not very practical from an editors point of view anyway!

Ron Priest
Videographer
Louisville, KY

[Ron Priest]

Hey guys. Okay, so I couldn’t stand it any longer, I just had to know if the Echo TB Adapter would work for me on the iMac using a simple 2 Drive eSATA enclosure configured as a JBOD with separate eSATA connectors for each drive. So far so good! I’m using the Sonnet Tempo SATA Pro ExpressCard/34 with just a single eSATA drive connected via the Echo TB adapter.

I have a wedding project that I am working on in FCP7 which I had captured to this eSATA drive on my Mac Pro and transcoded it to ProRes 422 on the fly. So I simply connected it to the iMac and started importing the original captured files to a new event as reference files (not re-copying the original files).

I’ve elected to analyze the video on import for color, shake and people, etc, so that’s taking a while, but I can simply start editing and am having no problems whatsoever (knock on wood).

I’m not really sure how to measure disk write and read speeds, and I know I’m not getting as high as I could if I was using a RAID versus JBOD, but honestly, the readings I am getting using Blackmagic Design’s Disk Speed Test application Version 2.1 downloaded from the Mac App Store is indicting almost the same speeds as I am getting on the Mac Pro with an external eSATA multiplex Enclosure configured as a JBOD. On the Mac Pro, it measures 81.3 MB/s Write and 83.9 MB/s Read. It’s about in the same ballpark on the iMac with the Echo TB adapter as far as the read speed, but the write speed is a little slower. I think that’s a know issue that Sonnet is about to have a fix for, I’ve heard they are working on it with Apple anyway So hopefully that issue will be resolved soon.

The bottom line is, I can skim, playback and everything else so far, just as smooth as ice without seeing any spinning beach balls so that’s a big plus! If I can continue working like this until I can afford to purchase the Promise Pegasus TB enclosure, I will be a happy camper.

Ron Priest
Videographer
Louisville, KY

[Ron Priest]

“Fredy and Ron, i you have a chance could you use a utility to give me the read and write speeds of your drives when in use with the thunderbolt-express card adapter please?”

Hey Thomas, I haven’t purchased the Sonnet Echo Thunderbolt Adapter yet, had to work on purchasing the new iMac and FCPX first. Now that I have them both and am learning FCPX, I think I have about decided to order the Echo Adapter. B&H is selling it for $20 cheaper than everyone else, and it’s free shipping so I think I will order it come Saturday night after B&H opens back for ordering. If so, I should have it by Wednesday of next week. I really want to get the 8 TB Promise Pegasus RAID, but just don’t have the extra coin right now and am anxious to start editing in FCPX. I have an eSATA enclosure (not a raid) which holds two separate SATA 3.5 7200 rpm drives, so that’s what I’m hoping I can use in FCPX on my new 3.4 GHZ i7 iMac until I can save up for the Pegasus RAID. I plan on capturing and editing in ProRes 422 (I’m still capturing tape) I can capture in ProRes 422 in real time on my old 2006 MacPro via my eSATA JBOD setup using the Sonnet Tempo Pro PCI express card. I know the eSATA drives won’t be any faster on the new iMac via the Sonnet Echo Adapter, but if it is at least as fast as everything is on my old MacPro in FCP7 I would hope I can edit FCPX on the iMac.

What is the latest, have you heard any new news from Sonnet about the Echo Adapter? Did you order yours yet? I’ll do that speed test for you next week after I get the Adapter.

Fredy, how are you coming along with your adapter? Is is still getting hot? I’m wondering if it runs hotter for you running a RAID then it will for me running in standard JBOD mode?

Ron Priest
Videographer
Louisville, KY

[Ron Priest]

[Thomas Morter-Laing] “You have which, the Pro version?”

Yes, I have the Tempo SATA Pro Card

Ron Priest
Videographer
Louisville, KY