[Steve Cohen]

Thanks for the information Jeremy.

Definitely something to consider.

We currently have BlackMagic Multi Bridge Extreme’s in the stations and I need to double check, but I think they can handle the down conversion to SD as well.

I’ll have to read you review on the Cache-A LTO4 system. That sounds like something to look into.

What exactly is the deal with the long GOP. From something that someone told me, with Long GOP video, if there is a change to something on your timeline (like a super is mis-spelled, Final Cut will have to re-render a longer portion of the timeline, or is there more to it then just that?

Correct we’ve considerd the AJA convertors and we do have a couple of them, but the main issue is the D9 decks are having problems, (dropouts and other issues) and we are having trouble finding someone who can work on them competently.

Thanks again;

Steve

Steve Cohen
Senior Editor
O2 Media Inc.

[Steve Cohen]

[Jeremy Garchow] “OK, Steve. You have many considerations to take. There’s a ton of really good reasons to go tapeless, in my opinion the cost of tape is not one of them.

[Steve Cohen] “(Which is also going to be part of this upgrade, I don’t think I mentioned that)”

[Jeremy Garchow] SO you are planning to switch outright from SD to HD? Or is there going to be some grey area of some SD and some HD?

The switch from SD to HD will be all at once, but it may not happen at the same time we go tapeless, if that makes sense. Some the distirubtion channels that we deal with are not ready for HD, so we will probably record and edit in HD and then down convert to SD when shipping it out.

[Steve Cohen] ”
Well my boss is looking to eliminate the cost of tapes, but I keep trying to get across to her the when you remove the tape you have an added expense of Solid State Media or Hard drives to record to and something to archive to (DLT tape or something Not sure which way are going with that right now.) ”

[Jeremy Garchow] Astute observations and you are totally correct. The good thing about this is that an archive solution might cost you a bit up front, but the cost of the devices and storage gets cheaper with time. I am evaluating a Cache-A LTO4 system in our offices right now. So far so good, although it’s a bit ironic that we jumped in to tapeless with both feet, and now everything ends up back on tape. But it’s a different kind of tape and is still much much faster and more feature rich than video tape (can’t archive an FCP project on Digibeta). While the upfront cost of the actual hardware is an expense venture, the cost of the LTO tapes are cheaper than hard drives, and more robust. I wanted to wait for a solid state situation, but with over 40TBs of material to archive, we couldn’t wait that long and needed to jump in to something right now. I will have a review up in the cow sometime in the future about it.

The nice thing about tapeless is that it shifts the archiving (usually the slowest part of the production process) to the end of the production. This means that with tapeless media and fast access to it, you are editing and in the creative cut faster than you can say Log and Capture.

Ture and with the right DLT system it can be automated to do it over night and not take up precious editor time.

[Steve Cohen] “Her boss and the owner of the company is looking to have the latest and greatest buzz words in house. ”

[Jeremy Garchow] OK, for your bosses this is a selling point to get more business and tell potenetial clients that you are technologically keeping up with the times. That’s valid, but you as the user, must be cautious of this line of thining because if you choose the wrong format (for whatever reason, cost probably being a major motivating factor), it will be you that has to deal with the problems. For the amount of work and material it sounds like you create, I highly highly recommend standardizing on an i-frame capable codec. This means leave out the Long GOP formats (XDCam, HDV, etc) and stick with AVC-I or DVCPro HD. The Panasonic implementation of the MXF standard is extremely robust and flexible. The codecs they have are extremely nice for broadcast, and the system just works. Now, I will probably get some blow back for this because there are plenty of people who use and love XDCam, but in my experience, the Long GOP situation is not good, especially when used to dealing with i-frame codecs my whole digital life. In your studio shoots, I imagine that you do a lot of multi-cam edits?

What do think about the JVC GY-HM700 that Peter pointed out.
It records QT files so there is nothing to import (convert) Final Cut can work with it directly. I’m not a cameraman so that is my weak point.

[Steve Cohen] “We are trying to clean things up and get all the deck uniform. ”

[Jeremy Garchow] Meaning what? A standard connection or patch panel?

Mainly meaning having a standard output, Like I said some decks have SDI output and some don’t, besides D9 is a dinosaur, we can’t even find some one to properly maintain the decks.

[Steve Cohen] “It is just a hodge podge of stuff here tight now and we are trying to make it a little more professional. ”

[Jeremy Garchow] Yes, if you are looking to switch to a new format, now is the time to set aside the old, and organize the new.

Jeremy”

Steve Cohen
Senior Editor
O2 Media Inc.

[Steve Cohen]

[Jeremy Garchow] “So will a whole new tapeless environment, with even more pieces of equipment. the KiPro will allow you to spend 4K on each camera and then be done with it. Tapeless will be 15-100K per camera when you’re done with it, then you have to look at the studio infra structure in terms of archive, post, and edit.

We are looking at new cameras also, we currently shoot with D9 and Beta SP camera that are not capable of HD (Which is also going to be part of this upgrade, I don’t think I mentioned that). So we already have the incurred cost of cameras.

[Jeremy Garchow] Let me ask you, what are you looking to get out of going tapeless?

Well my boss is looking to eliminate the cost of tapes, but I keep trying to get across to her the when you remove the tape you have an added expense of Solid State Media or Hard drives to record to and something to archive to (DLT tape or something Not sure which way are going with that right now.)

Her boss and the owner of the company is looking to have the latest and greatest buzz words in house.

I’m looking to reduce archival tape storage since we have limited space.

[Jeremy Garchow] What kind of shoots and situations do you need to cover?

We do 2 shows 1 is 95% studio shoot and the other is 95% field shoot.
They are 30 min “educational” show, but realistically they are soft sell advertising, nothing real fancy or complicated.

The one that is mainly studio we are going to try to get to a point where we can do “live to tape” with just cleanup post.

[Jeremy Garchow] What formats are you working in now?”

Beta SP, D9 and Mini DV all shot SD and digitized component or SDI depending on what deck is available.

We are trying to clean things up and get all the deck uniform.
Some are don’t have SDI outputs, some do, some have 4 channel audio most don’t.

It is just a hodge podge of stuff here tight now and we are trying to make it a little more professional.

Steve Cohen
Senior Editor
O2 Media Inc.

[Steve Cohen]

Yes, someone told us about the Ki Pro and that is a very viable option, but it is also another piece of equipment to purchase and to cover our studio shoots and field shots we are looking at needing 7 or 8 of them so it gets pretty pricey quick.

Thanks I’m looking over the other responses, but any other info would be appreciated.

Steve Cohen
Senior Editor
O2 Media Inc.

[Steve Cohen]

I’ll take 1pm Eastern Time.

Steve Cohen
Senior Editor
O2 Media Inc.

[Steve Cohen]

With nothing selected in the browser, go to File>Export>XML and export to XML, use the latest version on XML I believe it is 4. Doing it this will will export everything, all bins, all the sequences everything that was in the original project.

Save it to somewhere on your system, then either open a new project and import it or double click on it and it will open Final Cut and ask if you want to make a new project.

Then it will import everything, You may need to re-link some items if the XML file was saved to a place different from the original.

Steve Cohen
Senior Editor
O2 Media Inc.

[Steve Cohen]

If you have access to the other editor, have him export the project in an XML format and then FCP 6.0 should be able to open it.

Steve Cohen
Senior Editor
O2 Media Inc.

[Steve Cohen]

Thanks Zane;

I have explained it and now I’m fighting the battle.

Thanks for the help.

Steve

[Steve Cohen]

Zane;

Thanks for the advice.
We have 2 Intel octocore units that were purchased 1 in Early 2008 and the other in later 2008. Maybe the copy of Leopard that came with either of those would work.

[Zane Barker] “But because Snow Leopard will not be out for a couple of months now, simply buy your machine before Snow Leopard is released and you will be fine.”

That is easier said then done. We will be moving to a new facility around November and they do not want to upgrade the 4th edit suite until we move.

So considering that Snow Leopard come on in September and we are moving in November then what ever we purchase at the time of the move will have Snow Leopard installed on it.

Again; thanks for the information. I will have to speak to my GM about this and let her know the options.

Steve Cohen
Senior Editor
O2 Media Inc.

[Steve Cohen]

With the CD in the drive go to System Preferences>Startup Disk and set it to start from the DVD.

Then when you are done with your maintainance restart the system and while booting up hold down your eject key and it should eject the DVD before it boots from it and then boot from the hard drive.

Steve Cohen
Senior Editor
O2 Media Inc.