[Steve Gruskin]

Thanks Adam,

We fall into the “problem a number of program makers face with solid-state acquisition on commissioned show for a few large international cable networks.” category.

I think the best plan is to make dubs to tape using a P2 card reader. In our case it will probably have to be done at the end using the MXF data that we copy on location. With 38 shoot days, 2 cams/shoot, this will be a daunting task.

We’re going to try to convince our network to take a LTO tape with the entire project for each show as their archive copy.

[Steve Gruskin]

Thanks for the suggestions. We’re going to try to persuade our network to accept the tape backup solution. The AJ-HPM110 is a good potential solution, but is costly. We’re planning to copy the MXF data to a drive for file safety before we import the P2 cards into FCP. Can we use that data to reconstruct the cards later and possibly transfer to tape at a later date? This will still be costly, but will not tie up resources on location. Thanks!

[Steve Gruskin]

Thanks Shane. We did have that thought, of course. In our case we’re making 19 half hour shows in 3 months and speed at the front of the production cycle is important. Shooting with the HPX and HVX cameras will be good for our production. We don’t mind having to dub stringouts to tape, it’s just time later when we have it. It’s very frustrating – the cable networks push like crazy for lower production costs, but are not willing to let us deliver in the most efficient way. We’re backing up our completed projects including all media to a high capacity tape drive so we could restore it to a local hard drive in it’s entirety for future edits, but I don’t think our network will accept that as a solution. We’re not working with DCI on this project so there is no tape library/stock footage angle, it’s just this maddening transitional time where the capture/ingest technology has surpassed the client’s legacy tape library system.

By the way, I read your article on P2 work flow and enjoyed it very much!