Offloading from P2 to USB stick

[Ben Digedig]

Just wondered if anyone is doing this in the field, and was wondering if offloading a 16Gb card to a 16Gb USB stick plugged in the side of the cam sounds workable and 100% reliable?

Could you also keep recording on the P2 card that isnt transferring to the stick?

Its just such a damn shame that the massive P2 card costs kill the functionality, but I think I may take the plunge anyway (and maybe live to regret it - never gone out without a 'box of 10' in the back of the car - scary!!). How many megabytes on a 60' DvCam tape for £6... Ohh well, progress!

BD

[Noel Evans]

I use an external USB bus powered HDD (Western Digital).

I also use an offload program called shot put pro. In this program I can set to offload to internal location and external simultaneously. Plug card in with shot put pro running, set the name you want (first time only for a shoot), and then hit offload. Any subsequent cards you plug in then only need you to hit offload as it will use the naming conventions you set up first time around and ad consecutive numbering or time or other.

I wouldnt use a USB stick.

And yes record to one card, when it says F pull it out and let the other continue.

[Ben Digedig]

Thanks for the input Noel. Slightly confused mind - you use a laptop to manage the process which runs this app? This why I though USB sticks that plug straight in and can then go into my backpack once offloaded would be far simpler. Fewer things to carry, fewer things to go wrong, fewer things to fiddle with over a sandwich and fewer batteries to go flat in the field must be a good thing!!!

BD

[Jan_Crittenden]

It would really depend on the size of the USB stick, it would have to be larger than the card you are trying to copy. But you could host a USB Drive and offload with the HPX300.

Best,

Jan

[David Saraceno]

If you offload to a laptop, you can continue recording to a separate p2 card.

And my understanding is that you cannot offload to a USB thumb drive or any drive while simultaneously recording.

As to "massive p2 card cost," well, many of us have been around p2 cards for at least three years. Their cost per gigabyte continue to go down.

[Ben Digedig]

Thanks so much for the input. Looks like an ext HDD that is powered via its own USB connection to the camera is the best way forward - and one that has a capacity that at the very least exceeds your largest card size.

David I'm glad that you have seen the cost of P2 cards come down. But I have just spent over £2000 on 3 cards and I know its not enough. I will have to come up with some bizarre pauses in production to actually ever use 100MBPS AVC I recording.

It is the P2 tail wagging the EP dog, and as a person who has never been on a shoot without a comforting box of 10 tapes (costing £70 for several gigabytes storage) in the boot of the crew car it makes me VERY nervous to ever consider running out of 'tape'.

With my Avid editor's hat on I welcome the demise of rust on plastic banging agaisnt expensive video-heads (esp on a damp day;-) ) but running out of storage on a shoot is the stuff that keeps me awake at night...

BD

[Big Brother]

It would really depend on the size of the USB stick, it would have to be larger than the card you are trying to copy. But you could host a USB Drive and offload with the HPX300.

Best,

Jan

Pardon my ignorance since i dont have a HPX300 yet.

If i use a external HDD or Large USB Stick then can i offload first card which is full parallely/simultaneously shooting onto the second card ?

[Barry_Green]

But I have just spent over £2000 on 3 cards and I know its not enough. I will have to come up with some bizarre pauses in production to actually ever use 100MBPS AVC I recording.
Or not. If you have 3 cards, you have enough storage to shoot *perpetually* provided you have some manner of offload station, which can be a $500 laptop or a $5200 P2 Portable. The cards will offload at least 2x faster than you can fill them up. Two in the camera, one in the offload station, and you're able to shoot forever. Actually you can do it with just two cards, but it gets a little more nervewracking and you have to use pN mode to be safe. But with three cards you can use 100mbps mode and still stay ahead of the game.


but running out of storage on a shoot is the stuff that keeps me awake at night...
Well, again, it depends on what kind of shoot you're doing and what steps you're prepared to take to make sure you don't run out. Two 64GB cards can store ten hours of AVC-I50 720/24pN from an HPX300; that will get you through an entire shoot day of continuous recording without ever swapping/offloading. And if you've got a fast offload station you can offload those to SSDs or a RAID in just over 21 minutes.

If you're planning on taking a lunch break, you can then go to AVCI-50 1080/24pN, for five hours on two cards, then offload at lunch, and go back to shooting. Or, AVCI-100 720/24pN, same thing.

If you're not shooting 24pN, and are doing an 8-hour day, two 64GB cards will get you four hours of AVCI-50 1080 or 720 mode. Lunch break, offload, shoot 4 more hours.

That's the extreme example, of course, but I'm just pointing out what the possibilities are.

[Barry_Green]

If i use a external HDD or Large USB Stick then can i offload first card which is full parallely/simultaneously shooting onto the second card ?
No. You're either shooting, or offloading, not both. To continue shooting while offloading, you'd need an external offload station such as a laptop or a P2 Portable.

[Ben Digedig]

Barry great input - many thanks. I have been able to just about afford 3 x 16Gb cards (over $2k...) so the idea of shooting 2 x 64Gb is a long way off Xmas ;-) What you have said is very useful though.

Recently I hooked up my Avid laptop to a Sony DVCam via Firewire and captured 2 hours of conference coverage in real time (backed up on tape too). Didn't miss a beat - even when I changed tape - and I turned 'round this 'bread&butter' job faster than ever. As long as it isnt a hand held job (!) I'm hoping this may also work on my HPX 301. Do you know what streams out of the FW port and in what mode/res?

Thanks again.

BD

[Barry_Green]

Any DVCPRO-HD format (other than 720/24pN or 720/25pN) will stream out the firewire port and Avid can capture it live. Also DV, DVCPRO, and DVCPRO50.

The only modes that don't stream out the firewire port are AVC-I and 720pN.

[Lez]

Noel Evans (http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/member.php?u=8361) : so your taking the plunge to buy a 300... ???

You'd have to be one of the first in Oz... Keep us posted to how your finding the camera...

Cheers

www.les.herstik.com

[Ben Digedig]

Any DVCPRO-HD format (other than 720/24pN or 720/25pN) will stream out the firewire port and Avid can capture it live. Also DV, DVCPRO, and DVCPRO50.

The only modes that don't stream out the firewire port are AVC-I and 720pN.

Thanks Barry - great info again. Just what I wanted to hear so you are def on my Xmas card list now! Santa's bringing 4 x 64Gb P2's too dontcha know ;-)

BD