Import straight into a macbook/upload time

boy_afraid

boy_afraid

Member
Hey I'm going to be shooting something at the end of the month with the hvx (for the first time) and I don't really have one to explore until day 1 of production, so I here are my questions:

If I am shooting 1080p HD, what is involved with keeping a continuous workflow on set. by this I mean, how many p2 cards should I rent and how long do they take to dump onto a p2 store?

Also, what is the difference between the p2 store and the p2 drive?

thanks in advance!
brooks
 
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On a MacBook there is no way to insert a P2 card for uploading. You must be thinking about a MacBook Pro.

My first suggestion for your situation, try your best to get your hands on the HVX at least a few days before you shoot. How are you suppose to perform that day? You might end up spending more time figuring things out than being productive.

:beer:
 
Get 3 cards minimum and the P2 Store. You'll also need external FireWire drives to copy off the P2 Store on breaks or end of day. Figure one GB per minute.
 
ian lucero said:
On a MacBook there is no way to insert a P2 card for uploading. You must be thinking about a MacBook Pro.

:beer:
Click to expand...


A MacBookPro cannot directly accept a P2 card either, because it does not have
a PCMIA slot. Make sure that you check this out so that you don't get surprised!
 
boy_afraid said:
I just saved a bunch of money on my car insurance by switching to Geico.
Hey I'm going to be shooting something at the end of the month with the hvx (for the first time) and I don't really have one to explore until day 1 of production, so I here are my questions:
Click to expand...

First let me say that all that money you saved on your car insurance will be blown on your first day of production if you show up on set with a camera and workflow that you have not tested at least the day before!

boy_afraid said:
If I am shooting 1080p HD, what is involved with keeping a continuous workflow on set. by this I mean, how many p2 cards should I rent and how long do they take to dump onto a p2 store?
Click to expand...

That will depend on how often you shoot and for how long. If it is a long form film style shoot, 3 cards should be enough. If it is a documentary you'd need more. Download times will be about 10 mins per card to the P2 store and about 40 minutes per card from the P2 store to an external drive on the computer

boy_afraid said:
Also, what is the difference between the p2 store and the p2 drive?

thanks in advance!
brooks
Click to expand...

Go here and read!
https://eww.pavc.panasonic.co.jp/pro-av/sales_o/p2/p2drive/index.html
 
An option for a lot of footage would be the FS-100. Shoot a whole hour without having to dump stuff to a laptop.
 
Download times will be about 10 mins per card to the P2 store and about 40 minutes per card from the P2 store to an external drive on the computer

Hmm, I'm a little cofused by this... I regularly transfer p2 volumes off my p2 store to other drives , all connected by USB 2, at around a gig a minute. I'm using a mac book, p2 genie and some OWC pocket drives....

If you are needing 40 minutes to transfer 1 card from your P2 store to another drive something is definitely wrong.
 
Mark Smith said:
I'm using a mac book, p2 genie and some OWC pocket drives....
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Mark,

I'm intrigued. You said you're using some OWC pocket drive. Which one is it? I'm assuming this is what you use to insert the P2 card into to read it. Correct? Thanks.
 
Mark Smith said:
If you are needing 40 minutes to transfer 1 card from your P2 store to another drive something is definitely wrong.
Click to expand...

That's what I thought as well but then I read other reports of it taking that long as well. I hooked the P2 up to a G4, 1.5ghz laptop via usb and a 7200rpm hitachi drive via FW800 and it was taking about 40 minutes per card's worth of footage to copy. The download time from P2 card to P2 store was only about 1 Gb per minute.
Dan Brockett had similar results that he gave a pretty detailed description of here.
http://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/tv_pilot_hvx_200_brockett.html
 
Film Crazy said:
Mark,

I'm intrigued. You said you're using some OWC pocket drive. Which one is it? I'm assuming this is what you use to insert the P2 card into to read it. Correct? Thanks.
Click to expand...

My mistake, I left out the p2 store in the list. I have both a P2 store and a PCD20 and use them for different situations. If I am in a studio environment the PCD 20 is great, the P2 store is for situations that require mobility.

THe drives I use are found here: http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/on-the-go
They have been great for transferring/shuttling/delivering p2 files to clients. They are small, reliable and bus powered.
 
ozduc said:
That's what I thought as well but then I read other reports of it taking that long as well. I hooked the P2 up to a G4, 1.5ghz laptop via usb and a 7200rpm hitachi drive via FW800 and it was taking about 40 minutes per card's worth of footage to copy. The download time from P2 card to P2 store was only about 1 Gb per minute.
Dan Brockett had similar results that he gave a pretty detailed description of here.
http://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/tv_pilot_hvx_200_brockett.html
Click to expand...

I have heard similar scary stories about retarded transfer rates from other g4 power book users. Something is definitely wrong. 40 minutes to transfer 3.5 gigs is crazy.That's like 87.5 megabytes a minute which begins to sound like a USB 1 speed more than a USB 2 speed.
 
Mark Smith said:
I have heard similar scary stories about retarded transfer rates from other g4 power book users. Something is definitely wrong. 40 minutes to transfer 3.5 gigs is crazy.That's like 87.5 megabytes a minute which begins to sound like a USB 1 speed more than a USB 2 speed.
Click to expand...

I am talking about 8gb cards here not 4's but still it is very slow.
 
ozduc said:
I am talking about 8gb cards here not 4's but still it is very slow.
Click to expand...


Gig a minute is really where transfer speeds should be +or-. I transferred a full P2 store to a Rev Drive in 60 minutes and a few seconds over USB 2 with a mac book, rev drive and p2 store. Every other test I have done has come out about that same speed.

If you're off that mark I'd be looking for a reason.
 
Barry_Green said:
Agreed. There's something that's not configured right. You should be, at worst, a gig a minute.
Click to expand...

Well, I dont know how else to configure it to make it faster.
P2 Store>USB cable>USB port on G4 PB.
7200 rpm drive>FW800 cable>FW800 port on G4 PB.
Drag and drop contents and last clip.txt files.
Same result as Dan Brocketts tests.
 
There's "should", and there's what Dan got (and ozduc got). There's something yet again bizarre about the Mac. Use the same P2 Store on a PC and you'll see the footage transfer at a gig a minute, guaranteed.
 
Barry_Green said:
There's "should", and there's what Dan got (and ozduc got). There's something yet again bizarre about the Mac. Use the same P2 Store on a PC and you'll see the footage transfer at a gig a minute, guaranteed.
Click to expand...

Most if not all the instances i hear of with slow P2 transfer seem to be with G4 power books. Are both USB ports on those mac USB or is there one that is USB1 and that one gets used by mistake? Also, one certainly does not get any leverage by using FW800 in the chain. I used to use USB between the P2 store and my mac book and fw400 between mac book and an outboard drive. Some testing with x bench indicated that the write speeds I was getting over USB2 was about 18% faster than FW and comparative read speeds were identical, so i don't really bother with the fw connection any more.

If you have a PCD 20 with the FW 800 connection then you can get some leverage with transfer speeds, but otherwise I'd stick with USB2 all the way.

You might also try using P2 genie. Disclaimer: I have no financial interest in the App, I'm just a happy user.

I haven't tried Xbenching the P2 store itself, but that might be interesting
 
Wasn't there some talk about dragging and dropping the last txt. file seperately where people were getting better transfer times?
 
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