Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race and P2 HD

Hi Everyone,

I am writing this on my last morning in Alaska, I have said my goodbyes to our team and I am going home. For those of you who have been wondering what has happened to Barry this week, being that the number of posts have been a little low; well Barry has been in Alaska, working with the Iditarod production team. For those of you who have missed it the announcement, Panasonic is a sponsor this year of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, and what that means is that we supplied the P2HD cameras and some training folks to go with that. Additionally we are building a back story of training and the decision-making that went into the decision behind the Sponsorship. These stories will be on our site and will have been shot with the HVX200.

We have a website that is dedicated and right now we have some photos loaded and the videos are too far behind. They are working out the final streaming details. All of the video you will see on the site has been shot with the HVX200, and maybe a little with the HPX500. Keep in mind all of these are compressed for the internet and are not the raw files. As we move closer to the final documentary we will probably press it to a DVD and included some raw stuff to look at. But that is later.

The story is that Pansonic had five guys come in a week before the race to work with the shooters and teach them how to work with P2. The weather being what it is around here, where -40 is not uncommon out on the trail, P2 with its no moving parts looked ideal and so far has been the least of the troubles on the race. One of the favorite mushers, Doug Swingly had to scratch as he had a pretty serious accident and 11 of his dogs had to be air-lifted to a Veterinary hospital, the other 5 are okay. We have had our share of ESD, or Static, dismounting drives, and having to reboot system. I think out on the trail much of that goes away. Two of our guys continue on to the first Hub in McGrath today or tomorrow, when they can catch a ride on one of the small planes that are part of the Iditarod Airforce.

The Iditarod Team is doing clips on their Insider website, all of this footage has been captured with either the HVX200 or the HPX2000. They bring it in, import it to the timeline and then send it out to the web. The cutting style is not fancy but is newsworthy. Eventually the footage will make it into a documentary that will air on PBS or Discovery. Some of the footage will also be a part of the OLN/Versus Network 3 part series on the Iditarod.

Anyhow it has been a facinating week watching this all develop. And did I say Barry actually got some hands-on time with the HPX500. ;-) So if you visit our site at www.panasonic.com/broadcast, you will see an Iditarod Banner, when you click on it, the page will display where the photos are and the videos will be shortly.

There is also a click to the Iditarod site. Any video from this years event will be in a 16:9 format, all the 4:3 is from last years BetaSP stuff. I believe you can see some of the footage for free, but the majority is in the Insider membership, which is $19.95. I figure that most of us can spend $20 in a day and not have a clue what you spent it on, this will give you access to news on the race which I am currently finding to be addicting. Not only is this the last great race on earth, its coverage makes it one of the most challenging documentaries on earth.

Enjoy!

Jan
 
Thanks for all the updated info, Jan.

I lived in Alaska for 4 years when I was younger, and saw parts of the Iditarod a couple of times. It's pretty wild.

Alaska is beautiful isn't it? I hope you got to do some tourism stuff, and site seeing while you guys were up there.

Take care,
Jason
 
That looks like an exciting project and a great event for testing the 500 and 2000 cameras.

Warm in NC, but still just a little envious!

e
 
Well it is a testing ground for all three P2HD camers, the HVX, the 500 and the 2000. Although at this point the HPX500 is going home with me.

Pretty interesting project indeed.

Best,

Jan
 
I've already tested the HVX in those conditions! P2 has nothing left to prove to me.

e
 
This Alaska thing has been just amazing. I mean, consider I was born in the desert and spent 42 years in the desert, so to be transplanted to the Arctic for nine days... brrr... :thumbsup:

But wow, the Iditarod organization is awesome. 1800 volunteers, 87 dog teams, 16 dogs per team = somewhere around 1400 dogs! They have an absolute army of veterinarians who are absolutely devoted to their "canine athletes"; they're checked and certified at every checkpoint. They really, really take care of those dogs!

And for transportation, they have what they call The Iditarod Air Force, which is something like 35 planes that haul all the gear and people all over the State of Alaska. Last year those guys had to haul a giant television transmitter around, build it every morning, broadcast, and then break it down every night. When they found out that this year all they'd have to haul around were a few P2 cards, they were thrilled.

The shooters they hired were hardcore too -- one guy, Greg Ritchie, had shot in over 130 countries and most recently was shooting up on K2. The whole team was made up of veteran event shooters, both for Iditarod, and for Versus (formerly the Outdoor Life Network). And then Panasonic sent two guys onto the trail to document the whole thing with HVXs. The Versus and Iditarod guys are using a bunch of HPX2000s and HVX200s, taking them every step of the way from Wasilla to Nome, all 1100 miles of it. The Iditarod Air Force flies the cards in from the field to the base station, where they import, edit, and post reports immediately.

Met some Alaska DVXUsers, got to train some of the best event shooters, got to play with the HPX2000 and even got a couple of days on the HPX500, saw some of the most magnificent terrain on the planet, and got to participate in a true Alaska tradition (the 35th annual Iditarod). What an awesome week! :thumbsup:
 
Glad you guys had a great time...I've been shooting Alaska for 17 years and I never get tired of it.

Thanks for signing my HVX book...Barry...Jan...Should fetch at least $5000 on Ebay I would think.....

Ted Barnett
LoneWolf Interactive
 
I am extremely envious. I've read/seen various accounts of the race and as an event shooter myself, I would love the opportunity to cover something on that event someday.

What about the walkers/runners and cyclists, anybody covering those nutjobs, I mean athletes?
 
That's awesome, Barry. You folks should really try to get back up that way during the summer. Central and South Central Alaska in particular, has some great summertime weather, and some amazing scenery. Plus the sun pretty much doesn't go down for a few months.

I remember walking on glaciers, and going to gold mines, and standing on top of snow capped mountains in the summer. It's a great place. I hope I get to get back up that way again someday soon, for an extended vacation.

Later,
Jason
 
Sounds like a blast Barry! Alaska really is a special place. I was born there and try to get back as often as possible. Love it up there!
 
I thought my 'User senses were tingling...
I heard there was someone from Panny up at our partner station in Anchorage, KTUU.

Barry, Jan, neighter of you would be pasing through Juneau on your trip would you?

- Mikko
 
Can someone give some work flow details? How many P2 cards did Pany throw into the mix? Did all P2 cards just get collected and flown off for transfers? Looking forward to ordering the DVD.

- John
 
Interesting to note that Panasonic thanks Apple computers and Imagine Products (P2 log) on the iditarod page. I'm presuming that there were no problems with 'The Glitch'?
 
Jan: or others in the know. When can I exspect to receive my HPX2000. I just made my purchase here today in Charlotte and was promised the first one to be shipped to the dealer there. In talking with the sales rep he said the Panny Man say May. If you gonna take the 500, why not let Barry take the 2000 back to Carolina and us good old boy's could go down there and get our hand on this wonderful babe. Hey I'll buy the beer.

and I'll bring my Ruber Band Firewire holder for the FS100/ HVX200.



HeHaw
Mule
 
Looks like the high bit rate videos are going, the lower bit rate for the badwidth challenged hopefully will go up today, if not tomorrow am.

One of the reallneat things in working with the P2 workflow has been the idea of "Mirrored" Drives. Getting down to the crunch in editing, Art, our Apple Guru, copied a number of cards from the G-Tech TeraByte Drive over to a smaller 750 drive. Bernie started the rough cuts on two additional pieces. The timeline has now been sent via email to Art so that he can work on it at home. (He had to go home as he and his wife have just had a new baby) He will be back in Nome for the finish. I have to say it has been very exciting.

And yes I have to agree with Barry, the dogs seem to be well cared for and nurtured. Jeff King devised a "caboose" for his sled and in it he has one dog and on the sled he has another. This translates to always having two dogs that are fully rested. My bets are on this guy.

Anyhow, check out the videos, more are on the way.

Oh yeah, Ted did get to be a part of the team in a way. He helped us get around and find stuff in unknown territory. He also drank and ate with us a couple of times. It was great meeting you, Ted and your buddy Karl is now ready to be local support. Although now that we are out of the static filled hotel room, things seem to be going along just fine for the crew.


Best,

Jan
 
The videos don't seem to be working yet on my Mac. Pictures are fine but click on the three videos and it keeps telling me to select a video from the right.
 
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