A plea from the trenches...

filmstox

filmstox

Well-known member
A while back I rented an SDX800 to shoot a commercial and to try out the P2 workflow in preparation for buying a HVX200. The shoot went very well and the footage from the camera was terrific. Now cut to a few months later and my client wants to use the footage for another production. I've copied all the footage onto another drive and would like to preview it to ensure that nothing went wrong in the transfer...

****now here's the problem***

On set, we used Panasonic's P2 viewer software installed on my AC's laptop. Now a few months later, I don't have access to that laptop. So I downloaded the viewer from Panasonic but it requires you to enter the serial number from the camera in order to install! So after digging up my rental invoice and finding the serial number it installs... except it won't run without the drivers from the CD that came with the camera!!!!

So short of upgrading to FCP5 I have no way of actually looking at the MXF files to ensure their integrity.

If you read my posts, you'll know that I am a huge fan of Panasonic, the HVX, and P2... but they need to make this viewer freely available and a one step install for P2 to make it. It seems ludicrous to protect this little piece of software through such a cryptic scheme when it is a vital tool for your customers to have and to share with their clients. When the footage is released from the HVX, I believe the viewer should be included on the disk so we can all see what the footage actually looks like as it comes off the cards, rather than after being rewritten as a quicktime, .avi, .dv or whatever.

Jan, any chance this situation might change?

Thanks,
David C. Smith
LA / OC D.P.
 
I will confess, I have bought pirated software, but I buy pirated if I already own the licensed version. the above post is the reason why. It's a pain in the ass jumping through all the hoops they set up for you to run software you buy LEGALLY! Pirated stuff installs so easily. there's a lesson here somewhere, i'm just not sure where, but i think it has something to do with the expression "time is money".
 
Man, I am with you David. A lot of technology these days shows a "penny wise, pound foolish" attitude of the manufactures. Hopefully Panasonic will come through. Good luck.
 
Hi David,

Contact me offline. I can direct you to a different website that has both the driver and the viewer. The drivers or the software needs to be updated on occasion which is why they are separate pieces. And it is dependent on whether you have it plugged into the device to load successfully.

Not sure on the rationale fo the serial number, but now that I have a customer comment I can ask on your behalf. Thanks,

Jan

Best,

Jan
 
Thanks for the reply Jan,

You are doing a tremendous job with supporting an entire community for this camera. I for one, truly do appreciate it.

When do you sleep anyway? Didn't I just read you are going to be doing a seminar in New York tomorrow / today?

Thanks again,
David C. Smith
LA / OC D.P.
 
Hi -

I'm new here but have been following this forum for some time. I'm a big Panasonic fan, too, and am quite interested in the whole P2 concept so found filmstox's question quite interesting. Archiving footage from various shoots is something we can all relate to, so I can imagine finding myself in a similar situation.

Jan is doing a really great job and it's fortunate that she is so attentive to this forum and could provide an off-line solution quickly. What is concerning, though, is if Jan were on vacation (I think she watches this forum while on vacation and possibly in her sleep!) or if I were unaware of this forum, how would this have been solved? It seems a bit unreasonable that a decoder ring or secret handshake is needed for such a basic remedy. Rather than a private e-mail, why not simply post a public link where any user could download at any hour? Why such a convoluted and secret process?
 
The reason is that the link I have is a private link. Until I can resolve that, it is the way it has to be. It will be resolved, but the server it is on is not meant for 1000s of people accessing it. So until that is resolved then it has to be the way I am playing it.

Thanks for understanding,

Jan
 
A quick update, Jan's "secret decoder ring" as Bob so amusingly put it did in fact do the trick. As did my transfer... so now it looks as if I can sleep a little easier tonight... er.... this morning... probably the best thing to come out of all of this was that I found 80g HD for $20 after rebate!!! Wahoo! And my new static proof storage boxes came in so I have a safe place for the drive.

All of the cloak and dagger around the viewer probably stems from the fact that until the release of the HVX, P2 has been almost exclusively the domain of news stations running it as part of a large facility in a relatively closed system, so the hoops described in my original post probably wouldn't be that big of a deal. But with the push to bring p2 to the masses, there needs to be a corporate shift in thinking. One of the things I've always liked about Panasonic (and disliked about Sony) is their tendency to shy away from proprietary thinking. Transparency and openness is required during a major shift in workflow and technology for that shift to be successful. Lets hope we are getting the ball rolling towards just such a shift in advance of thousands of new P2 users coming online in January.

I knew the road would be bumpy, thats why I set out early...

-David C. Smith
LA / OC D.P.

ps
I posted some behind the scenes stills and (shortly) some screen captures from the SPX800 at www.filmstox.com/segway , enjoy!
 
Without Jan's interest and insight, this thread would be a rant. I am consistently amazed by her dedication to both Panasonic and the people who use their products.

It is important for Panasonic to understand that fulfilling P2's promise of streamlined workflow will require that content creators be afforded easy and unfettered access to proprietary codecs, viewers and datasets related to third-party production solutions like Sony Vegas.

I am dismayed that, to my better knowledge and at this point in time, Vegas does not [has not committed to] support DVCPro 50/HD directly.

Vegas, like FCP, is an application that fits perfectly into the middleground prosumer market suite alongside cameras like the DVX and HVX - affording small companies and independent filmmakers unprecedented power to create content that nudges them into new markets that were all but inaccessible to them previously.

If Sony and Panasonic aren't able to hammer out an arrangement, it puts creators vested across both brands in an uncomfortable position where the onus is on us to find workarounds or divest ourselves of one technology to accommodate another.

As a community, we also need to be cognizant of the fact that Panasonic does have Jan and makes her available to us - it is a testament to their vision that she is there at all.

Most corporations of Panasonic's size that I've experienced have product managers who are entirely disconnected from the end-user beyond the pitch.

e
 
Why did you photoshop out the most important part of picture? :grin:
janc2nc.jpg
 
I have said time and again, if I buy a Panasonic camera at least 50% of the reason I do would be because of Jan. I have never in my life seen a company representative serve his or her customer base so incredibly well.

She makes Canon's "customer service" look like the joke that it is, at least in this regard.
 
Jan_Crittenden said:
Okay you guys, now my husband wants me to explain where this outfit is and can I wear it later. ;-)

Too funny,

Jan
Click to expand...

Wow Jan, makes us wonder what kind of HOME MOVIES you guys got.
:evil: :evil:

Sorry, just have a bad case of the "smart a**" tonight. :thumbsup:
 
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