Asset management

ilauzirika

ilauzirika

Boring Senior Member
(note for mods: I don't know where to post this, as there isn't a general editing workflow subforum, so feel free to move this to a suitable location)

now the question...

Do you guys know of a software for documenting, archiving and searching software to manage video and audio clips? something that'll let me document a clip archive it and when I'm looking for something that is related to that video it'll do a search and look for the clip with X tag?

you know, my clips are all getting messed up and I can't seem to find anything.....

Don't know if I have explained myself well enough...

thanks guys.

EDIT: I'm a pc guy....
 
I've been using CatDV for a while, which you can get on PC or Mac. They've recently updated it to work better with more formats (it was pretty DV-centric for a while). You can catalog all your clips, store thumbnails, and even generate low-res preview movies so you can look through your footage when it's offline. There's a free demo and it comes in standard and pro versions (the standard is fine for me) so give it a shot.

http://www.squarebox.co.uk/
 
ilauzirika;1621685EDIT: I'm a pc guy....[/QUOTE said:
Using which editor?

See, now, if it was Vegas...Media Manager.

Or so I've been told.

I prefer hunting through the 4 terabytes for things...
Click to expand...
 
Well, does Bridge handle video? I've never really bothered to use it but that seems like the logical place to start.
 
We use a sort of old school system, but it works well. We have over 400 short scenes, and sometimes a half dozen or more versions of each scene for different purposes, so a total of some 2000-3000 video clips to track.

We assign each a sequential number, which, along with a very short description, becomes the filename, as in 00327_joe-at-lake.avi. All files/projects/etc are stored in a folder with the same filename, and the filenames we manage in an Access database (which we're actually switching to a web-based PHP application, but that's unnecessary for most purposes).

The Access app allows us to sort by all sorts of things (performers in the clip, date of shoot, videographer, keywords, etc) so it's really easy to find what we want, and then it's just going to the right folder, each of which are stored on the raid array. You could add a field to the Access table if you have multiple drives.

We also came up with a mnemonic structure that becomes part of the name to track different sorts of things, such as whether it's raw unedited footate, edited without watermark, edited with watermark, a preview, etc. All use the same basic numbering structure, so, for example, a filename 000327-UDV_joe-at-beach.avi is an unedited DV video file while -Q10 would be a Quicktime version at 1 Mbit.

We've used this setup for about 4 years, and it really helps us find and track stuff fast, and keeps similar files organized so we don't mix 'em up.

If the mnemonic structure would be helpful to anyone, PM me and I can send a copy of it to you.
 
That catDV software looks like what I needed, thanks! about bridge, well, I'll just say that for it it is a failure..... anyway, thanks for the suggestion!
 
Home this week...so I started writing one. :)

Maybe I'll actually finish it, unlike the bathroom which I'm supposed to be working on.
 
I've been looking at this for years http://www.imagineproducts.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2&products_id=22

Maybe one day soon I will get off of my lazy rear and buy it and use it. I have over a decade worth of great footage assets, tens of thousands of clips, sitting around unused. When I am looking for a specific shot, it can take all day to find out even which tape or drive it is sitting on.

I need to do it.

A little more capable than CAT DV.

Dan
 
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