Dual Adapter , P2CMS & MacBook Pro

Q

quicklad

Active member
Hello-

I am a freelance DP and am trying to come up with a simple workflow for my typical projects. I got the HVX200, a P2 Store and several 8gb cards a year ago, and in the mean time have bought this laptop (MacBook Pro Core 2 Duo - been all Mac since 1984) and a Dual Systems adapter.

For this camera to work in my situation - I need to deliver all the footage at the end of our day, to the producer or client, who may or may not be local.

To this end I need the fastest, easiest way to dump the footage from the cards onto a (typically the clients) hard drive.

First - I was using FCP to import and then save the QT files to the drive, with the P2 Store as a card reader. I did have problems with a few clips (using FCP 5.1.4) so changed my workflow to

Second - I stopped using FCP and simply 'drag and dropped' all the contents of the card into differently named folders on the clients drive. Again with the P2 Store as a reader. Now the clients had all the original files - and they could use any NLE. With this workflow - I had no issues with footage - but I still couldn't PLAY the files to really check that they were ok.

Throughout all of this - I always copied the ENTIRE contents of the card, and used the camera (not the computer) to reformat the card after I knew the files were transferred.

Now- with the release of Leopard - I can use the Dual Systems Adapter as the reader (much lighter and easier to use than the P2 Store).

but - BUT

Now I read that what I have been doing is wrong and I am jeapordizing all my footage by using drag and drop.

I have P2CMS and have been trying to make it work.

It is not intuitive, the manual has some of the worst translation I have seen and it's almost unintelligible.

When I use P2CMS to read the card and ingest to my firewire drive - it seems to work - but it cannot read the files it just copied - saying it has a 'confirmation error'.

So then I read Barry's advice - which I am trying to follow - and use P2CMS to 'export' the footage (export from the card to the drive? what's the ingest button for?).

But P2CMS wants to erase the footage as it exports - which doesn't work when you have the record tab slid over. Why can't I export the footage WITHOUT erasing it.

I would like to test the files I just transferred (exported, ingested - whatever) BEFORE they are erased.

So the result is that with P2CMS I was unable to get the footage from the card to the drive (I didn't try to let it 'export' & erase the footage, and after ingesting - P2CMS was not able to read the files it just ingested!!)

So I tried the old (apparently unstable after being fine for ANY other computer file for the last twenty years) 'drag and drop' - and guess what - it worked! and even P2CMS was able to read the files from the firewire drive.

I was initially mad at Apple for having such issues - but I believe now the ball is in Panasonics' court. If they want the production community (as opposed to the news community) to embrace P2 - and a much higher percentage of production is Apple based - Then Panasonic needs to make it easier for us Apple users to use their product.

For now I will use the Dual Systems adapter as a card reader, and drag and drop the contents to the target drive, and then use P2CMS to check the files before I format the card.
 
Is Leopard the culprit that now requires the use of P2CMS, as compared to drag and drop? Or is the P2CMS workflow recommended for Tiger users as well ?

I'm on Tiger, and I'd prefer not to use P2CMS if I don't have to... even the P2CMS manual reads like some kind of second rate babelfish translation...

So... P2CMS deletes the footage on the card as it's being imported ? yikes. :-(
 
No Leopard is not the only culprit - apparently we should not have been drag and dropping all along, regardless of OS.

The manual for P2CMS is useless.

P2CMS warns you that it will erase the files it transfers when using the 'export' function. I didn't unlock the card to find out if P2CMS could successfully transfer files by letting it erase them during the transfer.

It was not apparent to me to use 'export' (which is in a menu) to transfer footage, it seemed more like I should use the display screen - which lets you load cards, check footage and set a target drive - to click on the 'Ingest' button. When I used the ingest button, the files transferred - but when I tried to read them -using P2CMS - I got the error message (multiple times!) that 'multiple validation errors' had occurred. I don't think P2CMS transferred the lastclp.txt file - which is what I always manage to transfer by using drag and drop.

Now for the longer portion of my post (to give more details)

According to Barry's post - found here-

http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=118672

Drag and drop has been volatile from the beginning, and nothing has changed with Leopard.

I had several issues - one is the device used to load the card onto the computer, second is being able to confirm the files that have been off- loaded, and third is being able to deliver footage to my client because I am not doing my own indy projects nor am I a closed production house.

So - First- the dual systems adapter operation was hit or miss before Leopard - with Leopard, the adapter (allowing P2 cards to be used with newer, powerful macbook pros) has native support within the system - so it doesn't crash. So far this has been the case with my set up.

This is where P2CMS comes in to play. Barry says to lock the card before mounting it because (he says) the system can overwrite the card. This seems to be the case for some and not others, I don't know if this has to do with trying to erase clips or format the card from within the Mac - or if the system somehow randomly decides to mess up your footage - so locking the card is a good idea.

But by locking the card you defeat the export operation in P2CMS. Because the 'Ingest' function doesn't seem to work either - I am left dragging and dropping. Which does work with a locked card.

Second - checking the files - this is where P2CMS works. After dragging and dropping the files onto my target drive, i can use p2CMS to load the files from that drive and play them to make sure they are ok.

Third - Delivering the footage - the drive with the footage can now be handed over to the producer/client.
 
Last edited:
I read the thread of Barry Green on the P2 Workflow for Mac. I never used P2CMS to download P2 Card until now, but just to look at the footage. I do copy the P2 card, after first write-protected the P2 card, on my MacBook Pro with Duel Adapter and then copy them on an external hardrive. I always format the card with the camera only. Then I used Raylight for importing in FCP and everything work perfectly until now.

After reading this thread, I might think about this workflow and give it a try, even if I did not had any problem with glitching until now.
 
Last edited:
Thank you quicklad. I have refrained from using P2CMS until I have time to work with it without the risk of ruining footage.

This is getting frustrating and ridiculous. I'm inclined to take my chances with dragging and dropping rather than go through the hoops and gyrations that Apple and Panasonic would have us do. You'd think that they would have this worked out by now- especially Panasonic, given that Apple users are a huge part of their market base.

So just to get this straight P2CMS is not really usable for transferring files from the card, unless you are willing to allow the program to erase your card in the process? If true, no thanks Panasonic .

I'm going to stay with Tiger for the near future, no need to switch to Leopard at this time. and, maybe P2 Genie is the way to go for importing files from the cards...

I'm a patient guy, but at this point in time with P2, the lack of a reasonable and simple solution is inexcusable on Panasonic and Apples respective parts.
 
A correction about P2CMS - It does not have to erase your footage to transfer -

This was my mistake on the warning window that pops up when you click ok to export.

The warning says that if you have selected "move" (instead of "copy"), THEN the files will be erased - and Barry does say to use "copy", not move - also - with the card locked - "move" is grayed out in any case. The language of the warning box is not great - and - it pops up even if you do not have "Move" selected.

Having said all that - I could not get P2CMS to transfer footage in any way shape or form that allowed me to use P2CMS to playback the files it did transfer.

I upgraded to Leopard for better support of the Dual Systems Adapter - and that worked well on my job yesterday. It allowed me to use it to switch out cards without needing the extra cabling and power supply the P2 Store would have required.

Once you remove the adapter from the express slot (Not the card from the adapter) though - you need to reboot the computer to get it to re-recognize the card adapter.

As long as your card is write protected - the OS cannot overwrite ANYTHING onto the card. So drag and drop should not only work fine - but should also be NO danger to your footage. if you do have a corrupt transferred file -then the original should still be on the card

Still no explanation from Apple, Barry or Panasonic how 'drag and dropping' could 'cause this supposed overwrite - which has not affected ANY OTHER TYPE OF COMPUTER FILE for the last twenty years.

Seriously - think about it - Mac introduced drag and drop in 1984 -have you ever heard of any file going corrupt because you selected that file and dragged it somewhere else on your computer? Especially if you have the card locked - Can the devious Mac OS magically override the locked card ?
 
I think like you said, if the card is write protected, drag and drop should not be a problem, but don't forget to do it. The only time I had a corrupted file was on a test and the card was not write protected. However, I will give a try to Barry procedure to see how it work.
 
Shadow said:
I think like you said, if the card is write protected, drag and drop should not be a problem, but don't forget to do it. The only time I had a corrupted file was on a test and the card was not write protected. However, I will give a try to Barry procedure to see how it work.
Click to expand...

Same here. I had a glitch early on ( a year ago) with the HVX, and it was most likely due to not flipping the switch. Since then no problem. Now I slide the switch before taking the cards out of the camera.
 
i think there are a couple P2CMS leopard threads around, but perhaps those checking this one can advise me on how to solve a problem i'm having viewing the clips i import via P2CMS.

when i open the file (on the card or already ingested) in the viewer window, i get audio but no video. i'm running leopard 10.5.1, P2CMS 1.1.9, and have QT 7.3 installed (but not final cut). would the 7.3 issues have anything to do with this or is this something else? anybody else have this going on?

btw, my ingest issues since installing leopard and the newer release of P2CMS are gone.

thanks.
 
I drag and drop for almost 2 years now, and not a single problem (knock on wood there!). I'm using my powerbook g4 pcmia slot for dumping to external hdds.
 
davetronic said:
i think there are a couple P2CMS leopard threads around, but perhaps those checking this one can advise me on how to solve a problem i'm having viewing the clips i import via P2CMS.

when i open the file (on the card or already ingested) in the viewer window, i get audio but no video. i'm running leopard 10.5.1, P2CMS 1.1.9, and have QT 7.3 installed (but not final cut). would the 7.3 issues have anything to do with this or is this something else? anybody else have this going on?

btw, my ingest issues since installing leopard and the newer release of P2CMS are gone.

thanks.
Click to expand...

P2CMS will not work without form FCP 5.1 or further !!
It's not necessary to run FCP just install is enough
 
I've been a drag and dropper since I got my HVX 6 months ago and I've had no problems, but if Barry says don't do it then I will listen to him.

The problem is that I have tried using P2 CMS following step by step through Barry's article but the lastclip.txt file does not get copied (or 'exported'). Only the Contents folder is copied. Is anyone else having this issue?

I'm using a MacBook Pro with the Duel Adapter on Tiger.
 
All you need are the compatible DVCProHD codecs supplied by FCP.

I copy them from my 6.0.2 install on my desktop and put them in the QT folder of our MBP.
 
David S. said:
All you need are the compatible DVCProHD codecs supplied by FCP.

I copy them from my 6.0.2 install on my desktop and put them in the QT folder of our MBP.
Click to expand...

Thanks David....could you just give me a bit more detail on how to do this? I've looked in the QT folder on our MBP and it has the following components in it:

AppleHDVCodec.component
AppleIntermediateCodec.component
DesktopVideoOut.component
DVCPROHDCodec.component
DVCPROHDMuxer.component
DVCPROHDVideoDigitizer.component
DVCPROHDVideoOutput.component
DVCPROHDVideoOutputClock.component
DVCPROHDVideoOutputCodec.component
FCP Uncompressed 422.component
IMXCodec.component
LiveType.component
MXFImporter.component

Should there be something else in there? If so, where would I find it? I've done a few tests using P2CMS and every time the CONTENTS folder is copied but not the lastclip.txt file. The files seem to play properly and import into FCP fine but I'm reluctant to abandon the lastclip.txt file without knowing for certain that this is what is meant to happen now...I've read so many threads where people were having problems that all came down to them not having copied across the lastclip.txt file! Which leaves me with having to use the old forbidden 'drag and drop'...
 
I'm going with that P2 Genie, that sounds like a great option actually. Let's see $33 for a program that works, or use POS2CMS or whatever ;) No thanks, Panasonic, I've seen monkeys hit typewriters and come up with better programs.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top