Emergency Advice Needed

M

MMonte

New member
Hey All: I've been thrown into a shoot with the HVX that is taking place tomorrow. I will be using the HVX and two 8gb P2 cards to shoot in 720p24p. I will be dumping the footage to a G4 powerbook during the shoot. I will be editing on a Mac Pro with FCP, hopefully 5.1.2. I've used the HVX before but in only in standard definition. I think I've got a handle on this but I'm nervouse as all hell about messing up the workflow. More specifically dumping the footage to the Powerbook. Given these circumstance is there any advice anyone has for me? Tips? Things to make sure I do? Things to avoid? Settings on the HVX?

Any responce will be greatly appreciated.

thank you.
 
More Problems: So I shot some stuff onto the P2 card. When I insert the P2 card into the powerbook, nothing mounts to the desktop. Am I missing the driver? Where do I get this driver, I've looked all over the internet. Again, anyone response is greatly appreciated.
 
You need to install the P2 drivers from the Panasonic Japan website. Im sorry but I dont have a link, its been posted here a couple of times and I think I found it via google.

You should have no problems at all with the setup you have, provided you follow a well thought out workflow. Chiefly, make sure you will be able to cycle cards through the powerbook in the time you will have available. ie, dont plan on being able to shoot continuously, it may take 6 mins to off load a card or it may take 10mins, we have found variation during our shoots.

Follow a stict verify pattern. Copy the card contents, verify the exact filesize (you will find that the lastclip.txt does not match but shouldn 't affect the copy). Visually check the clips, we used P2 log to open the copy and check the clips played properly, you should be able to do this with your version of FCP. Once you are satisfied that the copy is perfect, clear the contents of the card, eject it and reformat it in the camera.

I don't like reformatting in the camera but I don't know of a way to reformat on a powerbook which can be guaranteed not to cause any issues for the camera. Therefore I format on the camera and Im as confident as I can be that no corruptions will creep in. If anyone can offer an alternative I would be keen to hear it.

I strongly recommend that when you do any deletions/formats in VCR mode that you eject the other card. That way, there is no chance of formatting over footage you want to keep.
 
You can get the P2 drivers from here:

Panasonic HVX-200 Resource Page

You may also want to consider shooting in 24PN format, you'll get more shooting time out of it, and that gives you more time to offload and erase the cards if you try to shoot continuously. Regardless, it does eliminate the need for removing pulldown, so that's a plus as well.
 
1. So Fill up one card, dump it to the powerbook. And pefor using it again reformat it? Why do you need to reformat it after dumping the footage? Can't you just keep shooting if you delete the contents on the powerbook? Thank you for the advice.



How does the 24pn format change the workflow? Would all I need to do is change the Easy Setup in FCP? I definitely could use the extra time. Would I be inviting more possible complications with 24pn? How does that affect the final output of the project?
 
you cant delete the P2 card when its in the mac, youd have tp use a program to do that. just format in the Camera if the timecode doesnt matter to you, thats what i do.
 
The most popular program for offloading and managing P2 cards is P2 Genie. It can transfer the card contents to your Mac, verify the copy, and then erase the card.

The drawback to formatting the card in the cameras is that you can't do it while shooting -- you need to switch to MCR mode to format P2 cards, and that means you can't shoot continuously.

Unlike tape which you can overwrite by simply rewinding, P2 doesn't have this dangerous characteristic. Unless you intentionally erase individual clips or format the entire card, whatever is on it is preserved when you record more material on the card.
 
To clarify, if you clear the contents of the card in the powerbook, the camera will register it as a full card. There wont be any clips on it but it will still be full. Try emptying the trash after clearing the card, this should empty the card properly but I personally believe in reformatting every time I shoot on a card. The contents are too precious to risk some sort of corruption occurring.

The big drawback with 24pn is that it it doesn't capture audio in anything other than 30/25fps mode. Other than that its identical to every other shooting format but much more efficient.
 
I always delete the clips with my mac. After dumping the card, I highlight the lastclip.txt and right click. Then make it unlocked, then delete everything, then empty the trash. Presto, clean card when inserted into the HVX.
 
tak1108 said:
I always delete the clips with my mac. After dumping the card, I highlight the lastclip.txt and right click. Then make it unlocked, then delete everything, then empty the trash. Presto, clean card when inserted into the HVX.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the tip, Tom!
 
I see that I am chiming in a little late here, but . . .

It doesn't sound like you are going to have a capable assistant, which would have been nice--to reduce your stress load, anyhow-

My recommendation would have been:

Don't wait until you're on your shoot to discover problems--practice your workflow (off loading) beforehand, it may also build your confidence.
Think about securing a P2Store--probably faster transfer than to the laptop, also permits you to format the card (thereby not interupting any continious shooting), and gives you around 2 1/2 hours storage at 720/24pn (plus whatever the cards hold) . . . you can then transfer over to the laptop at lunch break and be ready to go again.
 
For a small shoot like this, keep in mind that the P2Genie (mac) demo lets you offload an unlimited amount of cards, for free, as long as you don't quit the application more than 13 times....
 
Just wanted to say thanks to everyone that posted, it was a huge help and made the shoot a success.
 
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