HD Log Anyone using it?

n8ture

n8ture

Veteran
I'm looking for some software to log my HVX clips and use to archive clips for future retrieval.

I already have thousands of clips stored on hard drives and would like to be able to find archived clips easily.

Was wondering if anyone had some real world experience with the latest version of HD Log with the P2 manager?

It's a little pricey but if it allows me to keep track of all my footage then it's worth the price.
Thanks,
 
Nice app. They just implemented the ability to set in and out points when accessing mxf files before they are converted to QT for FCP.

More improvements on the offing.

At $700.00 it is more expensive than some, but it's how you value your time.

There is a demo at the web site.
 
Thanks David.
I'm in the boonies of Montana with just a dialup connection so I can't d/l the demo until I get back home.
I have so much footage now that I can't keep track of it all in my head so it would be nice to be able to log it and find it when needed.
Heck, I shot about 20 4Gig P2 cards in Yellowstone alone this week :)
 
I agree with David S. about time is money. I've just slapped down money on the 'gold' version for it's organisational abilities, browsing clips on P2, setting I/O points and of course (as I mentioned in an earlier thread : HDlog 720Pn PAL) the ability to now import 720 25P footage which has been an unobtainable grail for European users up to now...
 
electricpig said:
I agree with David S. about time is money. I've just slapped down money on the 'gold' version for it's organisational abilities, browsing clips on P2, setting I/O points and of course (as I mentioned in an earlier thread : HDlog 720Pn PAL) the ability to now import 720 25P footage which has been an unobtainable grail for European users up to now...
Click to expand...

Electricpig, how do you import it with hd log? Does it convert to 720p 60 or 1080i 50?

How does HD log make it useable in FCP?

If it is indeed possible, I'll order it right now!
 
SPZ, HDlog seems to imbed a 50P stream in the 60P codec.

I've got a project set up in FCP with DVCPRO HD 720p60, with a timebase of 25.

No rendering needed, it just works as I would expect a clip with a recognised codec to work.

I've only played with 720 25Pn at 50fps at the moment, but this is all a bit monumental as a PAL user so that in itself bought a huge smile to my face...

I'll try some different frame rates today and will report back.
Try their demo out from their webpage - it's equivalent to the Silver version, and allows you to bring in one clip at a time in demo mode and export it with no watermark, but saving of the HDlog project is disabled.


mike.c
 
electricpig said:
SPZ, HDlog seems to imbed a 50P stream in the 60P codec.

I've got a project set up in FCP with DVCPRO HD 720p60, with a timebase of 25.

No rendering needed, it just works as I would expect a clip with a recognised codec to work.

I've only played with 720 25Pn at 50fps at the moment, but this is all a bit monumental as a PAL user so that in itself bought a huge smile to my face...

I'll try some different frame rates today and will report back.
Try their demo out from their webpage - it's equivalent to the Silver version, and allows you to bring in one clip at a time in demo mode and export it with no watermark, but saving of the HDlog project is disabled.


mike.c
Click to expand...

Mike, did you try exporting back to the camera from the FCP timeline? If not, have you tried upscanning the 720p to 1080i Pal, trough media manager, and see how it looks and works in a 1080i timeline? This could very well be great news for us PAL users, if indeed this works...

Just downloaded the demo and can only try it later tonight... Still haven't tried Anders reportedly excelent P2 genie...
 
I haven't gone back to the camera yet as I'm missing something simple in this whole camera streaming/retrieving from Mac scenario.

But I can confirm that via P2 I've taken 720 25Pn (shot at 50fps) into HDlog, exported as QT (in an fcp xml doc) to FCP, used the media manager to upconvert to 1080 50i, and bought it back to a 50i timeline where it's played and looked good.

What I like is that I now (HDlog Gold just arrived by post from the States this morning) also have a way to get a full meta-data log of the footage I've imported, scene based and shot-titled as I've renamed them. This can be saved out as an html page for sending out to the required people. All the footage is logged, and this has been done on ingestion which is probably the best place to be doing this kind of stuff anyway.
You can also play the clips at 720P straight off the card /P2 Store through HDlog and set I/O points before batch importing.

And via xml your whole shot list can be opened up into FCP, ready to play.

Clean and fast without loads of data to shift through several days later.


time is money...

mike.c
 
Mike, what version of Final Cut Pro are you using? I'm in FCP 5.04- there shouldn't be a problem, right?
 
I find this app pretty dang cool. Here's some tasty upcoming features:


-PAL 25/50 HD compatibility
-Sub Clipping. Now you can select timecodes within a clip, or simply
make new clips from a playing P2 file, and output only that portion of the
clip. Also it will SAVE this subclip selection in P2 format, as well as FCP
and HDLog logs.
-SD card programming. Now you can edit the metadata on the SD card before the shoot so all the clips have the correct Reel name for example. Or give the clips your own names instead of what the camera assigns.]

-Noah
 
n8ture said:
[...] wondering if anyone had some real world experience with the latest version of HD Log with the P2 manager? [...]
Click to expand...
I recently used HD Log on a four day documentary shoot on location with a PowerBook G4 we used for dowloading P2 cards to "virtual reels" and it was essential to have HD Log with us to view the clips, make log notes, and to edit the metadata. Since HD Log can read the MXF media directly, an "import" into HD Log for viewing purposes is very fast. This was a far-cry better than ingesting directly into FCP, which takes additional time, and since we were not sure what we were going to be editing in, we needed to make one-for-one copies of the P2 cards on disk.

Another capability I've been experimenting with but have not used in a production setting yet is the XML export and import into FCP. This allows you to map MXF metadata fields to specific fields in FCP, perserving metadata fields that are currently lost during P2 Import into FCP. This will prove to be very handy for some users. HD Log also provides an upgrade path in that it can interface with a clip database, making it more than just a logging tool and P2 media manager, it's also part of a clip management solution.

I continue to experiment with this program, and explore it's capabilities and limitations, and I find that Imagine Products has been very responsive to end-user needs, they really listen to end-users. It might seem like an expensive program, but when you consider all of it's capabilities, and that it's designed for a niche marketplace, it's well worth it. Writing good software takes resources, if we support specialized software developers like Imagine Products, they will continue to support us with good tools that continue to improve over time.
 
It shure would be nice if HD Log could capture the timecode on the firewire stream for those of us doing alot of capture via Final Cut. I contacted them about it but they didn't think there was any timecode at all over firewire.
 
We've since found out the TC is embedded in the stream. HDLog and FCP aren't "seeing" it because we expect the device (the camera) to reply as an advanced FireWire device. It does not. We're looking at adding an option to get the TC from the stream. Ask us in an email and we'll let you know when it's available. sales@imagineproducts.com
 
Thanks Dan, I will send Imagine an email and look forward to seeing that feature down the road. About half of the stuff I shoot is direct to laptop since it is on a set and there is a tremendous amount of footage. Much easier than dumping P2 cards. But you get a pile of clips all with timecode at zero. Having original timecode would not only help keep things straight, but it would be easier down the line if you have to recapture or reuse footage for another project.
 
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