OK to store edited footage outside P2 folder system?

U

underseafan

Member
I'd like to archive my footage for stock. I'll be using 1080/25p. Please let me know if there is anything wrong with my proposed workflow:


- import P2 card files to NLE

- grab one of the clips, set in/out points

- export the video portion of the clip as a fresh MXF file (or some other full-res format?), renaming it to one that fits with my existing database

- save new file to external HDD

- repeat process for all other needed clips

- delete original P2 contents folders


NB: I don't need the audio, just the video.

Will it be a problem to remove the files from the P2 folder system? Will it be a problem to rename the files?

Sorry if this is a daft question, it's just that this P2 folder system is puzzling me.

Thanks.
 
This is a little like asking, "How big is a fish?" It depends.

You're welcome to delete all the XML data, delete the icons and the audio clips to your heart's content. If you don't need them, there is nothing about the folder system that requires you to keep them. Your video is independent.
Howsomever, it's the consenus here, and the advice of Panasonic, that you never delete your original MXF clips. They're pristine, they're the highest resolution they ever will be, and they're just so darned cute.
 
Thanks hatchmo.

Just wondering, why wouldn't the exported 'new' MXF files be the same high quality as the originals? I'm missing something here...
 
MXF is just a wrapper

MXF is just a wrapper

Undersea, if you read around some of the other quotes, or a lot of the Panasonic literature, you'll see that MXF are just wrappers. So if you are adjusting/editing the clips on a timeline with a native/equivalent codec (ie DVC Pro HD), then yes the newly exported clips would be just as high quality as the originals.

But for stock footage purposes, I think most people tend to want to preserve the originals in as RAW a format as they can. Now when having shot tape, well that was easy enough, just store the tapes. The whole tapeless workflow has opened a new can of worms in that regard. I personally don't see anything wrong in what you're doing, but the paranoid guy in me would burn the original RAW P2 contents.

cheers.
 
Stick with the whole folder(maybe get rid of the audio if youll NEVER need it, also if it could save your soul from the devil one day..), but i would always keep the metadata, its not much of archiving space, and you never know, there could be some info you wanna have in 5 years...AND never delte your lastclip..!
 
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