P2 Forge - new P2 management software

M

mark.burton

Well-known member
Not sure if this has been mentioned yet, quick search didn't bring anything up, so I'll post.

I found a site detailing a new package of software for P2 card management for Windows based PC's called P2Forge

Looks like it could be quite a powerful and fully featured package to have on a P2 card shoot. Its currently in late beta and pricing is said to be initially offered at $45 per seat, which seems very reasonable.

Is this old news?
 
I e mailed the company. It uses FCP, but the development tools are in house and no Mac version is imminent.

However, it will be testing P2Forge on Apple BootCamp, because the app doesn’t need to run concomitant with any other application in order to be effective. And there will be tests on some of the virtualization solutions as well.
 
MAN GUYS, i work with this last night holy crap it is SOOO much better than CMS If your about Barry Green I'd love you to do a review.

Just fasting DB over all

It gives you so much more info
The viewer is lighting and so customizable
It can run unttended 2nd HD backups
You can select what level of verifiy you want (CRC32, FireSize or Nothing)
It has an accurate ETA on finishing a card
It has audio VUs for all four channels

and so much more i haven't discovered
 
I loaded a trial down a few days ago. The software shares itself in two parts; Player and "Ingest" for to offload your P2 cards.
Thats done very luxuary if I compare it with P2 Genie or other software
Its really nice. Its a very good step to organize your P2 stuff before you edit in your NLE. It is especially good for 35mm adapter users, because you can flip the images in the preview.
The guys who take care for it are very friendly and co-operative and have some more good ideas. I will buy that.
Benn
 
I downloaded this, tested it, liked it (thought the dark-ish UI is a little troublesome), and bought it--but now I'm noticing some weird things. The biggest for me is that I can't seem to update metadata on clips, such as assigning a user clip name. Anyone had success with that?

The good thing is that since I bought it on Friday/Saturday, it's been updated twice!
 
The MFX file structure seems to be the reason for that. At first I had troubles to rename the files in p2Forge. You have to keep the letters (N) in the string and add your name or what else. But...after renaming, the file is unreadable in EDIUS broadcast and I had to "re" rename it. Obviously EDIUS needs the complet, untouched file structur. Probably its not a problem of P2Forge. But you can ask Robert mailto:robert@lightstir.com. He is very smart and fast and can explain it much more better than me. If you are recognizing a bug or if you have an idea. Let them know. I asked for a "delete" function in the player and one day later There was an update.
I appreciate that. Enjoy it, before a major companie will buy them
Benn
 
yes, this little app is great.

they just updated it again with version 1.6 ~with some fixes, and the "Location Manager"
 
I'm happy to report that v1.6 fixed the metadata updating issues I was having, in both the Player window and the Selection List. Robert (the developer) is very responsive to bug reports and enhancement/feature requests, and I believe that this program is extremely well suited to maximizing the power of the P2 workflow for small-time operators. I've been using P2 off-and-on for well over a year now, and it's really just since adopting P2Forge into my process that I've realized the true potential of P2. It may not fill the niche for everyone, but I'd certainly encourage you to try it out.

PS: That's not a paid endorsement! Thanks Robert!
 
I just tried the P2 FORGE, and I am having a problem with it downloading the footage automatically.

I put the card in and the first one works fine.
The next one continues to get an error. The only way to get it to work again is to close the program and re-open it and try again.

The error says: Transfer error! Application suspended! Error no. :91 - Object variable or With block variable not set.
Files have NOT been copied successfully! Clicl ok for suggestions.
 
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Do you have the latest update? I think the current version is 1.6.38. If you go to Help > Updates, you can download the latest version. Might be worth a shot--I know there were a few bugs fixed in the last few patches.
 
Yeah I have the latest update.
The only thing I can think of that MAY be a problem is that the cards have mixed content (720 p footage and 720x480 footage) on them.
 
Weirdness. It's possible, I suppose, but I don't think the program is actually aware of (or at least doesn't care about) the format of the clips on a card. I haven't seen this error, but then again, I haven't had a situation yet where I've used the application this way. I'd suggest emailing Robert, the author--he's pretty good about getting on top of fixes very quickly, especially if you can direct him to recreating the issue.
 
I see the last post here referring to P2Forge was in 2008 and I dont see any recent references to it anywhere else. Can anyone tell me if it is still being supported and is it still recommended. I downloaded the trial and it seems very good.

I'm using win7 and am having problems with P2CMS.
 
Hi Nic,

Yes, P2Forge is still supported even though momentarily a lot of effort is going to its successor.

You're welcome to test the fully functional trial and send your questions, concerns or suggestions to contact@p2forge.com

Best,
Robert E. D.
 
Porting to Mac was of course something we've always looked for and I wish the answer to your question was simple.

P2Forge is really an in-house tool adapted for wide distribution; giving the complexity of the tool, the resources needed for a Mac replica are simply over our capabilities.. especially considering our rather modest commercial interest.

On the other hand, we find many Mac users still taking advantage of its batch processing and ingesting tools using either BootCamp or other virtualization apps. Even though P2Forge is not officially supported to run this way, it reportedly works just as well and our support will do its best to help users build the necessary workflow.

I hope this helps,
Robert E. D.
 
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