p2.to powerbook...wait..what..i'm so confused.

N

Nick_Lee

Well-known member
i am going to begin shooting for a documentary within a few weeks, and i have a few questions on what kinda workflow i could do.

to edit, i am using a dual 2.0 ghz, g5, with 1.5 RAM. i will be getting more RAM and probably a bigger harddrive...do you think i will be able to edit/render/do motion/aftereffects/ and all that with my computer smoothly?



could i use powerbook g4 strictly as basically an offload device.?



so imagine if i would be filming, and my 8 gigs are up.

so i put the p2 card into the slot in the power book. would i need fcp 5? or would the files just show up as like an external harddrive, and i could drag and drop onto the desktop or a folder.

then could i plug the powerbook into my external harddrive, transfer the files again, and then transfer the files from the external onto my g5 and start to edit?

and the mfx..or mxf files. will i be able to just drop them into the timeline in fcp and i will be able to begin my work? or will i have to do a conversion(idk if thats the right word) to a .mov or something to start editing?

OR.

do i have to get fcp onto my powerbook, and capture the footage onto my computer like you would on a mini dv camera?


would it be valuable to buy an older g4 powerbook to offload my footage from p2, then to my external, then back to my g5?


after i record stuff onto the p2 card...each clip will be shown as a different thumbnail correct?

and i can delete the bad takes..right?


if theyre all mxf files.

does that mean i can offload onto a windows laptop, and then put them on my external harddrive, then to my powermac?
 
Last edited:
Love to answer this, but can you just the questions is a straightforward manner, and remove all the comments?

That way it is easier to respond.

Yes, you can use a PB with PC Card slot to offload. Just install the driver.

The DP 2Ghz is fine with 2 plus megs of RAM, and a second internal SATA drive dedicated to media.

etc.
 
so after i plug the p2 card into the slot.

would i be able to just drag and drop the files off of it?

thanks.
 
Woah...

Woah...

First off, go grab a Venti something from Starbucks. Sit down and do some reading throughout the Workflow part of the forum. It might be tedious and boring at times, but I bet you pickup a tone of incredible tips. Other people have already hit headaches along the way. They've been kind enough to share, make use of that and leech all the information.

As for you original posting...

You will want FCP 5.1.1 not 5.0.4. There are issues with 5.0.4 and ingesting P2 media. If you are really interested into those issues do a search on the forum or Google and I'm sure lots will come up. Simply just make sure you're using 5.1.1 when you start bringing in P2 files.

When you plug the card into the slot on your powerbook and it mounts on the desktop you have a variety of options you can use:

1) You can drag and drop the RAW contents (LastClip.txt and the Contents folder) onto an external hard drive, burn them to a DVD-R, etc. You should be doing this in some fashion or another as your backup.

2)

a) Open FCP and use its built-in Import P2 function to import the clips
or
b) Use software like P2 Genie and/or P2 Logger to help with logging and transfering the clips. After they do their thing, you would then import the stuff into FCP. Again read the various threads around here on that kind of stuff.

Also you asked about the MXFs. No, you can not cut with these natively in FCP. FCP will need to swap out the MXF wrapper for a MOV wrapper (which is what happens with the Import P2 command) to cut the footage. Consider the MXFs your master tapes (referred to as such more or less by many contributors to the forum). So back those suckers up somehow (Hard drives that you can put away for storage, DLT, DVD-Rs, BD's, whatever).

You can unload the MXFs (LastClip.txt AND 'Contents' folder) unto a Windows Laptop/PC, Windows formatted hard drive, Macintosh Laptop/PC, and/or Macintosh formatted hard drive. That's all up to you and how you design your workflow. Being that you have a Powerbook and a Power Mac, I guess one possible workflow for you would be:

Shoot your footage on the HVX 200. When the P2 cards are initially full, or while you're going, watch what you shot and delete any takes you are sure you will never want. And then once the P2 cards are full with material you do want, plug the cards into your laptop.

Once the cards mount on your desktop, use P2 Genie to transfer the contents of the card over to the laptop hard drive or to an external hard drive you have on hand. Eject the cards from your desktop. Open up FCP and use the Import P2 command to import all your footage. Check you footage to see that it is there and you're okay. At that point feel free to erase the cards.

Then after shooting has finished, take the hard drive with all the footage (whether it be the internal laptop one or an external one) to your Power Mac. Add the footage to the Power Mac's storage system (however you have it setup, RAID, whatever). Backup the folders that P2 Genie made for you (these will have your MXFs, your 'masters'). You can backup by DVD-R, hard drive, DLT, etc.

Now clear off the laptop hard drive or external hard drive that you have been dumping footage too all day. You are now reset and ready to go for the next day's shoot. So lather, rinse, and repeat.

Anyway, hope that answers some of your questions.

cheers.
 
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