Questions about HVX and FCP ( I Searched )

DePalmoNewMedia

DePalmoNewMedia

Member
Ok this is a very newb type question i know. I have searched endlessly and have read tons of threads but i am still not exactly clear on what is the best HVX to FCP data transfer setup for what i am running.

Specs:

Power Mac G5 Dual 2.5 Ghz
8 Gb of RAM
140 Gb Hard Drive with 125 Gb Available
OSX 10.3.9 ( i already know this is gonna be an issue )
Fcp 4.5 HD ( i know this is an issue already )
I am going to install 10.4 very soon and max the updates on it
Also i will get Fcp 5.0 and max those updates as well.

Now what would be the best means of data transfer onto the mac HD. I have read "go firestore" and others saying use a laptop with PCMCIA slots and a thousand other ways, but can anyone tell me what is the most efficient way to transfer the data from the camera to a workable file(s) on the G5. My camera will be here friday and im pretty syked about it but this has me kinda bogged down. Please Help Thanks
 
Firstly you will need to at least update some software for P2 import. FCP 5.0.4 and OS 10.3.9 are the bare minimum for working with P2. It is highly recommended to go to FCP 5.1.4 and OS 10.4.8 though as you get better import functionality.
Next, you haven't said if you are buying P2 cards or not. If all you have is a G5, camera and a couple of P2 cards, then the most efficient way of transferring is to hook the camera up to the computer via FW and then import the clips from the P2 card directly into FCP. There are a couple of problems with this method. 1) It ties up the camera for the time it takes to import. 2) You loose the Master MXF files once you reformat the cards.
If you dont have P2 cards coming you can connect the camera directly to the G5 and do a capture now in FCP directly to a hard drive. Either way I would recommend geting some external hard drives for storage of media. Dont use youor internal system drive for media storage and use.
 
ok that clears up alot already, i am going to get a 16Gb p2 card so say if i wanted to use the camera only for shooting and didnt want to tie it up. What would be the best way to get the information off the p2 card and onto a HardDrive without involving the camera
 
Or, you could also get a 4 or 500 dollar pc laptop with pcmcia slot (as you mentioned in your first post). Stick your card in the pcmcia of your lappy, and offload it to an external drive (formatted fat32) hooked up to your pc lappy. Then you can take that drive, plug it into your mac, and go.

But, if you want to stay strictly mac, then do as David said in his second suggestion. Just keep in mind the duel-systems adapter (while it will fill a much needed hole for a lot of users) is in it's infancy.

Jason
 
The best way with the least amount of steps and time without the camera, is to have a laptop with a PCMCIA slot. Whether you use a Mac or PC is a choice you'll have to make. As Jason said a PC for $4-500 or get a used 15" or 17" G4 Powerbook, then you can also load FCP on that for field checking and editing, if you ever need that option. With my G4 1.5ghz PB and a FW800 drive, it takes about 5-6 minutes to offload an 8 GB card, so should be about 11 or so minutes for a 16gb.
If you spend the $1500 for a P2 store, at present you are limited to 60gb. So you could fill that pretty quickly, then you would still need to hook that up to a computer and offload.
 
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