Sharing files between Mac and PC

J

jjraabe

Member
Hey guys,

Ok, I consider myself to be pretty tech savvy, but I need some help with this one.

I was on a shoot with our HVX and I brought the footage back, and loaded it onto my Mac using Final Cut Pro 6. I just connected the camera using firewire and used log and transfer.

I'm not the one editing the project, so I figure that I would just take the quicktimes that final cut put in the "capture scratch" folder and give those to the editor, who's working in Avid on a PC.

However, while the files are just regular .mov's, the editor is having problems with the files on his pc laptop and his editing machine. Avid doesn't like them so he opened them up in Quicktime, and all he has is a white movie with audio. We tried it on both him computers, using a FAT-32 hard drive, flash, and dvd to get the quicktimes over from my Mac to his PC.

He has the latest version of quicktime which he downloaded 2 days ago.

Any ideas what's going on? I'd really appreciate the help.
 
My guess is he doesn't have the proper codec, either DVCProHD, or Apple ProRes. Hopefully you still have the footage on the camera. You should always save the native MXF files somewhere else. You could then give those to the Avid guy.
 
yeah it would be great if you could just capture any old codec in QuickTime on a Mac and drop it into Avid on a PC. But doesn't work that way. HVX logged and transferred into FCP becomes DVCPROHD QuickTime .MOV, which is not a codec that Windows QuickTime player supports.

You'll need to open each shot in QuickTime Player on your Mac and encode to a format your partner on the Avid can read- such as QuickTime animation codec. That or give over the original P2 folders as most flavors of Avid can edit MXF directly or at least import.

Noah
 
An alternative is to have your Avid editor install the Raylight DVCPRO-HD Decoder software, which was designed specifically to overcome this quicktime incompatibility. Apple doesn't support DVCPRO-HD on the Windows version of Quicktime, but if you buy & install the Raylight Decoder, it adds DVCPRO-HD decoding to Windows Quicktime which will mean that your Avid guy can now use the files.
 
As a side note, an alternative to ever running into this again is to not use Log & Transfer. Instead, use one of the many alternatives (such as Raylight Mac, MXF4QT, or HD Log) which will allow you to edit the MXF files directly. That way when you go to give the footage to someone else, it's still in its original MXF format and the other editor will be able to work with it, rather than trying to hand them FCP-proprietary Quicktime files.
 
Thanks guys. I checked out Raylight, MXF4QT, and HD Log, but I don't exactly have the money for those. I'm a film student with an HVX and a bunch of external hard drives (so I get invited to work on sets a lot) but I'm trying to find an easy way to deliver the footage to the director after production. Our school uses Avid only.

On HD log's website, I saw a program called ShotPut P2, its much more affordable for me. Would that do the job? Or is there another way I can archive/deliver the footage on my P2 Store and P2 cards that doesn't require my credit card?

Thanks
 
Give him the MXF files and audio files. If you still have the actual file structure he can probably mount them as P2 Virtual Drives and use the P2 Import Clips to Bin then P2 Import Media options in Avid (in case he doesn't know, it's a two step process).

If you only have the MXF files and audio, give him those. He can drop them on his media drives here:

[DRIVE LETTER]\Avid MediaFiles\MXF\1\[MXF and AUDIO go here] . When he opens his Avid he can go to the Media Tool, show all drives and masterclips only, and drag those to his bin.

He now has all your footage. How you're actually going to get your cut across, if you've done one, is a whole 'nother story.

If you only have the quicktime files from FCP, download the Avid codecs from their website (Avid CodecsLE 1.9, I believe), then export or use compressor to recompress them to the AvidDV100 codec. He can now fast import them and they'll play.


Michael.
 
It´s still a major PITA.

We work with TGAs or Tiffs so we are at least compatible.
Not even the Blackmagic code files are intercangable.

Next fun is data transfer. It would be nice to have a external drive that work on both Mac&PC, without having it formatted with lextrem limiting exotic file systems.

I hope I life long enough, to see the day weher you can exchange files and drives without trouble.

Frank
 
I understand that I should give him the MXF files, but I need the help as to the how. My temptation is to just drag and drop the P2 contents onto the hard drive, but from my reading, I know thats not a good idea (right?).

I appreciate your guys' help I just need you to tell me how to do get those MXF files.
 
Give him EVERYTHING...the entire file structure of the P2 card. EVERYTHING. Either drag and drop on the Finder level if you are a cheap bastard and don't care for file verification (make sure everything transfers)...or if you can figure out P2CMS to offload the card that is free too. OFFLOAD...not import. Don't have it organize the footage. But I find that software complicated and confusing, so I avoid it. EASE OF USE is very important.

I prefer Shotput P2 by Imagineproducts.com. Can offload to 3 disks simultaneously, does file verification, DINGS when it is done, can reformat and eject the card automatically. And is only $50. Oh, and it will make new folders and name them sequentially...also automatically.

Then get the Avid guy everything...not just the AUDIO and VIDEO.
 
Thanks guys for the advice. I understand, of course, to give the editor everything, not just the audio video (we recorded sound to a fostex anyways, but I understand what you're saying.

I was just looking for a means to transfer the information from my P2 cards and P2 store to a hard drive I can hand over to the editor, and I think that Shotput P2 is it.

But am what I seeing on the Shotput P2 site right?! 16GB of space required?! Thats ridiculous!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top