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Archiving to DVCPRO HD tape


Jason Eitelbach

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Is there anyone who has figured out a workflow in Final Cut Pro for laying back dailies to tape in such a way that if all of your HD's crashed you could rebuild your project from the project file.

 

Any tips on backing up that doesn't involve just getting more HD's?

 

thanks,

je

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Is there anyone who has figured out a workflow in Final Cut Pro for laying back dailies to tape in such a way that if all of your HD's crashed you could rebuild your project from the project file.

 

Any tips on backing up that doesn't involve just getting more HD's?

 

thanks,

je

 

 

A fiber RAID3 or RAID5 is a good way to go, not cheap though but neither is a DVCproHD deck (you are looking at $30K). Until there is larger burnable media this is THE hitch in the "tapeless" workflow... we look to be getting closer to some viable backup options.

 

 

 

ash =o)

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Cool, then you can just dump to tape. It is VERY east to do in FCP but you will need 5.1 to handle P2 correctly. You can dump it with a Kona card over HD-SDI or straight over firewire if your deck has the daughter card. I have done this a couple times. Create a session in FCP called "Project X - Backup" import the P2 images, then drag the clips to the timeline you want to backup.... then play out to tape. This is easy but time consuming, cradle to the grave you are looking at about 3 or 4 times real time...

 

 

 

ash =o)

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Cool, then you can just dump to tape. It is VERY east to do in FCP but you will need 5.1 to handle P2 correctly. You can dump it with a Kona card over HD-SDI or straight over firewire if your deck has the daughter card. I have done this a couple times. Create a session in FCP called "Project X - Backup" import the P2 images, then drag the clips to the timeline you want to backup.... then play out to tape. This is easy but time consuming, cradle to the grave you are looking at about 3 or 4 times real time...

ash =o)

 

Except that you're saying goodbye to any original time code references.

 

In order to do this in a way that constitutes an "archival" element, you must create a timeline that matches the original source time codes, and you must specifically edit to these time codes. This might require numerous assemble edits if those time codes are discontinuous. If you don't do this, the "archive" will be meaningless in terms of rebuilding your project.

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Except that you're saying goodbye to any original time code references.

 

In order to do this in a way that constitutes an "archival" element, you must create a timeline that matches the original source time codes, and you must specifically edit to these time codes. This might require numerous assemble edits if those time codes are discontinuous. If you don't do this, the "archive" will be meaningless in terms of rebuilding your project.

 

 

Not to mention that you have to crash record to the deck if you use firewire. Timecode on P2 is pretty odd anyway. One thing I have done a couple times it shoot straight to the 1200 deck over firewire...

 

 

ash =o)

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Any tips on backing up that doesn't involve just getting more HD's?

Yeah, get more HDs anyway. DVCPro HD tapes are fine for acquisition and, if you have use for it, recording your master edit back out to. As for back up, especially once you've broken your project up into files, it's not practical. Hard drives are so cheap these days that you can store a few hours worth of DVCPro HD on one hundred dollars worth of hard drive, and you definitely don't need a RAID for this format. For the price of one day's worth of tape deck rental, you can probably afford multiple firewire backups of your material.

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Yeah, get more HDs anyway. DVCPro HD tapes are fine for acquisition and, if you have use for it, recording your master edit back out to. As for back up, especially once you've broken your project up into files, it's not practical. Hard drives are so cheap these days that you can store a few hours worth of DVCPro HD on one hundred dollars worth of hard drive, and you definitely don't need a RAID for this format. For the price of one day's worth of tape deck rental, you can probably afford multiple firewire backups of your material.

 

 

I guess it depends on how long you need it. I would hesitate to keep anything archival on an external non raided drive. I had a project that had the master RAID and back-up die within a couple days of one another. A fluke? Maybe, but there are a mountain of stories like that and more companies like Drive Savers popping up every day...

 

 

 

ash =o)

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