HVX Workflow Example

John Carreon · April 12, 2007

Hello,

Somebody's DP dropped out of their movie 3 weeks before shooting and I was called in, at the last minute, to replace them. They plan on shooting on the HVX200 recording to the P2 Cards...I have never done this before and I wanted to get some info about the workflow.

HVX200 records to P2 Cards...

Now to get that info off the cards onto a Hard Drive I have several options. I can conect it with firewire to a computer and download that way (which I've heard is slow)

I can use an older Mac PowerBook with an available PCMIA slot that accepts the P2 Cards (which, allegedly, is faster)

I can record to a Firestore Device with a firewire cable. (which costs more money)

Here's some questions:

The firestore seems like the best idea since it has more storage capacity and costs roughly about the price of two 8GB P2 Cards...but is it that dependable? How often should I download the footage to make sure that there aren't any glitches? Or is this even necessary?

Should I view my footage constantly to make sure I'm not getting any computer glitches?

Do I need a special program to view the files once they have been downladed onto my computer? Will FCP play these? And also, do I need a special program to download these files onto my computer?

I've heard people say it takes about as much time to dump footage off a P2 card as is does to do a mag change...but others have said, it takes 5-10 minutes...I'd get fired if a mag change ever took that long...

I've been reading a lot of threads, here and elsewhere, but I still had some questions...

What's the cheapest and most efficient workflow solution out of the bunch? I feel like I'm leaning towards the PowerBook with P2 capabilities...

Thanks for reading this barrage of questions and chatter...I appreciate any and all info...

John

P.S. The Production doesn't have very much money, i.e. $0. So elaborate, expensive schemes won't work.

sibte hassan · April 13, 2007

Hello,

Somebody's DP dropped out of their movie 3 weeks before shooting and I was called in, at the last minute, to replace them. They plan on shooting on the HVX200 recording to the P2 Cards...I have never done this before and I wanted to get some info about the workflow.

HVX200 records to P2 Cards...

Now to get that info off the cards onto a Hard Drive I have several options. I can conect it with firewire to a computer and download that way (which I've heard is slow)

I can use an older Mac PowerBook with an available PCMIA slot that accepts the P2 Cards (which, allegedly, is faster)

I can record to a Firestore Device with a firewire cable. (which costs more money)

Here's some questions:

The firestore seems like the best idea since it has more storage capacity and costs roughly about the price of two 8GB P2 Cards...but is it that dependable? How often should I download the footage to make sure that there aren't any glitches? Or is this even necessary?

Should I view my footage constantly to make sure I'm not getting any computer glitches?

Do I need a special program to view the files once they have been downladed onto my computer? Will FCP play these? And also, do I need a special program to download these files onto my computer?

I've heard people say it takes about as much time to dump footage off a P2 card as is does to do a mag change...but others have said, it takes 5-10 minutes...I'd get fired if a mag change ever took that long...

I've been reading a lot of threads, here and elsewhere, but I still had some questions...

What's the cheapest and most efficient workflow solution out of the bunch? I feel like I'm leaning towards the PowerBook with P2 capabilities...

Thanks for reading this barrage of questions and chatter...I appreciate any and all info...

John

P.S. The Production doesn't have very much money, i.e. $0. So elaborate, expensive schemes won't work.

John,

Two 8GB cards, MacBook G4 with PCMCIA Slot. You should have enough space on the laptop otherwise i carry my 60GB ipod to dump footage. A good AC will do the trick. I have heard horror stories about FireStore and P2Store. Also if you want to make sure all the files which are being downloaded are without any glitches then ideally have FCP 5.0.4 on the laptop so you or your AC can convert the MXF files rightaway. That will save you and your production alot of time and money.

I have been practicing this workflow from the last 7 months and thank God i havent had one problem.

Tim Tyler · April 13, 2007

I just finished 18 days of long interviews with the HVX. We were shooting 24pN, which is about 20 minutes per 8GB card.

With two 8GB cards (and a third that was almost never used) I dumped each card when full to my notebook and an external USB drive using P2 Genie (one click does it all). Erased the card after dubbing and popped it back into the camera about 8 minutes later.

I had thought about the Firestore but decided against it since I didn't want to rely on a firewire cable while recording.

At the end of the day I gave the external drive to the producer who took it to the editors the next morning. They dumped the files to a big drive, imported into FCP, confirmed all was O.K., and then returned the drive to me. Although not necessary, I was dubbing my copy of the data from my notebook to a big drive back home nightly just in case.

The next day I'd wipe my notebook drive and the external USB drive first thing in the morning.

So at all times there was atleast two copies of all data, and sometimes four.

Wash, rinse, repeat.

I got the client to agree before Day One that, when they returned the USB drive to me after dubbing, it was understood that they were responsible for the data I had delivered the day earlier.

I also found that Macs seem to sometimes have a problem with USB-powered drives that only have one USB cable. Sometimes they'd work, and sometimes the data would be a little corrupt. No problems with dual-cable USB-powered drives.