Panasonic solid-state shooters have had a fantastic tool called P2 Genie for quite some time now. The software simplifies and automates the process of dumping P2 cards to disk so they can be re-used in a shoot. I’ve used it, and it works beautifully. So I was delighted today to see a similar application for Sony SxS shooters, ShotPut EXpress. It’s cross-platform for PC and Intel-Mac users, and at just $49 it looks like a worthy investment. Here’s the scoop:

ShotPut EXpress features Single card (manual) and Multiple card (auto) modes. Simply insert the SxS card into a PowerBook or Notebook’s ExpressCard slot and ShotPut EXpress makes secure, verified copies of the SxS card’s video contents (the BPAV folder) in up to three (3) locations. ShotPut EXpress makes a printable activities report log of all the file transfer activities. This text file shows all the details including names of cards and files, the copy destination names, file sizes, duration of each transfer and aggregate transfer time, date, etc. A great way to document and organize your project and billable time.

Fast Copying: Perform copies at top speed without the overhead of Finder or Explorer.
Automatic or Manual Copies: Manually select one or more drives to copy. Or use the auto offload mode to sequentially copy SxS cards upon insertion.
Easy Folder Naming: Save time and improve consistency and organization by auto-naming the copy folders.
Improve Workflow: Make up to 3 simultaneous SxS card copies at the same time.
Reformat Cards: After offloading is finished, automatically Erase the BPAV folder contents and Rename the card so it’s ready to return to the camera.
Security: Verify byte-to-byte comparisons of your media copies to ensure integrity of the files.
Verification Report: Create a record of file transfer activity, how the copies were named, time, date, etc. Save complete details for project organization and billable time.
Print Offload Log: Offload results are presented in a text file, printable with the click of a button.
Session Error Checking: Prevents overwriting of existing folders and duplicate offloading of the same card.
Progress Bar: Displays overall percent completion and file-by-file progress during the copy process.
Copy Cards or Disks: The BPAV contents of any mountable volume (drive) can be copied.

You can purchase ShotPut EXpress for Mac or Windows via Imagine Products.

Via Digital Basin comes this link to a handy utility called HFSExplorer that allows PC users to access HFS+ formatted hard disks and external drives. When Fat32 doesn’t give you enough space to transfer large files (2GB limitation), you can use the tool to copy from the Mac disk to NTFS. Likewise, NTFS drives can be read (and written) on Mac systems with MacFuse.

TechThoughts and shooter Marshall Levy have teamed up to test a variety of different CF media cards for reliability and speed with the new Sony Z7U HDV camcorder with the CF card recorder option. What they discovered is that there is definitely a difference in media quality between brands and cards. In testing, about half the cards showed sync issues with the tape recordings (starting up to 3.5 seconds later), and some showed dropout artifacts. This is very interesting data.

Final Cut User has the news on Apple’s Xsan 2 announcement, as well as the possibility that they are dropping Xserve RAID in favor of a 3rd party solution. Read all about it here.

Following the news of Blockbuster, Best Buy, Netflix and Warner Brothers backing Blu-Ray, it appears that the blue-laser has won the HD disc format war. According to multiple sources, Toshiba is pulling the plug on HD-DVD manufacturing and marketing. All that’s left is an official announcement from the consortium of HD-DVD backers. While this development is bad for early adopters who chose HD-DVD, it is a Good Thing for the industry and consumers in general. Regardless of the differing features they offered, having two formats to choose from has stalled adoption of the high-definition discs. I personally know a number of production companies that have been waiting for a clear winner before going ahead with plans to deliver HD content to clients. I, for one, welcome our new Blu disc overlords.

After Effects users are encouraged NOT to get the Quicktime 7.4 Software Update for Mac. After users update to QT7.4, renders in AE report the following error: “you do not have permissions to open this file (-54) (44::53).” I have not read if this also affects PC AE users. There is a lot of discussion on this issue at the Apple Support Forums, also some links to external AE forums from there. So this is just a quick reminder to tread carefully with updates if you have a rock-solid system.

UPDATE FROM KENDAL:
I recently had to downgrade QT to 7.3 to get AE CS3 to run correctly. When I downgraded everything ran fine, on 7.4 AE crashed on launch every time. Downgrading is a major pitb. Wish Matt had posted this a few days earlier :(

Update #2:
Mike Curtis is all over this as well, and mentions some issues with DRM or permissions that limits playback of movies you created, spotty reports of Sorensen conflicts, and even an Adobe engineer that mentions issues with Premiere Pro. There’s also the workaround if you’ve already hosed your After Effects install with the 7.4 update (read Mike’s post comments).

Update #3:
Kendal located a very detailed tutorial on how to revert from Quicktime 7.4 if you’ve inadvertently hosed your system with the update. Excellent info.

You know you want it. It’s Western Digital’s new 2.5″ notebook hard drive with a whopping 320GB of space, priced at a cool $200. Yeah, it only rotates at 5400 RPM, but what do you expect? It’s only 2007 after all! And they’ll have a 7200 RPM option out before you can say “Dang. I just upgraded my system with the 5400 RPM version and now I hate my life.” Here’s how to swap the drive in your Macbook or Macbook Pro with this new drive (or any other 2.5″ drive) using Leopard’s Time Machine.

Fuji will introduce fully-licensed and compatible P2 cards for Panasonic cameras in Spring 2008. I seriously doubt they will be come at a significant price break, but perhaps it will help with demand (which would indirectly affect pricing). The other solid state format that is spreading it’s wings is CompactFlash…CF cards are being used by Red camera shooters, and can be used in the forthcoming HVR-Z7U and HVR-S270U HDV cameras from Sony. And if you’re concerned that CF isn’t suited for the rigors of production, here’s a interesting anecdote that may set your mind at ease…it seems that a lost CF card was recovered after two years exposure to the outdoor elements, and it remained functional. If only the hard drives that will ultimately hold your footage were as hardy.

This is offtopic, but worth noting since Mac editors move so much data around on a regular basis. Two major data-loss concerns exist that Apple users should be aware of. The first issue is a bug in the new OS X 10.5 Leopard Finder…there is potential for data loss if a drive/volume becomes unavailable during a file move operation. To the best of my knowledge this issue has not been publically addressed by Apple, though developers are already testing a OS X 10.5.1 update. One would assume the workaround is to copy files, and check the transfer was successful before deleting from the source volume.

The second issue relates to certain 2.5-inch Seagate SATA hard drives in Macbook and Macbook Pro notebooks. On specific models the read/write heads of the drive can physically detach from their arm and gouge the magnetic disk platter. This is obviously a Bad Thing and generally results in a drive beyond repair (and lost data).

The problem is reportedly prevalent with Seagate 2.5-inch SATA drives that are manufactured in China and loaded with firmware Version 7.01. Model numbers affected include ST96812AS and ST98823AS. Clark advises users to go to their System Profile, and under Serial ATA look for the “revision number.” “If it is firmware Version 7.01, then you have to panic,” he said. “Apple is being utterly irresponsible and should launch a product recall.”

So there you have it. An excellent reminder to Backup Your Mac.

FastMac has announced an internal optical drive for Apple notebooks that features 2x Blu-ray burning. They anticipate it will be shipping within a month, and are offering a “special introductory price of $999.95″ for pre-orders at www.fastmac.com. They also offer a 2x Blu-ray standard tray-loading drive for G3/G4/G5 and Mac Pro tower owners, to the tune of $529.95. So if you’re tired of waiting for the market to sort out the hi-def DVD mess, here’s an option. Specs below.
Continue reading ‘FastMac Internal Blu-ray 2x Burner for Laptops’

Armed thieves broke into the offices of Francis Ford Coppola and stole several computers as well as a “small computer backup device” containing 15 years worth of Coppola’s personal data. There is no word on if a severed horse’s head was left in place of the stolen storage device.

“They stole our computers; they got all our data, many years of work,” said Coppola, who apparently was not in the studio at the time of the robbery. “If I could get the backup back, it would save me years — all the photographs of my family, all my writing.”

This is a good reminder to backup your data and media on a regular basis, and keep redundant copies offsite. Here’s hoping the director’s data is recovered intact.

Watch out Firewire. The USB 3.0 standard has been announced by Intel, and it will surpass USB 2.0’s 480 megabits per second data-transfer rate by a factor of 10. By embedding an optical signal path alongside traditional copper cabling, USB 3.0 will support somewhere in the neighborhood of 4.8 gigabits per second, while retaining backwards compatibility with the current standards. Not too shabby, and quite an upgrade over Firewire’s maximum of 800 megabits per second. There are also some steps being taken to fix the issues with USB’s traditional shared-bus architecture, which is one reason IEEE-1394 is often recommended for video work. While the official spec will be completed soon, expect to wait a few years before devices take advantage of the bandwidth upgrade. I imagine that commodity multiple-disk RAID enclosures will be some of the first to adopt the standard.

“Intel is working fellow USB 3.0 Promoters Group members Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, Texas Instruments, NEC and NXP Semiconductors to release the USB 3.0 specification in the first half of 2008, said Pat Gelsinger, general manager of Intel’s Digital Enterprise Group, in a speech here at the Intel Developer Forum.

In an interview after the speech, Gelsinger said there’s typically a one- to two-year lag between the release of the specification and the availability of the technology, so USB 3.0 products should likely arrive in 2009 or 2010. A prototype shown at the speech is working now, and USB 3.0 will have both optical and copper connections “from day one,” he added.”

I look forward to our new multi-Gbps unshared-bus overlords…

Editor Daniel Hollister used to hate iMovie. But from his recent Why iMovie ‘08 Matters article, it sounds like the latest version in iLife ‘08 is begining to grow on him. He makes a good case for using iMovie for simple productions; “For anyone needing to edit video extremely quickly, this is a godsend.” For a slightly different viewpoint, Mike Curtis wrote a detailed review of iMovie ‘08 for Macworld.

The latest version of iLife is available for $79 at the Apple Store.

Looks like Panasonic will have 32 gig P2 cards out by the end of the year as promised. The AJ-P2C032RG is scheduled to arrive in November with an expected MSRP of $1,650. Which generally means you can get it a bit cheaper from your local neighborhood Panny dealer. The cards will double shooting time for P2 shooters, giving them 32 minutes record time or 80 minutes at 24pN (per card, assuming 720p DVCPRO HD).

It’s worth noting that earlier this year Panasonic suggested the 32GB card would debut at $1800, so this is a nice scale back in price. Surely the imminent drop of Sony’s solid-state XDCAM EX1 has had some effect on pricing. Competition is good for the community.

UPDATE: The Panasonic 32GB P2 Media is listed in B&H’s catalog at $1599.95.

(Via Engadget)

Convergent Design is getting into the video field recorder business with their newly-announced Flash XDR DTE device. Attached to a camcorder via HD-SDI, the XDR records HDV, XDCAM HD, and high-bitrate MPEG2 streams to affordable compactflash media. The 422P@HL option allows you to record full-raster 1920×1080 (interlaced and progressive) and 1280×720p 50 Mbps MPEG-2 streams at 4:2:2.

Features:
*HD-SDI <> HDV or XDCAM HD MPEG2 Streams
*Supports MPEG2 4:2:2 @ 50 Mbps and 4:2:2, full-raster (1920×1080 / 1280×720) I-Frame @ 160Mbps.
*1080i, 720p, 1080p23.98
*Embedded or External Audio, Time-Code inputs
*Internal time-code generator, GPI Trigger input
*Two Hot-Swappable CompactFlashCard Slots
*Enables File-Based transfers, 5x-12x real-time
*Rugged, solid-state; silent operation
*Compact, Ultra-Portable, 2kg with battery

Continue reading ‘Convergent Design Announces Flash HD Field Recorder’