P2 Work Flow

[Qframe]

Hi… I needs some tips for using the P2 format as I’m about to Hire a HPX502 (500 in USA) for a shoot and I need to make sure everything goes smoothly.

I was told that during and after a shoot you can download the clips/files from the camera to a laptop for storage then wipe the cards and keep shooting. Is this via Fire Wire? Any pitfalls here?

Are these just mxf files? And is it just a matter of the camera appearing as a Fire Wire Drive and doing a click and drag to the laptop drive when using the Fire Wire?

Then at post time do you use P2 Select to bring them into Edius and then edit as usual?
Are there any conversions of special setups to consider?

Would it best to capture directly from the camera instead of using the laptop?

I’m shooting TV commercials so I’ll probably use DVCPRO50 (PAL) so in Edius would it be best to select DVCPRO50 as the rendering format or Canopus HQ? (want to keep realtime).

Any information would be great.

Anyone know where some P2 (PAL) DVCPRO50 sample clips are on-line?

[Jason Ramsey]

The best way to offload your p2 footage is by inserting the p2 card(s) into a laptops pcmcia slot (with the panasonic p2 drivers installed). This is the quickest and most efficient way, and will not tie up your camera.

If you don't have that you will need to offload via USB (on a pc) and have those drivers installed for the camera.

I just stick the card in my laptop and go to p2 select and copy and import my clips. Transfer is done in the background so you have immediate access to the footage for scrubbing, editing, etc.

Selecting the rendering format *shouldn't* be an issue. You can do Canopus HQ or whatever, but you should not have to render if your system is powerful enough. It doesn't take much to handle dvcpro 50 or dvcpro HD in EDIUS... however it appears certain video cards will cause your realtime performance to suffer with 4.5 and beyond. Anything before that though, and you are golden.

Just use a dvcpro project setting, and you will be fine. For information on the p2 workflow with laptops, you might check out dvxuser.com if you haven't already. Lots of us there.

You can also offload footage directly to a battery powered firewire or usb drive with on the go protocol straight from the camera to the drive.

Lots of options. p2 card in laptop pcmcia slot is the quickest, easiest, and most efficient method for offloading p2 footage.

Jason

[Qframe]

Thanks Jason.

I assume there some is sort of adaptor for the pcmcia slot that takes the P2 card?

Once the adapter (with card) is in the slot it appears as a drive so you can click and drag… is that right?

[InMyLens]

No adaptor is needed, unless you have one of the newer laptops with the new super drive. If you do, carry a usb 2.0 cable with you and use the camera as a drive.

The P2 workflow with Edius is awesome. I have been working with it for more than a year and could not go back to tape.

I suggest going to a Panasonic website and downloading the necesary P2 drivers. But be aware that you have to have the P2 gear handy to install the drivers.

[cybertrix]

Hi Qframe,

Our process for working with P2 is:

Equipment: Oldish Toshiba Laptop + External Firewire 500GB RAID 1 (contains 2 500G drives as a pair)

1) After P2 card is full, DOP removes from camera and Write Protects the card. P2 Card is put in plastic holder and put in assistants pocket.

2) DOP Keeps shooting to next card (we have access to 2 x 8GB and 1 x 16GB)

3) End of scene (or even during) the P2 card is put in the standard PCMCI slot of the Laptop where it comes up as a drive. The "CONTENTS" folder is copied from the P2 to a numbered folder on the external drive using windows Explorer. Folders are created before the shoot and numbered 01 to 20. This represents each "P2 dump" in order.

4) At the end of the copy, we select the folder and click "properties" to make sure it's approx 8GB or 16GB.

5) Operator then notes (in a log book) which number card was copied, into which folder, and notes approximatly what was on the card (give or take).

6) If time permits, we use the P2 viewer to quickly open a few clips and check they are OK. With a newer laptop, we'd probably use Edius for "a quick scrub" of the clips. This is great as a camera check too.

7) The card is un-writeprotected, formatted with the P2 utility and handed back to the operator.

8) A copy of the rushes are then copied to the local harddrive (from the firewire drive) as a 2nd backup in case the RAID power supply dies and kills both drives (it happened once!)

BIG thing to remember is that your shoot is no longer on tape and once you hit format on that P2 card and reuse it, your video is gone. Always copy the data onto 2 x drives in case someone drops your drive or the drive fails / crashes. As InMyLens point out, you should make sure the latest P2 drivers are on your laptop before the shoot. Test your workflow before your shoot too!

We use a RAID 1 so at the expense of half the capacity, should one drive fail in the RAID, you will have a back up on the 2nd drive of the RAID. We also use a modified UPS as a "field" power supply for powering external hard drives where there is no 240v power. A client of ours recently returned from a 6 week expadition in the Australian outback shooting P2 but using 5 x drives mounted in a RAID 5 enclosure. I was cleaning red dust out of it last night, but it still functions perfectly even after 6 weeks of 4 wheel driving. (pictured)

cheers, Chris