Does this product exist?

[Philip]

I'm predominantly a wedding editor and about 1/3 of our customers each year get the Same Day Edit option. Edius is great for this for the most part. I want to really step it up next year and start doing them in HD. I have been shooting with the Canon A1 for almost 2 years now and just do an incam down-rez for the SDEs to keep things simple and quick.

The biggest consumer of the time is the capture process for me. I know I could capture to HQ and edit easily on my laptop but I want to be able to capture to a Firestore/nNovia type device to speed things up. Problem is the files will be m2t and while Edius can handle those files they do get sluggish to edit on the laptop. I don't think I would be saving anytime by editing m2t files and capturing to a DTE device. If I captured to a FS device in m2t Edius could convert to HQ but that takes longer than capturing them directly from tape so that is not an option either.

Is there a device in the Firestore/nNovia price range that will capture to an HD frame based codec that edits easily in Edius and is still portable for run and gun shooting? I want to step up the production elements but time is a factor and capture slows me down.

Maybe a quadcore laptop will exist next year that can speed up m2t processing and make it viable. Am I missing something in my workflow that will make it better? Any ideas?

[Geoff]

Probably not the answer you want, but the way I would go is to get a Sony EX1 or EX3. With Sony's clip transfer software installed working in Edius is a breeze.

Geoff

[Philip]

Probably not the answer you want, but the way I would go is to get a Sony EX1 or EX3. With Sony's clip transfer software installed working in Edius is a breeze.

Geoff

I haven't dug too much into the EX1/EX3 specs but are their files recorded to SD media frame based and easy to edit or are they some kind of compressed file that needs to be uprezzed while importing? I wouldn't rule out a single Sony cam for the purposes of SDEs at some point. My wife is my other shooter and she can capture right to a hard drive from her stationary cam. I am mostly mobile so I can't. I was just curious if there was a solution out there that wasn't an EX1.

[SRsupport]

There is P2.

[Rusty]

Philip,
The EX1 IS a good solution, but there is no SD. What about the HVR-Z7U?
I think it does SD...

With the EX1 I can use the clip browser to convert to .mxf (MPEG2) and Edius is happy enough with all resolutions. I just picked up a Sager Core2Quad laptop w/3 HD's (1 system, 2 RAID0) and it works like a desktop for SDE's. No regrets on this one!

[Philip]

With the EX1 I can use the clip browser to convert to .mxf (MPEG2) and Edius is happy enough with all resolutions. I just picked up a Sager Core2Quad laptop w/3 HD's (1 system, 2 RAID0) and it works like a desktop for SDE's. No regrets on this one!

But if the mxf is just an mpeg2 file why don't I just get a firestore type device and capture direct to m2t files and edit those. It would save a lot of money. It's still mpeg2 files and my C2D laptop is sluggish with them. Now if I had a Sager or C2Q laptop it may work better with those mpg2 files. I was doing some real basic work with m2t files this week and my C2D Centrino laptop took a loooooonnngg time just to create the waveform on a 40 minute m2t file I dropped on the timeline. For a quick turnaround SDE that could be a real time hog. If I have a full ceremony clip as an m2t (or mxf) how long is it going to take to generate that waveform. I need the waveform to pull some vows out of the clip and sync with another clip. I may as well just capture it all like I am now to a eSATA drive in HQ. When C2Q laptops are more readily available and the prices drop it may become more doable with m2t files.

It will be interesting to see if E5 does any better with m2t files since I read they have improved the handling of mpg2 files. I'm sure it is not significant but probably just a little better. mp2 by nature is not a good format to edit in.

I was hoping someone was working on a direct capture device that captured to a frame based codec for easier editing. Just hoping someone has something in the works.

[kwshaw1]

One option I've tried is to record HDV to tape while capturing widescreen DV on a Firestore drive, which you can then edit directly with no capture or file transfer time required - and still have access to the HD master later. You won't get HD quality for your Same Day Edit, but most guests won't notice and you wouldn't have to upgrade your laptop.

I'll PM you with another possible solution not involving Edius.