Well, it seems as if we just passed the 900,000 totally unique users a month marker (according to Google Analytics) and here we are, a month later and we are now past the 940,000 marker. Insane. It seems as if we are always buying more servers and adding more backbone infrastructure to the COW. How do we keep up with it all? Our technical director, Abraham Chaffin, is constantly researching new ways and ideas that keep us ahead of the rapid growth of Creative COW. In his latest foraging on the Net, he came across a powerful new technology that...
The PCIe (PCI Express) standard will have a disruptive impact on the business and workflow processes in video/production/post production/etc. Leading storage vendors are catching on to the idea as we speak. The industry currently faces technology challenges in dealing with the continual purchasing of storage equipment to keep up with the rising needs of performance and archiving – and how the PCIe standard will be the enabling tool to keep capital and operational costs down. The PCIe standard, prevalent in all aspects of equipment for post – is already changing the performance/price landscape. Implemented into the storage infrastructure – the...
Here's something interesting. An app that gives you native MXF in all QuickTime applications including FCP. Calibrated Software's unique solution successfully joins the separate video and audio P2 MXF files so that Final Cut Pro sees them all as ONE file - complete with TimeCode and Reel Name. PullDown can also be removed or added for select frame rates. And you're not just limited to Final Cut Pro, you can also natively import files in Compressor, Motion and Sound Track Pro. Not only that but they have also unveiled a DVCPROHD decoder for Windows. This is something our friends across...
This question comes up a lot- how does one label a DVD-R? I would never use a print on inkjet disc- because they smear with just a droplet of moisture nor stick on labels because they peel and jam. Instead- I'd go for one of three technologies- depending on budget and how professional the labels need to look: 1. Sharpie. This is cheap as dirt and works like a charm for sending to replication houses and for internal backups. But not so much given to clients- looks decidely ghetto for that... 2. LightScribe - this is a type of DVD...
If you're having any problems with Sony XDCAM EX footage the latest version of the XDCAM transfer software might be a big help. It has some new error correction built in that can recover corrupted material. The PDZ-KP1 XDCAM Transfer Software is an import plug in for Final Cut Pro. XDCAM Transfer Version 2.5 supports the current XDCAM HD and SD optical products, the new PDW-U1 optical XDCAM drive, and the PMW-EX1 XDCAM EX camcorder which records on SxS flash cards. Check it out: https://serviceplus.us.sony.biz/sony-software.aspx?model=pdzkp1 Technorati Tags: 24p , apple , final cut pro , indie filmmaking , video ,...
It hasn t been a good week for my hard drives. On Wednesday my old G-Raid...the one I bought four years ago...finally gave up the ghost. It had begun clicking over the weekend when I was copying footage to and from it, which is not a good sign. It did this before, when I owned it for about a year. But, I took it to G-tech in Santa Monica and in two days, I had it back in my hands. The same thing happened back then...clicking when copying. Well, after a few days of the clicking...it decided not to show...
I wrote two articles for the Final Cut Pro User's Group Supermeet at NAB. They appeared in the SuperMag magazine(which I named btw). Here's part two of the first article looking at an Apple network system that is being used at the Beijing Olympics this summer in China. For part one click here. Simplemente chose to work with Gallery Software, a UK-based company that has been making QuickTime-compatible applications for over a decade. For the Beijing project, Simplemente selected Gallery’s SIENNA, a complete integration suite for connecting Final Cut Pro workstations to the traditional newsroom broadcast workflow. SIENNA was developed...
I wrote two articles for the Final Cut Pro Supermeet at NAB this year. Here's part one of the first article looking at an Apple SAN network system that is being used at the Beijing Olympics this summer in China: Last NAB, we visited Simplemente, a production/post-production house and Apple Authorized Training Center/Dealer based in Mexico City. They’ve been working hard alongside one of their biggest clients, Televisa, the world’s largest Latin American broadcaster. This year Simplemente embarked on its most ambitious project yet, a complete post-production solution for Televisa’s coverage of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. Televisa’s...
Ok, late news flash as this information is actually from MacWorld (what two months ago now?!?) but the folks at ATTO were able to crank up two MaxxDigital EVO HD SAS/SATA units to 1200MB/s . 1200!!! Good Golly Miss Molly that s some serious horsepower. Ok, ok, ok, how did they pull this off since you can t connect two systems to the same card? Easy, two ATTO R-380 SAS/SATA cards in a Mac pro. Then connect a MaxxDigital EVO HD unit to each card. Stripe both EVO HD units as one large storage array and presto, 1200MB/s. Hmmmmm, how...
Not necessarily hardcore pro gear, but gear that pros will definitely use. Actually, this is pro tool: a 640MB portable raid from the highly respected folks at Sonnet. It s built on 2 2.5 in drives for a crazy small size: 5.9 x 6.2 x 0.72 inches! This is insane, in a good way. Also runs at TWICE the speed of FW arrays. Iogear makes a number of products that may already be part of your kit, but here s a new one that REALLY caught my eye: a KVM switch with 2 DVI ports! AFAIK, this is the first...
The newest news: our friends at G-Technology have been acquired by Fabrik Inc . They re a California company whose previous offerings were in the consumer space, but who were interested in G-Technology for their Mac and professional content creation orientation. G-Tech also announced the world s first 500 GB 2.5 external drive -- bus powered over FW, no less. (It also supports USB 2.0.) They also have an update to the G-RAID mini line, now up to 1TB, also a triple interface device (FW 400 and 800, USB). The details aren t up yet, but we can assume it...
This is Part 2 of a 4 Part series on Starting and Running your own business in the creative industry. In Part 1 of this series, I posed the question, “Are You Ready?” A link to Part 1 is at the end of this article in case you missed it. If you’ve thought long and hard on this and your answer is “Yes,” then let’s proceed with Part 2 of this 4-part trilogy. Here we’ll explore a lot of questions on setting up your company and getting ready to open those doors! (Only in Hollywood could we make a 4-part...
We purchased a new Primera Bravo II CD/DVD Publisher this week because we re doing a lot more DVD s and Blu-ray discs than ever before. The Bravo II is a robot DVD / CD burner and printer which can handle up to 50 discs in any one burning session, fully unattended. Perfect for our situation. We can burn / print DVD s and we can use it in print-only mode for the Blu-ray discs. The big problem comes in its Mac compatibility. First off, the printer does not work at all using the Primera software in Mac OS 10.5...
So I just have to pass along this wonderful experience we ve had and it really underscores the tremendous community we have here at Creative COW. For about a year I ve been contemplating an upgrade to our facility to make it more efficient. When I started in 2001 I had one edit suite and hoped to add a 2nd one at a later date. In 2003 we expanded to that 2nd suite and I was eventually able to get a full sized rack unit to hold all my tape decks, my computer and some storage. It worked pretty well...
I just had yet another LaCie drive die on me this week. That makes four this year. All of the drives were at least 2 years old with the oldest being 4 years old. Ok.... the four year old drive I can understand. It was used pretty heavily. The others... used on occasions. Each of the drives were the d2 models. Two of them were the dual interface (USB and firewire 400) and the other two were Triple interface (USB, firewire 400 and 800). All of the drives have a one year warranty. Kinda silly since the physical drives inside have...
Before I begin my foray into the world of blogging I wanted to take a moment to say thank you to Ron Tim for their efforts in getting me situated with the Cow. I look forward to the many blogs ahead and hope that some of you may find the information at least useful, and at best challenging. Although I have a fairly broad portfolio in the areas I write about, and areas researched, I believe that there are always some common factors or themes that run throughout the electronics, entertainment, tech, legal and economic communities - and the way in which those...
Among all of the craziness happening in film and digital video, organization is still king. Being organized (and knowing how to) is a must for any one working in post-production. Yet so many times I see friends with terribly allocated scratch disks, disastrous file names, and scattered media. I used to be bad too, but I have seen the light and I come here today to share it with you. The Folders The key to any decent folder organization is to keep things separated. Each file type needs its own folder. FCP project files go into the "FCP files" folder,...
So a recent thread in the Creative Cow Final Cut Pro forum about Internal vs. External RAID s got me thinking more about the subject. I m a firm believer in external RAID s and really don t have any desire to install 3 or 4 drives inside my Mac Pro tower. Let s think about this. Companies like LaCie, Ciprico, Medéa, CalDigit, Facilis and others spend a lot of time in research and development to produce storage solutions that are not only fast, but reliable. Every board, every drive, every switch, everything about that storage solution has been drawn...
