You may think that going tapeless is as simple as picking up a memory-based camera and hitting record. That couldn’t be further from the truth.
In fact, you need to start at your archive process and work back toward your acquisition tool.
Why start at the end?
If you are working with tapes right now, you have a built in archive process. Simply record-safe the tapes and throw them on the shelf. If you ever need the original video again, just pull it off the shelf and re-digitize.
With memory-based cameras, it gets cost-prohibitive to store SD or P2 cards on the shelf. So, your automatic archive just disappeared.
You need a good solid backup process in place before you can think about capturing your first minute of tapeless video.
Make sure your archive system is a good one.
A good archive system is redundant and generally stored in 2 locations. These two requirements go hand in hand.
When it comes to files on a computer, the easiest way to backup is to an external hard drive. Hard drives are cost-effective, easy to interface with and stable – when cared for.
Here’s what we do.
At our office, we wait until we acquire about 1.2 – 1.3 TB of data, then we copy all of that data to 2 external 1.5TB hard drives. 1 hard drive goes to the basement of our building for quick retrieval. The other goes home with me and stored in the top of a closet. These drives don’t get jostled, dropped or even touched again unless we absolutely need access to the original files.
But what about the cost?
With our cameras and recording settings, an hour of HD video takes up approximately 2.6GB of hard drive space. We can store about 500 hours of deposition video on a 1.5TB hard drive (the math isn’t exact because the overhead varies after formatting the drive). A 1.5TB drive is about $100, so it costs us about 40 cents per hour of depo video for our archive (2 drives). That is far cheaper than $3-$4 per tape.
Lron Mcgee
I have read your blog with great interest because I want to be ahead of the wave on tapeless workflow. My first question is how in the world did you get an hour of HD video to be only 2.6 GB? That’s about the same as MPEG-2. If I could achieve that, I wouldn’t need any other help, as that solves a world of logistical problems.
I recently acquired an HPX 170 (perhaps foolishly?), and have shot some test footage at 1080/60i, using DVCPRO HD format. That came out to be about 2 minutes per GB. From what I understood, this was the highest quality video setting I could choose (although in retrospect I would have chosen /30p), but the smallest file size I could achieve from the lowest quality HD setting was only about twice as good, i.e, about 4 minutes per GB (or so it seemed).
I have read your column about the HMC 150; but I don’t have one now and aren’t likely to get one soon. Is the AVCHD format that much better at compression that it truly records some kind of HD at 2.6 GB per hour?
How do you achieve it? Can I achieve that with my HPX 170?
Jason Wietholter
Lron,
What you’re seeing in your HPX170 is on par with the DVCPRO HD format. You are correct about AVCHD and its compression. It is a form of MPEG-2. That’s why the file sizes are so very different.
Achieving it with your HPX170 would not be possible, however, there might be some device out there that would allow you to capture to another format at the same compression rate.
Lron Mcgee
Yes, there is a deck, the Panasonic AG-HMR10:
http://catalog2.panasonic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ModelDetail?storeId=11201&catalogId=13051&itemId=370993&surfModel=AG-HMR10
That looks to be the only option at this point.
Jason Wietholter
Lron,
What you’re seeing in your HPX170 is on par with the DVCPRO HD format. You are correct about AVCHD and its compression. It is a form of MPEG-2. That’s why the file sizes are so very different.
Achieving it with your HPX170 would not be possible, however, there might be some device out there that would allow you to capture to another format at the same compression rate.
Bruce Balmer
Lron:
Q1) Have you tried recording 480i/p in P2 with the HPX170? That’s all you really need at this point in time for legal video unless you’ve been specifically requested to shoot HD.
Q2) 4 minutes per GB equates to about 128 minutes of video per 32 GB card. You really don’t want to put more than 120 minutes on a single DVD for legal video. As a result, the 4 min per GB “limit” is actually a pretty decent target to shoot for, and is only a little bit more than the normal 13.1 GB per hour that is captured with standard definition AVI-T2.
Howard Brodsky
I have used the HPX170 for two years (the price has been considerably reduced on the camera and E-series P2 cards are now available at much lower prices than the A-series I use, but the E-series do have a 5 year limit on functionality, whereas the A-series do not). I have attached a varizoom to the camera for full operation from a single hand control. I networked the camera to an FS-100 250 GB FireStore and a laptop running Adobe On-Location CS3 and recording onto a G-Technology G-Drive with an eSata cable. From the Varizoom, one record button starts the recording on all three devices: P2 cards, FireStore, HDD. The On-Location allows me to monitor every aspect of the recording in real time. I record to the P2′s in 480i. Video and Audio are stored on these Flash memory RAID cards as MXF files. I always take the P2 recording over any other recording, bringing it onto my own desktop HDD RAID system using ShotPut Pro. The files are very high quality. I log and transfer the files into FCP for off-record surplusage trimming and any other specification required by the client (i.e. fades, black slugs, bars and tone) before publishing. I can send the clips to Compressor from there for encoding and DVD publishing, or for creating MPEG-1 files. Another interesting thing that can be done with this workflow is creating a searchable chapter index on the DVD that exactly corresponds to Exhibits, Objections, Collooquy and all the on/off record points. So, instead of a printed paper log the deposition log is actually embedded on the disk and can be instantly summoned at the touch of a remote button. This is a useful tool. The logs can also be recorded this way with much greater detail than an ordinary printed log. The only catch is that it can be a little time-consuming in the post process, but it makes for a much better quality deliverable. You can’t do that on a DVD recorder! Another thing that you can’t do on a DVD recorder is deliver a disk with video as sharp and clear as you can produce with this workflow. I’ve confirmed that it is superior to that produced by a $2,000 medical grade DVD recorder my clients have noticed the difference too. With the right amount of P2 memory onboard the HPX170 you can record at 480i for more than 9 hours continuously. That’s never going to happen, unless you’re involved in some weird rendition deposition in a Syrian prison cell. This tapeless workflow has been reliable and has worked flawlessly for me. Once everything is set up it seems like the recording is effortless to a casual observer, yet you can monitor everything at a glance and make any necessary adjustments quite simply during the course of the day. It also lets you concentrate on your logging without ever having to worry about running out of recording media. I spent a lot of time putting this system together and ran a lot of tests and hunted down a lot of deals. I’ve managed to amortize the investment, but it’s still a tough market today. I just feel reassured that I don’t have to waste money on media. We’re also essentially Green Legal Videographers with this workflow for all the waste we eliminate.
I never swap out the P2 cards during the recording process although it is possible to do so. I have heard horror stories even from experienced producers who have pulled the wrong one and corrupted the memory. There is no need to do it if you’re using the high capacity cards. If I was overseas for days of shooting that is when I would consider it. Unless you have a separate laptop and time on your hands, you shouldn’t have to worry about it. It takes time to offload these cards, especially if you’re not investing in Panasonic’s costly P2 boxes for this purpose. I just plug a USB cable from the camera to the desktop to perform the file transfer and format the cards when the transfer completes. All the original material is then archived on a RAID where it can be safely stored for years.