Why use Camera Archive ?

hi,

i have to precise this answer by stating that i haven.t actually had time to use this yet, but from what I understand since you cant batch capture clips anymore, ie if you lost the media file of a clip digitised in from the a middle portion of a tape you cant simply click on it and get it to reimport it from tape. So i think the new paradigm is do a tape archive which ***** the whole tape in, store this somewhere safe, dispose of the tape. you can import clips from this tape archive as you will. we're tapeless now remember, they're just a nuisance and get in the way.

adam

When you import from tape your tape can be put on the shelf and is your backup. When you import from a card, unless you're going to keep buying new cards, you have no backup. The archI've is the backup of your shoot. At some point you're going to have to clear off your events to make room for new projects. Unless you don't care about anything you shoot and know you're never going to need it again then you don't have to archive.

I'd say another reason you might use the create archive instead of import is to first relocate the source media separate from where you store your events. After capturing tape/card to an archive, you can open the archive (right click and "show contents"). Then you can move the raw captured files wherever you like. Finally, you can import them into an event using references to the original content as opposed to copying them.

I archive to one drive then put my import/events on another. I also backup my archive/original footage to another offline drive. An "archive" is a mirror of the SDcard. So, worst case, I have a copy of the originals.

I have not figured out the purpose either; the archive seems to be identical to the content of the SD card with a plist file added (which I have always 'archived' by copying the content into folders (Log & Transfer in FCP7 was quite happy with this arrangement and I could happily reimport footage if I deleted the scratch disk).

I thought maybe it would fix the bug (my term - there is no option to not copy source media when importing camera footage) where using 'import from camera' always duplicates the source footage into the Event folder's "original media" subfolder but even importing from an archive has the same problem (anybody know a workaround? I don't have infinite drive space but I'm not prepared to delete the camera footage in favor of the files in an event).

Camera Archive is exactly that, an "archive", a back-up of your footage, seperate from your orignal working files. It existed in a more rudimentary form in FCP 7's L&T window, also. It's not new, it's very simple.

You don't HAVE to have your footage duplicated into an Events folder if you don't want to. You can have the Event folder "point" to the original footage where ever it is.

Hi Ben - can you tell me how to do that? I don't see a checkbox for 'copy media to events folder' when I do a camera / camera archive import - did I miss it somewhere?

What you have to do is NOT import from the archive. Instead, move/copy the archive files out of the archive (using the Finder -- show package contents to see the source media) to the location you want them to be stored long-term. Then, use Import Files to add them to your event, and you will see the "copy media" checkbox (which you leave unchecked).

Doesn't that kind of defeat the purpose of having an archive if you're going to move the contents out of it?

Moving archive contents is not what I was talking about, is a bad idea, and simply adds work to an already very simple workflow using the Import From Camera option.

IMPORT

When you import the contents of a camera card, it will copy footage to your Events folder, cause it's copying from a card. This method gives you ProRes 422 QT clips. Or in the case of P2 it gives you DVCPRO-HD QT clips. But either way, it's QT clips on your hard drive in the Events folder, it's the only hard copy you have at that time.

ARCHIVE

The archive is simply a specialized Disk Image of your original card's file structure, used as an "archive" or "back-up", so that you have a safety net in case your original Events folder contents bit the dust, period. You can always reimport from the archive and have everything perfectly intact at a later date.

I confused the Import File options with Import From Camera options, my bad.

One last note, if you simply Import File to get stuff off your original tapless card (some cards can be done this way, not all), you will not get the metadata stored on that card. If you Import From Camera then all the extra metadata stored in side-car files within the card's native file structure is kept intact.

Tom, correct me if I got any details wrong here, but I'm pretty sure that's the story.

Tom Wolsky wrote:

Doesn't that kind of defeat the purpose of having an archive if you're going to move the contents out of it?

It does if I'm using it for archival purposes, but I'm using it as a work-around to not have imported media copied to the Event folder. It's the only way I've figured out to put my non-file based content on a separate drive from where I have my events.

Even if you create an archive, and then choose to import from that archive, you still don't get the option to not copy the content into the event.

Since I'm importing from tape, I don't know about any metadata lost re: card-based media. But using my method, I still retain timecode.

Why don't you want the tape-based media copied into the Event folder? Make the Event on whatever drive you want. Not sure what point is of a tape-based archive when the tape itself is a digital archive.

Tom Wolsky wrote:

Why don't you want the tape-based media copied into the Event folder? Make the Event on whatever drive you want. Not sure what point is of a tape-based archive when the tape itself is a digital archive.

Because I'm using a laptop. I'd like to have large (externally attached) FW800 drives hold my source media, and my internal drive hold my events (analysis files, event file itself, and proxies if necessary). This also makes it easier to have separate backup methods for the two.

As for the nomenclature ("tape-based archive"), that's apple's not mine. But you should definitely have a second copy of anything you want to not lose, even if it is on tape.

Tom,

I can see the point of a tape-base archive in the case of trying to save footage from tape that you may no longer be able to read or import someday. For example, I have about 60 Digital8 tapes and a single camcorder that can read it. If that camera dies, the tapes are useless. I also have almost 100 HDV tapes. Won't be that long when those tapes may be unreadable as well.

Thomas Emmerich wrote:

Tom,

I can see the point of a tape-base archive in the case of trying to save footage from tape that you may no longer be able to read or import someday. For example, I have about 60 Digital8 tapes and a single camcorder that can read it. If that camera dies, the tapes are useless. I also have almost 100 HDV tapes. Won't be that long when those tapes may be unreadable as well.

I share you concerns here Thomas.

Unless you work professionally with video, tape based camera options are very limited.

The availability of new prosumer/consumer tape based cameras is fairly non-existent as far as I'm aware now for HDV.

I bought my first camcorder in 2006 - a Sony HDV camcorder - I had always liked the thought of tapes as archives until it failed about 18 months ago. Fortunately Sony repaired it for a fixed fee, but it won't last forever.

I suspect there'll be many DV cameras around 2nd hand for some time but far fewer HDV capable units.

Seems likely there'll be professional outfits however that will be able to import you old footage for you if your hardware failed, but with the cheap cost of hard drives these days seems logical to import and archive to a couple of disks while you can for future usage.

AC