The back up and archiving of acquisition media is a critical topic that may not be sufficiently understood by many productions. Some productions only consider archiving options after the project is complete, while others believe that the back up of original material onto additional hard drives is sufficient. Neither of these approaches, however, utilizes the organizational and long-term advantages of a proper archival system.

In the first of an on-going series of Technical Resource papers on asset management, we discuss the differences between data back up and archiving, and their related technologies. Read the full article here.

AbelCine also offers a number of solutions to help archive and manage your media, including products from Cache-A and BRU.

Our client Emery Wells at Katabatic Digital has created a handy memory usage calculator app for the iPhone. KataData is a storage and runtime calculator with more than 100 camera and record format options, including cameras from ARRI, Canon, JVC, Panasonic, RED, Sony, and Vision Research. If you plug in a runtime, it will tell you the memory needed, or you can plug in a memory amount and it will tell you how much runtime it allows. Switch cameras or codecs and it will calculate a new corresponding memory amount or runtime; this is useful when transcoding material or when shooting with a different format on a B-camera. Calculations can be stored in a log which can be adjusted and edited, then emailed to the production office or post house. It’s a great tool for any data wrangler, DIT or AC.

KataData is available for $4.99 in the iTunes Store.

AJA has made several key announcements at IBC this year, including updates for the KiPro Mini, the Thunderbolt based Io XT, the new KONA LHe Plus, and a new Up/Down/Cross mini converter .

The popular KiPro Mini external recorder will be updated to support the Avid DNxHD codec, bringing direct-to-edit capabilities for Avid Media Composer based productions. This free update will be available via firmware sometime in the fourth quarter of 2011.

Building upon their announcement from NAB, AJA has revealed the Io XT, a Thunderbolt based I/O device. With two Thunderbolt ports, the Io XT can be daisy-chained to other Thunderbolt devices or displays. Inputs and outputs include two 3G/HD/SDI ports with support for 4:2:2 and 4:4:4, one HDMI with 3D support, component, composite, and multiple audio inputs and outputs. The Io XT is a powerful addition to your Thunderbolt capable machines. Expected to ship Q4, 2011 with an MSRP of $1495.

…continue reading IBC 2011 Updates: AJA

Nexto has released its latest in their series of data backup devices, the NVS-1501. The NVS-1501 is essentially a scaled down version of their NSV-2500 and NVS-2525 models. The big difference between these models is the number of different cards it can read directly. The NVS-1501 supports CF, SDHC/SDXC, Memory stick, and more. It does not support SxS or P2 cards. The NVS-1501 serves as a temporary download station, hard drive, and has the ability to mirror to an external drive. It accepts cards formatted in the standard FAT32 format, which means it works with a wide variety of cameras including Sony, Panasonic, JVC, and Canon. For a full list of supported video formats that the NVS-1501 can preview, check out Nexto’s chart here – Supported Video Format for Preview.

…continue reading At the Bench: Nexto NVS-1501

Over the years I’ve held a lot of one-on-one camera training sessions with owner-operators of varying skill sets – some who had been working with a particular camera for years and were finally buying their own, all the way to people who had never worked in the industry and were just getting started. I can tell you that the vast majority of them did not know how to load or copy scene files. You can all breathe a sigh of relief, knowing you’re not alone in this world. However, I do have a visual that should help those of you too afraid to ask for help: a simple ladle, some soup and a bowl. Hopefully, this analogy will help you the next time you try to load or copy a scene file from one camera to another, and it applies to both Panasonic & Sony cameras.

…continue reading Loading & Copying Scene Files

I was able to spend some time with the Sound Devices PIX220 and PIX240 video field recorders that Jeff blogged about earlier. Watch my video with Jon Tatooles of Sound Devices as we review the feature-set of this new on-board recorder and see the PIX240 in action.

Building upon the success of the NVS2500, the NVX2525 exemplifies Nexto’s commitment to the motion picture industry. The NVS2525 is more of an evolution of the NVS2500 than it is a revolution, but there are several key differences worth considering. The NVS2525 is available formatted in FAT32 only or FAT32 and UDF, which makes the NVS2525 fully compatible with footage from the Arri ALEXA. With quick transfer speeds and redundant backup via an available eSATAp drive, the NVX2525 proves to be an invaluable tool, especially for the DIT on-the-go. Watch my video above as I discuss some of the features with Barry Morrill of International Supplies, the US distributor for Nexto.