Panasonic AG-HPX370 Using P2 HD with Final Cut Pro 7 - Page 12

re-wrapping via aliases so that the MXFs look like QuickTimes. Some of the newer offerings actually allow direct dragand-drop of the MXF clips into the final cut browser just like Quicktime clips. But there's a catch ... All of these programs (whether accessing metadata or not) stumble when dealing with clips larger than 4 GB in size. Why is this? Well, it has to do with the modified FAT 32 architecture used on P2 cards which has a limit of 4 GB per partition. Therefore, file size is limited to 4 GB in this particular format. What this means for P2 users is that when our clips go over 4 GB in size, they essentially span into another partition until that one is full and then the process repeats. This is much the same process that takes place when a shot spans across two cards. It is absolutely 100% reliable. (This is essentially what any computer does when it formats a large drive as FAT 32 or "DOS" format. The choice of FAT32 for the P2 format allows universal access of the card data from nearly any operating system whether Mac, Windows or Linux). The catch is what to do with these segmented clips. FCP recognizes the segmentation in much the same way that it recognizes spanned clips, so the process is transparent to us. Clips appear in the FCP Log and Transfer window in exactly the form we would expect them to. But where these third-party programs are concerned, each 4 GB segment of a clip (or section of a span clip for that matter) comes in as its own discrete clip. If you throw them all on a timeline and string them together they play back continuously, as though only one clip were present. For many applications, this is absolutely fine. Commercials and most narrative work rarely have shots longer than 4 GB in file size. But in longer form work, the longer clip length is the rule, not the exception. Therefore, pay careful attention to the type of project at hand before considering use of any of these applications. The following graphic shows the approximate length (in minutes) for a 4 GB file in the various codecs. P2 4 GB File Size Clip Length FRAME RATE / FORMAT 720 24P 720 30P 720 60P 1080 24P (N) (AVC-I) 1080 30P (N) (AVC-I) 1080 60i (1080 24P, 24PA, 30 DVCPRO HD) APPROX LENGTH FOR 4 GB FILE 12:25 8 4 5 4 4 So, in looking at the table it is clear that some formats work better than others in the world of third party MXF helpers. Commercials and promotional work benefit from either 1080 or 720, but longer form projects clearly benefit from the efficiency of 720 24P or 30P. In general, MXF helpers work best in a standardized environment where every machine on a particular project has an install of the helper. Again, it is critical that any aliases generated by the application are kept in, and travel with, the same file directory as source MXF media. Simply changing the name of the folder that media is kept in can affect the link between the aliases and the source media, slowing the edit or requiring the creation of new aliases. RECORDERS Panasonic offers other options for recording content, including the AJ-HPM200 and AJ-HPM110 P2 Mobiles, and the AG-HPG20 P2 Portable. These units offer HD/SDI input for recording video to P2 cards as master-quality *AVC-Intra 100 (AJ-HPM110 requires AJ-YBX200 options card) or in other DVPRO-HD/50/25 frame rates and formats. An additional option for recording native QuickTime or Avid clips is to use a hard disk recorder such as models like the Focus Enhancements Firestore or the CitiDisk. These recorders connect to the camera via FireWire to record the 8-bit DVCPRO HD stream. Files created on hard disk recorders can be dragged right into FCP without any need to go through Log and Transfer or any need to worry about individual clip length. 12