[MacDV] DV Asset Managment, Logging, etc - Workflow Process

[Gregg Gorrie]

on 1/8/05 2:41 PM, Chris S.Newell at chris at newellfamily.net wrote:

> In the perfect world this is what I'm looking for in a piece of
> software:
> 
> - easy to navigate interface that allows me to organize, search, group
> assets
> - assets stored off-line, perhaps dvd.
> - storage of 'sample' video clip of asset on local HD
> 
> Here is how I envision my workflow:
> 
> - shoot to dv tape
> - import dv tape to off-line storage. Currently DVD seems most
> feasible.  Assets must be stored in a 'RAW' format easily accessible by
> today's and any future tools developed in the years ahead.
> - software interface allows easy access to assets stored on DVDs.
> 
> I'd really like to touch the DV tape only once, afterwards, the assets
> are stored permanently on some off-line medium which is then managed by
> a software front-end.  I don't believe todays hard drives are large
> enough to permanently and safely store all of the assets one might
> collect over the years.  Additionally, I don't won't to go back to the
> master tape.  I'm thinking  that with my kids and all of the footage
> over the years, I'd like to create a compilation of some sort and
> certainly don't want to re-import off of 10 years worth of DV tape.  In
> ten years, if I want to author a 'best of..' for example, I can compile
> the list of assets that are of interest and determine on which DVD the
> assets can be found.

The above workflow you have set out above is quite feasible. You could
capture your DV footage onto a hard drive in smaller segments (4.3GB
segments or less - a little over 20 minutes) using Final Cut Pro and then
back up those DV files (and the FCP session) as data onto a DVD. This way
you will preserve the full DV quality of your tapes (versus turning it into
a video DVD, which will compress your original files even further - not good
for archival purposes).

Final Cut Pro has an advantage over iMovie in that it captures time code
along with the video track - potentially, if any (or all) of your assets (DV
files) get corrupted or or somehow disappear/get damaged, you can use batch
capture mode to re-capture the media off the original DV tape (assuming you
still have them - and I would certainly recommend that you do keep them).
Also, FCP captures the files in true DV format, which is more
cross-platform/application standard than the DV stream files iMovie creates.

There is also a very cool application called CatDV Pro. I've just started
messing around with it, and it seems like it has the features you might be
looking for. You can actually capture your DV footage directly into the
application, then break it up into clips (ie scenes) and create a custom
database for everything. You can also create small low-res clips and
or/poster frames for each asset.  You can search the catalog to find
whatever assets you're looking for (ie all clips containing a certain
person, event, etc) and it will allow you to batch capture those from your
original DV tape, or alternatively would tell you what DVD#s the appropriate
clips are on (assuming you put that info in your database/catalog). Check it
out:

<http://www.squarebox.co.uk/catdv/>

One final tip - seeing as you are going to the trouble of transferring your
DV tapes to DVD data disk, it would be wise to keep the master DV tapes in a
separate physical location from the disks (or alternative make a duplicate
set of all the DVD disks and keep them off-site). If the unthinkable
happens, such as a fire or theft, you will still have your cherished family
memories somewhere. The drop in the price of blank DVDs over the last couple
years has finally made this an affordable option.

Good luck,
 
-- 
Gregg