[MacDV] Re: imovie storage

[Daniel Beck]

Hi Jim,

I realized after one of your posts that I had misunderstood what you 
were doing. I agree with you that logging and capturing in the 
traditional manner can be tedious. Hopefully what I've tried to explain 
below makes sense. It won't suit everyone's needs, but for those who do 
a lot of work in iMovie, I think FCP ends up being a more economical 
venture (though not for those who just do the occasional iMovie project 
though).

On Dec 31, 2003, at 1:08 PM, James Asherman wrote:

> On Tuesday, December 30, 2003, at 10:55  PM, James Asherman wrote:
>
>>> You can simply use Capture Now. This will require more HD space 
>>> while editing, but allows you to dump the media files when you're 
>>> done, thus saving hundreds if not thousands in HD costs.
>
>   Now other than saving all my footage on my deep storage drive 
> (separate from capture/scratch drive) and saving the project file, 
> (what I might do with an "important " job)
> Please explain how I can get the equivalent repeatability(of logging) 
> with capture now and my space hog methods, and still wipe the media 
> out when  think i'm done(as I do).
> This may be something I have missed or overlooked and could be useful.

Hmm. I'm not sure what you mean by equivalent repeatability, but here's 
what I meant. Using Capture Now means that you don't spend any time 
looking through the footage and logging it. You only log the reel, so 
that if you do need to recapture, you will know which tape to fetch 
(assuming, as I can with you, that you've properly labeled the tape). 
Then, while that project remains active, you are using a lot of HD 
space. But that's why you have a large HD for that purpose. Then, when 
you are finished with your project and have exported your final 
product, you can dump your media files off that HD. But, by keeping the 
project file, if you should later wish to go back and edit, you can 
simply open the file. FCP will then ask you to either reconnect the 
media (which you can't because you've deleted it), or to recapture. At 
which point, you will be asked for said tapes, which you then let FCP 
capture again. No logging involved (save the reel number) and minimal 
wear and tear on your tapes.

By using this method, you can avoid both needless logging, and you can 
avoid the need for much deep storage space since tapes are still much 
cheaper than HD space.

Not sure this is what you need, but I think it would more than do for 
the original poster in this thread.

Daniel