Network Danger! Still not convinced.

Thanks guys for all your responses to my quearie on FCP 4.5 and network problems. I am still not convinced - In an office network using the internet with editing systems in use all on Mac, if an occurance happens that wipes out the office software (Office for Mac 2004) is it absolutely fullproof that if Firewall has been breached that an FCP program file kept on a desktop may NOT have any chance of file corruption? The gentleman who refered to Capture dropping frames during email checks has a point. This worries me...Phil..

Your computer is connecting to a central source, yes? Not serving information to others all the time. The chances of Office falling over and corrupting a FCP project file are pretty remote. Like, extremely remote.

There are two possible (poorly written) worms that could infect your mac via the internet at this stage. One you can only get when running bonjour through ichat by accepting a file, downloading it, double clicking it to open the archive called "latestpictures.tgz."and then double clicking that to open the 'worm'. So don't do that. This is the oompa loompa or leap a worm.

Mind you, the guys testing it had a hard time getting it to infect eachother, so you've got to be prepared to put a fair bit of effort into getting it to do what it does.

This threat has been out for about five days now, and so far the massive collapse of the (largely completely unprotected) Apple world has not ensued.

The second is a bluetooth worm that was released about four days ago, and patched about six months ago by Apple.

If it still freaks you out just unplug from the network while you work.

Network or no network a file can corrupt for many reasons.

Phil

Save a back up to a removable drive or invest in an iPod or USB memory stick and save to that as well as to your desktop.

I have NEVER had an FCP file corrupt because of virus or trojan or network problems.

If the file is in your user documents or desktop then no-one should be able to get at it.

On the email front - simply don't run the programs if you find it interrupts the capture.

You should always factor in a crash, deletion, corruption, etc into your workflow and take steps to minimise this. NOT connecting to a Network is one way, but the advantages of Net access far outweighs the slight chance of problems that can be avoided by simple routine & backups.

Ben





For instant answers to more than one hundred common FCP questions, check out the LAFCPUG FAQ Wiki here : [www.lafcpug.org]

And besides, dropped frames are not a sign of corruption. Dropped frames are a sign of throughput problems.

The reason the guy drops frames is for a brief period of time, his mail program takes precedence over his editing program and the computer has to let something slide because it has finite resources. It has nothing to do with the internet, and everything to do with asking the poor little computer to do one too many things when it's already in a process that takes up virtually all of the computers resources. Moving video is an INCREDIBLE bandwidth hog. Many people don't give it the respect it deserves.

Files corrupt when something interrupts the process of opening or closing. It doesn't HAVE to be internet related, although that is one form of entry. On a Mac, it's an unlikely source, for the very reasons Jude outlines.

If you are concerned, for the sake of your own comfort, Disconnect the internet and run for a while.

Maybe it's time to revisit this:

I personally have two networks. A "dry" network that never, ever touches the internet, and a "wet" network that does. Generally, the machines never cross. The machines that do video production are dry and stay that way. I got the dry network by investing in a $60 router.

At work, we have one enormous network with industrial firewalls and people to run them, so that doesn't count although that is one way to do it.

If you search the forum for causes and solutions for dropped frames, you will probablly find one complaint among the thousands caused by internet activity. However, disconnecting the network is on the list of solutions if you do get dropped frames either direction.

Mr. King is the only person I know with the Huevos to perform other activities on his machine while doing video production. The rest of us have been burned enough times to avoid it. Even the operators of the refrigerator-size Infernos always, without exception, have a laptop on a different network running on their desk to get email and surf for marital aids.

Koz

LOL its true Koz I do push it - but until I get my lovely workhorse to collapse under the pressure then I recomend you guys testing the limits of your machines so you know where to stop and indeed what you can do if you REALLY need to.

I come from the days of Linear suites through LightWorks on Intel 486 and Avid on Motorola 68020 with NuBus and then all the way up to Avid Symphony - have had a smattering of Quantel thrown in for good measure - all these systems had 1 thing to do and most did it well as long as you didn't do anything else at the same time.

Mac Dual Processor G4 or G5s (and possibly Dual Intel) under Mac OS X are designed to do much much more than 1 thing at a time and they do it well - albeit - as long as your system is running properly.

I'm not so sure about my Huevos - probably more curiosity and a bit of free time that drove me to test it. :-P

I pushed and pushed and was amazed at the performance you can squeeze out of these brilliantly designed machines.

There are limits but you need to find them for yourself.

To back up what Koz said - there are times when I will not run anything except FCP - simply disconnecting from the network or just closing down apps that are not needed should suffice.

In the immortal word of Baz Luhrmann "back up your projects"




Ok so it was "wear sunscreen" but I think you can read into it as "back up your projects"...


:-D


Ben

Koz - you can call me Ben by the way.

Mr. King sounds too political or "World of Boxing"!!! I have mad hair sometimes but not quite Don King style!





For instant answers to more than one hundred common FCP questions, check out the LAFCPUG FAQ Wiki here : [www.lafcpug.org]

"...Mr. King is the only person I know with the Huevos to perform other activities on his machine while doing video production. The rest of us have been burned enough times to avoid it."

Infernos are not Macs. That's PC logic. Add me to that list with "Huevos" - since 1996. I have never been burned by any network anomoly. You just have to know your way around. I wouldn't have it any other way. On a PC, I can understand it being a different story... but I have been 100% Mac for going on 10 years and every machine I have ever owned & operated or used in a professional Studio has had over 20 programs on each of my machines including (but no limited to) mainly an NLE (Avid Express / Express Pro / FCP - my home rig has both XPro & FCP), After Effects, Photoshop, Illustrator, a 3D program, DVD Studio Pro, Motion, Soundtrack Pro, iDVD, Disk Tracker (cataloging), Word, Cleaner, Entourage (always running), Fetch, Suitcase (always running), and Firefox running WIDE OPEN every second in the background. I run pretty much at least 5 to 7 programs at the same time. Out of nine Designers in my room, can you guess who's the only guy that NEVER CRASHES? (hint = Me).

I do NOT run IM, iChat or any of that crap with the camera connected to my machines. I learned early on that those programs create conflicts - especially with NLE's. If who I am speaking to needs more than email, I will call them. If I get an email from someone I do not know, I delete it immediately. I think this rule has kept me up & running for all these years.

If you maintain your equipment, you reduce your chance of failure. That's always been my experience. That and the Mac OS is the best.

- Joey



Post Edited (02-20-06 13:21)

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

You tell the world J!!!

Viva La Multitasking Mac men (and women)!!!

It is fundemental to my workflow to be able to do several overlapping or simultaneous things otherwise I'd need 30 hour days and 10 day weeks!

Lovin the Yoda Quote

Consider your Huevos honoured...

hehe





For instant answers to more than one hundred common FCP questions, check out the LAFCPUG FAQ Wiki here : [www.lafcpug.org]

Phil,

I count about five separate responses above saying, "go for it". I'll add my thumbs up here too. The +'s far outweigh the -'s in favour of connecting to the network. Planes crash, cars crash, and you can get hit by a bus walking home tomorrow. Life is not risk free, but I still drive, fly and cross the street. Heck, I still even have a bunch of LaCie drives that I use for back ups! Now that's a risk!

mark

GFX Joe, Jude, Ben...thanks...I can truly say may faith is restored. I will still disconnect network when capturing and mastering.