smaller source file sizes on a network

I am on Final Cut Pro 6.0.3. My company currently uses DV/DVC PRO NTSC .MOV format for our video sources when editing in FCP. We wish to shrink the file size of our many video sources which would enable us to eliminate having to copy the source to a local drive in order to edit. A minor decrease in quality is acceptable. We have attempted this by converting .mov to h.264 but have run into some problems

When creating a new timeline using the H.264 source there is no render time required to edit and scrub through the timeline. BUT if you change the speed of a clip, it must now be rendered.

When we reconnect the media of a previously edited sequence, that used a .MOV originally, to the newly compressed H.264 source, the Timeline must now be rendered. the sequence settings match the source.

I know h.264 is intended as a delivery codec and maybe this is not a viable solution. the goal is to shrink the source sizes that clog up our network and avoid render times. any suggestions much appreciated

Thanks

4 x 2.5 GHz PowerPC G5 Mac OS X (10.5.3) 4GB DDR2 SDRAM H.264

DV movies are only 25 Mbps. They're really incredibly small, as these things go. Sure, with H.264 you might be able to squeeze them down to 6 or 8 Mbps with no egregiously obvious loss of quality. Depending on what kind of footage you're dealing with ? talking heads versus sports, etc. ? you might be able to go lower than that while keeping it acceptable.

But seriously, 25 Mbps is nothing in this day and age. I won't say you should be able to cut it over a network without any hiccups at all; computer networks aren't designed to provide uninterrupted, isochronous data the way Firewire is. But in a pinch, I've cut HDV ? which is also 25 Mbps ? over gigabit, and it has worked. Not perfectly, but well enough to get me through the exigent circumstances at hand.

Maybe there's something else going on in your setup? Can you provide more details?

we have 8 editors (one of which is myself) pulling source videos files from our not so fast network to our local drives in order to edit. the source files are up to an hour long and are all .mov dv files. it is time consuming to have to drag them to our local drives as we do a lot of volume (25 /day). we are all using and re-using the same sources. when we try working from the network instead of pulling the quicktimes to our local drives the network cant handle it. so, we are looking for a good codec to convert everything to which will allow us all to work from the network simaltaneously (source files on the network).

thanks

Part of your problem, as I understand it from your description, is that your trying to edit over ethernet which never works no matter what codec you use.

Here is Apples explanation [docs.info.apple.com] which Jude Cotter posted in this thread [www.lafcpug.org]

Which I guess you've read.

well, the h.264 codec did allow us all to work from the network without interruption, but the issue was that fcp wanted to render all the time even though the sequence settings and the source settings appeared to be identical.

Because h.264 is a delivery codec, not an editing one. If you want smaller file sizes, you have to look at the offline resolution codecs, like OFFLINE RT. Warning..the quality sucks.


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Your work environment is the reason SANs were invented.

Consider Xsan. It's reasonably priced and cross-platform. Probably the biggest expense will be the fibre runs to your suites, but the increased productivity will pay for that quickly.

If your going to enter the market for a SAN also look into volume level SANs like FibreJet. About the third as much as xSan and is much easier to administer.

Unless your doing a lot of 3D [as in Maya, Houdini, SXI] or complex compositing with Shake or After Effects where artisans require access to the same file at the same time to get their work done then you don't really need to share data at the file level.

There are several good volume level SANs available.

If you have a good system administrator well versed in "concurrent sharing of data" not networking then you might want to check out Xsan.

much thanks