Batching from tape AND P2

Soon, I'll be working with a 2 camera situation, with jam-synched TC. One camera is tape, the other is P2 (both shooting DVCProHD). In a perfect world (with BOTH cameras rolling tape), I'd log the A camera and use those clips to batch capture the footage from camera B, too. Log once, load twice.

Well, I've gathered that you cannot use master clips from the Log & Capture window in the Log & Transfer window. So, I cannot use those clips logged for Camera A to "batch unwrap" the footage from P2 card, aka Camera B.

Now, I'd love a solution that would save time and perhaps an annoying manual procedure of logging the same clips twice (or even the seemingly mundane procedure of copying-and-pasting).

(I should point out that I haven't started this job yet--but it begins next week and I'd like to walk though the door with a idea of my workflow.)

Thanks!

Hmm,

I don't see your problem.
You got 2 cams with hopefully identical TC. Log and Capture one, Log and Transfer the other. These are two different things and you never know whether start stop of camera are really the same it might match the one or other way with starts and stops. And you always have capture/transfer for each camera. To get them in sync you can use the FCP tools.
Maybe you may use my free sequenceLiner.

Andreas

Some workflow tools for FCP [www.spherico.com]
TitleExchange -- juggle titles within FCS, FCPX and many other apps.
[www.spherico.com]

The problem is that he (?) wants to log once, creating one set of offline clips, then duplicate them and batch one set from P2 and the other from tape.

I'm not sure that would work in practice anyway, even if you were batching everything from tape. When you log, Final Cut records the reel number along with all your other metadata. To make that work properly, you'd have to change that reel number on all your offline clips. Maybe you could do that with a batch list, in Excel or something?hmm.

Again,

I don't see the problem. If you got the tape which in a professional world should be recorded with either Free Run or TOD TC you get all clips separately with Log and Capture. With P2 you got them anyway as they are individual clips.
Log & Capture and Log & Transfer are two totally different programs which are integrated in FCP and which do use two totally different approaches to connect media.
As there is no security that the cameras do have an exact common In/Out it doesn't make any sense, or is wishful thinking that log once/capture my will work.

Just my 2 cents on that

Andreas

Some workflow tools for FCP [www.spherico.com]
TitleExchange -- juggle titles within FCS, FCPX and many other apps.
[www.spherico.com]

Jeff is more on the money, Andreas. The cameras will be starting and stopping at the same time; in fact, each tape and P2 card will start within seconds and run the length of the tape. When there's a tape change, they'll also swap out the P2 cards. So, a single, unbroken stretch of TC on the tape, and an identical stretch on the P2 media (albeit spanned). I want both to have identical Ins and Outs. (Yes, Jeff, I would be totally game to change the reel numbers in my offline clips. Oh, and I am a he! Thanks for the ? mark!)

Hellfrick (what's your real name - I hate this pseudonymes),

I'm organizing a lot of daily soap operas done on P2 and tape and external audio with a lot of clips per day and there are always offsets. This in our case is not really dramatic as we use another custom approach.
As said before there is a big difference within FCP about handling tape/tapeless formats internally as the internal metadata are totally different especially when it comes to spanned clips on P2. Depending on your way of recording Jeff's way of just changing the reel may work, but you have to use the P2 as master - means transfer P2, duplicate, then export batch list (this will kill all internal metadata), clean all 'pathurls', replace reels and re-import the modified batch list and batch capture from tape.

Just my 2 cents again - based upon thousand of multicam clips

Andreas

Hi, Andreas...

That's a really solid suggestion and I really appreciate it, especially that I should start with the P2. I have a sneaky suspicion that the Log & Capture window is much more amenable to clips than the Log & Transfer window, so I should do what it takes to bring in a batch list in the L&C window.

I'll give that a shot and post my results. Thanks!

Stephen

Hi Stephen,

I really would love to hear about the results.
As said 'Log & Transfer' is a build in product from one company, 'Log & Capture' one from another company. Both of them seamlessly integrate into FCP, but behave different internally.
Just look at the files itself. Tape comes with audio integrated within the AV file on the tape, P2 comes with audio as external files. This is a simple but serious difference. With some of the P2 formats FCP (or better QuickTime) does handle that seamlessly with others it doesn't.

Regards
Andreas