Hey guys.

I got picked up to edit a TV show pilot after filming it with 2 other guys. We shot it 720P30 and someone shot in 720P24 ( I dont know why)

Anyway, I have 150 hours of footage, what avenues would you take to minimize the import time? All footage does need to be imported to go through.

I came up with the idea of 3 computers, tied to my server, each one dumping footage at the same time, making it a 1 week import. Problem with that idea is I cant reach the other 2 camera guys anymore.

So, any ideas, this is by far the most footage I have ever had to import, 30 hours being the last big project.

Maybe there's a local video shop that specializes in this sort of thing? Or a local video editing facility/school that's already setup with lots of workstations. Or If not, I'd try renting several DV/HDV decks and then find a local training class room to do the capture. 10 workstations could cut the work down to one really long day, or maybe 2 days at the most.

I had thought about the 5-10 decks/stations, I have enough workstations for that, I was worried about the BR-50 Deck rentals, was thinking it cold be pretty high.

I am pretty anal about how footage is logged, and captured, I would be afraid of having someone else do it for me.

What will the Producer budget for, and how fast do they need to start editing?
Do they want it now, and are they willing to pay $20K for 10 people to log and capture on 10 workstations, or can they wait 20 days while you log and capture all the footage to a 2TB storage location?

It's all about time and budget!

I am in charge of the budget, I dont want to outsource, so I think I am just going to rent a few decks and use all of the machines here to dump.

Thanks guys.