nanoFlash & MovieSlate

[Bob Griffiths]

Hey all,

I've been looking at this: PureBlend Software :: Products . Pretty slick and the user reports seem good.

I am primarily looking at MovieSlate as a replacement for my present... practically non-existant... logging-to-edit workflow. I want MovieSlate to replace the cryptic file names that I import into Final Cut (7.0.3) with useful shot-by-shot information that connects effortlessly to the clips I shot in the field.

Anybody using MovieSlate with the nanoFlash? Any experience bringing the XML files it generates into FCP?

Thanks!

[Aaron Newsome]

Yes I use it. XML is flawless. You can also sync TC via wifi with 2 movie slates. I use iPad for slate. iPhone for sync at the camera.

[Bob Griffiths]

Hey Aaron,

A few questions:

- Are you pulling TC from the Camera TC Out or is there a way to do it from the nano?

- Are you using the cables that PureBlend recommends? Seemed a bit kludgy with all the turnarounds.

- How do you get the file names generated by the nano and the file names generated by MovieSlate to match? Is it even worth bothering?

- So once you get the XML files into FCP, how do you Reconnect the XML events to the nano files. TC only?

- When using your iPhone's wi-fi to transmit TC, do you turn off all the other radios in the iPhone? Seems like it might be embarrassing to get a call in the middle of the shot. ;-)

- How about shots that bridge the nano's 4GB file limit? Does the Reconnect process find both "halfs"?

This set-up seems really cool and a huge step forward in not having to figure out cryptic file names. If you are an editor, add this app to the mix (Saitara Software) and you have two great reasons to buy an iPad.

Thanks!

[Aaron Newsome]

My camera doesn't have a timecode output, it actually has no recorder so there is no need or purpose for timecode on a camera head only. The nano has no TC output either as far I know. Only LTC input.

My cables are custom. It really is just an 1/8" headphone jack to a BNC connector on my XDR. It's a very simple cable. It connects from the iPhone or iPad headphone output to the BNC LTC input on the XDR.

It's impossible to get the file names working correctly since the XDR and nano generate a bunch of small files. The filename feature works nice with my Cinedeck though, which creates sanely named files and they can be very large.

To connect to the media in FCP, right click on the clip name in the browser and choose reconnect media. If your nano made a bunch of small MOV files, concatenate each take into a single file first if you like. This is easy to do.

Remove the sim card on your iPhone or use an iPod touch if you're worrying about getting a call.

Again, concatenate the files of each take first if you like.

I have a $1300 Denecke slate and I haven't used it once since I got the iPad. The movie slate app just does so much stuff, it's hard not to use it. Especially if I have to edit the project after it's shot.

[Bob Griffiths]

Thanks, Aaron. What's your easy concatenate method? I've never found one that was worth the time.

[Aaron Newsome]

cat 0120900*.mov > 01209.mov

[Billy Steinberg]

Aaron,

Are you sure about this? Quicktime .mov files have headers and trailers; they're not raw transport streams. A unix concat doesn't take this into account. I would be very surprised if what you're suggesting works. When someone else asked about this here a year or so ago, I tried to just cat a bunch of nano .mov files together and it produced a file that quicktime couldn't properly deal with (I think it just played the first file).

Billy

[Aaron Newsome]

In my testing, files from a continuous take had no problems being concatenated that I could see. I can test again.

[Aaron Newsome]

Originally Posted by Aaron Newsome

In my testing, files from a continuous take had no problems being concatenated that I could see. I can test again.

not sure why i thought this worked before. it definitely doesn't. use FCP to concat without re-compression.

[Dan Keaton]

Dear Aaron,

I agree.

I do not feel that a binary file concatenation would work with anyone’s ".MOV" (Quicktime) or ".MXF" files.

These file types have headers and footers which are incompatible with the file concatenation process.

If one wants to group the files together, in the NLE, then this is fine.

If one wants to render the files to create one output file, then this is fine.

[Bob Griffiths]

I found this:
AddMovie

A little Mac utility that will concatenate files. I stitched 7 contiguous nano files together into file that is 25.42GB... in about 5 minutes. In run time, that was about a 33 minute interview shot 1920x1080 30p@ 100M. Seems to play fine. I haven't tried bringing it into FCP yet.

Dan,
This raises a question I asked over a year ago:
Have you considered consolidating your contiguously created files with a Reference Movie that is generated by the nanoFlash? FireStore has this feature and it is a great one... cutting down on bin clutter and giving the one editor file to work with, particularly with long interviews. The FireStore implementation is..., just prior to dumping the disk..., you run a utility that creates the Ref Movie and then it downlods with everything else. The nano implementation might have to be an automatic utility that creates the Ref Movie just after the string of files has finished recording... and then writing that to the card.

Here's a link to the FireStore manual on Reference files:
http://www.focusinfo.com/dynassets/d...L-1023-10).pdf . The section on Reference Movies is on page 78.

...OR

Is there a complete concatenate routine that could be built into the nano that would create a single piece of media from the string of files? The Add Movie Utility is a manual process. It would be great to have it be automatic.

Possible?

[Bob Griffiths]

Minor update:

I brought that concatenated file into FCP and it works fine. Interestingly, there are small hash marks in the Viewer timeline that seem to correspond to the individual clips. I deselected "Chapter Marks" in Add Movie but that is what these seem to be.

But the clip plays fine and the TC is good.

[Dan Keaton]

Dear Bob,

Thank you for alerting us to "AddMovie". This seems to be a great find.

Were the files that you concatenated 4:2:0 or 4:2:2 files?

If it works with both, and Final Cut Pro treats the resulting file as one continuous file, then this would be great.

We have not had time to develop such a utility ourselves. Our prority was to create a PC based version of our File Converter first.

We have not had time to create reference movies either.

We definitely want to look into "AddMovie".

Personally, I feel that it would be better for us to concatenate the files, via a PC or Mac (or both) utility.

Then, one would just take out the CompactFlash card, load it into a CompactFlash card reader, and then use a program list our File Converter which would concatenate the files properly.

If we do this inside the nanoFlash, then it would be much harder to accomplish.

For example. using the files on the original CompactFlash card, and during the file transfer process, outputing just one concatenated file is ideal, as the original files are not modified in any way.

And the process would take about the same amount of time as a regular file copy.

If we do this ourselves, then we can fine-tune this for our files and make it very easy to use.

[Bob Griffiths]

Hey Dan,

QuickTime 7 sees the files I recorded with the nano as Apple XDCAM HD422 1080p30.

I agree with not modifying the original files and creating the concatenated file during offload. But... here's one thing to consider:

A lot of us offload our cards through ShotputPro. For me, I use it mostly for it's error-checking and file verification. Occasionally, I will use it to write to multiple drives. Great program. Having to choose between ShotputPro and a CD utility that can concatenate would put me in a bit of a bind. Of course, I want both.

Wild idea... how about working with Imagine Products to produce a CD specific version of ShotputPro that you can both make money on? The alternative is to add error-checking and file verification to your program. Multiple offload locations a bonus.

(yeah, I know... "Geez, these users are never satisfied!" ;-) )

Thanks for considering this!

[Lance Librandi]

Hi all as a long time user of ShotPut Pro I love Bob's idea Dan.