Combining two P2 cards into one folder w/ P2CMS, any risk in this? at DVinfo.net

David Tamés · May 5th, 2009, 08:31 PM

Is there any possible risk in the following work flow?

I've been using P2CMS to transfer media from P2 cards into folders, one folder per card, onto my master media drive (using the export with verify functionality). I've discovered that I can export a 16G card into a folder on my master media drive, and then export a second 16G card into the same folder, combining media from both cards into one folder (and bringing together spanned clips to boot. It's kind of nice to have all of one interview (that may straddle more than one cards) in a single folder. Is there any possible risk in this process? Or should I simply keep a 1:1 relationship between cards in the camera and folders on my master media drive? I don't like how P2CMS clumps together all the media into one database, I like having each interview in a discrete folder, which is why I'm using the export functionality for my media ingest from P2 to hard drive.

Barry Green · May 7th, 2009, 04:18 PM

That is, in fact, my much-preferred workflow and a primary reason why I use P2CMS (or P2 Viewer) as the offload application.

P2CMS can be used as a database ingest tool, where each clip becomes its own folder, but you don't have to use it for that. You could instead just plug in the card and "export" all the clips on it into a directory, as you've found.

David Tamés · May 7th, 2009, 06:52 PM

Often, when something is too good to be true, one should be suspicious, and thus I asked the question, but if Barry Wan Kenobi says that this workflow is in synchronicity with the force, then I feel confident this is the way to go. I really like the idea of having one arbitrarily sized "virtual P2" card per interview. Sweet.

Mark Donnell · May 11th, 2009, 01:38 PM

David, despite the fears of many people on many threads, you can offload P2 cards to folders, delete clips with P2 viewer, move clips from folder to folder, and even manually move clips by moving the AUDIO, CLIP, ICON and VIDEO files one at a time. You can then connect the camera back to your computer, delete the P2 card CONTENTS folder, and load a CONTENTS folder from your computer onto the camera P2 card for playback. Forget about the LASTTXT file - the camera willl generate a new one after you load the new CONTENTS folder. Play with it - its not difficult. When loading a new CONTENTS folder from a computer to the camera P2 card, if the folder is too big for the card you will get a message saying so. I have found that an 8 GB P2 card should be loaded with no more than a 7 GB CONTENTS folder to ensure no error message.

Bo Skelmose · May 15th, 2009, 02:49 AM

I do not know if there is a limit of how many clips there can be in one folder but the Contens manegement software gets extremely slow when there are many clips to show or mark for export. Why I cannot figure . Sony´s clipbrowser works very fast and since it (probably) only shows the Icons and metadata the panasonic software should work as fast as Sony's.

May 5th, 2009, 08:31 PM	#1
David Tamés Kino-Eye Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Boston, MA Posts: 457	Combining two P2 cards into one folder w/ P2CMS, any risk in this? Is there any possible risk in the following work flow? I've been using P2CMS to transfer media from P2 cards into folders, one folder per card, onto my master media drive (using the export with verify functionality). I've discovered that I can export a 16G card into a folder on my master media drive, and then export a second 16G card into the same folder, combining media from both cards into one folder (and bringing together spanned clips to boot. It's kind of nice to have all of one interview (that may straddle more than one cards) in a single folder. Is there any possible risk in this process? Or should I simply keep a 1:1 relationship between cards in the camera and folders on my master media drive? I don't like how P2CMS clumps together all the media into one database, I like having each interview in a discrete folder, which is why I'm using the export functionality for my media ingest from P2 to hard drive. __________________ David Tames { blog: http://Kino-Eye.com twitter: @cinemakinoeye }

May 7th, 2009, 06:52 PM	#3
David Tamés Kino-Eye Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Boston, MA Posts: 457	Often, when something is too good to be true, one should be suspicious, and thus I asked the question, but if Barry Wan Kenobi says that this workflow is in synchronicity with the force, then I feel confident this is the way to go. I really like the idea of having one arbitrarily sized "virtual P2" card per interview. Sweet. __________________ David Tames { blog: http://Kino-Eye.com twitter: @cinemakinoeye }

May 7th, 2009, 04:18 PM	#2
Barry Green Barry Wan Kenobi Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: North Carolina Posts: 3,863	That is, in fact, my much-preferred workflow and a primary reason why I use P2CMS (or P2 Viewer) as the offload application. P2CMS can be used as a database ingest tool, where each clip becomes its own folder, but you don't have to use it for that. You could instead just plug in the card and "export" all the clips on it into a directory, as you've found.

May 11th, 2009, 01:38 PM	#4
Mark Donnell Major Player Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Silver City, NM Posts: 385	David, despite the fears of many people on many threads, you can offload P2 cards to folders, delete clips with P2 viewer, move clips from folder to folder, and even manually move clips by moving the AUDIO, CLIP, ICON and VIDEO files one at a time. You can then connect the camera back to your computer, delete the P2 card CONTENTS folder, and load a CONTENTS folder from your computer onto the camera P2 card for playback. Forget about the LASTTXT file - the camera willl generate a new one after you load the new CONTENTS folder. Play with it - its not difficult. When loading a new CONTENTS folder from a computer to the camera P2 card, if the folder is too big for the card you will get a message saying so. I have found that an 8 GB P2 card should be loaded with no more than a 7 GB CONTENTS folder to ensure no error message.

May 15th, 2009, 02:49 AM	#5
Bo Skelmose Major Player Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Denmark Posts: 495	I do not know if there is a limit of how many clips there can be in one folder but the Contens manegement software gets extremely slow when there are many clips to show or mark for export. Why I cannot figure . Sony´s clipbrowser works very fast and since it (probably) only shows the Icons and metadata the panasonic software should work as fast as Sony's.