Blog Archives

Posted on by Larry

As I was investigating how Final Cut Pro handles multiclip editing, it struck me that, after a certain point, the speed of your storage doesn’t really matter. Which means that we need to pay attention to more than just the raw speed of our storage systems.

Posted on by Larry

It is a long-known, but little-discussed secret that hard disks slowly lose their magnetic signal. If you archive your projects on hard disks, you need to read this article before all your carefully stored files… are gone!

Posted on by Larry

Hard drives are essential to video editing. Which makes it really, REALLY aggravating when they stop working. Here are two techniques you can use to trouble-shoot hard drive problems: having too many disks attached, and not being able to boot from the system disk.

Posted on by Larry

Sometimes, in spite of all your best efforts, you need to use Media Manager to delete media you no longer need. This article walks you through every step to help you avoid disaster.

Posted on by Larry

The best way to export from FCP is reexamined with new attention given to changes in distribution mediums. Also, Larry provides a detailed explanation of how he exports files from Final Cut.

Posted on by Larry

There’s a lot of talk these days about previewing, accessing, storing, even archiving media in “the cloud;” a vast amorphous pool of storage on the Internet. But is this a good idea? And what are some ways we can take advantage of this? In this interview with Peter Chang, president of Oxygen Cloud, we discuss what the cloud is, how we can take advantage of it, and what some of the limitations are.

Posted on by Larry

There’s a hidden diagnostic tool in Final Cut that allows you check to see if your RAID or hard disk is playing back your media files properly. This article describes how to access it.

Posted on by Larry

In the past we obsessed about the rotational speed of a hard disk, how much cache it had, or even the controller chip it used. While these are important, they pale in significance when compared to the impact of how you connect your drive to your computer.

Posted on by Larry

Have you ever wondered why a 1 TB drive never has 1 TB of free space? Or why a 500 GB drive stores much less than 500 GB? Well, it isn’t your imagination, it’s that engineers and marketers use two different numbers – but the same words – to measure the storage capacity of a hard drive.

Posted on by Larry

Data Robotics is aggressively going after the audio and video market with a series of devices marketed using the Drobo brand. We’ve already reviewed the Drobo. Here we review its big brother – the DroboPro. The speed and flexibility of this device make it very attractive. This article gives you much more detail.

Posted on by Larry

Are dropped frames driving you nuts. Here’s a checklist of tips you can use to resolve your dropped frames problem — before you drop your computer out a second-story window.

Posted on by Larry

Nothing lasts forever, and that includes DVD media. This article discusses what you need to know to make sure your backups and precious data survive for the long-haul.

Posted on by Larry

Have you been mystified by all the different files FCP creates? This article explains what you need to know – and where they are hidden.

Posted on by Larry

Here is a ten-step, tested technique to convert DVCProHD sequences into HDV. This would a good way to archive HD sequences if you don’t have a DVCProHD sequence to tape.

Posted on by Larry

The best way to archive your project is to organize it before you even start. This article provides a host of tips on getting organized, what to save and how to go about it.

Posted on by Larry

As we move away from tape and into tapeless video, questions about how to best archive our projects take on a new importance. For many, the issue revolves around the hardware we use to archive. But there is a second question: what video format do we want to use to store our files for the long-term. In this dialog with Philip Hodgetts, we examine this very complex issue and provide some guidance.

Posted on by Larry

I am not a testing organization, but, recently, Jon Schilling over at CalDigit (www.caldigit.com) sent me a 500 GB SATA RAID to examine (Model #S2VR Duo).

Posted on by Larry

What do you do when you have hundreds of hours of material to capture? Well, first, you have a number of decisions to make. This short article outlines what you need to know before you start.

Posted on by Larry

With the camera industry’s head-long rush into tapeless image acquisition, having a soild backup and archiving strategy is critical because video tape masters no longer exist. In this commentary, I discuss the sad state of today’s options and provide suggestions to keep you out of trouble.

Posted on by Larry

I want to share with you something I discovered while working with an AccuSys RAID that totally surprised me. This has NOTHING to do with the RAID itself, but having the RAID made it possible for me to discover this.

Newer posts →