AV Specialist - Africa Edition Volume 95 - (Page 23)

TAPELESS ACQUISITION + DIGITAL WORKFLOW = LOWER OPERATING COSTS + = Tapeless workflow: Not as scary as it seems It is said that time waits for no man, but when compared to the pace with which digital technology is moving, Time seems be patient indeed. ne of the major obstacles relating to the rapid expansion of digital and tapeless technology is the fact that by the time we understand how one aspect operates, or interacts with our current (older) technology, a newer version with its own specific skills sets will have been released. The question on many minds is therefore, when is the right time to move from those systems that we are familiar with, to a system of the future? In an ideal world the above question would be easy to answer. Unfortunately ours isn’t an ideal world and there isn’t one simple solution that will be applicable to everyone. Added to this are some of those scare-stories about a bumpy transition from tape. One story doing the rounds relates the experience of Foxwood Productions in Houghton, Johannesburg. They started shooting their latest TV series, recording their footage onto a FireStore FS-100 DTE drive specially designed by Focus Enhancements to work with Panasonic’s latest HD cameras. For editing, they then purchased the latest Avid Adrenaline editing system. Both of these are superb products but they didn’t check the workflow between the two and weren’t aware of an incompatibility issue [now resolved] that prevented them from ingesting their footage. A simple firmware patch on the FireStore drive, available at the time they started shooting, would have resolved these issues. But the patch can’t be applied retrospectively and their lack of foresight meant that the compatibility issue only raised its ugly head when they were ready to begin editing. To their credit, Spescom and Avid tried to resolve the O Making the transition to tapeless acquisition will reduce production costs and minimize production turnaround, but it also requires a change in production workflows and the adoption of IT thinking in an AV world. issues but it was already too late to salvage the original footage and ultimately, Spescom took back the Adrenaline and returned the purchase price in full. There are a number of lessons we can learn from this experience, the first being that you need to test your systems before venturing out on a commercial shoot. And the second; it’s vital to deal with a credible company that will go beyond the normal bounds of customer care to ensure any issue can be resolved. To ensure that scenarios such as the one happen as infrequently as possible we contacted as many production houses and distributors to ascertain what pitfalls and benefits there are to moving to tapeless workflow. In their response, many production houses requested that we address the issue of archiving digital footage, and more 23 specifically what codecs will become the standard. There is understandable reluctance to convert hugely valuable stock libraries until there is clarification on standards. Panasonics P2 and Sony’s XDCAM formats are likely to be around for a while but no one wants to invest unless they are sure that they will not have to incur the costs of upgrading again in the near future. Deon Potgieter from First Take Productions in Johannesburg shot the sitcom ‘Family Bonds’ on XDCAM and admits that there were challenges in the process. “There aren’t that many people who understand how this tapeless workflow operates,” he says. “So you’re really learning as you go. A major bonus was finding shots recorded as video files are far quicker than having to spool through tapes.” Deon points out that

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AV Specialist - Africa Edition Volume 95

Bumper product news
Outsourcing broadcast facilities
Panasonic drives EcoFuel World Tour
it's broadcasting Jim...but not as we know it
Tapeless workflow: Not as scary as it seems

AV Specialist - Africa Edition Volume 95