The first question should always be, “Do we need to implement a new solution?” In many cases, and at least for now, the answer may be “No, not yet.” There will come a time, however, when the needs of the workflow, software, hardware, or some other factor will necessitate a new Digital Asset Management (DAM) System implementation.

Once the decision has been made to deploy a new DAM, many additional questions will arise. How do we keep our metadata intact? Can we re-use our clip and edit proxies? How do we keep our current automations? 318 can work with you to address these issues. We are asking ourselves the same questions with an eye towards minimizing the hassles associated with migrating such a major piece of infrastructure.

318 has spent the last year evaluating many of the DAM solutions in the marketplace, with an emphasis on whether or not the solution is an appropriate replacement for Final Cut Server in terms of cost, functionality and scalability, and after many internal discussions, CatDV best matched these criteria. In terms of cost, CatDV is one of the most affordable solutions in the marketplace. In terms of functionality, CatDV matches or exceeds the functionality of Final Cut Server. In terms of scalability, CatDV far exceeds the capabilities of Final Cut Server.

The final link in the chain is migrating data and recreating workflows from Final Cut Server to CatDV. 318 has the facility and ability to migrate your metadata with a minimum of user intervention. We also have the ability to analyze your Final Cut Server workflows and re-create the functionality in CatDV, including shell scripting and highly customized workflow integrations for ingest and archive.

We are a CatDV authorized reseller, and have staff trained by CatDV personnel. 318 stands ready to spec, deploy, configure and maintain your CatDV solution and help you with the transition from your Final Cut Server to CatDV. Please don’t hesitate to contact us for a demo and discussion of what CatDV can do for your video workflows.

Finally, 318 is working with other vendors to continue expanding our portfolio of SAN and DAM solutions. Keep on the lookout for what will hopefully be a few other additions once our thorough vetting process has been completed! If you would like further information on any of this, please feel free to contact your Professional Services Manager or sales@318.com if you do not yet have one.

Compressor 4 is billed as “Powerful Encoding for Final Cut Pro.” The new compressor requires 2 to 4 gigs of RAM, 256MB VRAM, a 1280×768 monitor and 685MB disk space.

Looking at it initially, it appears that all of the apps that previously interacted with Compressor, such as the QMaster System Preference pane, Qadministrator, etc have been rolled into Compressor, living inside the .app bundle in the /Contents/EmbeddedApps directory. They are now accessible via the QMaster menu in the Compressor.app.

Apple has also changed how the Distributed Processing works. Instead of installing QMaster or Compressor on each machine that will be handling render jobs, Compressor gets installed on 1 machine, which then acts as the render controller. Communication to render nodes is now handled through ssh. This means the $49.99 purchase can be leveraged without acquiring a license for each render node. While rendering can be performed wirelessly, rendering over a wired interface is strongly recommended.

Compressor 4 now supports more codecs, frame rates and resolutions. A larger settings library provides quick access to most of these. While the H.264, MPEG-2 and ProRES are now assumed, the addition of HTTP is welcome, as are options for closed captioning, metadata (which can be read or written from the command line) and chapter markers.

And because it’s a shell based interface, QMaster can now control renders for Shake, Maya, After Effects, Lightwave and any other shell based render controllers. There are certainly some issues with the software that will be worked out over the next couple of months, but it looks well worth $49.99 to experiment with it.

318 is very involved with automated video workflows. If you have any questions about how the new changes to the Final Cut and other video products will impact your environment, please reach out to your Professional Services Manager or sales@318.com and we will be happy to discuss these with you in detail.

One of the most marketable and best features of Final Cut Server is that it is a way to catalog assets. These assets can be stored anywhere you want, provided that they are reliably accessible by the server. Given a username and password, users of Final Cut Server can then access the assets whether or not they can actually get to them using server shares or flat file systems. This allows Final Cut Server to bring logic to an otherwise chaotic form of storing data.

Once catalogued you can then tag assets with metadata. This means that when you go to find assets in the future you can do so quickly and easily. You can preview, annotate and then download those assets, no matter where they are stored – even on a Drobo or some large Firewire media sets. And if you decide to edit-in-place in the future, the fact that assets are stored in a logical space (called a Device) means that if you see the value, that you have an easy upgrade into more online media, such as an Xsan volume – but you don’t have to do it all at once to start seeing value.

And value is the key aspect of Final Cut Server. You can spend as much or as little as you need in order to get value out of the product. Sometimes the smallest features are what organizations will derive the most value out of. Not always, but sometimes… And when you see the value of the smaller features you can then make a decision based on your organizations goals and workflows what else will be of value. If you’d like to discuss a Final Cut Server implementation, whether it’s the basic initial installation, complicated workflow integration or custom scripting, contact 318 for more information. We’re here to help, whether or not the implementation is on the cheap.