Digital Video - March 2008 - (Page 38)

FIRST LOOK EDITSHARE copying files from Field to an in-house system. It can also be used for automatic backups. Since EditShare is based on Ethernet and IP addresses, backup locations could be across town or even in another country. In this way, the EditShare Synchronization Tool can be used for scheduled archiving, so if RAID 5 protection isn’t enough, simply schedule a mirrored backup overnight to a second archive server. With that in mind, EditShare plans to introduce two dedicated archiving solutions. The first would be a less-expensive, commodity server with storage that would be designed strictly for nearline archiving. It wouldn’t offer the level of editing performance of a standard EditShare system. The second version would cost a bit more, but offer the full performance of an EditShare server. At any time in the future, the customer could turn this archiving unit into a full-fledged EditShare system by purchasing a dongle upgrade. I was struck by the little things that EditShare has incorporated. For example, some of their sites are at university film programs, so configuring user profiles each semester for 100 students can take quite a while. To aid in this task, EditShare’s software accepts input from Excel-style spreadsheets, making the configuration faster. At the end of a term, the administrator can use the app’s “clean slate” tool to reset all the parameters. Typically, partitions are created according to project, so all the media for a given project will be in one location. Deleting the media for a single project is as easy as deleting the associated partition. Like other systems, the administration software can e-mail the administrator with a regular report of system health. EditShare is certainly marketing in a crowded and competitive space, but they offer the advantage of knowing the customer’s production needs. No other company offers Final Cut Pro project sharing as well as an Avid sharing solution. Furthermore, both Avid and FCP systems can co-exist in one ecosystem — a big boon for post houses that have to supply both solutions. DV www.dv.com Sharing, editors always have the option of yielding write control to another editor. Apple’s Final Cut Pro doesn’t inherently work in the same way, and one of the things Avid editors crossing over to FCP miss is the Unity-style of collaborative editing. Multiple editors working on an Apple XSAN system must send copies of the FCP project file to other editors if they are working concurrently. The “light bulb moment” for EditShare was realizing that FCP project files can really just be used like Avid bin files. Both types of files are where the application stores all of the metadata for the edits. Just as Avid allows you to edit with multiple bins at the same time, FCP permits you to edit with multiple project files open, and you can edit between project files. This ability enabled EditShare to create an Avid-style sharing approach for Final Cut Pro. Shared FCP project files are stored on the Linux server, and control over these files works much the way as it does with EditShare’s Avid project sharing. When you first launch the EditShare Project Browser, it also automatically launches FCP. Inside the Browser window — which sits just outside the editing application (unlike EditShare’s Avid implementation) — you can see who controls each Final Cut project file. An editor can modify project files under his/her own user name, while files under other user names are read-only. Both approaches are functionally the same, giving editors working on FCP the same benefits of collaboration that Avid editors have enjoyed for years. 38 dv march 2008 FULL ADMINISTRATIVE CONTROL One important difference between EditShare and many competitors is that the administrative software is not charged according to a per-seat license fee. You can install this on as many systems as you like. System administration is handled via a remote desktop application, so management of media spaces and user profiles can be performed from any Ethernet-connected computer, including edit workstations or someone’s office system. Naturally, the administrator must have the proper authority and clearance to do this. All EditShare media spaces are virtual volumes or partitions, which can be created, protected, unprotected or dynamically changed at any time. This last feature is important, because if you have a 300GB partition that fills up with media, the administrator can simply increase the size (if the storage is available) and give those editors more scratch disk space in mid project. Administrators can also assign the partitions that a user is able to access and view their material. SYNCHRONIZATION AND ARCHIVING EditShare’s expansion into multiple connected servers and the introduction of EditShare Field has led them to add a Synchronization Tool. This software application can be used to sync the media between two different servers, such as http://www.dv.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Digital Video - March 2008

Digital Video - March 2008 Contents DV Update Q&A Fest Circuit Instant Expert LP-Micro Light Fusion F2 Drive PPFP-3N Bag Ego Digital Imaging Light KE-79CC Boom & Fuzzy Close-Up: Honoring George Spiro Dibie, ASC Food Fight Key Thoughts on Chroma key DV101 Dynamic Duos First Look: A Big Serve Cameras & Courtrooms Ad Index Production Diary

Digital Video - March 2008

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