Best practice for video storage?

What is the best way for storing videos on external drives? I am a new FCP user coming from Sony Vegas. In Vegas I could import the .mts files into Vegas without the need of the complete file structure as FCP requires when ingesting to ProRes. Since Vegas worked in this manner, I store the .mts files in folders that are dated when shot. Now I'm faced with finding another program to convert to ProRes as FCP needs to complete file structure to ingest media. Another issue is that I have different types of shoots on one single flash card and I can no longer just dump the .mts files in dated folders. What is the best way of splitting up the flash card, yet keeping the required information FCP needs for ingesting media?
The solution would be to dump the videos to my external drive as soon as I'm done shooting, but most likely it's something I'll forget to do.
Anyone have any advice on storing videos that have two plus types footage of different events?

I have a tutorial that covers this...
http://library.creativecow.net/ross_shane/tapeless-workflow_fcp-7/1

Similar Messages

Seeking advice on Best Practices for XML Storage Options - XMLTYPE

Sparc64
11.2.0.2
During OOW12 I tried to attend every xml session I could. There was one where a Mr. Drake was explaining something about not using clob
as an attribute to storing the xml and that "it will break your application."
We're moving forward with storing the industry standard invoice in an xmltype column, but Im not concerned that our table definition is not what was advised:
--i've dummied this down to protect company assets
CREATE TABLE "INVOICE_DOC"
   (     "INVOICE_ID" NUMBER NOT NULL ENABLE,
     "DOC" "SYS"."XMLTYPE" NOT NULL ENABLE,
     "VERSION" VARCHAR2(256) NOT NULL ENABLE,
     "STATUS" VARCHAR2(256),
     "STATE" VARCHAR2(256),
     "USER_ID" VARCHAR2(256),
     "APP_ID" VARCHAR2(256),
     "INSERT_TS" TIMESTAMP (6) WITH LOCAL TIME ZONE,
     "UPDATE_TS" TIMESTAMP (6) WITH LOCAL TIME ZONE,
      CONSTRAINT "FK_####_DOC_INV_ID" FOREIGN KEY ("INVOICE_ID")
             REFERENCES "INVOICE_LO" ("INVOICE_ID") ENABLE
   ) SEGMENT CREATION IMMEDIATE
INITRANS 20
TABLESPACE "####_####_DATA"
       XMLTYPE COLUMN "DOC" STORE AS BASICFILE CLOB (
TABLESPACE "####_####_DATA" XMLTYPE COLUMN "DOC" STORE AS BASICFILE CLOB (
TABLESPACE "####_####_DATA" ENABLE STORAGE IN ROW CHUNK 16384 RETENTION
NOCACHE LOGGING
STORAGE(INITIAL 81920 NEXT 1048576 MINEXTENTS 1 MAXEXTENTS 2147483645
PCTINCREASE 0 FREELISTS 1 FREELIST GROUPS 1 BUFFER_POOL DEFAULT FLASH_CACHE DEFAULT CELL_FLASH_CACHE DEFAULT))
XMLSCHEMA "http://mycompanynamehere.com/xdb/Invoice###.xsd" ELEMENT "Invoice" ID #####"
{code}
What is a best practice for this type of table? Yes, we intend on registering the schema against an xsd.
Any help/advice would be appreciated.
-abe

Hi,
I suggest you read this paper : Oracle XML DB : Choosing the Best XMLType Storage Option for Your Use Case
It is available on the XML DB home page along with other documents you may be interested in.
To sum up, the storage method you need depends on the requirement, i.e. how XML data is accessed.
There was one where a Mr. Drake was explaining something about not using clob as an attribute to storing the xml and that "it will break your application."I think the message Mark Drake wanted to convey is that CLOB storage is now deprecated and shouldn't be used anymore (though still supported for backward compatibility).
The default XMLType storage starting with version 11.2.0.2 is now Binary XML, a posted-parsed binary format that optimizes both storage size and data access (via XQuery), so you should at least use it instead of the BASICFILE CLOB.
Schema-based Binary XML is also available, it adds another layer of "awareness" for Oracle to manage instance documents.
To use this feature, the XML schema must be registered with "options => dbms_xmlschema.REGISTER_BINARYXML".
The other common approach for schema-based XML is Object-Relational storage.
BTW... you may want to post here next time, in the dedicated forum : {forum:id=34}
Mark Drake is one of the regular user, along with Marco Gralike you've probably seen too at OOW.
Edited by: odie_63 on 18 oct. 2012 21:55

Best practice for Video over IP using ISDN WAN

I am looking for the best practice to ensure that the WAN has suffient active ISDN channels to support the video conference connection.
Reliance on load threshold either -
Takes to long for the ISDN calls to establish causing the problems for video setup
- or is too fast to place additional ISDN calls when only data is using the line
What I need is for the ISDN calls to be pre-established just prior to the video call. Have done this in the past with the "ppp multilink links minimum commmand but this manual intervention isn't the preferred option in this case
thanks

This method is as secure as the password: an attacker can see
the hashed value, and you must assume that they know what has been
hashed, with what algorithm. Therefore, the challenge in attacking
this system is simply to hash lots of passwords until you get one
that gives the same value. Rainbow tables may make this easier than
you assume.
Why not use SSL to send the login request? That encrypts the
entire conversation, making snooping pointless.
You should still MD5 the password so you don't have to store
it unencrypted on the server, but that's a side issue.

Best practices for additonal storage devices in a clustered container

I am wondering what is considered as best practices related to adding more storage devices. I have a Solaris Cluster 3.2, a failover resource group with a SZBT resource and a HASP resource for the zone root path. Now i have to add more storage devices (for Oracle to the zone). The additional storage devices are in the same metaset as the zone root. I see the following options:
-> Add it to the zone (simple not managed by HASP)
-> Add it to the existing HASP for the RG and lofs mount it in the Zone (managed by HASP, but needs lofs mount)
Are there other options, and what is considered best practices?
Fritz

Hi Fritz,
no matter which option you take it should resoult in lofs mounts.
I in person would not mix the concepts, you started with HASP, so I would continue with HASP.
To achieve this you have to take three steps:
1 add the file systems to the HASP resource,
2. create the mountpoints in the local zone
3 add the file system to the Mounts variable in the SCZBT's parameter file.
If you do not want to reboot the zones, you can mount the loopback files manually, but the safest option ( you will not mess up with typos in th mount pints and realize it later) would be to disable and reenable th sczbt resource.
Cheers
Detlef

X4500 RAID Configuration for best performance for video storage

Hello all:
Our company is working with a local university to deploy IP video security cameras. The university has an X4500 Thumper that they would like to use for the storage of the video archives. The video management software (VMS) will run on an Intel based server with Windows 2003 server as the OS and connect to the Thumper via iSCSI. The VMS manages the permissions, schedules and other features of the cameras and records all video on the local drives until the scheduled archive time. When the archive time occurs, the VMS transfers the video to the Thumper for long term storage. It is our understanding that when using iSCSI and Windows OS there is a 2TB limit for the storage space - so we will divide the pool into several 2TB segments.
The question is: Given this configuration, what RAID level (0, 1, Z or Z2) will provide the highest level of data protection without comprimising performance to a level that would be noticable? We are not writing the video directly to the Thumper, we are transferring it from the drives of the Windows server to the Thumper, and we need that transfer to be very fast - since the VMS stops recording during the archiving and restarts when complete, creating down time for the cameras.
Any advice would be appreciated.

I'd put as many disks as possible into a RAID 5 (striping) set. This will provide the highest level of performance, with the ability to sustain a single disk failure.
With striping, some data is written to all the disks in the stripe set. So, if you have 10 disks in the set, then instead of writing data to a single disk, which is slow, 1/10th of the data is written to each disk simultaneously, which is very fast. In effect, the more disks you write to, the faster the operation completes.

Best Practices for data storage in portal database

Hi,
I need to store some stuctured data which is related to portal only. This data may grow data by data and may huge amount some point of time.
Iam thinking which is the best way to handle it like maintanance point of view.
i think i can store it in R/3 as custom table which is easy to maintain and read/write using RFC.
the other one is store it on the portal database (dictionary), may not be easy to handle it.
suggestions please?
Thanks.

Best way is to maintian data(growing data) on R3 and use JCA to write a simple portal application(JSPDynpage or WD) to get the data back on portal.
Using JCA, won't affect noticeable portal performance..
Itz not advisable to store large data on dictionary.
Regards,
N.

What is the best way to set up an external drive for video storage

What is the best way to set up an external drive for video storage?

Check the formatting. It need to be formatted as Mac OS Extended (journaled). This is also known as HFS+.
FAT32 and NTFS formatting will not work with iMovie.
If necessary, you can reformat using Disk Utility.
Make one large partition. No need for multiple partitions.
Do moves or copies to the external drive through iMovie as detailed in iMovie Help. If you move Events in the Finder, they may become unlinked from the projects that use them.

Best practice for importing non-"Premiere-ready" video files

Hello!
I work with internal clients that provide me with a variety of differnet video types (could be almost ANYTHYING, WMV, MP4, FLV). I of course ask for AVIs when possible, but unfortunately, I have no control over the type of file I'm given.
And, naturally, Premiere (just upgraded to CS5) has a hard time dealing with these files. Unpredictable, ranging from working fine to not working at all, and everything in between. Naturally, it's become a huge issue for turnaround time.
Is there a best practice for preparing files for editing in Premiere?
I've tried almost everything I can think of: converting the file(s) to .AVIs using a variety of programs/methods. Most recently, I tried creating a Watch Folder in Adobe Media Encoder and setting it for AVI with the proper aspect ratio. It makes sense to me that that should work:using an Adobe product to render the file into something Premiere can work with.
However, when I imported the resulting AVI into Premiere, it gave me the Red Line of Un-renderness (that is the technical term, right?), and had the same sync issue I experienced when I brought it in as a WMV.
Given our environment, I'm completely fine with adding render time to the front-end of projects, but it has to work. I want files that Premiere likes.
THANK YOU in advance for any advice you can give!
-- Dave

I use an older conversion program (my PrPro has a much older internal AME, unlike yours), DigitalMedia Converter 2.7. It is shareware, and has been replaced by Deskshare with newer versions, but my old one works fine. I have not tried the newer versions yet. One thing that I like about this converter is that it ONLY uses System CODEC's, and does not install its own, like a few others. This DOES mean that if I get footage with an oddball CODEC, I need to go get it, and install it on the System.
I can batch process AV files of most types/CODEC's, and convert to DV-AVI Type II w/ 48KHz 16-bit PCM/WAV Audio and at 29.97 FPS (I am in NTSC land). So far, 99% of the resultant converted files have been perfect, whether from DivX, WMV, MPEG-2, or almost any other format/CODEC. If there is any OOS, my experience has been that it will be static, so I just have to adjust the sync offset by a few frames, and that takes care of things.
In a few instances, the PAR flag has been missed (Standard 4:3 vs Widescreen 16:9), but Interpret Footage has solved those few issues.
Only oddity that I have observed (mostly with DivX, or WMV's) is that occasionally, PrPro cannot get the file's Duration correct. I found that if I Import those problem files into PrElements, and then just do an Export, to the same exact specs., that resulting file (seems to be 100% identical, but something has to be different - maybe in the header info?) Imports perfectly into PrPro. This happens rarely, and I have the workaround, though it is one more step for those. I have yet to figure out why one very similar file will convert with the Duration info perfect, and then a companion file will not. Nor have I figured out exactly what is different, after running through PrE. Every theory that I have developed has been shot down by my experiences. A mystery still.
AME works well for most, as a converter, though there are just CODEC's, that Adobe programs do not like, such as DivX and Xvid. I doubt that any Adobe program will handle those suckers easily, if at all.
Good luck,
Hunt

Best practices for dealing with Exceptions on storage members

We recently encountered an issue where one of our DistributedCaches was terminating itself and restarting due to an RuntimeException being thrown from our code (see below). As usual, the issue was in our own code and we have updated it to not throw a RuntimeException under any circumstances.
I would like to know if there are any best practices for Exception handling, other than catching Exceptions and logging them. Should we always trap Exceptions and ensure that they do not bubble back up to code that is running from the Coherence jar? Is there a way to configure Coherence so that our DistributedCaches do not terminate even when custom Filters and such throw RuntimeExceptions?
thanks, Aidan
Exception below:
2010-02-09 12:40:39.222/88477.977 Oracle Coherence GE 3.4.2/411 <Error> (thread=DistributedCache:StyleCache, member=48): An exception (java.lang.RuntimeException) occurred reading Message AggregateFilterRequest Type=31 for Service=DistributedCache{Name=StyleCache, State=(SERVICE_STARTED), LocalStorage=enabled, PartitionCount=1021, BackupCount=1, AssignedPartitions=201, BackupPartitions=204}
2010-02-09 12:40:39.222/88477.977 Oracle Coherence GE 3.4.2/411 <Error> (thread=DistributedCache:StyleCache, member=48): Terminating DistributedCache due to unhandled exception: java.lang.RuntimeException

Bob - Here is the full stacktrace:
2010-02-09 13:04:22.653/90182.274 Oracle Coherence GE 3.4.2/411 <Error> (thread=DistributedCache:StyleCache, member=47): An exception (java.lang.RuntimeException) occurred reading Message AggregateFilterRequest Type=31 for Service=DistributedCache{Name=StyleCache, State=(SERVICE_STARTED), LocalStorage=enabled, PartitionCount=1021, BackupCount=1, AssignedPartitions=205, BackupPartitions=204}
2010-02-09 13:04:22.653/90182.274 Oracle Coherence GE 3.4.2/411 <Error> (thread=DistributedCache:StyleCache, member=47): Terminating DistributedCache due to unhandled exception: java.lang.RuntimeException
2010-02-09 13:04:22.653/90182.274 Oracle Coherence GE 3.4.2/411 <Error> (thread=DistributedCache:StyleCache, member=47):
java.lang.RuntimeException: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: com.edmunds.vehicle.Style$PublicationState
     at com.edmunds.common.coherence.EdmundsEqualsFilter.readExternal(EdmundsEqualsFilter.java:84)
     at com.tangosol.io.pof.PortableObjectSerializer.initialize(PortableObjectSerializer.java:153)
     at com.tangosol.io.pof.PortableObjectSerializer.deserialize(PortableObjectSerializer.java:128)
     at com.tangosol.io.pof.PofBufferReader.readAsObject(PofBufferReader.java:3284)
     at com.tangosol.io.pof.PofBufferReader.readAsObjectArray(PofBufferReader.java:3328)
     at com.tangosol.io.pof.PofBufferReader.readObjectArray(PofBufferReader.java:2168)
     at com.tangosol.util.filter.ArrayFilter.readExternal(ArrayFilter.java:243)
     at com.tangosol.io.pof.PortableObjectSerializer.initialize(PortableObjectSerializer.java:153)
     at com.tangosol.io.pof.PortableObjectSerializer.deserialize(PortableObjectSerializer.java:128)
     at com.tangosol.io.pof.PofBufferReader.readAsObject(PofBufferReader.java:3284)
     at com.tangosol.io.pof.PofBufferReader.readAsObjectArray(PofBufferReader.java:3328)
     at com.tangosol.io.pof.PofBufferReader.readObjectArray(PofBufferReader.java:2168)
     at com.tangosol.util.filter.ArrayFilter.readExternal(ArrayFilter.java:243)
     at com.tangosol.io.pof.PortableObjectSerializer.initialize(PortableObjectSerializer.java:153)
     at com.tangosol.io.pof.PortableObjectSerializer.deserialize(PortableObjectSerializer.java:128)
     at com.tangosol.io.pof.PofBufferReader.readAsObject(PofBufferReader.java:3284)
     at com.tangosol.io.pof.PofBufferReader.readObject(PofBufferReader.java:2599)
     at com.tangosol.io.pof.ConfigurablePofContext.deserialize(ConfigurablePofContext.java:348)
     at com.tangosol.coherence.component.util.daemon.queueProcessor.Service.readObject(Service.CDB:4)
     at com.tangosol.coherence.component.net.Message.readObject(Message.CDB:1)
     at com.tangosol.coherence.component.net.message.requestMessage.distributedCacheRequest.partialRequest.FilterRequest.read(FilterRequest.CDB:8)
     at com.tangosol.coherence.component.util.daemon.queueProcessor.service.grid.DistributedCache$AggregateFilterRequest.read(DistributedCache.CDB:4)
     at com.tangosol.coherence.component.util.daemon.queueProcessor.service.Grid.onNotify(Grid.CDB:117)
     at com.tangosol.coherence.component.util.daemon.queueProcessor.service.grid.DistributedCache.onNotify(DistributedCache.CDB:3)
     at com.tangosol.coherence.component.util.Daemon.run(Daemon.CDB:37)
     at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:619)
Caused by: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: com.edmunds.vehicle.Style$PublicationState
     at java.lang.Class.forName0(Native Method)
     at java.lang.Class.forName(Class.java:169)
     at com.edmunds.common.coherence.EdmundsEqualsFilter.readExternal(EdmundsEqualsFilter.java:82)
     ... 25 more
2010-02-09 13:04:23.122/90182.743 Oracle Coherence GE 3.4.2/411 <Info> (thread=Main Thread, member=47): Restarting Service: StyleCacheOur code was doing something simple like
catch(Exception e){
    throw new RuntimeException(e);
}Would using the ensureRuntimeException call do anything for us here?
Edited by: aidanol on Feb 12, 2010 11:41 AM

Best practice for server configuration for iTunes U

Hello all, I'm completely new to iTunes U, never heard of this until now and we have zero documentation on how to set it up. I was given the task to look at best practice for setting up the server for iTunes U, and I need your help.
*My first question*: Can anyone explains to me how iTunes U works in general? My brief understanding is that you design/setup a welcome page for your school with sub categories like programs/courses, and within that you have things like lecture audio/video files and students can download/view them on iTunes. So where are these files hosted? Is it on your own server or is it on Apple's server? Where & how do you manage the content?
*2nd question:* We have two Xserve(s) sitting in our server room ready to roll, my question is what is the best method to configure them so it meets our need of "high availability in active/active mode, load balancing, and server scaling". Originally I was thinking about using a 3rd party load balancing device to meet these needs, but I was told there is no budget for it so this is not going to happen. I know there is IP Failover but one server has to sit in standby mode which is a waste. So the most likely scenario is to setup DNS round robin and put both xserves in active/active. My question now is (this maybe related to question 1), say that all the content data like audio/video files are stored by us, (We are going to link a portion of our SAN space to Xserve for storage), if we are going with DNS round robin and put the 2 servers in Active/Active mode, can both servers access a common shared network space? or is this not possible and each server must have its own storage space? And therefore I must use something like RSYNC to make sure contents on both servers are identical? Should I use XSAN or is RSYNC good enough?
Since I have no experience with iTunes U whatsoever, I hope you understand my questions, any advice and suggestion are most welcome, thanks!

Raja Kondar wrote:
wht is the Best Practice for having server pool i.e
1) having a single large serverpool consisting of "n" number of guest vm
2) having a multiple small serverpool consisting of less of number of guest vm I prefer option 1, as this gives me the greatest amount of resources available. I don't have to worry about resources in smaller pools. It also means there are more resources across the pool for HA purposes. Not sure if this is Official Best Practice, but it is a simpler configuration.
Keep in mind that a server pool should probably have up to 20 servers in it: OCFS2 starts to strain after that.

Best practices for setting up users on a small office network?

Hello,
I am setting up a small office and am wondering what the best practices/steps are to setup/manage the admin, user logins and sharing privileges for the below setup:
Users: 5 users on new iMacs (x3) and upgraded G4s (x2)
Video Editing Suite: Want to connect a new iMac and a Mac Pro, on an open login (multiple users)
All machines are to be able to connect to the network, peripherals and external hard drive. Also, I would like to setup drop boxes as well to easily share files between the computers (I was thinking of using the external harddrive for this).
Thank you,

Hi,
Thanks for your posting.
When you install AD DS in the hub or staging site, disconnect the installed domain controller, and then ship the computer to the remote site, you are disconnecting a viable domain controller from the replication topology.
For more and detail information, please refer to:
Best Practices for Adding Domain Controllers in Remote Sites
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc794962(v=ws.10).aspx
Regards.
Vivian Wang

Best Practices For Household IOS's/Apple IDs

Greetings:
I've been searching support for best practices for sharing primarily apps, music and video among multple iOS's/Apple IDs. If there is a specific article please point me to it.
Here is my situation:
We currently have 3 iPads (2-kids, 1-dad) in the household and one iTunes account on a win computer. I previously had all iPads on single Apple ID/credit card and controlled the kids' downloads thru the Apple ID password that I kept secret. As the kids have grown older, I found myself constantly entering my password as the kids increased there interest in music/apps/video. I like this approach because all content was shared...I dislike because I was constantly asked to input password for all downloads.
So, I recently set up an individual account for them with the allowance feature at iTunes that allows them to download content on their own (I set restrictions on their iPads). Now I have 3 Apple IDs under one household.
My questions:
With the 3 Apple IDs, what is the best way to share apps,music, videos among myself and the kids? Is it multiple accounts on the computer and some sort of sharing?
Thanks in advance...

Hi Bonesaw1962,
We've had our staff and students run iOS updates OTA via Settings -> Software Update. In the past, we put a DNS block on Apple's update servers to prevent users from updating iOS (like last fall when iOS 7 was first released). By blocking mesu.apple com, the iPads weren't able to check for or install any iOS software updates. We waited until iOS 7.0.3 was released before we removed the block to mesu.apple.com at which point we told users if they wanted to update to iOS 7 they could do so OTA. We used our MDM to run reports periodically to see how many people updated to iOS 7 and how many stayed on iOS 6. As time went on, just about everyone updated on their own.
If you go this route (depending on the number of devices you have), you may want to take a look at Caching Server 2 to help with the network load https://www.apple.com/osx/server/features/#caching-server . From Apple's website, "When a user on your network downloads new software from Apple, a copy is automatically stored on your server. So the next time other users on your network update or download that same software, they actually access it from inside the network."
I wish there was a way for MDMs to manage iOS updates, but unfortunately Apple hasn't made this feature available to MDM providers. I've given this feedback to our Apple SE, but haven't heard if it is being considered or not. Keeping fingers crossed.
Hope this helps. Let us know what you decide on and keep us posted on the progress. Good luck!!
~Joe

Networking "best practice" for setting up a farm

Hi all.
We would like to set an OracleVM farm, and I have a question about "best practice" for
configuring the network. Some background:
- The hardware I have is comprised of machines with 4 gig-eth NICs each.
- The storage will be coming primarily from a backend NAS appliance (Netapp, FWIW).
- We have already allocated a separate VLAN for management.
- We would like to have HA capable VMs using OCFS2 (on top of NFS.)
I'm trying to decide between 2 possible configurations. The first would keep physical separation
between the mgt/storage networks and the DomU networks. The second would just trunk
everything together across all 4 NICs, something like:
Config 1:
- eth0 - management/cluster-interconnect
- eth1 - storage
- eth2/eth3 => bond0 - 8021q trunked, bonded interfaces for DomUs
Config 2:
- eth0/1/2/3 => bond0
Do people have experience or recommendation about the best configuration?
I'm attracted to the first option (perhaps naively) because CI/storage would benefit
from dedicated bandwidth and this configuration might also be more secure.
Regards,
Robert.

user1070509 wrote:
Option #4 (802.3ad) looks promising, but I don't know if this can be made to work across
separate switches.It can, if your switches support cross-switch trunking. Essentially, 802.3ad (also known as LACP or EtherChannel on Cisco devices) requires your switch to be properly configured to allow trunking across the interfaces used for the bond. I know that the high-end Cisco and Juniper switches do support LACP across multiple switches. In the Cisco world, this is called MEC (Multichassis EtherChannel).
If you're using low-end commodity-grade gear, you'll probably need to use active/passive bonds if you want to span switches. Alternatively, you could use one of the balance algorithms for some bandwitch increase. You'd have to run your own testing to determine which algorithm is best suited for your workload.
The Linux Foundation's Net:Bonding article has some great information on bonding in general, particularly on the various bonding methods for high availability:
http://www.linuxfoundation.org/en/Net:Bonding

Best practices for setting up projects

We recently adopted using Captivate for our WBT modules.
As a former Flash and Director user, I can say it’s
fast and does some great things. Doesn’t play so nice with
others on different occasions, but I’m learning. This forum
has been a great source for search and read on specific topics.
I’m trying to understand best practices for using this
product. We’ve had some problems with file size and
incorporating audio and video into our projects. Fortunately, the
forum has helped a lot with that. What I haven’t found a lot
of information on is good or better ways to set up individual
files, use multiple files and publish projects. We’ve decided
to go the route of putting standalones on our Intranet. My gut says
yuck, but for our situation I have yet to find a better way.
My question for discussion, then is: what are some best
practices for setting up individual files, using multiple files and
publishing projects? Any references or input on this would be
appreciated.

Hi,
Here are some of my suggestions:
1) Set up a style guide for all your standard slides. Eg.
Title slide, Index slide, chapter slide, end slide, screen capture,
non-screen capture, quizzes etc. This makes life a lot easier.
2) Create your own buttons and captions. The standard ones
are pretty ordinary, and it's hard to get a slick looking style
happening with the standard captions. They are pretty easy to
create (search for add print button to learn how to create
buttons). There should instructions on how to customise captions
somewhere on this forum. Customising means that you can also use
words, symbols, colours unique to your organisation.
3) Google elearning providers. Most use captivate and will
allow you to open samples or temporarily view selected modules.
This will give you great insight on what not to do and some good
ideas on what works well.
4) Timings: Using the above research, I got others to
complete the sample modules to get a feel for timings. The results
were clear, 10 mins good, 15 mins okay, 20 mins kind of okay, 30
mins bad, bad, bad. It's truly better to have a learner complete
2-3 short modules in 30 mins than one big monster. The other
benefit is that shorter files equal smaller size.
5) Narration: It's best to narrate each slide individually
(particularly for screen capture slides). You are more likely to
get it right on the first take, it's easier to edit and you don't
have to re-record the whole thing if you need to update it in
future. To get a slicker effect, use at least two voices: one male,
one female and use slightly different accents.
6) Screen capture slides: If you are recording filling out
long window based databse pages where the compulsory fields are
marked (eg. with a red asterisk) - you don't need to show how to
fill out every field. It's much easier for the learner (and you) to
show how to fill out the first few fields, then fade the screen
capture out, fade the end of the form in with the instructions on
what to do next. This will reduce your file size. In one of my
forms, this meant the removal of about 18 slides!
7) Auto captions: they are verbose (eg. 'Click on Print
Button' instead of 'Click Print'; 'Select the Print Preview item'
instead of 'Select Print Preview'). You have to edit them.
8) PC training syntax: Buttons and hyperlinks should normally
be 'click'; selections from drop down boxes or file lists are
normally 'select': Captivate sometimes mixes them up. Instructions
should always be written in the correct order: eg. Good: Click
'File', Select 'Print Preview'; Bad: Select 'Print Preview' from
the 'File Menu'. Button names, hyperlinks, selections are normally
written in bold
9) Instruction syntax: should always be written in an active
voice: eg. 'Click Options to open the printer menu' instead of
'When the Options button is clicked on, the printer menu will open'
10) Break all modules into chapters. Frame each chapter with
a chapter slide. It's also a good idea to show the Index page
before each chapter slide with a progress indicator (I use an
animated arrow to flash next to the name of the next chapter), I
use a start button rather a 'next' button for the start of each
chapter. You should always have a module overview with the purpose
of the course and a summary slide which states what was covered and
they have complete the module.
11) Put a transparent click button somewhere on each slide.
Set the properties of the click box to take the learner back to the
start of the current chapter by pressing F2. This allows them to
jump back to the start of their chapter at any time. You can also
do a similar thing on the index pages which jumps them to another
chapter.
12) Recording video capture: best to do it at normal speed
and be concious of where your mouse is. Minimise your clicks. Most
people (until they start working with captivate) are sloppy with
their mouse and you end up with lots of unnecessarily slides that
you have to delete out. The speed will default to how you recorded
it and this will reduce the amount of time you spend on changing
timings.
13) Captions: My rule of thumb is minimum of 4 seconds - and
longer depending on the amount of words. Eg. Click 'Print Preview'
is 4 seconds, a paragraph is longer. If you creating knowledge
based modules, make the timing long (eg. 2-3 minutes) and put in a
next button so that the learner can click when they are ready.
Also, narration means the slides will normally be slightly longer.
14) Be creative: Capitvate is desk bound. There are some
learners that just don't respond no matter how interactive
Captivate can be. Incorporate non-captivate and desk free
activities. Eg. As part of our OHS module, there is an activity
where the learner has to print off the floor plan, and then wander
around the floor marking on th emap key items such as: fire exits;
first aid kit, broom and mop cupboard, stationary cupboard, etc.
Good luck!

Best practice for managing a Windows 7 deployment with both 32-bit and 64-bit?

What is the best practice for creating and organizing deployment shares in MDT for a Windows 7 deployment that has mostly 32-bit computers, but a few 64-bit computers as well? Is it better to create a single deployment share for Windows 7 and include both
versions, or is it better to create two separate deployment shares? And what about 32-bit and 64-bit versions of applications?
I'm currently leaning towards creating two separate deployment shares, just so that I don't have to keep typing (x86) and (x64) for every application I import, as well as making it easier when choosing applications in the Lite Touch installation. But I know
each deployment share has the option to create both an x86 and x64 boot image, so that's why I am confused.

Supporting two task sequences is way easier than supporting two shares. Two shares means two boot media, or maintaining a method of directing the user to one or the other. Everything needs to be imported or configured twice. Not to mention doubling storage
space. MDT is designed to have multiple task sequences, why wouldn't you use them?
Supporting multiple task sequences can be a pain, but not bad once you get a system. Supporting app installs intelligently is a large part of that. We have one folder per app install, with a wrapper vbscript that handles OS detection. If there are separate
binaries, they are placed in x86 and x64 subfolders. Everything runs from one folder via the same command, "cscript install.vbs". So, import once, assign once, and forget it. Its the same install package we use for Altiris, and we'll be using a Powershell
version of it when we fully migrate to SCCM.
Others handle x86 and x64 apps separately, and use the MDT app details to select what platform the app is meant for. I've done that, but we have a template for the vbscript wrapper and its a standard process, I believe its easier. YMMV.
Once you get your apps into MDT, create bundles. Core build bundle, core deploy bundle, Laptop deploy bundle, etcetera. Now you don't have to assign twenty apps to both task sequences, just one bundle. When you replace one app in the bundle, all TS'es are
updated automatically. Its kind of the same mentality as active directory. Users, groups and resources = apps, bundles and task sequences.
If you have separate build and deploy shares in your lab, great. If not, separate your apps into build and deploy folders in your lab MDT share. Use a selection profile to upload only your deploy side to production. In fact I separate everything (except
drivers) into Build and deploy folders on my lab server. Don't mix build and deploy, and don't mix Lab/QA and production. I also keep a "Retired" folder. When I replace an app, TS, OS, etcetera, I move it to the retired folder and append "RETIRED - " to the
front of it so I can instantly spot it if it happens to show up somewhere it shouldn't.
To me, the biggest "weakness" of MDT is its flexibility. There's literally a dozen different ways to do everything, and there's no fences to keep you on the path. If you don't create some sort of organization for yourself, its very easy to get lost as things
get complicated. Tossing everything into one giant bucket will have you pulling your hair out.

Best practice for video storage?

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