Final Cut Server - Webserver Communication

Hi,
My name is Hendrik and I am currently designing a Final Cut work flow for a German WebTV Station. Of course (you might have guessed that because of this board) the Final Cut Server will be a part of that. My question is:
Is it possible for the Final Cut Server to communicate (via AppleScript) with an SQL Database behind a website? To give you an hands on example, this should be the work flow:
The clip is shot, edited and handled in the manner of Final Cut Server. For delivery the clip is being converted into FLV and uploaded to our webserver.
After that the metadata is beeing inserted by one of our editors into the database of our website, so the page knows the clip is there and what the contents are, etc.
The question is, could this last clip be automated? Meaning, all the metadata is beeing edited on the FCS and then sent automaticly on delivery to the web database?
Thanks for your time,
Hendrik

Hi Hendrik,
yes, this is possible. You can set up your own metadata set within FCSvr, which fits your website's needs and fill your assets metadata.
FCSvr can then e.g. write an XML file which you can then parse using an external script to prepare it for your website import.
If you need any help doing this, please feel free to get in touch with me.
Regards,
André

Similar Messages

Final Cut (Server) as an application server for web-video ??

Hi,
we are currently evaluating different solutions to automatically postprocess video files, which are uploaded to a web-server.
The video files are flash-videos (flv) uploaded from the public internet to our web-server. Each uploaded video has to be postprocessed, (applying some slight color grading and processing the audio with audio-units plugins) and finally converted to a h264 video file. The Webserver and the workstation are connected by ethernet or a fast internet connection.
Is this possible with the Final Cut (Server) automation features?
Any feedbacks, ideas or alternatives are welcome.
Thanks in advance fom Berlin, Gemany,
Manfred

Final Cut Server's video processing is limited to what Compressor can be set up to do with a file. The rest of the automation potential lies with communication among teams of users and file movement. FLV is not readable by default (via QuickTime), so you would still need the Episode Engine plugin to be able to process FLV inputs. Final Cut Server does not script the comings and goings of the applications in the Final Cut Studio suite, it is a tool for managing multiple artists and editors all batting work around to each other and feeding it to producers for approval and feedback.

Integrating Final Cut Server 1.5 with Active Directory

Following the directions in the Final Cut Server Setup Guide and I am running into errors. Fun with Final Cut Server. Fun with Kerberos.
Final Cut Server v.1.5 is running on an Intel Xserve running 10.5.6 Server, joined to AD. Active Directory is running on a Windows Server 2008 setup.
I dropped the ini files on the domain controllers, as directed by Apple KB (http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3688) and I ran the commands directed in the setup guide.
The adprincadd command should be run literally, of course, but there's a mistake straight-away when it should read "./adprincadd.pl", the ".pl" is missing. Also it says "fcsvr/fqdn of fcsvr", so naturally I replaced the fqdn, but the "fcsvr" prefixed threw me off. It gave me errors until I opened Kerberos.app and notcied that the kerb ticket was in ldap/, then the command worked for me. At least no errors, until I checked the ticket and it said I had no permissions and that the keytab entry was invalid. Wheeee.
1. First I tried:
(some info redacted)
node09:sbin root# ./adprincadd.pl -dc dc01.example.com. fcs.example.com.
Getting kerberos principal for computer account
Kerberos principal is ---
Getting computer id...---
Getting AD Domain...---
Base DN is dc=example,dc=com
getting kerb ticket using [email protected] got ticket
SASL-bind to dc01.example.com. successful
Computer record is at CN=---,CN=Computers,DC=example,DC=com
Checking to see if ---.--.---. exists...000020B5: AtrErr: DSID-031529F7, #1:
0: 000020B5: DSID-031529F7, problem 1005 (CONSTRAINTATTTYPE), data 0, Att 90303 (servicePrincipalName)
at ./adprincadd.pl line 165
2. Then I noticed the /ldap in Kerberos.app and changed the adprinadd command:
Everything ran well, with no errors...
Finding kvno...2
Reading /etc/krb5.keytab...done.
Creating new keytab file...done.
Writing out temporary keytab...done.
Making backup of old keytab and moving new keytab into place...done.
Operation Completed. You can verify with "kinit <ad user>; kvno -k /etc/krb5.keytab ldap/---.example.com"
3. Verifying with kinit gave me the keytab errors:
kinit matx; kvno -k /etc/krb5.keytab ldap/fcs.example.com
Please enter the password for [email protected]:
ldap/[email protected]: kvno = 2, keytab entry invalid
kvno: Permission denied while decrypting ticket for 'ldap/[email protected]'
Thoughts?

Hello, I'm having issues with the client login after AD integration. I followed the steps from http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3818 and the Terminal output reported a success.
I'm able to add AD groups in Final Cut Server Group Permissions. However, when I try logging in on the FCServer client using credentials associated with AD group I've added, I'm getting an error message from the client stating:
"Please re-enter the username and password or contact the server administrator. Please note that the username and password are case-sensitive."
The FQDN is correct in the Server field of the client.
I'm able to log into the client using locally created user accounts that I've created on the server so I know the client is communicating correctly.
The only thing I can find in the Console for the client machine is this:
11/25/09 10:50:12 AM /Users/*/Desktop/Final Cut Server.app/Contents/MacOS/Final Cut Server[1773] Warning: accessing obsolete X509Anchors.
In the server Console, this is a suspect message: /Library/Application Support/Final Cut Server/Final Cut Server.bundle/Contents/MacOS/fcsvr_stored[77891] pps proxy error: dsDoDirNodeAuth = -14091
Not finding much info out there regarding this. Any guidance is appreciated.

Best practices for Edit Proxies in Final Cut Server?

We just bought Final Cut Server, and for the most part are pretty happy with the product. We are a small production facility, and primarily work with DVCPro HD footage at 720P. One feature we'd like to use would be the edit proxies feature in FCS, but they don't seem to be working for us.
_Hosting Computer_
We're using a mac mini server with snow leopard server and final cut server 1.5.
Problem
Whenever we specify in the Administrator Pane of FCS, Under Preferences and Analyze, we'd like to use a custom transcode setting for the edit proxies, keeping Frame Size, TC, and Frame rate the same, but changing the codec to h264 least quality, the effects are a different compression than expected. We tested out the compression settings using Compressor on the server, and we get the desired results:
Input: DVCPro HD 720P Quicktime 960X720 (1248 x 702) 23.98 fps
Output: H264 Quicktime 960X720 (1248 x 702) 23.98 fps
Also did the same outputs using Apple Prorez, Photo Jpeg and got the following outputs:
Output: Apple Prorez Quicktime 960X720 (1248 x 702) 23.98 fps
Output: Photo Jpeg Quicktime 960X720 (1248 x 702) 23.98 fps
(We also made new transcode settings for these compressor settings and we not able to control the compressions through FCS with these settings as well. Our target codec is H264.)
After connecting the new compression settings on the Mac Mini Server to a new transcode setting in the FCS Admin Pane, we restarted the Java Client, logged in to FCS as an FCSadmin, opened the Admin Pane, and under preferences/analyze change the edit proxy setting to the New H264 setting that worked perfectly when using Compressor. After uploading a final cut project, with one associated media file (DVCPro HD 720P Quicktime 960X720 (1248 x 702) 23.98 fps), the resulting edit proxy did not match the specification: 384 x 216, 23.98fps, TC matches source.
Also did not dynamically connect when checking out the project from FCS and selecting edit proxies and keep media with project and saving to the desktop.
Question 1:
Does anyone have any best practice transcode setting(s) to create for DVCPro HD 720P using edit proxies that dynamically connect and are smaller size than the original? H264? Photo Jpeg?
Question 2:
Why is Final Cut Server's Compressor giving a different output, when the same settings work well with just Compressor?
Question 3:
Does H264 work in creating dynamically linking edit proxies (ie, no need to reconnect)?
I can imagine this information to be very useful to the community, so any input or solutions will be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.

H.264 is a puzzling choice of codec for edit proxies. H.264 is not an edit-friendly codec since it is a complex long-GOP structure and will require a ton of rendering just to play back the timeline. ProRES 422 Proxy would be a much better choice for editing. I'm afraid I can't account for the differences between Compressor and FCServer in this case, but my gut tells me the non-I-frame codec you are trying to use for edit proxies might have something to do with it. Maybe for an edit-proxy workflow to operate properly on the server-side the codec must be I-frame? Is there any reason you do not want to use ProRES 422 Proxy? They are about 1/3 the footprint of 720p24 DVCPRO-HD, which is already very efficient. For that frame rate and frame size they would be roughly half the heft of good ol' DV25.
So my answer to all three questions would be to try ProRES 422 Proxy for your edit proxies and see if everything lines up.

Final Cut Server - XDCAM metadata not appaering in the asset

Hi Apple community,
I would like to seek some guidance and help from you guys.
For Final Cut Server, I wonder why the XDCAM files was unable to show it's metadata for Codec Information as shown below:
Unlike Prores422, It shows perfectlfy fine:
Please advice,
Thanks a lot.
More Power.
Monching16

Hi Apple community,
I would like to seek some guidance and help from you guys.
For Final Cut Server, I wonder why the XDCAM files was unable to show it's metadata for Codec Information as shown below:
Unlike Prores422, It shows perfectlfy fine:
Please advice,
Thanks a lot.
More Power.
Monching16

Open Source Final Cut Server

It would make sense to open source Final Cut Server instead of discontinuing it. Many depend on it and have massive asset libraries and workflows that will not be moving any time and need support. QuickTime/Darwin Streaming Server is open source and thriving. Final Cut Server should be given that chance as it still has many uses and a lot of potential in areas that Apple hasn't explored.
Apple please give back to community of loyal users and pro's around the world by open sourcing Final Cut Server and not letting it sit on the shelf like Shake collecting dust when it could be so much more!

I agree with this. We have invested too much to simply abandon our infrastructure and explore other options. Open source would be in everyone's best interest. I encourage you to visit the FCSvr feedback page and recommend this. http://www.apple.com/feedback/finalcutserver.html. Please be constructive - there has been enough temper tantrums and gripes about FCSvr being killed and the new way the FCPX works. Please be detailed about how you use FCSvr, any customization you've done, especially if they involve using the command line tools and scripting in any form. I personally have invested countless hours pouring over bash scripts, scouring the 43 "px" tables in the postgres database looking for ways to improve our setup, and writing libraries of functions to make scripting easy. I figured out how to customize our distribution to make it do what we need it to do, to serve our business and our clients. If the road ends here, was that all for nothing? FCSvr is a great product. I know that it doesn't jive with FCPX new ways of thinking. I know FCPX has range keywording and metadata capabilities. But what of a notification system? What of a transcoding server? What of subscription/responses triggering actions like archiving to tape? What about support for changing metadata with third party solutions? What about publishing the catalog to online services like MediaSilo? There are countless functions that have become part of the workflow of professional production companies. FCSvr has totally changed the way we work and think about our assets. I was just beginning to get somewhere with our producers and editors, and I really don't want to stop now. Open sourcing FCSvr would give developers the opportunity to write their own modules for FCSvr, we could see support for all kinds of functionality. It's not going to happen though if you don't tell them you need it. Send your feedback using the feedback page. Talk to the vendor you bought FCSvr from or the person who installed it in your organization and encourage them to have this discussion with the people at Apple who can make a difference. Please take action, don't just gripe and make broad stroke suggestions here on the forum. Thanks for your time.

Final Cut Server Launch Error

Hi Folks,
I wanted to run this by the community; I can not seem to get Final Cut Server running on the client side. Every time I attempt to access the media management (http://mydomain/finalcutserver), Java begins to load the software, but subsequently fails to load with an error message “unable to lunch application”. Has any one encountered this before? Is this a Final Cut software error? If so, do you have any suggestions as to how I may go about fixing this?
Basically what happens is that Java throws an exception (see below):
Exception:
CouldNotLoadArgumentException[ Could not load file/URL specified: C:\Documents and Settings\olejnikp\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\6Z9XEFXU\Final Cut Server[1].jnlp]
at com.sun.javaws.Main.launchApp(Unknown Source)
at com.sun.javaws.Main.continueInSecureThread(Unknown Source)
at com.sun.javaws.Main$1.run(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)
*Wrapped Exception:*
java.io.FileNotFoundException: C:\Documents and Settings\olejnikp\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\6Z9XEFXU\Final Cut Server[1].jnlp (The system cannot find the file specified)
at java.io.FileInputStream.open(Native Method)
at java.io.FileInputStream.<init>(Unknown Source)
at java.io.FileInputStream.<init>(Unknown Source)
at com.sun.javaws.jnl.LaunchDescFactory.buildDescriptor(Unknown Source)
at com.sun.javaws.Main.launchApp(Unknown Source)
at com.sun.javaws.Main.continueInSecureThread(Unknown Source)
at com.sun.javaws.Main$1.run(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)
Message was edited by: Shiloh Arts
Message was edited by: Shiloh Arts
Message was edited by: Shiloh Arts

I had a similar error with one of my Mac clients. I found the following info that cleared it up for OS X users.
Here's how to reliably reinstall the Java Client on a Mac.
Delete the Java Applet, usually found on the Desktop. (Sometimes an end-user has placed this in their Applications folder.)
Delete the following folders (directories):
~/Library/Caches/Java/
~/Library/Caches/com.apple.finalcutserver/
Delete the following file:
~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.finalcutserver.plist
(Note: ~ means the user's home folder, ie. /Users/<username>)
Now, go back to the URL of your Final Cut Server box:
http://<ip or domain here>/finalcutserver
...and the reinstall should go well.

Final cut server not serving java client application

weird situation. today i went to download the java client for final cut server 1.5.1 at my normal address and the webpage came up welcome.. with the ability to download the client application as normal but when i pressed the button to download nothing happened.
anyone have any ideas how to resolve this? manually removed all of the client java cache on the client machine and also reinstalled fcs 1.5.1 on the server with a restore of the database without any change in functionality. any ideas?

hello ben,
thanks for taking your time to help me with the issue i am seeing here. I will do my best to read into what you said and explain.
1. Network User Permissions Problems.
maybe you can explain, but i have not authenticated against anything at this point, just went to the normal.. "http://FQDN/finalcutserver"... the normal fcserver webpage comes up but when i click download it does not give me the ability to download the java applet or run a script that maybe delivers the java applet.
maybe i am not understanding, but what about what i am experiencing looks like a permission issue? permission for fcserver to distribute the java applet to a user who goes to the final cut server web page to download the client?
If that is the case, would you know where to start looking for permission issues?
2. Verfy the web server services and comb through the user permissions and services on the server.
The web services, service is on and when i look at the logs with any reference of final cut server, this is what i see right after when i try to download the client app.
File does not exist:/Library/WebServer/Documents/FinalCutServer, referer: http://FQDN/~localadmin/webstart/content.php
as far as the user permissions, what should i look for? there are very few users, the local admin, the open directory admin and 1 other user in od.
with regard to services running on server 10.6.1 and how they affect final cut server.. checked use of how i would use AFP, DNS lookups, OpenDirectory & network homes, and Web services and appear to be working as far as i can tell.
hope the above information helps. thanks in advance for helping troubleshoot.

Send to Apple TV From Final Cut Server

This was pretty simple, but clients really seem to appreciate having the functionality. Basically all you have to do is follow these steps to create a checkbox that can send any asset to your Apple TV for client viewing.
1. Create the field "Send to Apple TV".
2. Add that field to your Asset Search MD group and the MD goup that you wish people to access it in.
3. Create a Final Cut Server Playlist in iTunes
4. Open Automator in OSX. Create a Folder Action using the "Add Songs to Playlist" action from iTunes.
- Choose your Final Cut Server Playlist
5. Assign the folder action to a folder of your choice.
6. Create a Device "Apple TV" in Final Cut Server that points to that folder.
7. Create a transcode setting for "Apple TV H.264" and import to Final Cut Server
- Assign this transcode setting to your Apple TV Device
8. Create a "Send to Apple TV" Copy Response
- The destination device is "Apple TV"
- Transcode Setting is "Apple TV H.264"
9. Open Itunes on the Final Cut Server
- Setup your Apple TV
- Have the Apple TV automatically get the latest files from your Final Cut Server Playlist and send them to your Apple TV.
Done!
- Jason
Jason Perr
Systems Integration Consultant
Sr. Systems Engineer / Partner
MacHarmony
www.macharmony.com
213-268-1248 (cell)
[email protected]

Good job Jason. About time to you contributing back to the community that's been so good to you.
Now how do you get the Apple TV box to automatically query FCSvr directly?
Nicholas Stokes
XPlatform Consulting

Small Office Network Solution for Final Cut Server - Proxy Storage Etc.

Hi,
I haven't been able to find any answers for this question by googling, So I would love if anyone here had some advice. I have the 10 License version of Final Cut Studio with 5 clients at the moment. I would like to set-up our office in the most effective way, however we are a non-profit organization, so we are working with a limited budget.
My question is, does anyone know of any networking solutions for Proxy Storage and Media storage, that wont bottleneck, but is not as high budget/high tech as using an Xserve/XSan system?
Right now we would be looking at running Final Cut Server off of our 24inch Intel IMac (Going to beef up the RAM). We have a Gigabit Switch, 4 more intel machines running final Cut pro, and a direct attached Drobo for Media Storage. I know this is not an Ideal set-up, but it's what I have to work with right now. So, I'm looking for any kinds of tips and tricks to make this set-up work for us, and am looking at purchasing either a Network Attached or iscsI storage system for the Proxy Storage.
I hope this is a decent description of my situation, and would love some advice.
Thanks Very Much,
MacNomad

Hi,
I haven't been able to find any answers for this question by googling, So I would love if anyone here had some advice. I have the 10 License version of Final Cut Studio with 5 clients at the moment. I would like to set-up our office in the most effective way, however we are a non-profit organization, so we are working with a limited budget.
My question is, does anyone know of any networking solutions for Proxy Storage and Media storage, that wont bottleneck, but is not as high budget/high tech as using an Xserve/XSan system?
Right now we would be looking at running Final Cut Server off of our 24inch Intel IMac (Going to beef up the RAM). We have a Gigabit Switch, 4 more intel machines running final Cut pro, and a direct attached Drobo for Media Storage. I know this is not an Ideal set-up, but it's what I have to work with right now. So, I'm looking for any kinds of tips and tricks to make this set-up work for us, and am looking at purchasing either a Network Attached or iscsI storage system for the Proxy Storage.
I hope this is a decent description of my situation, and would love some advice.
Thanks Very Much,
MacNomad

One or more of the updates requested by Final Cut Server could not be...

We are getting the warning " One or more of the updates requested by Final Cut Server could not be applied. (one or more replacement file(s) had unexpected track settings.)" when a FCPv6.06 (possibly also FCPv7.0) project file is checked-out of Final Cut Server v1.5.1. The assets linked to the project are cached down successfully (this in not an XSAN environment) but opening the project alerts to some offline media files (not all) and we need to manually relink them to the assets in the Final Cut Server cache. All is good again until the project file is checked-out of FCSvr to another workstation.
Having a look at the path of the offline files it is referencing the path of the assets as they were on the previous editor's (different) workstation. None of our workstations have the same path to the Final Cut Server cache.
My understanding and experience is that FCSvr manages the paths for FCP linked assets and modifies the checked-out file's path to point to the workstation's FCSvr cache?
Can you tell me how I can resolve this issue?

I may have resolved this issue today or I'm at a stage where I can't replicate it. The problem may have been propagating from a within a template FCP project file we use to start our productions. I assume it was a corruption of the FCP file that FCSvr didn't recognise?

Final Cut Studio 2 on Final Cut Server 1.5

A few months back when I was looking at getting Final Cut Server 1.5, I asked a few people (including a mac employee), if FInal Cut Server 1.5 will work with Final Cut Studio 2 and they said yes.
I have now purchased final cut server 1.5 and I'm now seeing literature that says "for final cut pro integration, 7.0 or higher". Is this really true? We aren't upgrading our hardware to Intel for six more months.

Hey Jason,
Thanks for writing. Since the post I have run some tests and everything seems to be working fine. I really just need the ability to check projects in, versioning and checking projects out. That is all working fine.
Thanks!

Long HDV and XDCAM clips through Final Cut Server

Hi,
I know that I could post this in Compressor and/or Quicktime and/or Leopard/Tiger Forums, but as this problem it`s causing my Final Cut Server to not working well, I think it makes sense to post here.
To resume: HDV and XDCAM clips (all on original codec, only xdcam transferred to mov in xdcam transfer) with file size bigger than exactly 4GB always FAILS in "Final Cut Server"/"Compressor alone in ANY machine installed from scratch"/"Anything that uses Quicktime". Source and Destination being localy or networked. DV or DV50 can get bigger than that, I`ve never seen this error with DV`s codecs.
I had seen this problem before I bought final cut server. When I was transcoding our interviews for transcription. We always worked with BETA SP and captured in DV or DV50. We were starting to go to HDV and now to XDCAM and this error has started to appear.
I have a "proxy" made a year ago from a HDV and it`s original has 8GB. I tried this file again and as I expected didn`t work. In ANY computer with any installations with only the latest updates. I`ve remembered that I was using Tiger at this time, and Quicktime/Tiger/ProApps had a old version.
My two cents are that some update from Tiger/Leopard/QuickTime/ProApps made this happen.
So ANY HDV/XDCAM file bigger than 4GB it`s FAILING in ANY system. (Tiger or Leopard, With or without FCP and QT PRO, Installed from scratch and updated every thing).
Some tests I`ve made:
-Compressor works with this two codecs to lower res in TIGER and with QuickTime Version 7.4.0 and LOWER. (had to be tested, but I think that was my version of QT when I managed to make the proxy of this two codecs).
-Compressor doesn`t work on any system with QT above 7.4.0.
-CATDV (http://www.squarebox.co.uk/) version 6 can make proxy versions of this two codecs in TIGER ONLY! They already know of this problem and CATDV 7 works on both.
-Compressing in compressor with H.264 (same codec as the FCSvr proxy) BUT without changing the resolution, size and etc. Works OK in both Tiger and Leopard.
-Exporting through QT works in ANY system BUT I loose TC, so it`s not an option (and I can`t input this workflow in FCSvr without using compressor).
-Exporting from FCP as QuickTime Movie with H.264 doesn`t work on Both (Tiger and Leopard).
-Exporting fro FCP as QuickTime Conversion with H.264 works but as exporting from QT I loose TC and can`t input this into FCSvr workflow.
Error message are always: "QuickTime error = -50" or "QuickTime error: corrupted data" (and of course it`s not corrupted because it`s used - even in FCP to edit - and opened viewed, catdv can do proxy and everything).
I`m surprised not to see anyone freaking out about this issue... I don`t think that It`s only me.
This is some problems that I came across while trying to find a solution:
http://www.paulescandon.com/blog/?p=39
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=4912265&#4912265
http://www.squarebox.co.uk/faq155.html
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=5513003&#5513003
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1903644&tstart=0
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1780228
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1853507
As you can see this is not the first time I`ve posted about this issue.
I`m sending a bug report as well.
Thank You all in advance.
Regards

Hi Chará!
We should, but I think the others will be disappointed eheheheh.
It doesn`t matter what version of Leopard I`m using (right know I`m using Leopard Server 10.5.6, but this issue has happened even with 10.4 if QT is updated and all updates of 10.5 up, as I`
ve mentioned above).
What file size are those clips that are longer than 10min?
I really don`t get, how it`s possible that just the two of us has HDV and XDCAM files with file size longer than usual? Maybe people that do interviews don`t like to record the entire interview and when capturing those clips would be under this file size limit? Or maybe we are the only ones in the whole world that transcode longer HDV and XDCAM clips (it`s funny that it doesn`t even need to be FCSrv, with only ONE machine and compressor this issue happens all the time).
I`m convinced that I have to install a Tiger version in a virtual machine with compressor and doesn`t update anything to test this further on. But I`m certain that with TIGER and CATDV this works ok! And I think that CATDV uses QT engine to do this transcodes.
This is too much of a mystery to me. Maybe it`s time to spend 24+ hours with apple in a international call and probably not getting anywhere.
I`m only posting this here in FCSrv forum because this issue it`s must worse when you have hundreds of clips with this issue and if you bought the package it doen`t matter if it`s a problem with QT+OSX or whatever, apple has to solve it for FCSrv use.
Do you reckon?
Let`s get in touch through email: lucas at rwcine.com.br
(at = @ and delete spaces).
Regards

Red Footage and Final Cut Server

Aloha gang-
I am still testing FCS in our studio and enjoy many of the features in this product. I love being able to search for footage and pull it into my FCP project with no waiting (using edit-in-place). But I am looking for some advice and knowledge regarding Red Footage.
My scenerio is this:
We render all our red footage to offline files that we will use in the post production process. I want to tag all those files with appropriate metadata so our edit team can search and retrieve files as they need it. But with red there are 7 files (in our workflow) that correspond to the same thing. Basically there is the original R3D file which can not be used in FCP, there are the 4 quicktime proxies that the camera generates and live in the same folder as the R3D, and these are the files I want to get back to after the production is through and archived. There is the offline quicktime we generate to edit with which we need to tag. There is a log and transfer quicktime we can log and transfer all this data to FCS (but it doubles the data size so I am not looking to use this one and edit performance is okay at best), and finally there is the folder that the 4 proxies and original red file live in.
All of these files should be search able by the same metadata. Imagine the shot is of a blue bird. When I type blue bird I would want all of these files to show up (obviously I could limit my search so I only get the version I need for what I am doing i.e. offline, proxie, etc. I have made metadata lookups for this so this is not the challenge.)
The challenge is I only want to log 1 of these files and have the metadata applied to all of them. They all have almost identical names. The offline, R3D, and folder file have the exact same name. The proxies are identical but with _F, _H, _M, and _P behind them. For the catalog process I only want to transcode proxies for the _M (The _F, _H take way too long and the proxies look the same as _M and the _P is too small
I could make them a bundle but that does not help too much as the offline lives in a different place as the footage.
Any ideas would be greatful. My easiest solution is to tag the files twice, once for the production and once for the archive, but this seems like a waste of time that I could have a computer do instead
P.S. anyone successful in getting the metadata out of the red file, I see the red metadata set, and have it in place, but can not get it to show anything no matter which file I upload.
Any ideas, or help would be great
mahalo
scott

Thank you for your replies. I guess my question is not really answered because of the conundrum associated with red footage
But my workflow to get through this will be as follows: (In case anyone is interested)
Set a scan to bring in the offline quicktimes as they are rendered and have someone tag them with meaningful tags to help us search during the production. I will send those to archive when we are done.
After the project is completed and the files are removed from Final Cut Server I will set a scan to import all the _M files (they transcode faster and quality is not an issue since it is making proxies) and tag them as best I can for the long haul (archive) I can either leave the media on the drive or back it up, depending on the immediate use of the files. This works very well if the media is still there as I can just drag the _M into Clipfinder and render the shot I need as I need it.
I am storing these clips in folders labeled CC_LTOXXX (where XXX is the number for the LTO tape which increases by one for each tape I use. When I import them into Final Cut Server from the LTO folder I have a direct line to which LTO tape the file lives on. It's not easy to get the files back (so with files used frequently I will also keep a copy on an external drive I can just plug in) from an LTO, but it is doable.
If anyone has an easy way to pull a list of files from an LTO tape that would be great, and even better if it could be a list Final Cut Server made, or if Final Cut Server could just pull the files. My LTO is a network drive so I would have to access it through an IP address, but if I could do that I would be golden.
Anyway I know this will all evolve and this is just where I am right now, any ideas would be appreciated.
Mahalo
scott

SLS and Final Cut Server

Hi.
I'm running FCServer on an iMac, and I'm currently looking for the best solution for giving co-workers outside of our office network remote access to our FCS database. The main purpose for this is for remote users to screen and download episode segments and movies from our database.
I was initially thinking VPN would be the only solution, but then I saw Snow Leopard Server has 'Mobile Access Server' built right into the OS, which appears designed to help users avoid having to use a VPN.
Before I go out and buy SLS for the company, I want to be sure it will work. Am I correct that Snow Leopard Server, and the built-in Mobile Access Server, will allow users outside of our network remote access to our FCSrvr database?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you!

Thank you for your response.
I posted this in the Final Cut Server forum as well and got this response:
+"Mobile Access Server will give outside access as VPN would, which will be handy if you want to access Final Cut Server using the Java client app. It will also give you VPN access for non-FCSvr uses, like email and Web.+
+If all you want is a subset of your FCSvr database, then you could also publish selected content to a Web/FTP/WebDAV server in your DMZ."+
If anyone else could offer some insight it would be greatly appreciated. I'm just an audio/video post-production guy, so this is all a little outside of my training.
Thanks.

Final Cut Server - Webserver Communication

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