Migrate Final Cut Server to Cantemo Portal

If you want to migrate your existing Final Cut Server installation to a more modern MAM which supports FCP7, FCPX and other NLEs, you can use the CP Migration Tool, which you can find here: http://moosystems.com/products/moofs-migration-tool/
Hope this helps,
André

Hello Nickolas,
I'm very interested on this transfer scripts. I have though one quick questing regarding annotations.
Does this transfer scripts also transfers Markers (or subclips) from FCP to Final Cut Studio and vice-versa (transfer annotations from Final Cut Server to FCP)?
If this does not do this, do you have any solution for transferring annotations to FCP as markers/subclips when editors drags assets to bins/timelines?
Also, Andre if I'm not mistaken you also have something similar to this, right?
Cheers,

Similar Messages

Has anyone migrated existing file libraries into Final Cut Server?

My company currently uses Virage to archive thousands of video clips. Currently we only archive proxies and keep a corresponding tape on the shelf -- it's a big library. We want to move away from tape and keep all the clips on a centralized server but we need to be able to move all the existing files over to FCS via an automated process. The clips we keep in Virage has 5 or 6 fields that we would need to migrate over and the thumbnails are mpg2. Has anyone had any experience migrating huge chunks of data over to Final Cut Server? We ditched our Avids and Unity and purchased FCP. Final Cut Server makes sense. (By the way...for what we paid for Virage, I could have purchased Final Cut Server and a Porsche to drive it to the office.)

My company is implementing FCSrv as a video database. Moral of the story: I did everything from scratch. I took the time to log and digitize all the tapes, creating a file folder structure that corresponds to the tape label. I can say from my experience, you need to organize and have all of your original media ready on the drives that you want the files to live on and THEN upload to FCSrv. I left those drives as Edit In Place devices, created FCSrv assets, and then turned the drives off. The drives only come back on when I want to copy over any of the source files. Also, FCSrv wants to create everything from scratch - its own proxies, thumbnails, and poster frames. Currently I believe the only metadata you could map / migrate over would be fields associated with FCP Log and Transfer media. Another workflow hint I have is to find media that has the same (or most similar) metadata and upload those at the same time (choosing create individual assets). Also, there is a great workflow on the forum for bulk metadata changes that helped me out a lot : http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=7522555
Every time I call Apple anymore they try to sell me on purchasing the custom workflow services from an engineer so you could look into that for specific help with your current metadata fields. Otherwise, I'd suggest hiring some interns
Good luck!

How do I migrate metadata from Final Cut Server for use in Premiere?

We're one of many companies looking to move to Premiere Pro from Final Cut.
We have thousands of tagged clips in Final Cut Server and I'm trying to find a way to export all that metadata so it can be used, and searched for, within Premiere Pro.
Does anyone know if/how this could be achieved?
The only thing I've found online that seems to be relevant is this:
http://www.andre-aulich.de/en/perm/export-asset-metadata-from-final-cut-server-using-built in-tools-only
This seems to explain how to export the metadata (although I don't fully understand it) but not how to make it useful for Premiere.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Well... I'm a librarian by training so I use Cat-DV a little differently.
I use it to make a searchable archive of proxy files for entire hard drives. I hook up a hard drive (say an old external) and point Cat-DV at it. It makes a catalog (locally) that has all the metadata (most importantly "date created") and a small proxy or thumbnail if it's a still. Then I unplug the drive, label it and put it on a shelf. When I need to find something all I have to do is consult the local catalog. I can search it (if I included any metadata) or, most likely, I'll just scrub around for date created. Cat-DV will display the exact path to where the asset is. I can search across multiple catalogs of drives without ever having to plug one in, Once I find the file I want, I just plug in that drive to retreive the file.
I use it mostly for stills and some b-roll that gets used over and over. For a variety of reasons, we never opted to make it a full replacement for FC Server.
And another thing... you can do a heck of a lot with the $99 or $300 version. You don't need to go the full enterprise server route (though you do have to do that to use the server functions).
You might also want to try Adobe Bridge for searching and editing metadata. In my experience, it's always been slow with video but that may well have changed. I haven't played with it in a while

Final Cut Server Replacement

Anyone in L.A. for the Createasphere DAM conference should try and check out this event. The Levels Beyond Reach Engine has been doing amazing things in the Enterprise DAM/MAM space and has some amazing potential in pot-production workflow automation and organization. Check it out!
http://levelsbeyond.eventbrite.com/

Oh yea, the product includes a seemless migration from Final Cut Server.

Final Cut Server on Apples Promise or Isilon

Two questions:
One: Where can I go to learn about these two types of drives and comparisons?
Two: Does anyone have any insight as to which system is better/more dependable?
I work with one arm of a very large organization that edits various material. We currently work in SD but are planning to be all HD by January. We have purchased the Final Cut Server to replace Artbox which we currently use. We are trying to decide between Apple's Promise Xsan drives and Isilon. I am hearing that Isilon might be a bit slower????
Any advise, thoughts would be much appreciated. Better yet, if you know a place where I can go and get some good unbiased information - so I can educate myself, that would be great!!
Thanks in advance,
Ken

It's true that both solutions are not very well documented online with respect to more than their basic specs. What you need is some contextual advice that will weigh the pros and cons of each solution against your business requirements. You need a good consultant that is not trying to sell you either solution. A tall order, I know.
Maybe if I share the considerations I used to chose between the two it will help:
I chose Xsan/StorNext because I knew I wanted to take advantage of its ability to span disk and tape. LTO is still unmatched for price and performance for nearline storage. Disk is catching up, but you can't take a disk out of an array and put it in a vault like you can with an LTO. The reason I was so focused on having tape as well as disk is because I knew that eventually we'd fill our disk and still want to keep mot or all of the data somehow. You can't just add disk forever, so having a tape tier to migrate data onto is key. Bandwidth is also very good for the disk side of Xsan, but you still need to make sure you have enough disk aggregated to support however many editors cutting however many streams of whatever format. An Apple sales engineer can help you figure that. Fibrechannel storage like Xsan is unmatched for video editing due to its extremely low latency and high bandwidth.
The downside of Xsan/StorNext when you start using Storage Manager for backup and tiered storage is the support requirements. You simply must have a good admin on staff. The system is like a racecar- it is very sophisticated and finely tuned so it needs constant attention from the mechanics. But look how fast it goes!
If you only want disk and don't need to keep your data forever, Isilon is a less-fussy solution. It is truly redundant disk (unlike Xsan) and it expands more easily than Xsan. You also don't need to buy client licenses to connect to it. Even laptop and iMac users could get at it (unlike Xsan). It can provide enough bandwidth for all but the most grueling applications, but it is a lot more expensive per TB than Xsan. Several major cable networks use Isilon for editing and play-to-air storage. It is no slouch. Just make sure your format fits though a 1 Gb pipe because that's the maximum bandwidth to each client (Xsan can do 4 Gb).
So the bottom line in comparing the two really depends on your workload, format, number of clients, budget, and data management priorities. Both will work just fine with Final Cut Server.

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?

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.

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 Usage Question...

I have just started researching this product and confused a little about it. I am the IT dept at a small advertising agency that does quite bit of video work.
Mostly all of the workstation in the office are PowerMac G5's that clock in at dual 2.2GHz or above with 4GB of RAM
We also have an Xserve G5 (Dual) with 4GB of RAM a 2GB fibre card installed and an apple RAID system as well. The office is all wired with 10/100.
With final cut server - will they be able to actullay edit video over the network on the RAID through the Xserve. Is that what this software is for? Sorry for such a lame question. If not is this basically like Adobe's Bridge application?
Let me know.

Yes it does do basically what your saying, You can leave the source media on the server and just edit from your local machine. You can also download proxies (lower res version of the source media) and edit on a laptop or with a PC without having to move the large source files.
I cant imagine any reason why any company or small business using more than one editing machine wouldn't go for this solution
Does that answer your question?

Storage issues for Proxies using Final Cut Server

Hi there,
we have a fairly high amount of material that is just being put into Final Cut Server to be archived again.
I dont mind the Xserve being busy to create these proxy files, but they tie up too much space!
(Maths: 500 GB / 40 h of DVCAM footage result in more than 100 GB proxy files).
We have those 40 h running though more than once a month plus a whole LOT of material from the last 2 years - and our Xsan is only 7 TB in size.
Although we could theoretically buy another fiber raid this solution is not really future proof - it just pushes the time when we have to buy the next one a couple of months forward.. on top of that I cannot afford to have expensive, fast fiber channel storage used for proxies of files that are long archived and have only very limited use (and IF we need them, stick in the archive device and done).
Any ideas how to get rid of proxy files from archived assets?
I dont really want to take pen and paper and delete the proxies of the files by hand from the bundle.. dont think FCSvr will like this either.
thanks for any advice
tobi

So I'm not sure how your math is adding 100GB of proxy files
Are you creating VersionS and/or Edit Proxies of everything?
I ask because using the default Clip Proxy setting gives you file sizes similar to the ones below. These numbers aren't accurate because the default Transcode setting uses Variable Bit Rate (VBR) encoding for both video and audio, but assuming you had a relative constant 800kbps stream here's how large your Proxies.bundle file should be
800kbps * 30secs = 2.4mb
800kbps * 60secs = 4.8mb
800kbps * 60secs * 60min = 280.8mb per hour
280.8mb per hours * 40= 11.2GB
Also note, that deleting an asset from FCSvr doesn't delete the proxy files so you could have a lot of proxies left over from a few historical scans.

Hardware Configurations for Final Cut Server

I am a small video production shop, currently running 2 standalone FCP stations; one Intel tower FCP7 with about 3T of firewire 800 Raid 1 storage, and one PPC G5 tower FCP6, on a gigibit ethernet network with a central NAS. I am adding a 3d station and a new employee. The problem we have run into is that many assets seem to always reside on the wrong system, and duplicate projects become impossible to resolve and archive effectively. We shoot exclusively on HDV.
This is the setup I am considering....
Convert the Intel Mac Pro tower to Final Cut Server
Buy 3 27"iMacs for edit stations
My plan would be to have all projects reside on the FCPServer and edit on 422 Proxy versions on the iMacs. I understand that each iMac would need a copy of FCP. Would they all need to be FCP7 to work on the same project at different times?
Other questions:
Would working on a gigabit ethernet network be a bottleneck?
Could I ingest video directly to the server? Is there a way to capture 422 video onto the server or would that require a separate copy of FCP on the server to capture from tape? If so could I use the older FCP6 copy withot upgrading just for capture? Alternately could I use a copy of FCExpress on the server just to create a project and capture on the server then open and convert to FCP7?
Any suggestions for what to do with the Dual 2.5G PowerPC Tower?

ProRes wil be much faster for rendering on the client and transcoding on any machine, and will also allow for more realtime effects vs native HDV in FCP. "Full-rez" is a misnomer here, since ProRes Proxy does not sacrifice any resolution and indeed has a higher bitrate than native HDV. You might find that your HDV source looks just as good in ProRes Proxy (it is very high quality, just not as pristine as the higher quality versions of ProRes).
Remember, ProRes 422 Proxy is still a 4:2:2 10-bit codec. I think you'd need to look awfully close to see a qualitative difference. You can choose to use ProRes Proxy at lower resolutions than your source media, but you don't need to. It is designed to work all the way up to 2K and maintain all the color fidelity of a 10-bit codec.
When you check in a project that you are cutting locally with Edit Proxies, FCSvr relinks the project to the original media, but it does not render anything. You would need to open the project on the FCSvr host with FCP to create an flattened QuickTime against the original media (in your case native HDV).
You can recapture, but when you have FCSvr cataloging your clips, you do not want to recapture the same media and duplicate the asset. If you are careful and recapture the clips that were disposed of to the exact same location with the exact same filename as before, FCSvr will re-link the media to the asset automatically. However, that workflow is very human-error-prone and I strongly recommend you not adopt it. Keep your source HDV tapes as a worst-case backup, but if you are going to use FCSvr, use its archive capability to RAID-1 external drives and only go back to the tapes if all else fails. And you'll need to be very careful to match you prior ingest if you do.
Of course, you can always delete an asset altogether when you're done with its media and later recapture the footage from tape and treat it as a new asset. It depends on how interested you are in keeping your asset records and their proxies intact for media you plan to remove from storage.
I'd take a good long look at ProRes Proxy vs HDV for quality. If you can't see a difference, capture to ProRes Proxy and make that your online format. Then you won't be eating up all your storage on the server keeping both the HDV original and a ProRes Proxy for edit proxies. If you don't enable edit proxies, FCSvr just hands out the original media.

Migrate Final Cut Server to Cantemo Portal

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