NAB REPORTS

Don and Dan Berube

FireStore FD-100 & DVCPROHD P2

Worklow for Final Cut Pro: FIVE EASY STEPS

Introduction

The Focus Enhancements FireStore FS-100 is a powerful tool designed to interface with the Panasonic AG-HVX200 camcorder, enabling the user to capture DVCPROHD and DVCPRO50 video clips (as well as standard DV/ DVCPRO25) in the Panasonic P2 media format. Equipped with an internal 100GB hard disk, the FireStore FS-100 offers long record times in a unique, portable enclosure.

FireStore FS-100 with Panasonic AG-HVX200.

Following is a list of the DVCPROHD P2 formats currently supported with Final Cut Pro (v5.1): 720/60P, 720/30P, 720/24, 1080/60i

As of this writing, the DVCPROHD P2 formats1080/24P and 1080/30P are not yet natively supported in Final Cut Pro v5.1. The DVCPROHD P2 formats 720/30PN and 720/24PN are not yet natively supported by Final Cut Pro for live capture over FireWire.

The focus of this article is working with DVCPROHD 720/24P P2 clips already captured with a FS-100 in a Final Cut Pro editing environment. The key is to treat FireStore FS-100 P2 captures in the same way you would handle AG-HVX200 clips captured to a P2 card.

Before importing FireStore FS-100 P2 clips into Final Cut Pro (v5.1), the Project Settings for Final Cut Pro must be set up properly to recognize and handle the actual P2 format captured by the FS-100.

 

FIVE EASY STEPS

In general, the workflow for importing and editing FireStore FS-100 P2 Clips into Final Cut Pro can be broken down into Five Easy Steps:

STEP 1. Organize P2 Folder on FS-100 Prior to Importing in Final Cut Pro.

Let's focus on working with DVCPROHD 720P/24 P2 capture clips. Assuming that you have successfully captured DVCPROHD 720P/24 P2 clips from the Panasonic AG-HVX200 onto the FireStore FS-100, let's begin with the first step. Before importing P2 media from the FS-100 to your Final Cut Pro workstation, you must first run the "Organize P2" utility within the FS-100.  

Organize P2 Utility

a) Once shooting with the FS-100 is complete, navigate to the "UTILITIES" screen on the FS-100 using the LEFT or RIGHT Arrow Key.

b) Scroll down to "ORGANIZE P2".

c) Press the SELECT key on the FS-100 to initiate the "Organize P2" operation.

Organize P2 Utility

A progress bar will appear for several seconds as the "Organize P2" operation proceeds. Once the "Organize P2" operation is completed, the FS-100 display will return to the main HOME screen.

Now you are ready to set the FS-100 to "Disk Drive" Mode to connect the FS-100 to your Final Cut Pro workstation.

 

STEP 2.  SET FS-100 to Disk Drive Mode and connect to your Mac.

DD DRIVE Mode

a) Connect the FS-100 COMPUTER I/O port to the FireWire 400 I/O port on your Mac with a 6pin-to-6pin FireWire cable.

b) On the FS-100, navigate to the “HDD MODE” screen, select “DD DRIVE”, then select “ENABLE.”

DD DRIVE Mode

Once the FS-100 is connected to the Mac. in "DD DRIVE" Mode via FireWire, it will mount and appear as a hard drive on the desktop. The P2 clips that were captured on the FS-100 are now available to import into Final Cut Pro.

 

STEP 3.  Set Up FCP Project Settings to Coincide with Captured P2 Format.

You have now successfully connected the FS-100 to your Final Cut Pro workstation via FireWire. Now, it’s time to properly configure Final Cut Pro to recognize and handle the DVCPROHD P2 720/24P clips from the FS-100.

Creating an Easy Setup allows Final Cut Pro to use the correct Project Preferences to coincide with the format of the material to be edited. These Presets include: Sequence Preset, Capture Preset, Device Control Preset, Playback Output Video and Playback Output Audio.

a) Open Final Cut Pro

b) If a previous project is open, save and close the project.

c) In the Final Cut Pro menu, go to "Final Cut Pro" and select "Easy Setup".

To make things simple, you just need to choose the setup that coincides with the actual P2 format that you captured with the FireStore FS-100. In this case, we'll select DVCPROHD - 720P24.

Easy Setup Tool

Audio/ Video Settings Menu

d) Select the appropriate EASY SETUP.

Easy Setup Tool

Once you have selected the appropriate Easy Setup, you should then review the Audio/Video Settings for that setup to make sure everything is set up correctly.

e) In the Final Cut Pro menu, choose "Audio/Video Settings".

Audio/ Video Settings Menu

Once the Audio/Video Settings are correctly set to coincide with the format of the FS-100 P2 source clips, you are now ready to import the FS-100 P2 media clips into the Final Cut Pro Project Browser.

 

STEP 4.  Treat FS-100 P2 Clips as

Standard P2 Media in Final Cut Pro.

You are now ready to import the FS-100 P2 media clips using the "Import Panasonic P2" import menu. When importing FS-100 P2 media into Final Cut Pro, treat the FS-100 P2 clips in the same way you would handle AG-HVX200 clips captured to a P2 card.

a) Go to "FILE" menu, then go to "Import" and select "Panasonic P2".

Import Panasonic P2 Menu

Import Panasonic P2 Menu

Remove duplicate/adv. pull-down frames

Import Panasonic P2 Tool Window
Import Panasonic P2 Progress Bar

Once you select "Import; Panasonic P2", the Import Panasonic P2 tool window will appear. The Import Panasonic P2 tool will by default select the connected FireStore FS-100 as the source for your P2 media clips.

Version 5.1 of Final Cut Pro offers an additional Import P2 "Remove Duplicate/Adv. Pull-down Frames" option that allows Final Cut Pro to remove duplicate frames when transferring P2 footage to a Final Cut Pro scratch disk.

By checking this option during P2 import, Final Cut Pro will create a QuickTime file at the native frame rate coinciding with the actual frame rate in which the Panasonic AG-HVX200 was set to during recording.

Remove duplicate/adv. pull-down frames

Simply put, if you set the AG-HVX200 to record 720/24P (Advanced Pulldown) or 720/30P, checking the "Remove Duplicate/Adv. Pull-down Frames" option will remove the added frames during import and produce a genuine 24P (23.98) or 30P clip, depending on which format mode you captured in. (As of this writing, the P2 formats DVCPROHD 1080/24P and 1080/30P are not yet natively supported in Final Cut Pro v5.1.)

b) Highlight the clips that you want to import and select the "Import" button.

c) To import all of the available FS-100 P2 clips, select the "Import All" button

Import Panasonic P2 Tool Window

A progress bar will appear as the selected P2 clips are being imported into the Final Cut Pro Project Browser.

Import Panasonic P2 Progress Bar

 

STEP 5.  Edit the FS-100 P2 Clips

As You Would Normally Edit P2 Media.

Final Cut Pro will handle the FireStore FS-100 just in the same way it will handle a standard Panasonic P2 media card.

No need to copy the contents of the FireStore FS-100 to your Final Cut Pro workstation before importing your P2 clips - Final Cut Pro will handle that task as the P2 media clips are transcoded to QuickTime .mov files and ingested to the Final Cut Pro scratch disk during import into the Project Browser window.

Imported P2 clips in Project Browser

Imported P2 clips in Project Browser

When the Import Panasonic P2 function is complete, all of the imported P2 media clips will appear in the Final Cut Pro Browser Window as ingested .mov files ready to edit.

That's it. Your clips are now ready to start editing. This is exactly the same process as if you were importing AG-HVX200 P2 clips from a standard P2 media card.

For More Information on FireStore, please visit www.firestore.com

Daniel and Donald Berube are founders of noisybrain. Productions, LLC, a collaborative, full-service production through completion partner. Both are world-traveled with over two decades of production and editing credits on public and network television. Daniel is an Apple Certified Trainer and founder of the Boston Final Cut Pro User Group. Donald is a Director of Photography skilled in various SD and HD acquisition formats. They can be contacted at info@noisybrain.com.