2009

During the log and transfer process, you have several options for organizing your media.
You can choose specific source media to ingest and add logging information, including
clip name, scene number, shot/take number, camera angle, log notes, and a “good” flag
that you can use to indicate preferred selects.
Tracking and Organizational Information
The most important piece of organizational metadata that Final Cut Pro uses for ingested
tapeless media is a Universally Unique Identifier (UUID). Every clip that’s ingested from a
tapeless media format is assigned a UUID number that, along with each clip’s timecode
track, maintains the correspondence between the ingested clip and the original source
media file it was derived from.
Additional camera-specific metadata may also be available, depending on the format.
Usually proprietary metadata can be accessed only by using third-party utilities. Consult
your camera’s documentation for more information, if necessary.
Backup and Archiving Considerations
It’s critical to redundantly archive all of the source media, along with the original directory
structure that was copied from the camera’s storage media. Hard disk backup to multiple
volumes is a good short-term solution, and optical or tape data backup may be the most
suitable long-term solution.
Common Offline/Online Strategies
Some formats, such as AVCHD, must be transcoded to another format (such as Apple
ProRes) when ingested into Final Cut Pro. Others, like P2, XDCAM, and REDCODE, can be
ingested natively. Native ingest usually involves embedding the native source media in
a QuickTime wrapper. As a result, the media remains in its native format but appears to
Final Cut Studio applications as a QuickTime file.
If you’re working with a low-bandwidth format, it may be simplest to ingest at full quality
and then edit and finish at the same high quality.
Alternatively, you can transcode to an offline format during ingest. Because each tapeless
clip’s UUID allows you to match each ingested offline clip to the original source media
file, you can always reingest later at a higher quality for finishing.
Ingesting Tape-Based Media
Videotape capture is as basic as it gets, and Final Cut Pro is capable of ingesting virtually
every videotape format using built-in or third-party video capture interfaces. Although
tapeless formats are quickly taking over acquisition, tape-based formats still dominate
the final process of high-end mastering.
Popular Formats
Popular SD formats include the analog Betacam SP format and the digital DV-25, DVCAM,
DVCPRO, DVCPRO 50, Digital Betacam, and Betacam SX formats.
33Chapter 2 Ingesting and Organizing Your Media