Specifications

Table Of Contents

Using P2 Monitors in a Factory

FlipFactory provides both a P2 Network Folder monitor and a P2 Local Folder monitor for

automating the ingest of P2 media. The P2 Network Folder monitor is designed to identify and

ingest incoming media via Windows networking; the P2 Local Folder monitor identifies and ingests

incoming media from directories directly on the FlipFactory server.

The presence of a new XML file with a single clip initiates the automatic submission of a job. Both

P2 monitors otherwise operate in the same manner – each scans for new XML files; neither

monitor localizes incoming media (localizing is the process of duplicating the incoming file into a

store (a specific directory) on the FlipFactory server).

XML Files and Spanned Files, Playlists

Each XML file that is found is also scanned to see if the file is part of a playlist of files. If the XML

file is part of a spanned file or a playlist, the head (or top) playlist file is submitted to FlipFactory for

processing, and all others are processed in turn, to produce a single output file of the playlist.

Making P2 Media Accessible

An important part of FlipFactory workflows for P2 media is gaining access to the media for

ingesting it into your factory.

P2 camcorders and other recording devices record media to several solid state media cards in the

device. P2 systems create media files in a specific directory structure in a directory named

CONTENT. Sub-directories include:

• AUDIO – Audio MXF OpAtom files

• VIDEO – Video MXF OpAtom files

• CLIP – XML reference files – one for each clip

• ICON – not used by FlipFactory

• PROXY – not used by FlipFactory

• VOICE – not used by FlipFactory

For each clip, the P2 system creates a file set that consists of an XML reference file in the CLIP

directory, plus audio and video files in the AUDIO and VIDEO directories, respectively. Elements in

the XML file point to these OpAtom MXF files in the VIDEO and AUDIO directories.

XML reference files also may be logically chained together, so that a collection of files can be

played out as one single file, effectively utilizing the XML file as a playlist. This feature permits a P2

system to span media cards when necessary: a single recording can span two or more media

cards, as needed.

P2 memory drives are supported for both Windows and Mac OS X, and connect to the computer

via USB, USB 2.0, and Firewire (IEEE 1394). These cards display as letter drives on Windows: E:,

F:, G:, etc.

FlipFactory accesses P2 media via Windows platforms when you submit P2-based MXF files for

processing in a factory. When you add a P2 card reader to a Windows computer, it is assigned a

drive letter, as shown below: