Larry’s Blog

Sal Guarisco, head of the Guarisco Group LLC, has been following our on-going discussion on using LTO tape as an archive system for media. He sent in the following report, which I want to share with you.

To All Larry Jordan Fans:

After I started reading Larry’s book Final Cut Pro X: Making The Transition, he enlightened me on page 8 with the knowledge that hard drives can lose data sitting on a shelf and recommended using an LTO (Linear Tape Open) tape system as a long-time backup and storage solution.

After two weeks of online research into the the best set up that would fit my budget and getting nowhere, I gave Larry a call to see what he recommended. To my surprise, Larry admitted that he had purchased an HP LTO drive but had not gotten it to work with his Mac Pro.

After a few false starts on my own, this is what I have learned: LTO-5 (1.5 TB uncompressed & up to 3TB compressed) is the best way to go. HP and Quantum manufacture almost identical drives; but I went with the HP StorageWorks Ultrium 3000 SAS Half-height external standalone drive. I was able to find it online new for $1625.00.

NOTE: My only caution is that HP’s Level 1 tech support for LTO drives is just two people on the West Coast who aren’t very knowledgeable about their product or even their company’s limited Mac support for their tape drives.

ATTO Technology and LSI manufacture the host controller cards that are Mac compatible and recognize tape drives. I went with the ATTO ExpressSAS H680 for $313.00 online. Atto’s tech support is 1st class and they are very knowledgeable on the compatibility of their product and tape drives on a Mac. If you want to run an SAS (Serial Attached SCSI) RAID enclosure as well as a tape drive, I suggest the Atto ExpressSAS R680 RAID controller for as low as $650.00 online.

I chose Retrospect Desktop 9 for my backup software along with their Annual Support and Maintenance for $249.00. This covers one desktop server and four clients. Their tech support as well as their software is also 1st class. I’ve found that if your tape drive is not on at start up and you turn it on later, the software will not recognize it, but a quick restart resolves it.

I’m very pleased with this storage setup and its performance on my early 2008 Mac Pro dual quad core 2.8 GHz, 18 GB RAM. Expect around 3GB/ minute transfer and verify rates and 5GB/minute restore rates. If you add the three extra tape cartridges and head cleaner I got for $180.00, the total cost of my setup is $2367.00. If you do some shopping online, you can find pretty much the same deals. Good luck!

Larry, thanks for the opportunity to help. Your FCP X training course along with your book is great! Once I get a better handle on the software, I’ll dive into the three business tutorials I bought. Keep up the good work!

Larry replies: Thanks, Sal, for writing this up. The issue of archiving is critical to media professionals and I’m expecting several new announcements during and after NAB.

The only downside to your approach is that it requires a MacPro for the ATTO connector card. I’m hoping we will soon start seeing Thunderbolt adapters which would allow this technology to be used on laptops and iMacs.

As always, I’m interested in your comments.

Larry

I was reviewing all our video training (we have almost 70 webinars now!) and realized that there is so much variety that it is often hard to figure out what’s really valuable. So, each week, I’m hoping to feature a different webinar from our collection.

This week, I want to present #41: Use Composite Modes to Create Better Effects

The cool thing about composite modes is that whether you are using FCP 7, FCP X, any version of Motion, Adobe Premiere, Photoshop… just about every video or image editing application includes composite, or blend, modes.

These allow you to combine textures from multiple clips stacked on top of each other which allows you to blend effects to create images and text treatments that are impossible any other way.

We do this with composite modes.

This video training shows you step-by-step how this works and illustrates a variety of effects you can quickly create today in your projects.

Click here to see a short video intro to the training. Best of all, from now till Sunday, April 8, this title is only $19.99. Save 33%!

Thanks,

Larry

The 2012 NAB Show is going to be exciting this year – especially for those of us involved in editing. Lots of new announcements coming. I’m looking forward to sharing the details with you as soon as I’m allowed.

The reason this thought comes to mind is that our podcast – DigitalProductionBuzz.com – is gearing up to cover the Show in-depth for the fifth year in a row! Currently, we have over 80 interviews with key industry leaders lined up, including major announcements and news at the show.

Unlike past years, in addition to creating daily one-hour special reports and posting them to iTunes and our website, we are posting individual interviews as soon as we get them edited, plus aggressively tweeting news, photos, and videos. This means that even if you can’t attend the event, you can hear the news directly from the people making it.

For all the details, visit www.NABShowBuzz.com — we update this several times a week now and daily during the show.

You can also follow the action on twitter – @dpbuzz – and on our Facebook page – tiny.cc/dpbuzz.

Also, we are taking a crew of 17 people and setting up a full broadcast facility on the show floor – Booth SL11505 in the South Lower Hall – I’ll post more details on the workflow and gear we are using that allows us to produce, record, edit and post a record number of interviews in such a short period of time.

If you are planning on going to the show, get a FREE Exhibits Only Pass on us – visit here – and use promo code SM08 – this saves you $150 on admission! Hurry, though, this offer expires March 30th.

It’s going to be amazing at this year’s NAB Show in Las Vegas, and The BuZZ will be right in the middle of it, helping you keep up with everything going on.

Larry

This last week I was in London, at the Broadcast Video Expo in Earl’s Court 2 in Kensington.

I was invited to give a series of presentations on Final Cut Pro X, Compressor, Motion, and understanding video storage. (I’m delighted to report we had standing room only: hundreds of people crammed into each session. It was a lot of fun!!)

When I wasn’t giving presentations, I was wandering the show floor with an audio recorder talking with companies that I haven’t seen for a while. And, while the news is still fresh, I wanted to give you a chance to hear these reports. I spoke with the folks at:

• Edit Share on their shared storage and editing workflow software
• Lightworks on getting ready to get out of beta
• Avid on ProTools 10
• AJA on the IOXT

As always, let me know what you think.

Larry

---

Broadcast Video Expo 2101 – London — TRT: 10:04

To get us started, here’s the summary we aired on this week’s Digital Production Buzz.

---

James Richings — TRT: 8:57
Managing Director/Co-owner
Edit Share

James Richings talks about how EditShare encourages a consistent editing workflow, some of the applications they have that support it, and why they are so committed to improving workflow.

---

James Richings — TRT: 5:03
Managing Director/Co-owner
Lightworks

Lightworks was acquired by EditShare a couple of years ago. Edit Share has continued to develop it, even thought it is a free application available on open source. We talk about what Lightworks is, what major films have used it, and what Edit Share plans with it for the future.

---

Dave Tyler — TRT: 5:56
Pro Audio Applications Specialist
ProTools / Avid

ProTools recently released version 10 of their legendary audio software. In this interview, Dave explains what some of the key new features are and what ProTools wants to work on for the future.

---

Andy Bellamy — TRT: 6:37
Field Sales Engineer
AJA

AJA just shipped the new IOXT, a new interface which allows computers to ingest and export video using Thunderbolt connections. Andy explains how it works and where it fits into post-production.

---

With the recent release of FCP X 10.0.3, a lot has been written about the ability to – at last – move Final Cut Pro 7 projects to FCP X. However, there’s another segment of videographers that can also easily migrate to the power of Final Cut Pro X: iMovie users. Let me show you how this works.

Unlike all past versions of Final Cut Pro, the latest – FCP X – makes it easy to import an iMovie Project or just the media from all your iMovie Events.

IMPORTING iMOVIE EVENTS

An Event is Apple’s name for a collection of media. Most often, this media collection comes from a single activity – a performance, for instance. However, an Event can contain any collection media.

Importing the Event folder from iMovie into FCP X adds ALL the Event media from all your iMovie projects as separate Events in the Event Library of Final Cut Pro X.

The only requirement is that the media needs to be imported into iMovie first.

Here, for instance, I have two iMovie events. Since all Events are stored in the same iMovie Events folder, when I import these into FCP X, all the media from all the Events will transfer.

To import the iMovie Events Folder into FCP X, select File > Import > iMovie Events folder.

FCP X is smart enough to know what it has already imported and, if you’ve already imported media, Final Cut will only import the media that’s new.

After you click OK your iMovie media is imported into FCP X, where each iMovie Event creates its own Event in Final Cut.

This is a very easy way to bring ALL your iMovie media into FCP X.

IMPORT iMOVIE PROJECTS

However, you may not want to import all your iMovie media – perhaps you just want to bring in one project.

That, too, is simple.

Select File > Import > iMovie Project.

Final Cut immediately displays all your iMovie projects; these are stored in Movies > iMovies Projects inside your Home directory.

Select the project you want to import and both the Project file and all its media are imported into Final Cut, ready for you to edit.

Simple and fast.

As always, let me know what you think.

Larry

UPDATED – Jan. 31, Feb. 1

Today, Apple announced the latest update to Final Cut Pro X. Following its announcement last September that the next major version of the software would include support for multicam editing and broadcast monitoring, this update delivers on that promise.

THE HEADLINES

This FREE update – now available in the Mac App Store – includes:

• Project import from FCP 7 to FCP X (via a 3rd-party utility)
• Clip relinking
• Multicam
• Layered Photoshop import
• Broadcast monitor output
• And dozens of other features

---

APPLE’S RELEASE NOTES

According to the Release Notes from Apple, Final Cut Pro X version 10.0.3 adds the following features:

• Multicam editing with automatic sync and support for mixed formats, mixed frame rates, and up to 64 camera angles
• Media relink for manual reconnect of projects and Events to new media
• Ability to import and edit layered Photoshop graphics
• Advanced chroma keying with controls for color sampling, edge quality, and light wrap
• XML 1.1 with support for exporting basic primary color grades and both importing and exporting effect parameters and audio keyframes
• Multiple improvements to the Color Board, including new key commands, editable numeric fields, and adjustable parameters that act like infinite sliders when dragged
• Ability to reorder color corrections in the Inspector
• Reveal in Event Browser shows clip range in the filmstrip while in List View
• Batch offset for clip date and time
• Ability to search text added to Favorite and Reject ranges
• Automatic restore of projects and Events in case of file corruption
• Beta version of broadcast monitoring with third-party PCIe and Thunderbolt I/O devices

Final Cut Pro X version 10.0.3 also improves overall stability and performance, and addresses the following issues:

• Improves performance when editing text in titles
• Improves performance when applying an effect from the Effect Browser
• Improves key-framing behavior in the Inspector, with keyframes automatically added when moving to a new point in time and adjusting a parameter
• Modifies transition behavior so that all newly added transitions use available media and maintain project length
• Fixes an issue which affected audio solo while skimming
• Resolves issues related to using Synchronize Clips with media containing a silent audio channel
• Fixes an issue in which constant speed retiming was not properly applied when using the Paste Effects command

---

THE DETAILS

I had a chance to talk to Apple and spend some time with the updated app ahead of today’s release of Final Cut Pro 10.0.3. This isn’t a review – I haven’t had the time for that. Instead, let me give you my initial reactions to the new features in the upgrade.

FINALLY – WE CAN CONVERT PROJECTS!!!

First, thanks to the hard work of Philip Hodgetts and Greg Clark, Intelligent Assistance has released a utility with Apple’s blessing that supports transferring projects from Final Cut Pro 7 to Final Cut Pro X called “7toX.”

As Philip told me: “We worked very hard to offer a very high fidelity conversion, so that editors can take their Final Cut Pro 7 projects forward to Final Cut Pro X’s efficient working environment.”

With 7toX for Final Cut Pro, the high fidelity translation moves Bins and Sequences from Final Cut Pro 7 to Final Cut Pro X with Keyword Collections representing Bins and Compound Clips converted from Sequences. All Bins and Sequences are recreated with no metadata or log notes from Final Cut Pro 7 being lost.

All Motion tab settings and keyframes are translated into their equivalent in Final Cut Pro X; more than 20 Transitions and 45 Filters are matched and applied, including matching Color Correction filters from Final Cut Pro 7 mapped to the Color Board; and full support for Multicam.

7toX for Final Cut Pro fully reports any variation from the original using Final Cut Pro X’s To Do Markers and the original track numbers are applied to Clips in a Project as a Final Cut Pro X Role.

This is such a significant feature that I’ll cover it more in a separate blog later this week. Click here for more information: www.intelligentassistance.com.

---

MULTICAM EDITING

Apple set the standard for multi-camera editing when it was introduced in Final Cut 5 — and totally blew past it with this latest release:

• Edit up to 64 cameras simultaneously, using 4 banks of 16 images each
• Combine any video format, frame rate, or image size into the same multicam clip
• Integrate video, audio, or stills in the same multicam clip
• Sync clips automatically using audio waveforms or manually using timecode, markers, or other options
• Reach “inside” a multicam clip and resync clips, apply filters, add or remove angles, or change the angle order at any time in the editing process
• Instantly switch between proxy and optimized media during playback to maximize hard disk throughput

This feature is amazing. Far more flexible than the multicam in FCP 7, it simplifies multicam editing using either the Viewer or the keyboard. The ability to revise multicam clips even after they are edited to the Timeline is very, very slick..

However, as HD files increase in size, this will benefit from every bit of speed your hard disk can throw at it. This is a perfect application for a Thunderbolt RAID.

---

RELINK CLIPS

I know none of your clips have ever gone off-line, but with all the files I’m juggling over here, it happens to me ALL the time.

Now, we can relink clips from either the Event Browser or the Project Timeline. Linking from the Event Browser reestablishes links to every occurrence of that clip in every Project. Linking clips from the Project Timeline simply reconnects that clip for that Project.

Relinking is as straightforward as it was in FCP 7 – with the added ability to change the links in a Project separate from changing links in the Event Browser.

---

IMPORT LAYERED PHOTOSHOP FILES

Importing layered Photoshop files now works the same as it did in Final Cut Pro 7. Each layer of the graphic opens as a layer inside FCP X in what is essentially a compound clip. You can animate individual layers, apply filters, scale, rotate… all the stuff we could do before in 7, we can do again.

Just a note, however, that lPhotoshop ayer effects are not supported. This means that, just as with FCP 7, you need to rasterize any layer effects in Photoshop before bringing the file over to FCP X.

---

OUTPUT VIDEO TO A BROADCAST MONITOR

Apple says that this is included in this release, but is still in beta. That’s because to get an external monitor to work, you’ll need a Thunderbolt Mac, connected to either an AJA, Blackmagic Design, or Matrox conversion box, and not all these devices are shipping yet..

AJA has just released their IO XT unit, which is their version of what you’ll need to make this work. I have been told that Blackmagic Design is not far behind; and Matrox has committed to providing gear as well – though that may be a bit farther away.

However, Apple says that while video monitoring works fine for general editing, they are not happy with the performance of video monitoring for multicam clips, so Apple is continuing to work with their partners to get the performance up to their satisfaction.

One of the features Apple first touted in FCP X was its support for ColorSync to maintain consistent color throughout editing. This is an excellent solution for editors that only need to go to the web. What’s missing is any documentation from Apple on how to set this up. I’m hoping that they will publish this workflow on their website in the near future.

UPDATE – Jan. 31: In reading a white paper from AJA about FCP X 10.0.3, I learned that the Kona/3 card is supported in MacPros using updated drivers. Check out the AJA website for more details — www.aja.com/pdf/FCP_X_and_AJA.pdf.

UPDATE – Feb. 1: Blackmagic Design announced this morning support for FCP X with their release of Desktop Video 9.2 beta 1, a free download that supports DeckLink, Multibridge, Intensity, and UltraStudio – www.blackmagic-design.com

---

RENAME CLIPS AUTOMATICALLY IN BATCHES

Many file-based cameras assign names to clips that only a cryptologist could love. This update now allows you to rename clips in batches, using naming presets that you can create or modify, from about two dozen template elements.

UPDATE: I just learned that this feature is also in FCP X 10.0.2. I have a note in to Apple to see what’s new about this feature in this version.

---

VERY COOL SMALL STUFF

But, what really fascinates me is the amount of refinement in the smaller details with this release. Apple seems to have worked hard polishing the details, as well as inventing the big stuff.

For example….

Apple has added more flexibility to the Color Board through additional keyboard shortcuts and the ability to enter corrections numerically.

Video scope keyboard shortcuts have changed. And Command+7 now remembers the last scope you used, rather than returning to the benighted Histogram! (Scopes have also sprouted brightness controls.)

The chroma-keyer, which was totally rewritten for FCP X, has been updated with additional controls brought over from Motion 5. Now it is easier to adjust an image for translucency, add light wrap, and tweak the background color selections to clean up bad lighting, background wrinkles, or just general malfeasance on the part of the production crew.

There’s a lot to like with these keyer settings and the whole combination is a vast improvement over the native keying in FCP 7. Sadly, though, the mask function hasn’t changed and is seriously underpowered.

FCP X now automatically backups up every Project and Event folder. This is designed as an automatic recovery system should some wayward binary bad guys corrupt a file. Backups occur every 15 minutes whenever a file has changed. Since Final Cut already saves everything you do as soon as you do it, these backups are best thought of as disaster recovery.

We can now adjust the camera-stamped date and time associated with any clip. Since this can be used by a multicam clip for syncing, this becomes a very useful addition.

Transitions now default to using available media. Gone is the preference setting for “Full Overlap,” where the entire right side of your project was pulled left to get a transition with insufficent handles to work. Now, if you don’t have enough handles (extra media before the In or after the Out) FCP will popup a dialog asking what you want to do.

New preferences are added to clarify dropped frame warnings and enable broadcast monitors.

There is now a keyboard shortcut to apply a default full-screen title at the position of the skimmer or playhead – Control+T. AND a keyboard shortcut to apply a default lower-third title at the position of the skimmer or playhead – Shift+Control+T. Both of these new titles support full font styling, but don’t come with any annoying animation.

Cool!

---

FINAL THOUGHTS

Apple has told me on many occasions that they are committed to improving Final Cut Pro X to meet the needs of video professionals. Their record since then backs this up.

Since Final Cut was released last June, it has had two major updates and one minor bug fix. Several of their innovative features released as part of these updates – Roles and Multicam come immediately to mind – are stunning.

I will be the first to say that FCP X had a very controversial birth. I will also say that this version of Final Cut is not perfect — there are features that I wish it had that are still missing. But, with this update, my list of “I wants” is much shorter. I’m looking forward to exploring this version in more detail and writing about it in coming weeks.

If your deadlines are getting shorter and budgets are tight; and you need a fast, powerful system optimized for tapeless editing, the latest version of Final Cut Pro X delivers an amazing range of features in an easy-to-use package.

If you haven’t looked at Final Cut Pro X in a while, it’s time to take another look. Apple’s been making major improvements.

Let me know what you think.

Larry

P.S.While working with the software, I’ve assembled a series of ten training movies highlighting how to use the new features in the 10.0.3 release. Priced at only $19.99, and offering more than an hour of step-by-step traiining, these will get you started fast and right. Click here to learn more.

---

I’ve gotten some emails recently asking why I’m not blogging very much. In thinking about this, I realized that I tend to write blogs when I have something that speaks to a larger audience.

However, for the last few months, I write several new articles a week covering Final Cut Pro X and post them to the Editing Resource Library on my website. There’s a lot of misinformation out there about what the program does and doesn’t do. My step-by-step techniques are designed to show you exactly how make the most of this new program.

So, just to show you what’s available, here’s a list of my most recent articles on Final Cut Pro X. I have dozens of articles – all available for free – that can help answer your questions about this program.

NOTE: Visit my Editing Resources page for a list of most recent and most popular articles. This page updates in real-time.

---

FCP X: Understanding Optical Flow

FCP X: The Limiter Filter

FCP X: Match Audio Between Clips

FCP X: Adding Video to a Shape

FCP X: Enhancing Audio

FCP X: Compound Clip Secrets

FCP X: Animating Timeline Effects

FCP X: Adding Timecode to Clips

FCP X: Copying and Pasting Clips

FCP X: Saving Audio Presets

FCP X: Quick Color Correction

FCP X: Create a Picture-in-Picture Effect

---

It was not your normal day.

Before the doors to MacWorld opened, I had the chance to sit down with Gary Adcock, founder of Studio 37, who lives somewhere beyond the high-end of today’s market.

“So, Gary,” I asked, “is the world really going to 4K?”

“Absolutely,” he replied,

And we launched into a wonderful conversation about 4K images, quad-HD, monitors, codecs, camera formats, and an eclectic discussion of the challenges of working with $100,000 cameras and lenses.

I loved it. Gary is a gifted story-teller and I’ll write about our discussion once I understand it better. I left convinced that the march toward higher resolution was inevitable.

Then, the doors to MacWorld 2012 opened and the first booth I saw was i4Software extolling the virtues of editing video on an iPhone.

Talk about mental whiplash…!

Last night, I presented a demo on Final Cut Pro X at the San Francisco Apple Store to about 70 people. Over half the people there had not edited video before. And less than 10% (because I asked for a show of hands) had ever been paid to edit video.

This got me reflecting on who is a professional and the future of video editing.

If video is your hobby, you can view the tumult our industry is going through with a bemused smile, as you watch an industry reinvent itself from the inside out.

However, if your livelihood depends upon trying to figure out what the heck is going on, that bemused smile turns into a terrified grin because all this industry change makes you feel like you are riding in a little red wagon while traveling at breakneck speed down a foggy mountain road.

Terrifying is a good way to describe today’s professional video environment.

MACWORLD

MacWorld made an interesting shift this year. The last time I attended, three years ago, it was all iPod covers and iPhone cases. It was in danger of become Walmart.

This year, I felt like I was in Best Buy. Something intriguing lurked around each corner. There were the obligatory covers and cases – including, yes, an iPhone case that doubled as a bottle opener – but there were interesting vendors hidden in plain sight.

MacWorld showcased the world of mobile devices. I was reminded of the photographer’s credo: “The camera in your hand is better than the camera you left at home.”

As I walked the show floor I saw crowds in the i4Software booth learning how to shoot and edit video on an iPhone using their Video Camera app.

Cinefy showed its app for video editing on the iPhone.

Blue showcased their family of professional mics that plugged directly into an iPhone or iPad.

MicW Audio highlighted some amazing small mics – both lavaliere and condenser that plugged directly into an iPhone or iPad.

iPro Lens presented its wide angle and fish-eye lenses for the iPhone.

Audio Engine devoted their booth to wirelessly streaming 24-bit audio from a computer to a personal or professional sound system.

And, probably my favorite booth was IndiSystem. This was run by a long-time grip with an infectious smile, who, in addition to a wealth of ideas, has access to 3D modeling tools, aluminum extruders, precision lathes, and a plastic model shop. He runs a hardware-creation toy store! Out of this, he created iSupport: incredible camera accessories – like jibs, camera sliders, and grips – for the iPhone. Perfect tools for photographing miniatures!

After walking MacWorld, I was reminded of Wayne Gretzke’s famous quote: “A good hockey player plays where the puck is. A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be.”

THE IMPLICATIONS

The high-end of the market is not going away; the world of Gary Adcock attests to that.

But the tools are changing. And I think MacWorld is showing us where the puck is going to be. Not for the high-end, perhaps, but for the rest of us.

Last night, at the SuperMeet, Alex Buono, the head of the Film Unit for Saturday Night Live, explained that he gets a script on Thursday, shoots on Friday, and airs on Saturday. Speed and workflow are everything to him. He shoots on a variety of cameras, with emphasis on the Canon 5D, 7D, and 1D. (And the new Canon C300.)

With budgets continually shrinking, camera technology morphing on a daily basis, and deadlines ridiculously short, I think we need to redefine “professional.”

There is a time and place for “heavy iron.” Some shows require all the equipment we can throw at them… (I was told recently that the SuperBowl will have 43 robotically controlled cameras this year.)

But all too often we define ourselves in terms of the tools we use. As soon as we do that, however, we limit our opportunities.

At the SuperMeet lounge last night, I was hanging around the Peachpit Press booth when an editor walked up and told me that when he first saw a demo of Adobe Premiere in 1997, he was busy editing linear tape and laughed when Adobe showed how to do a DVE move in software.

“Shoot,” he said, “with our equipment we pressed a few buttons on the switcher, recorded it live, and we were done.”

“Yes,” I said, “but it took you three-quarters of a million dollars of equipment to do it.”

“Ah,” he replied, laughing, “but it wasn’t my money!”

Today, it’s our money. And our time. And this affects our ability to feed our families. Technology this year is in a whirlwind of evolution, constrained only by the sluggishness of the economy.

Philip Hodgetts presented three ideas last night at the SuperMeet that can help us grow our business. He suggested we:

1. Mind our own business. That is, figure out what business we are actually in and why someone else would want to do business with you.
2. Give yourself an unfair advantage. That is, network with the people around you and stay informed and up-to-date.
3. Own a piece of the action. That is, create something that you own and can sell yourself.

Just as the DV revolution undermined film, the new mobile revolution threatens a lot of what we used to believe in. But it also provides us a lot of opportunities if we recognize that people coming new to video on mobile devices can benefit from what we know.

Forcing the story to fit the technology you know is a trap. It will work for the short-term, but longer term you get pigeon-holed in a backwater with no clients. Don’t let old habits prevent you from learning new techniques.

All of us are story-tellers at heart. Focus on the story and your creative approach to it. When you let the story guide you to the technology it needs to be told, you will always be in demand.

People pay money to hear good stories well told. They could care less about the gear you use to tell them.

Let me know what you think,

Larry

[Updated 12/13 with clarification on Promise and more info on the incremental cost.]

I needed to buy more storage for my editing system – as if needing more storage for video editing is a surprise or something…

Anyway, I decided that since one of my editing systems supports Thunderbolt, I would buy a Thunderbolt RAID. Except the only ones currently available seemed to be from Promise Technology. Promise has been making and selling RAIDS to the video editing market for more than a decade. As Andrew pointed out in the comments: “Promise succeeded Apple’s Xserve RAID with their vTrak RAID.” As you can see from the comments below, lots of people like them a lot.

However, I decided to see what else was on the market.

And, hmmm, there’s not a whole lot else on the market. So, I decided to do some research and had a number of off-the-record conversations with different hard drive vendors to figure out why – when we are almost a year after the launch – there are so few Thunderbolt units available. Here’s what I learned.

TOO EARLY

Basically, Thunderbolt was released to the market too early. Thunderbolt requires not just one chip from Intel, but a master chip and a variety of supporting chips to be able to handle all the signal processing.

The first problem was that there was a shortage of both the master chip and the supporting chips.

Next, all these chips needed to be integrated onto a new IC board. Anytime hardware engineering is involved – as opposed to making software changes – a minimum of six months of engineering and manufacturing time is involved.

HARDWARE TAKES SPACE

In fact, this hardware board with all these chips takes so much space that it won’t fit inside a standard enclosure – in general, it requires about another 1/2 in height inside the RAID unit.

This is space that, in smaller units, just doesn’t exist. This means that many manufacturers need to retool their enclosures to support the new protocol hardware.

APPLE AND INTEL NEED TO HELP

Once the hardware has been figured out, the SDK (software development kit) necessary to support Thunderbolt was several months late coming to market – most drive vendors didn’t get them until early summer. In fact, the specs were published several times – and kept changing with each iteration. This is good, in that it allowed the protocol to improve, but every change caused delays in creating software needed to support the protocol.

In addition, Thunderbolt requires significant support from Apple and Intel engineering to explain how the new system works so that RAID manufacturers can get their systems to interconnect properly with this new protocol.

And, because Apple and Intel do not have unlimited engineering support staff, not all RAID vendors were able to access the engineering help they needed in a timely fashion. So, some vendors are farther along in their development than others are.

There’s also, apparently, a political issue. I was told that some vendors were given market exclusivity for a year after the announcement – an exclusive period that expires just before NAB next year in April.

WHAT’S IN THE FUTURE?

There are many elements of potential good news here. First, every drive manufacturer that I spoke with is extremely interested in developing for Thunderbolt – so, while the devices may still take a while longer to get here, when they do arrive, they will arrive in quantity.

Second, Intel has already announced – at least to the drive vendors – a second generation bridge chip that includes both the Thunderbolt master chip and all the supporting chips on a single chip. This will vastly reduce both the amount of engineering that is necessary to support the new protocol and the amount of space it requires. From what I have been told, this new chip will support both FireWire and Thunderbolt on the same chip.

However, we probably won’t see these second-generation chips in quantity until late in the first quarter next year.

Intel is also working on a third-generation chip which supports data transfer over fiber-optic cable, but that chip probably won’t show up until 2013.

THERE’S ALSO THE ISSUE OF COST

As one of my contacts told me, all new technologies are more expensive than current technologies. This was true with USB, FireWire, even Blu-ray players; and is true with Thunderbolt. Costs don’t fall until enough people adopt the technology to allow increasing volume to drive down costs.

“The cost of Thunderbolt will remain higher than alternatives until native implementations are made into motherboards and the external devices and if and when this happens we could see the price drop very quickly.”

In this conversation, his feeling was not that the technology was announced too soon, but that the implementation of this new technology takes a while to figure out.

SUMMARY

So, what’s the take-away? Thunderbolt is coming – but the majority of units probably won’t arrive in quantity until the second quarter next year. By a year from now, we should have a wide variety of Thunderbolt devices to choose from.

Initially, most Thunderbolt devices will probably support RAID level 0 or 1 – which provide speed or redundancy, but not both. RAID level 5 units – which are both faster and more secure – will take longer to get to the market in quantity.

For now, though, we need to wait.

Let me know what you think.

Larry

I posted a brief video on YouTube, “Polishing edit skills and books for editors & directors” in which I recommend some books about editing and directors. Perhaps because I was thinking about the recent release of my own book, “Final Cut Pro X: Making the Transition” – and the creation of my Amazon Author Page – http://www.amazon.com/author/LarryJordan/ – which I hope you’ll visit – I wanted to share these links with you here.

Behind the Seen: How Walter Murch Edited Cold Mountain Using Apple’s Final Cut Pro and What This Means for Cinema by Charles Koppelman.

Mastering MultiCamera Techniques: From Preproduction to Editing and Deliverables by Mitch Jacobson.

Apple Pro Training Series: Motion 5 by Mark Spencer.

The Green Screen Handbook: Real-World Production Techniques by Jeff Foster.

All the books on color grading and correction by Alexis Van Hurkman.

Real World Video Compression by Andy Beach.

All books on video compression by Brian Gary.

Video Compression for Flash, Apple Devices, and HTML5 by Jan Ozer.

In the Blink of an Eye Revised 2nd Edition by Walter Murch.

The Conversations: Walter Murch and the Art of Editing Film.
by Michael Ondaatie

One the the secrets that I’ve learned to improving both my production and editing skills is to watch a video with the sound turned off. This allows me to concentrate on the visual without getting hooked into the story. It is always enlightening to see how much you can learn this way. I use this technique for my own work, as well as analyzing the work of others. Best of all, it doesn’t require any money or special gear, just an ability to focus on the screen and learn from what you see.

(Caution: I’ve found that this technique drives the rest of my family nuts! So, I’ve been told this is an activity best done when no one else is around.)

Also, please stop by my Amazon Author Page and leave a comment. And I would be remiss if I failed to suggest that you purchase my newest book: Final Cut Pro X: Making the Transition at Amazon.com. Lots of great tricks and tips techniques packed into one slim volume to help you Power Up your editing!

Let me know what you think.

Larry