Shipping Out Footage

BluesCam

Well-known member
I have a client who is in Canada. Normally, they want me to drive a long way, do a shoot and then overnight the footage. My normal work flow is to transfer the footage to a USB3 drive and ship that. Is there anything better, easier or faster than that? Sometimes I barely make the last FedEx cutoff time. I am using a P2 camcorder.

Thanks.
 
That is usually the best method but as you see has its drawbacks. How much material do you have? If not much, or could be recorded with a more compressed codec, you could upload the files via DropBox or other service.

Are you doing a distant shoot then driving back to your base then copying the material? If so, you may want to start copying during the drive back. I would recommend solid state units as there is a possibility of a hard drive problem if using in a moving vehicle.

You can also use an outboard recorder off your HDSDI output. Use one with lower cost SD cards and ship those and bill client for replacements. These are ready to go at end of shoot. Use your P2 as backup.
 

Tv Shooter

Well-known member
Not unless you BOTH have very fast and reliable internet connections. I've been involved in doing FTP to Germany, Australia, and all over the US. You need a fast upload and they need a fast download....and reliable. One end or the other loses connection, and you have to restart.
Some programs allow you to pick up where it left off, but still have to have someone monitor it to make sure it's moving. It took 4 days to FTP to Germany what Fed Ex could have got there in 2.
And Dropbox is not a great option unless you BOTH have the paid, pro version. It limits file size on the free version, so guess which version people constantly try to get me to use?

There were several companies at NAB that have file transfer systems, but for a small shop, it's cost prohibitive. One I looked at started around $5000.00, and while it was damn awesome in it's ability and ease of use, there's no way I could justify the expense.

FedEx a drive is what I offer to do, FTP is a labor charge if it falls out of the day rate (10 hours).
 
I carry a paid drop-box account and use cyberduck for FTP they both work but you need a fast upload speed. and as already stated your client needs a reasonable download on their end.
 

BluesCam

Well-known member
Thanks guys. I have uploaded a few clips to them in the past (that converted from P2 to Sony MXF), but not a whole shoot worth of footage. They seem to have trouble with P2 sometimes. They use Sony XDCAM camcorders. Thanks for the input!
 

Ben Longden

Well-known member
FTP is woefull... 91Kbps. Dropbox from the laptop in the field is woefull... same speed... but using the laptop tethered to the 4G phone and uploading to dropbox... 11Mbps.. Bliss.

(Hey this is Australia, mate!)
 

Run&Gun

Well-known member
FTP is woefull... 91Kbps. Dropbox from the laptop in the field is woefull... same speed... but using the laptop tethered to the 4G phone and uploading to dropbox... 11Mbps.. Bliss.

(Hey this is Australia, mate!)
It's sad… At home I get about 15-16Mbs download and about 1Mbs up. On my 4g/LTE iPhone on Verizon I have gotten 67Mbs down and almost 20Mbs UP.

Thank goodness Google Fiber is coming to my market. While I'm not lucky enough to have them coming to my city, I will benefit some from it, because Time Warner is bumping speeds for free to try and stay competitive(they're still not even in the same galaxy, though). While not exactly the speeds Google Fiber will have, the standard plan will jump to 50Mbs and 300Mbs on the high-end. TWC hasn't said what the upload speeds will be, but hopefully it's at least 5Mbs that's currently paired with their 50Mbs plan.
 
It's sad… At home I get about 15-16Mbs download and about 1Mbs up. On my 4g/LTE iPhone on Verizon I have gotten 67Mbs down and almost 20Mbs UP.

Thank goodness Google Fiber is coming to my market. While I'm not lucky enough to have them coming to my city, I will benefit some from it, because Time Warner is bumping speeds for free to try and stay competitive(they're still not even in the same galaxy, though). While not exactly the speeds Google Fiber will have, the standard plan will jump to 50Mbs and 300Mbs on the high-end. TWC hasn't said what the upload speeds will be, but hopefully it's at least 5Mbs that's currently paired with their 50Mbs plan.
I wish I had this happening where I was even 10Mbs up would make my life much easier on the occasion I need to go the FTP rout.
 

Lensmith

Member
Read this thread...thought I'd check to see how my Xfinity was going today...because the results are not "constant".
So...3:15pm

Download: 54.69 Mbps
Upload: 12.07 Mbps

To be clear...I am not an Xfinity/Comcast cable fan...but the internet is noticeably faster than others in my area.
 

Douglas

Well-known member
My speed today on Verizon FiOS is:

Download: 39 Mbps
Upload: 36 Mbps

The upload speed is important to me as I often need to upload up to 200GB of 4K footage overnight.

I could pay extra to up grade to 50/50 but don't see the need. Netflix streaming in 4K and HD looks as good as Blu-ray. I don't understand how they do it but it looks better than any movie theater I've been to.
 

prosheditor

Well-known member
I don't know if it's available in all markets but for years Comcast has had something in my area called Power Boost. According to one of their techs, it's like a shot of adrenaline when it detects a load on your connection's bandwidth demand. It's included in my plan but may be an extra add-on for lower plans.

Anyway, I noticed that while transferring large 100 - 200+ MB video files, considered large years ago, if you minimized that window, opened a new browser or tab then went to another 'heavy' website, it triggered the power boost and you could see that large file's transfer progress bar jump a few blocks ahead. So I would just go to a website loaded with heavy content (graphics, animations, etc) & periodically refresh that page to induce that extra upstream bandwidth. It probably saved a few minutes which is critical when they want the video yesterday.

Be careful with the method above when using wi-fi because you can stall out the connection if the router's signal is overloaded, weak or obstructed or the internal bandwidth settings aren't high enough whether with wi-fi or a cable. I would recommend doing it when using a network cable. There's nothing worse than having to start over after being almost done with a 20 - 30 minute upload.
 
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Necktie Boy

Well-known member
Funny, as R&G pointed out, 4g is sometimes faster than you landline. My buddy send files all the time via 4g. Just a bit slower than going wired.
 
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