Getting the files back to the office

Ben Longden

Well-known member
The usual scenario.


    • 250km from the office.
    • News story in the can.
    • an hour to deadline...
How do you get your news vision back to the office?


Up till now, Im using the Sky News Digital Video Network at all the racetracks here in Australia.
These let me play out in real time from the DSR570

But, the camera vision is decidedly SOFT and fuzzy when it gets broadcast. Its composite out, into an analogue to SDI converter then into the DVN box.
At the office, they tell me the vision is fine.

Plan 2 for the near future is to use firewire out of the camera into a DV to SDI converter, then into the DVN box at the track.

Plan 3, for those times i'm nowhere near a racetrack in the near future, is to ingest into a laptop, then upload to Dropbox using a tethered 4G phone. I get 10Mbps with this.

Plan 4, is the FTP server at 91kbps..:mad:

I would love a store and forward like Dejero or LiveU... but the costs... :eek:


So... whats your best way of getting the news vision back to the office?

Ben
 

Necktie Boy

Well-known member
Instead of firewire to SDI, I would have a short component cable with BNC's at one end and the 26 pin connector at the other end. Buy a Analog to SDI converter that would work for the camera and decks. I like the Blackmagic version since it takes unbalance/balance/digital audio, along with composite, YC, and component signals. You can run the BM off batteries off you need to.
 

canuckcam

Well-known member
We use Aspera Connect with Telestream Flip Factory.

Aspera is a high-speed file transfer system, runs on a Windows server. Much more efficient than FTP protocol. Flip Factory is an automated conversion software that you can configure basically anything-in, station-format-out. You DO need a fairly powerful computer though - the faster you can afford, the faster the files get processed.

For us, we can upload video from our iPhones, edited packages on Final Cut Pro in h.264 format, MXF files from our XDCAM or mp4 files from the 'net.. they all get "flipped" to an MPEG2 format native to our editing system. All in HD too. Fairly painless once it's all set up as it's automated - so reporters, freelancers, etc. can upload stuff and Flip Factory takes care of all the details.
 

svp

Well-known member
Not sure what your capabilities are but I FTP almost daily. I have an AT&T 4G USB modem. I edit, export as a XDCAM 18Mbs 1440x1080 mxf file to the desktop, connect FileZilla to the stations FTP server, and send it. Takes about 3 minutes to send a 1:35 story. I call editors back at the station and they pull it, put it in AVID, and send to the show for playback. Live shots are using a Teradek Bond Pro or Dejero. I can FTP through the Dejero but it takes longer, about 10 minutes. If the station needs RAW video, I just feed it out of the camera raw through the BCNG unit and they roll at the station similar to feeding from a ENG truck.
 
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Ben Longden

Well-known member
Update.

The copper landline has a blistering speed of 91Kbps, just about dialup really.
But our 4G mobile (cellular) network now has 40Mbps upload speed.

So. the work situation is now to take a laptop out with me. ingest and send the files straight from the laptop to the servers using 4G. Six min of HD raw vision is there in six mins.

If im at home.. our new place has fibre to the premises, so I can use 5mbps upload.

Thats the peroblem downunder.. we have the zillionth lowest internet speed on the planet. Even third world nations have faster!
 
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