I am running an Avid DS version 8.4

Is there any way to ingest P2 cards directly into my Avid DS. Recently i have been ingesting them into FCP and laying them off to tape then simply capturing them with my DS. This is neddless to say a hassle and a longer process than i would like it to be. Do i need to upgrade to Version 10.1 or is there any way just to simply ingest these P@ cards into my DS? Do i need to buy any software? or plugins? I am desperate but don't want to spend the money to upgrade to 10.1 but i will if i have to.

Thanks
Bryan

thats a great question Brian!  I as well use FCP and route directly to my ds and capture from there when trying to deal with p2 based footage.  I'm sure there is a way to get it into your machine, it probably just takes 35 steps.  Nothing is quick and easy with Nitris.  

DS does not yet support direct ingest of P2 media.  But it does ship with a license of Media Composer.  Use the Media Composer to import and transcode the P2 Media for use in DS.

autolux:

Nothing is quick and easy with Nitris.

I think many would beg to differ with you on that one. :)

Like any software, there are certainly things that could be enhanced. Where one process might be weak, there are other areas that are strong.  Overall, the strong areas far outweigh the weak ones, IMHO.  

A lot of it depends on what the user is trying to do with the tool.  If my day-to-day workflow consisted of straight-ahead P2 and HDV conforming with basic color and minimal effect usage, I would be all over a Media Composer.  If I did HD/RED/2K finishing that needed fix it work and more complex color and problem solving, DS would be the one.

I totally agree with Gus.  We are conforming an industrial where the producer had an After Effect person do a bunch of graphics based on their experience working in MC.

When it was found that there were content issues with material from AE, our editor was able duplicate the look in a jiffy and fix the problems.  The client was very pleased and surprised.

The point is that DS is truly an example of "the whole is greater than the sum of the parts".  It just takes an editor awhile to get to that place.

Cheers,

Jef

DS 10 comes with a copy of MC 3.5, which you can use to import P2 material.  You then export your bin as an AFE and import that into DS.  Lastly, you set DS to read the 'Avid MediaFiles' folder that MC created.  You will then have native P2 playback in DS.

To be aware that DVCProHD playback is a software codec, so your DS need to be at least an xw8400 to support real-time playback.  If you are running an xw8200, you can have MC transcode the footage into DNxHD for playback.

Also, everything above works on DS v8.x, just you need to get the copy of MC yourself, if you upgrade to DS 10, you will get a copy of MC as part of the upgrade.

Kane Peterson