Final Cut Pro integration

If you use Final Cut Pro then a convenient preferences preset allows you to configure CatDV's user-defined column names to match those of Final Cut Pro.

CatDV Professional Edition will both import and export FCP batch lists and XML files, allowing you to integrate CatDV effectively into your Final Cut workflow at every stage of your project.

Logging

First, you can use Live Capture Plus and CatDV to do your logging. Capture a whole tape unattended in preview form, use CatDV's automatic scene detection to accurately split the capture into separate shots, then review each shot, trimming material, creating secondary clips, and marking them as good or not as required. You can also name each clip and type in log notes at this stage.

Once you have logged your shots and made an initial selection within CatDV of the clips you want to use, export an FCP XML file containing those clips. If you have the media available in suitable form (in DV quality or OfflineRT-compatible preview format) you can export that too. Open the XML file in Final Cut Pro and the clips you selected together with their log notes will appear in your FCP browser window, complete with media files attached, and you're ready to start editing.

Library Management

If you share media files through a SAN, use CatDV and the workgroup server as a master index of what's available and what's been logged. A producer can search the database and view the clips (in preview form or original media, as desired), pre-selecting the shots he or she wants to use, then send an XML file with the clips off to the edit suite. You can even send a complete rough cut sequence if you want. And if you need to recapture a shot from tape you can store the shelf location or other information about your tapes in the database too.

Project Conversion

If you work in a mixed environment, CatDV can help you move projects and clips between editing systems. For example, you can import an Avid ALE log file and send it straight to your Final Cut Pro browser as an FCP XML file via CatDV.

Archiving

Finally, CatDV can help you at the end of a project when you come to archive it. Export your master clips and sequences as an interchange XML file and import it into a CatDV catalog (or save it to the workgroup database). Then you can use CatDV's advanced search capabilities if you ever need to locate a clip you've once used before on a project.

Type in a keyword (or more complex query terms such as a date range) and CatDV will find all clips with occurrences of that keyword in any of your logging fields, across all your old projects. Even better, with CatDVs low-resolution previews (small enough at just 100 MB or so per hour of tape to be kept permanently) you can instantly play any of the search results and decide if the clip is what you want - no more hours wasted digging out and trawling through all your old tapes looking for that elusive shot you know you've used before.