Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Day 49

I went to an interesting seminar on Digital Asset Management this morning. I can already see the writing on the wall. It's not pretty. I'm not going to be able to edit on video tape for very much longer. The next time I upgrade equipment, it's all going to be tapeless. You'd think this would be a good thing, but like most advances in technology designed to make my life easier, it's really quite the opposite. Video files are huge. That's why when a project is finished, it's nice to be able to put the original camera tapes in a cardboard box and take them down to the storage warehouse for safekeeping. It's simple. It's safe. And I understand the concept.

In the brave new world of tapeless video, you save all these files to a hard drive...a very, very large hard drive! Instead of keeping your footage safely tucked away on a shelf somewhere, it's sitting on a hard drive that can crash, get corrupted or simply wear out. Several companies have elaborate digital asset management solutions that can alleviate all these worries, but not surprisingly, they are very expensive.  Here's the dilemma. Video production budgets keep getting lower and lower while the cost of just staying in the game keeps getting higher. Now that I've finally got a nice, reliable Beta-SP edit bay...it's obsolete.

Going tapeless is a worry for another day. Today, I've got to take Dot to the vet again. The methocarbamol she was taking last week seems to have worked. No more back pain. I hate depending on meds, however. With most drugs, the side effects eventually outweigh the benefits. The vet says she's going to teach me how to give Dot a deep tissue massage that will relax her and release the lactic acid buildup in her lower back muscles. That sounds like a much better solution than a life on muscle relaxers.

I had to walk the dogs really early this morning so I could get to the seminar on time. When we reached the halfway point in our walk, we saw a pack of coyotes on a small hill right in front of us. The dogs went nuts. Why they were trying to attract the attention of a pack of coyotes, I'll never know. I told Dot to shut up or we were all going to get eaten. Luckily the coyotes weren't all that impressed and disappeared into the bushes after a few minutes.

Dalmatian of the Day

    Watch of the Day