so, I've got possibly several hundred hours of video to archive...

[seenew]

First off, Hi!
I haven't posted in this particular subforum on MacRumors before (I'm usually over in the Digital Photo forum), but I've got a question that I'm hoping you all can help me with.
I'm interning at Aflac this summer, working in the A/V Event Productions department at their world headquarters in Georgia. Basically we photograph and video all the events going on with the company from big meetings to conferences, to sport events that Aflac sponsors (including the STIHL Timbersports Championships this weekend!).

So. One of the tasks they've asked me to work on this summer is coming up with a way to organize all of their photos and videos in digital form, storing them on networked servers here at HQ (since IT routinely backs up EVERYTHING). I've got the photos handled. However, I have extremely little experience with video, which includes any software outside iMovie (haha).

Oh, one more thing, and probably the dumbest part of the equation-- we're all PC-based here. 🙁 Yeah, I know. Really stupid. But IT won't train anyone to work with Macs, and I've tried my hardest to get some in just this department but that's going nowhere.

I know this is a Mac forum, but I'm sure a lot of you use or have used PCs for video now or in the past. Is there any easy to use software that would be similar to Adobe Bridge, but for video? Like, not editing necessarily, but something I could use to attach keywords and metadata to video files, and keep them organized.
Remember, I'm limited to Windows XP, sadly.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

 

[seenew]

Nothing? 🙁

 

[Poeben]

Are you planning to archive raw footage or edited deliverables, or both? What format is the raw footage in (codec, media type.) How do you plan to capture the video (application, specs.) What about the digital files? I would pay close attention to the specs of the video files in question(as well as file sizes.) It's not uncommon for people to overlook the fact that video comes in many formats and compressions. Since you said archive, make sure you are archiving a suitable format (would you accept .jpg as an archive format when there could be .dng files somewhere?)

That said, check out FootTrack. Dubbed as the iPhoto of video it sounds like exactly what you're looking for.

>>>Since its been about an hour since I read your post, I forgot you were limited to XP. First thing that comes to mind is Avid Interplay. Consider though, that Avid solutions are not cheap, easy and often require specific hardware/software.

 

[Le Big Mac]

Are you planning to archive raw footage or edited deliverables, or both?

No kidding -- do they want everyone to have access to all the video? If not the cheapest, most efficient "archive" might be the master tapes themselves stored as such. Index them so people know how to find them.

Not that it's terribly relevant, but with iMovie I import the footage, edit, and toss the rest. I keep the original tape as the archive of the source material.

 

[Motiondrops]

Here are some suggestions:

1- Log each tape in a form, as archive the tape with the log in a safe place.
2- If you need to access the data often, capture the videos and save the logs to re-capture in the future if you later need them.
3- Save the captured clip as quicktime photo-jpeg which will maintain good quality and will take less space in your drive.

Always save copies of computer documents, logs, etc.....remember hard drives can die on you....