CatDV did a case study on me!
This was done almost a year ago, but I came across it recently and wanted to share it! Here's the link if you want to read it fully: http://www.squarebox.com/case-study-beyond-pix/
To sum up the jist of the case study, CatDV is one of the best cataloging tools I've had experience with. It made life way easier as a media manager when I had full and speedy access to whatever I needed to find. My favorite part was being able to customize the way we interacted with the program, which in turn made all the workflows more efficient.
CatDV is a little spendy though...
The last company I freelanced at wanted something like CatDV but a lot cheaper. So I spent a while researching other avenues and came across these below:
After lots of phone calls and product demo's, the only one that looked remotely close to what CatDV offered was Extensis. But obviously the more robust of a program you get closer to the more $$$ it will be. Also, just note that #3 and #4 of those listed above are cloud storage options. Which I quickly learned cloud storage is a big joke when dealing with large amounts of footage. Can you imagine uploading R3D footage through your crappy internet? Ever tried uploading even just a 3 GB file to Dropbox? Now try that with a few TB's of footage, no thanks!
It all just depends what kind of asset management system you're wanting. A lot of people just want a plug n' play sort of deal where there's only a basic level of organization. Others want something more robust and scaleable as well as customizable. Either option is fine as long as something is being put into place for organizational sake! Nothing says professionalism more than knowing where all your footage is at!
And a bunch of hard drives shoved in a closet somewhere doesn't count as archiving or storage management! Come on guys!
