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Anyone using Vegas to edit video from Canon XF100 or XF105 or XF300 or XF305?
Hi;
Im seriously considering a Canon XF100 to replace the Sony NX70 I’m returning. If I get the Canon, it will be the first video cam other than Sony I have ever owned for the last 23 years. So, I’m nervous …
I use Vegas 9, 10 and soon 11.
I have a question about the XF100 and the Canon EF utility.
When I use Sony PMB to import camera files from my various Sony camcorders, PMB can take the multiple < 2 GB nnnnnn.MTS files from the camera that comprise a recording , and, (by also reading some kind of metadata?) combine them into a single file with a name in format yyyymmddhhmmss.m2ts on the computer. This is essential, because a big 50 GB recording consisting of 25 2GB raw clips would be insanely hard to work with!
So, does the Canon EF utility have similar functionality, or will I be forced to deal with dozens of raw AAnnnn.mxf files? I’m working with Canon Pro camcorder support, and they are not sure about this. They say that in the EF utility, they can see a single huge “file”, but that on the computer, what they see is a folder containing all the < 2GB clips.
I am very confused about how Vegas will deal with a bunch of < 2GB clips that represent a single recording.
Help! (please)
Steve
Win7 Pro X64 on Dell T3400 MultiTB SATA 8 GB RAM Vegas 10e x64 DVDA 5.2 Sony HDR-CX550V
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24 Replies
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You might read some reviews from retailers. This is copied from a review on B&H website.
“I am not pleased that converting the files is so difficult and time consuming because of lack of plug-ins. The included viewing software is great for reviewing clips – but the only included plug-in is for Final Cut Pro for my Mac. I am not willing to purchase Final Cut Pro just to experiment with it. I have found a work-around, but loading 130 clips from a football game, one at a time into HandBrake for conversion, just takes way too long.
I hope Canon works fast and furious to help us get these files into our many and varied editing software programs”
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Alesis HD24 -
HI;
Thanks, Ted. Interesting you found that review – it was one of the first I read.
It was info like that from B&H that started me on my quest. I worked on this for a week before posting here in desperation.
That is why I am hoping that there is at least one XF100 owner who runs Vegas.
The guy at Canon support is going to install a trial of Vegas 10e and get back to me, but I promised I would continue to research. Not just sitting on my hands!
It is nice that Vegas has no problem with individual .mxf files.
Thanks, anyone else out there?
Steve
Win7 Pro X64 on Dell T3400 MultiTB SATA 8 GB RAM Vegas 10e x64 DVDA 5.2 Sony HDR-CX550V
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It’s good that Canon is stepping up and trying to help solve your issue. I’ve been reading a lot of posts lately about Sony’s support not being so helpful.
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ASUS P8P67 Deluxe MB
EVGA GeForce GTX 560 Ti 1 GB DDR 5
Intel i7 2600k 3.4 Ghz
Corsair HX750 power supply
Two Seagate Barracuda 500g SATA III drives
16 Gig G.Skill Ripjaws DDR3 1600
Canopus ACEDVio card
Thermaltake V9 BlacX Edition case
Xigmatek Dark Knight CPU Cooler
Win 7 Pro
VEGAS 8.0
VEGAS 11.0 32 & 64 bit
Sony VX2100
Sony HVR-Z7U
Sony HDR-CX130
Alesis HD24 -
I hope you find a more elegant solution than what I had to do when I had a Panasonic HMC-150 which also has multiple 2GB files. I needed to go a windows command prompt and do a binary copy, like this:
copy file1 + file2 + file3 combinedfile
This takes some time to complete, but did create a concatenated file of all contiguous clips. But you need to identify which clips are contiguous. Total PITA. Good luck!
-Jim.
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Steven:
I use Sony Vegas Pro 10.0e to handle footage from my XF300. Long takes (files above the 2Gb limitation) haven’t been an issue for me. I simply drag the .MXFs into the timeline sequentially, then continue on…
I’ve shot an event last spring that exceeded 45 minutes (band playing, speakers, testimonials) that needed to incorporated as a single presentation. Throughout all of those file changes, Vegas had no issues with the source files.
Overall, I’ve been very satisfied with the camera and Sony Vegas Pro…
Brian
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Thanks, Brian!
I’m still wondering about obtaining seamless transitions between the sub-clips. I think it is possible, but would still appreciate additional details.
From Robin Davies-Rollinson, a TV producer and videographer in the United Kingdom, via a Vimeo private message. Robin owns an XF305 and uses Vegas 10. I’ve been pestering him for details, and he has been very helpful:
“Hi Steve,
I’ve just been looking at some Canon files from an awards event that I covered earlier this year. The files indeed were all about 2GB. They were separate, not stitched together when I opened them up in Vegas. If I drop them one at a time onto the timeline, Vegas wants to make a small audio mix betwen the clips. However, if I lassoe all the consequitive clips in the Media Assets pane, they end up stitched together cleanly on the timeline and play perfectly, without any frame drops.I guess one can get Vegas to combine them all as one single event…
The Canon also produces a nice file name for each clip, eg. 20110713004503.”I’m still corresponding with Robin (he had to sleep, it is late in the UK), and will hopefully have more clarification tomorrow.
Thanks again,
Steve
Win7 Pro X64 on Dell T3400, MultiTB SATA, 8GB RAM Vegas 10e x64 DVDA 5.2(build 133) Sony HDR-CX550V
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Thanks Jim, I think we are getting closer (see other posts in this thread). I don’t want to feel your pain if I get the camera!
That Panny you mention is the other cam I am considering as a replacement for the NX70. Wondering about the low-light and lots of other things. How did you like it? Any chance to compare the low-light performance to the NX70 or similar Sonys?
Steve
Win7 Pro X64 on Dell T3400, MultiTB SATA, 8GB RAM Vegas 10e x64 DVDA 5.2(build 133) Sony HDR-CX550V
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Steve:
I followed Robin’s workflow – lasso all the sequential files, then drop them to the timeline. Mine stitched together cleanly as well on the timeline.
One more point to consider: there’s a plug-in called Vegasaur that will nest selected tracks to a new project. This might help controlling those multiple .MXfs.
Brian
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Stephen Crye, we sold our Panny HMC-150s because they didn’t match at all with the Canon 5D’s that we now use. Actually thought the low-light wasn’t any better than our old Sony Z1U. I don’t know how the NX70 compares.
-Jim.
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My HMC40 does the same thing, only, they’re on 4GB boundaries, not 2GB.
And yeah, I usually copy to my HDD by concatenating the files I know are sequential.Whether this works on the XF100 or not depends on how they break the files. The HMC40 actually wins on two fronts. For one, it’s breaking the recording stream on exact 4GB boundaries. This means that, not only is the merging possible, it’s actually necessary to get an unbroken shot — the fact that it’s breaking the files on exact 4GB boundaries means that it’ll break in the middle of a GOP, middle of a header, middle of a frame… anywhere.
Even if it broke things on a logical level, the fact that it’s MPEG-2 TS means that, as long as the format is the same, you can concatenate the files. Transport Stream is designed for transmission, not file storage, so there’s nothing like a global header or anything.
So, first to check is how the XF100 breaks up its files. If there are on clean 2GB boundaries, I’m certain that it’s actually necessary to concatenate them to use them properly. If they’re broken on logical boundaries, then I don’t know… that depends on how MXF is internally structured.
-Dave
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