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xdcam into FCP
Hello,
I’m using a mac 10.5.8 into FCP 6.0.6
Downloaded XDCAM transfer v. 2.11.
The import process seems to be working fine. In the viewer window of the XDCAM transfer the footage looks fine — exactly as we shot it. The thumbnails look darker and orange colored – and that’s how the footage looks when we import it into FCP. Something’s not right.Can someone let me know what I’m doing wrong?
Thanks in advance.
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4 Replies
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The problem has to be with your monitoring. All XDCAM Transfer is doing is re-wraping the files to MOV. There is nothing in that process that can cause any change in the essence the file.
FCP and the computer monitor attached to it, is inherently NOT color accurate. Quicktime 7 Player itself has an Enable Final Cut Studio color compatibility check box which impacts gamma. The default gamma between Leopard and Snow Leopard is different.
What ClipBrowser or XDCAM Transfer display may not be the same FCP or Quicktime. You need to know about color calibrating with the two OSs to even get close and a computer monitor still can’t be accurate for “broadcast.” In addition, using something like Matrox MXO series which can at least get a 2nd non broadcast monitor (Computer or HDTV) close to accurate can help.
This should be a MUST lesson with Video editing with NLEs before anyone takes on professional work which needs to be remotely accurate for use on a TV or Broadcast.
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Thanks for the info Craig.
One thing I just noticed is that we’re using Leopard. And the XDCam transfer software is 2.11 — is that just for snow leopard? And should we be using xd cam transfer 2.51? Would that cause any gamma shifts? Just want to make sure my ducks are in a row before I move on to monitoring issues.
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2.11 should work fine in Leopard. Sony tries to keep things backward compatible to some extent. Sometimes they’re a bit more backwards than forwards.
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Check your System Settings in FCP and see if you have the display gamma set to Accurate. What FCP attempts to do is, in the Viewer window, adjust the gamma to match what it thinks you’ll see on a properly calibrated video monitor. IMHO it doesn’t do the greatest job, and there’s no way to really turn it off. The only two choices are “approximate” and “accurate.” Notice also that it does it on playback, but not when you’re stopped on or scrubbing over your timeline.
Cf
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