-
Importing XD footage into Final Cut- Invalid Directory Structure.
Hi all,
I have been led to this site by a few people who have had this problem before, but i can’t seem to get mine fixed so i would love some advice.
My DOP from a project has just sent me the files from a SONY EX1 shoot and it seems like one of the folders has been renamed in the filepath, hence FCP won’t import it.
I am guessing it is the first folders that are wrong because everything else seems ok.
The filepath is as below:
See all the folder names look fine except for the first ones named “Card 1′, 2,3 etc They look deceptively human and not dataspeak.
So i was thinking the solution would be- does anyone know what the original names for these folders are supposed to look like? Is it some kind of generic name like the ‘BPAV’?
Alternatively i read that ClipBrowser can repair my directory onto a card but i don’t have an XD card or reader anymore.
So if it’s not as easy as changing the filename of the folder, how can i solve this problem in clipbrowser? Note: I have tried exporting the mov. files from clip borwser and it either has a watermark put on it or FCP says the file was not properly imported for FCP.
Any help you can give me would be great! I bet the solution is quite simple but i am out of my depth here entirely.
Thank you 🙂 -
3 Replies
-
Hey Deborah
The naming of the top level folder is fine, its the contained folders that need to adhere to the correct data structure (which looks fine given the example path posted).
Have you ever ingested XDCAM EX media on your FCP system before? I ask because the functionality isn’t built in to FCP’s Log and Transfer, you need to install the Sony XDCAM EX Log and Transfer plugin first. If you’ve not done so then go and grab that from Sony support then try the ingest again.
If thats all done but you’re still having issues then you might want to try using Sony’s own standalone Log and Transfer software, called XDCAM Transfer (v 2.12). With that you can Import the clips to your media disk as Quicktime Movie files (by default it imports clips to your “Movies” folder, but you can change that in the XDCAM Transfer preferences); at the same time it will also (optionally) automatically import the clips into an open FCP project for you.
Finally yes, there is the “XDCAM Browser” (or the older XDCAM EX Clip Browser) software, which will let you build a new “BPAV” data structure for your media. It doesn’t require that you do so to an SxS card, you can do it just rebuilding on the local hard disc. I certainly hope thats not necessary in your case tho, my bets one one of the other solutions.
Hope it helps
Andy -
Andy –
I’m going to jump in here with a quick query.
Just did a shoot with EX3. I simply dragged and dropped the full BPAV file structure from
the cards over to a HD. I gave each card its own name (Card 1,2….)
So the structure is now HD > Card 1 > BPAV (all files included)I checked each one using the XDCAM Browser utility and everything looked fine.
I am sending this all off to a Producer/Editor in anther city and (based on a raft of XDCAM postings) I
just want to feel comfy that I’m not missing something here….and that they’ll be able to use the
media.Thanks.
Ron
-
That’s a good workflow Ron.
In an ideal world you might instead use an application that will perform a verified data copy of the original card media, rather than just doing a drag copy in the Finder … but as you verified the copy for yourself, by spot checking the copied media in XDCAM Browser, then your workflow seems good to me.
Cheers
AndyBtw, in case you’re interested, heres a couple of apps that offer verified data transfer:
https://www.imagineproducts.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=2
https://www.digitalrebellion.com/promedia/
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up