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XDCAM Codec
We have about 4 hours of footage shot with the PDW 350 HD recorded at 1080 60i 35VBR.
The footage looks great – interviews and B-roll, final product several 3 minute videos.
Question: In Final Cut Pro, when I drag an XDCAM HD clip into an empty timeline, the suggested compressor comes up as HDV 108060i, even though there is a compressor available for XDCAM HD 1080 60i 35VBR in the menu. When I change the time line to that specific codec, the native footage must be rendered.
Any insights would be appreciated as to why this happens. I guess if I use Apple ProRes it would need to be rendered anyway but it seems odd.
Thanks
Bill CoonsSony XDCAM 350 HD
MacOS 10.6.2
Apple FCP 7.0.1
2×2.66 Dual-Core Xeon
5GB Ram
ATI Radeon X1900 XT
1.5T Internal RAIDOS 10.6.2, FCP 7.0.1, XDCAM Transfer 2.10.0
(2) 8-core, (1) Dual Core, (1) G5, (1) MB Pro Edit/Graphics Systems
Sony XDCAM 350 HD, DSR500, DSR300, Pana DVX100 -
11 Replies
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[Bill Coons] “Question: In Final Cut Pro, when I drag an XDCAM HD clip into an empty timeline, the suggested compressor comes up as HDV 108060i, even though there is a compressor available for XDCAM HD 1080 60i 35VBR in the menu. When I change the time line to that specific codec, the native footage must be rendered. “
That is because XDCAM HD uses a flavor of HDV. Its not HDV but a “cousin” of HDV. Apple doesn’t understand XDCAM HD very well, and reports it as HDV.
But, let me ask you this… Did you import the footage using the Sony Transfer program?
It almost makes me think that someone has converted the footage improperly if FCP as saying this is HDV 1080i60. FCP SHOULD interpret it correctly if the Sony Transfer program is installed.
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Wayne Carey
Schazam Productions
https://web.mac.com/schazamproductions
schazamproductions@mac.com -
XDCAM at 25Mbps is just HDV.
I don’t think that FC is reading nothing wrong.
The metadata in the MPEG-2/XDCAM is really solid.
Open your clip in MPEGStreamclip and have a look to the Info window.
Rafael -
Bill
You might want to check this footage back on your camera or deck. Chances are that despite your best intentions you did actually record in SP mode (which is the default) … SP, as Rafa notes, is 25 Mbs CBR MPEG HD aka just plain old HDV video.
Sorry its not better news, but as you say “the footage looks great” so even though its not what you intended its still all good right?
Best
Andy -
Wayne,
Thanks for your insight. I did use XDCAM transfer to ingest the footage. (V2.10.0) I am working in Snow Leopard, and from what I have read, I understand that it is not fully compatible with Snow Leopard (10.6.2) and that a driver update is coming out at or after NAB.
But checking further, I think I do understand the issue. We shoot our green screen with the HQ setting, and the XDCAM codec pops right in. As noted in the next post, this video was shot at the SP setting, which is not 35Mbps VBR, but 25Mbps CBR.
Bill
Sony XDCAM 350 HD, XDCAM Transfer 2.10.0
MacOS 10.6.2, Apple FCP 7.0.1
2×2.66 Dual-Core Xeon, 5GB Ram, 1.5T Internal RAID
ATI Radeon X1900 XT -
[Bill Coons] ” As noted in the next post, this video was shot at the SP setting, which is not 35Mbps VBR, but 25Mbps CBR. “
Wel… That’ll do it!
Funny how FCP can’t tell the difference in HDV and XDCAM HD 25 mb CBR.
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Wayne Carey
Schazam Productions
https://web.mac.com/schazamproductions
schazamproductions@mac.com -
Andy,
You and Rafael are correct, this footage was shot at SP — 25Mbps CBR. The footage does look great, so no worries re this project.
However, it is a bit disconcerting that Sony doesn’t mention this in the XDCAM operating manual. Aside from the fact that this is a much more expensive instrument than any HDV camera, aren’t there other issues with the HDV codec? I knew that the sony’s XDCAM MPEG2 format was somewhat unique to this camera line, but I assumed that it was not HDV.
Are there any other known issues or am I making a mountain out of a molehill. Note that most of our shoots with this camera have been green screen, and were done with the HQ setting, and the correct codec does display with all of those projects.
THANKS, and any other insights would be most welcome!
Bill Coons
Creative Dynamics StudioSony XDCAM 350 HD, XDCAM Transfer 2.10.0
MacOS 10.6.2, Apple FCP 7.0.1
2×2.66 Dual-Core Xeon, 5GB Ram, 1.5T Internal RAID
ATI Radeon X1900 XT -
Hi Bill,
If you export from Compressor a LGOP MPEG-2 at 25Mbps CBR, what you get is basically HDV, even if you call it something different.
If you look in the Sequence Presets window for XDCAM HD, you will see that in all the CBR flavors, the compressor is HDV.
Rafael -
The XDCAM HD 35Mbps VBR is merely a variant of HDV video, correct? The three camera settings, HQ, SP and LP are all some relation of HDV. The video does look great — but are there ramifications that I haven’t run into yet. Most of what we have shot with this camera is green screen interviews or regular interviews.
Thanks
Bill Coons
Sony XDCAM 350 HD, XDCAM Transfer 2.10.0
MacOS 10.6.2, Apple FCP 7.0.1
2×2.66 Dual-Core Xeon, 5GB Ram, 1.5T Internal RAID
ATI Radeon X1900 XT -
I do have one question for you, Bill. Is your computer one of the new style Macs or the original Quad systems of a couple years ago? I ask because if your system is of the older style, 5 gigs of RAM will cause some serious performance issues with XDCAM. The newer boxes don’t seem to have this issue.
I have a couple if the older style Intel Macs and memory for us had to be in multiples of 4. Otherwise, there are weird issues with FCP.
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Wayne Carey
Schazam Productions
https://web.mac.com/schazamproductions
schazamproductions@mac.com -
I am pretty sure that this is an early MacIntel — just prior to the first 8-core release. We have bought every other Mac and are anxiously anticipating the release of a Hexacore (or dual hex — can we hope for 12 core?) Mac next week. This particular system is handling all the XDCAM editing without any problems. I regret upgrading to Snow Leopard, but most of those problems revolve around compatibility issues with drivers and other equipment.
Final Cut Pro runs smoothly with no hiccups — maybe one crash in the last 60 days, and I think that I have edited about 35 programs since the first of the year. (course mostly in DVCAM)
I am using one of my monitors (23″ Apple Cinema HD Display) as the HD monitor, and sometimes the motion in a pan or tilt looks a little stuttered, hence my uncertainty about this HDV codec, but I chalk it up to not enough bandwidth. When I rank the media over to DVD or for H.264 (for web) it looks absolutely fantastic and the clients are very satisfied. We use the MOTU4D but don’t have an HD monitor to output to yet.
Bill Coons
Sony XDCAM 350 HD, XDCAM Transfer 2.10.0
MacOS 10.6.2, Apple FCP 7.0.1
2×2.66 Dual-Core Xeon, 5GB Ram, 1.5T Internal RAID
ATI Radeon X1900 XT
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