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XDCAM HD, Final Cut Pro 7 and Snow Leopard
So….
I’m wondering how many more years will it be until Sony fully supports Snow Leopard. Any bets?
I say this because it took Sony almost a year to support Leopard and it took Sony two full years to fully support the SD XDCAM codecs into Final Cut Pro.
I find it amazing how Sony touts themselves as being cutting edge but takes so very long to support products that are currently being used.
What do you think?
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Wayne Carey
Schazam Productions
https://web.mac.com/schazamproductions
schazamproductions@mac.com -
12 Replies
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one of the reasons I’m not on snow leopard or fcp 7 yet as I do a lot of xdcam work.
it is frustrating.
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Once the RED scarlet hits the streets, XDCam is going to fade anyway so I wonder if Sony are just saving some money knowing the format is soon to die. Like HDV it will hang on for sure but it’s days are numbered.
But is the problem entirely Sony or is Apple also at fault?
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true, apple is well known to be half the problem and difficult
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[Michael Gissing] “Once the RED scarlet hits the streets, XDCam is going to fade anyway”
Dream on! Sure, every format has it’s day, but the notion that RED is going to drive it to an early grave is crazy.
Mark
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[Mark Raudonis] “but the notion that RED is going to drive it to an early grave is crazy.”
Half the price, 1-150 fps, 3k+ resolution etc.. How many film makers do you think are just waiting to move on from HDV & XDCam to something that can cover web to digital cinema properly? Plus the fact that RED seems to be very active in keeping up with Final Cut and Mac OS developments.
Most of the doco people that I work with are not investing in cameras at the moment, just getting a bit more mileage out of their HDV & EX setups and waiting for the Scarlet. Sure the wait has been long and frustrating but I doubt that RED are going to do what Sony and others are always doing, which is releasing a camera and then within a year releasing either a new format or a new model. Just count how many pro and prosumer cameras and formats that Sony currently supports. It’s a mess.
Just the sheer number of people who are playing with the Canon cameras should have Sony worried but the Scarlet will be a game changer.
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[Michael Gissing] “Once the RED scarlet hits the streets, XDCam is going to fade anyway “
LOL. Am looking forward to Scarlet too, but thats just nonsense. No disrespect intended Michael, I know you’re a super knowledgeable guy, but I think you may not understand the market sector to whom XDCAM appeals or are the very least are underestimating it. Note that I am not talking about XDCAM EX here.
Best
Andy -
[Andy Mees] “LOL. Am looking forward to Scarlet too, but thats just nonsense.”
Yes I know I am guilty of wishful thinking so I am not being my normal logical self but I do believe that Sony will take a hammering when the Scarlet arrives.
The XDCam market is well established so it isn’t going to fade away, but the point of the original post was that companies like Sony that constantly play politics with different editing systems and saturate the market with so many models and support so many formats are not going to appeal to many in my area which is doco/ short film.
I know some desperate folk who have even started talking about a Canon 7D to tide them over so I am taking serious note of attitudes from film makers. For them Sony and Panasonic are on the nose.
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So— big question: I’m in the same boat of utter frustration: Snow Leopard and FCP7, with an XDCAM PDW-F70 and an FAM Driver that ain’t to be found. Is there ANY way to get the XDCAM footage in? Since the discs don’t appear on the desktop to bring in via XDCAM Transfer, and Capture Now via HD-SDI is skipping and jumping like a madman? Obi Wan– you’re my only hope!
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Ed,
You need to download 2 versions of XDCAM Transfer to get this to work for now …
First you need the XDCAM Transfer 2.5.1 software found here : https://www.sony.ca/xdcamex/software.htm
Second you need XDCAM Transfer 2.11.0 found here : https://support.sonybiz.ca/esupport/eSupportHome.aspInstall version 2.5.1 first .. after this you should find that Sony’s ProDisc file system (your XDCAM media’s format) is recognized and that your discs mount on the desktop when in FAM mode (File Access Mode) … but you’ll get annoying errors when trying to import footage, or maybe even recognizing the database if you previously had a higher version installed. So next you use the 2.11.0 installer to update your XDCAM apps etc to the latest version.
This works for me. I have no idea if its a method that will work for any host Mac system but its worked on every laptop I’ve tried. Am not sure either if it’s specifically version 2.5.1 that you need for the first install, I have a feeling it’ll be fine with anything up to 2.8 but that is just a hunch, not knowledge derived of actual testing.
As for your “Capture Now” issues via HD-SDI, these will not be due to your XDCAM Transfer app .. what I/O hardware are you capturing with, what codec are you capturing to, what Mac are you using, what media drives are you using for your capture scratch, and how full are those drives?
Best
Andy -
Thanks Andy— I’ll definitely un- and re-install XDCAM Transfer as you’d described.
As for I/O et al: Kona 3, Mac Pro 2009 tower with 18 GB RAM; tried digitizing straight to the desktop after trying digitizing both to a 2TB Glyph RAID and a different “pro-video-friendly” 2HD Raid drive….. can’t think of the make/model; both drives had over 400GB available.
Without Deck Control, I’m left just Capturing Now, with both the inherent glitch that whenever FCP drops a frame (and “Abort upon” deselected), the video holds on that frame for half second or so before catching back up.
But the primary problem is the video speed that’s captured: it drifts SIGNIFICANTLY out of sync— leading me to believe it’s actually a deck control setting somewhere in the menu I’m unable to locate. I’m going through the PDW-F70 Manual now, and still can’t find a silver bullet.
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