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EX3 .mp4 cannot be opened on Mac
I have some footage provided to me on a WD USB Passport hard drive that was shot by a crew on the Sony EX3. They were offloading the SxS cards onto the hard drive at the end of the day to free up space for the next day. From my understanding they just copied (dragged) the file folders from the SxS card to the hard drive, then renamed the folders on the hard drive and deleted the SxS card.
I cannot open the .mp4 files on my system (Mac-OSX Leopard). Also, the Sony XDCAM Clip Browser software doesn’t even see the files when I browse to the folder they are in. I’ve attempted to ingest the footage in FCP (6.0.6) with the Log&Transfer plugin installed, but that too won’t see the files. The error message I’m getting in FCP is: Warning “folder name” contains unsupported media or has an invalid directory structure. Please choose a folder whose directory structure matches supported media.
My initial thought is that because they changed the name of the folders for ease of reference later, they inadvertently corrupted the structure, thus I’m having this issue.
Has anyone else ever had this issue and/or do you have any thoughts as to whether or not these files can ever be opened?
Thanks!
-Avery
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6 Replies
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Renaming the BPAV folder prevents the folder from being recognized as the proper container of the clips.
You need to create a new “parent” folder for each of their “named” folders.
Put their named folder into the new parent folder.
One new parent folder for each of their named folders.
Change their named folder back to BPAV after it’s dropped in the new parent folder
Try with ONE folder first.I hope this is clear.
I’m concerned that just maybe those aren’t renamed BPAV folders and they actually just pulled out and named a subfolder and tossed the rest.
It never ceases to amaze me who people who have no clue can mess things up like this without proper training or doing a workflow test first.
Sorry they did this to you. I wouldn’t work with people like that again professionally. You should make it clear that they made a mess. THEY should take responsibility for the time and resources it takes you to fix this.
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How many more times does Craig have to say this? Sony should be asked to print in very large letters (and maybe on a sticker by the card slots) a warning not to mess with the BPAV media files. This really is becoming a serious issue, particularly when a crew, probably used to using tape, gets to shoot with the EX cameras.
Michael Slowe
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Thanks for the help! However, I don’t seem to be having any luck with that method though. Here’s an example of what one of the folder’s current structure is as it was given to me on the hard drive:
My Passport (USB HDD)
> BPAV 1 – Women Conf
> CLPR
> 380_0168_01
380_0168_01.MP4
380_0168_01.SMI
380_0168_01I01.PPN
380_0168_01I01.BIM
380_0168_01I01.XMLThe only file within that folder that I can open is the .XML file in a text editor.
I appreciate any help anyone can offer. Thanks.
-Avery
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Drop BPAV 1 – Women Conf into a folder named WomenConf1
Rename BPAV 1 – Women Conf to BPAVBTW in BPAV there should be two files
MEDIAPRO.XML
CUEUP.XMLand tow folders
CLPR (which you show)
TAKRIf they’re not in the BPAV also they’ve really botched this.
BPAV (contains the following:)
folder CLPR
folder TAKR
file MEDIAPRO.XML
file CUEUP.XMP -
Fantastic! Thank you. Apparently I did it correctly the first time except I had mistyped and didn’t catch it. Thank you Craig for your help on this. It’s been a bit frustrating over the past couple days.
Really appreciate it.
-Avery
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I even mistyped one of the XML names above.
They shouldn’t have put you through this. Their job is to deliver proper masters. Maybe they thought you’d simply organize and rename the BPAV back to BPAV as needed. If that was they’re thinking they should have been clear about it though.
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