Is “export to xdcam” the holy grail of archiving?

[Craig Seeman]

I thought what they were doing (going to do?) was open up the XDCAM Disc to file capacity data storage. Basically opening up the 500MB limit. If they’ve done that then it doesn’t need to support the codec specifically as long as it can handle it as a data file.

Of course those 16GB Transcend Class 6 SDHC cards are getting close to the XDCAM Disc price range.

Given that FCP can now go back to XDCAM EX MP4, you could conceivably go back to the SDHC card and hand the edit master off if someone were taking into an Avid or some other beast for finishing.

[Don Greening]

[Craig Seeman] “If they’ve done that then it doesn’t need to support the codec specifically as long as it can handle it as a data file. “

True enough and I hope that’s exactly what they’ve done. But it does seem strange that they’d list all the various XDCAM optical disc formats that are supported if any file can now be written to XDCAM Disc via the PDW-U1. Knowing me however, I’m probably reading too much into this and 1920×1080 EX formats will now be easily written to the disc.

I think Steve Wargo has a PDW-U1 paperweight sitting on his desk. Perhaps he’ll do a little test for us (nudge nudge-wink wink-say no more)

Shades of Monty Python.

– Don

[Justin Gaar]

Would the same firmware update not be available for the PDW-F75? And if they open up the general folder wouldn’t I be able to just copy a BPAV folder over instead of worrying about codecs?

[Don Greening]

[Justin Gaar] “And if they open up the general folder wouldn’t I be able to just copy a BPAV folder over instead of worrying about codecs?”

Well, you’d think so. That seems the most logical train of thought. Someone’s going to have to take the plunge and do a test. Or if anyone has Juan Martinez’s phone number handy……….

– Don

[Curt Pair]

Hi all!

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but… due to my affiliation with Sony, as a member of their “ICE Team…” I made some calls after reviewing some of the thread postings today. To be honest, I was a little upset with the “updates” not being shared with the ICE Team before they hit the web!

After that call, I feel I need to set the record straight! Several postings in this thread are INCORRECT! First of all, Mac users, can now officially “write back” to the U1 drive. This was an APPLE hold up, not a Sony hold up. Mac has now allowed this to happen on their systems. I guess they finally got smart and jumped on the bandwagon! The “General folder” is still limited to the 500 MB file size. This won’t change until the summer.

I’m posting the official response from Sony in this thread:

“Curt,

The User Data write back is not yet available. Probably June timeframe.

The VFAM and MAC-based write back have just been released, and available at the http://www.sony.com/xdcamhd site. The specific link is at https://servicesplus.us.sony.biz/sony-software.aspx?model=pdwu1

(the latest thing is the version 2.1 driver for the U1 now supports 50Mb/s files at 720p.

The Vista 64 FAM drivers have been completed, and we’re waiting from certification from Microsoft. That’ll probably be until June, too. Everything will be Vista 64, no XP 64 support for anything.

The VFAM drivers for the U1 have not been developed yet, and that’ll probably be later than June. Point being, that once Vista 64 is enabled, all decks and cameras will work, but NOT the U1. This probably isn’t so good, but that’s the current situation.”

So for those hoping to use the U1 to EXCLUSIVELY write files into the General folder of an optical disc, this is a sad announcement. This will apparently work with all XD cameras, F70s, F75s and 1500HD decks, but will not work with the U1.

I hope this clears up any confusion running around out there!

Curt

Curt Pair
Picture This Productions
Sony ICE Team
F900/F350/700/EX1/EX3/D790/D600
Adobe Premiere Pro CS3 HD/Matrox
Phoenix, AZ

[Andy Mees]

Thanks Curt

[Justin Gaar]

Ok, so what I’ve deduced is that in the summer the general folder will be opened up by a firmware update on the PDW-F75 allowing any data to be archived to the full disc capacity. Is that correct? Will there still be a required Mac driver or is that specifically for the U1?

Thank you so much for the information, it has really helped to clear this issue up.

[Justin Gaar]

So, I’ve updated the PDW-F75 so that it is running the newest firmware update. Which was a complete pain, by the way. We didn’t have a memory stick, so I had to use the network install option. The instructions given by Sony would not work, so we had to get a company IT guy to create a network between the PC and the deck. We were also required to use Internet Explorer, which is another pain since all of our machines are Apple except the production manager’s. Each firmware update was uniform and contained the proper files for network install except the final version 1.96 which was lacking the .pkg file to install through the Internet Explorer based network interface that Sony has created for this completely confusing process. After wasting 35 minutes on the phone with a Sony representative that was, well, rude, he decided that we could possibly copy the .pkg file from the previous update to the newest update and open the install from there. That worked. Now the thing is up to date and when I stick a disc in, it formats it and then appears to open the general folder completely. Appears being the key word. The available space is displayed as the entire disc capacity. I can drag and drop files into the general folder and it begins to write, then finder crashes and the disc unmounts and remounts itself. I get an “error -36”. I’m moving small files over – pictures mostly, which should be able to be written given the allotted 500MB which are supposed to be open in the general folder with this update. So, I’ve gone through all of this and still have no idea why this process doesn’t work.

[Justin Gaar]

nevermind. i’m an idiot. the general folder is now open but is limited to the 500mb as stated. now we wait for the firmware update that’s coming this summer.