Sony A7S Mark 2 XAVC-S Workflow

[Michael Phillips]

Does it have timecode or does it all start at 00:00:00:00?
Do all the files have unique filenames from day to day to day? Some cameras like to start naming the same way when shut down.

Usually, this camera’s files are transcoded to either a finishing resolution like DNxHD 175x and edit and finish with the same files, or transcode to a lower bitrate like DNxHD 36 (which will be slightly larger than the camera masters) and then conform in whatever system you are finishing in if not MC/Symphony.

Transcode in a third party application like Resolve or EditReady 2 (https://www.divergentmedia.com/editready)
There is a workaround that if you change the extension to .m4a you can AMA link in Media Composer and transcode directly (still look to make sure all filenames are unique) buy it will lose the timecode if there is one being used other than 00:00:00:00 and will not work for frame rates 50 or higher.

Michael

[Nikhil Nath]

Thank you for replying Michael.

It doesn’t have any timecode. All of it starts at 00:00:00:00. The names of the clips are like C0001, C0002, C0003. I have footage from almost 10 days. So there are so many clips with same names like that. I have so many slow motion footage. But its all baked into 23.976. Every camera folder has HD and 4K clips mixed.

[Bouke Vahl]

The clips DO have TC, but it’s stored in a different way than normal, so not all applications understand it.

You can use my Mp4toQT application to re-wrap to Mov, so Avid will eat them (And you have TC).
https://www.videotoolshed.com/product/mp4-to-qt/
(The free demo will show you. Don’t forget to set it to 23.976)
Note, this is a re-wrap, so it’s fast and there is no change whatsoever in quality.

hth,
Bouke

Bouke
http://www.videotoolshed.com

[Michael Phillips]

This is great to know. I might suggest specifically mentioning XAVC-S on the production description as XAVC-S has been a sore spot for Media Composer users for over two years now.

Michael

[Nikhil Nath]

This is incredible man. Wonderful product. You’re such a life saver man. I just found out there is a very tiny drop of file size after rewrap. Nothing big I guess. Does your application automatically detects the frame rate and rewrap accordingly?

If someone from AVID is reading this, please do something about XAVC-S within your application. Sony camera’s are very widely used everywhere. ONLY AVID is incapable of dealing with it directly.

Thanks Michael for your help resolving this issue.

[Martin Fox]

Here is my workflow;
Rewrap in editready
Ama link all 25 and 50 fps clips in avid and trancode to required Rez using new flexible frame rate codec DnxHR
Convert all 100 fps clips in editready to 50fps (slow mo half speed) , Ama link these clips in avid and trancode to DnxHR (the avid DnxHR codec only supports 50 fps as a high frame rate), use avid motion effect editor to tailor slow mo effects.
Work in HD project, use frame flex to re frame 4K shots (must be recent avid version as older frame flex is soft)
Edit til ready to conform to full Rez. relink sequence to Ama originals and transcode to best Rez for the project. Bake in frame flex shots, Round trip with resolve.
There is also a way to do all the rushes in resolve and open them in avid, but I have no experience with that workflow.
Would appreciate your posts on your experience- Martin