Sony EX Metadata

[Ian Cook]

Hi Julie,

Are you looking for specific fields that may be supported by Avid, FCP or other software, or just a list of what types of metadata the camera and/or format supports?

It’s a tricky question because the camera records a number of different types of metadata but some of them are not read or supported by other apps (for example, most of the Real Time metadata such as camera settings; these are stored frame-by-frame in the clip’s .BIM file but as far as I know Sony Clip Browser is the only app that can read them). As far as Non-Real Time metadata (usually what people are talking about….this includes descriptive info like Titles and Comments) the format supports unique file names, clip titles, clip comments/descriptors, markers and other fields. If you could provide more info on what you’re looking for I could probably provide a more concise and useful answer..

Cheers,

Ian

Ian Cook
Sony Broadcast and Professional Company

[Julie Hendry]

Hi Ian..I’m trying to find out what the camera provides, but also how that would play out in avid and fcp – it’s proving tricky to find the info so help would be much much appreciated 🙂

[Julie Hendry]

Hi Ian..I’m trying to find out what the camera provides, and how that hooks up with avid and fcp..any pointers woud be much appreciated

[Noah Kadner]

What is it precisely you’re looking for? In general the most important metadata comes across to NLEs, but certainly not every bit of data the camera is recording to metadata. But you can typically see that stuff with Sony’s own viewing utilities.

Noah

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[Ian Cook]

On the camera itself you have control over the file names (created using a title prefix such as Julie_ with an advancing numeric), Shot Marks (time code markers you can punch in using the assignable buttons) and Status Flags (clip specific markers added in playback/media mode).

You can also use the Sony Clip Browser app to add/change metadata. In Clip Browser you can add Clip Titles, Comments and additional markers. You can also annotate the text associated with those markers. The Sony XDCAM Transfer plugin for FCP also allows you to add some of these fields.

Avid and FCP support most of this metadata. File names, Clip Titles, Comments, Markers and shot flags all come across into either app.

In Avid for example, you’ll see the following:

Source/Volume name, File Name, Status Flag, Clip Title, Comments and Shot Marks (Shot Marks get translated into Locators)

In FCP, you’ll see:

Source/Volume name, File Name or Clip title, Comments, Shot Marks (Shot Marks get translated into Edit Markers…you can also use XDCAM Transfer to divide master clips into sub clips based on the position of the Shot Marks)

Hope this helps..

Ian

[Julie Hendry]

many thanks for your help folks..solved 🙂

[Andrew Falzon]

Ian…

About some of that Sony XDCam metadata…

Do shot marks show up in Adobe Premiere CS5? If so, how do they show up? As locators as well?

Thanks!

[Ian Cook]

No, Premiere does not support Shot Marks. I just did a quick test with both EX and optical and the SMs did not come across in either. Avid, FCP and Vegas all converted the same SMs to their own type of locators/markers.

[Andrew Falzon]

Thanks for running the test Ian. Much appreciated!