Sony Ex3 into Final Cut Pro

[Don Greening]

Hi Seth,

When you record XDCAM EX media on to a card there’s only one folder on that card and it’s called BPAV. That’s the folder name that XDCAM Transfer and Clip Browser look for when they do their thing. If the folder is named anything else the programs will not recognize the EX files within the BPAV folders no matter what. That’s why when you copy a BPAV folder to a storage device you must create an uniquely named folder for each BPAV you record. Name this folder whatever you wish. Never alter the contents of a BPAV folder in any way or programs like the Sony’s XDCAM Transfer or Clip Browser will not be able to extract your video files without a lot of extra work on your part. With XDCAM Transfer as soon as you navigate to your uniquely named folder with the BPAV inside the program will “see” the BPAV and all the clip thumbnails will appear.

– Don

Don Greening
Reeltime Videoworks
http://www.reeltimevideoworks.com

[Craig Seeman]

Think of the BPAV as a cassette with tape in it. If you break the case you’re not going to be able to play the tape.

When you take a MiniDV tape out of the camera you put the whole thing in the deck as is. You don’t tear apart the case, pull out the tape, crack it open to get at the innards. BPAV is the file container equivalent. In this case the deck is ClipBrowser and XDCAM Transfer. They can’t play the tape if you break the case.

[Will Salley]

To clarify what Don said, Your BVAP folder should be located inside another folder named of your choosing. I use names like “projectX-card1”.

Mac Pro 2×2.8 Quadcore – 10.6.3 – QT 7.6.3 – 22 GB RAM – nvidia8800GT – SATA internal & external storage – Blackmagic Multibridge Pro – Open GL 1.5.10 – Wacom Intous2 tablet – AJA io
SONY XDCAM EX3 – Letus Elite – FC7.0.2 – CS4 Prod Prem.

[Seth Hill]

I created a new folder on my hard drive called “SonyEx3.” I copied the BPAV folder (and all its contents) directly from the Sony card into the “SonyEx3” folder on my hard drive. Did I do anything wrong?

[Seth Hill]

Sorry, in my original post I misspelled the name of the folder. It was “BPAV.” I did not rename the folder or anything. I just copied the BPAV folder directly from the Sony Ex3 card to my hard drive.

[Don Greening]

You created a folder called EX3 on to your hard drive and then copied the BPAV folder into it. Now start XDCAM Transfer, choose ‘Add’ down on the lower left in the program window then navigate to the EX3 folder when the dialogue box appears. Double click the EX3 folder to open. You see the BPAV folder icon. Click ‘open’ in the dialogue box window at the bottom and all your clip icons will load into XDCAM Transfer.

– Don

Don Greening
Reeltime Videoworks
http://www.reeltimevideoworks.com

[Michael Slowe]

Seth, I always open a folder first on the drive and name it BPAV then say, the date of the shoot. I then copy the whole BPAV from the card to the new folder. I thought that any folder had to have the name BPAV in the name. Try that and then do as the others have suggested.

Michael Slowe

[Bob Tompkins]

As I have said many times on this forum the directions to XDCam transfer are invaluable. The process is not intuitive to those used to tape based recording.

[Seth Hill]

The kind folks over at the Apple forums steered me in the right direction:
https://www.sony.ca/xdcamex/software.htm
From there, I downloaded the “Log and Transfer Utility for MAC Version 1.0.” Once I installed it, I can now easily Log & Transfer Sony EX3 clips directly into Final Cut Pro.

By the way, we shot the same scene with the Sony EX3, the Panasonic AG-HMC150, and the Panasonic HVX200. They all look very good, but the Sony looks gorgeous!

[Tom Abray]

To log and transfer from the EX1 to FCP, you need a plug-in from Sony. I’m sure it’s the same for the EX3. It should be easy to find with a Google search.

Also, make sure you don’t rename the BPAV folders.

Hope that helps.
Tom