XDCam EX Footage in FCP: Transcode to ProRes or Work with XDCam?

[Richard Keating]

I find that things work a little more smoothly with pro res files. In my experience, XDCAM timelines occasionally stall, and render times are longer, as are exports. Problem is, if you have lots of footage, the extra step of transcoding could cost you some time.

Richard Keating
Freelance Editor
http://www.richardkeating.com

[Rafael Amador]

No need of transcoding.
Import the EX stuff, open a sequence and conform it to the footage, then change the sequence codec to Prores/Prores HQ.
When you have your editing ready to export, set “Render all YUV in High Precision’ and export.
rafael

http://www.nagavideo.com

[Ryan Holmes]

@ Rafael – all that approach does is put XDCam footage in a timeline with ProRes as the codec of choice for rendering/exporting. Your final export will still take longer and I don’t think XDCam EX plays as well with FCP as ProRes does (i.e. smooth playback, stalling, more rendering for effects, etc.)

I agree with Richard – ProRes plays better within FCP7 and export times are reduced. Additionally, if you plan on doing any color grading, compositing, or vfx work I would always recommend ProRes over XDCAM EX. However, if you have hours upon hours of footage the up front hit to transcode all the to ProRes may offset any gains. Especially if all you’re doing is a simple cut/dissolve style edit.

Ryan Holmes
http://www.ryanholmes.com
vimeo.com/ryanholmes

[Bryan Reisberg]

Thanks everyone for the info!

[Chris Babbitt]

My preference is to edit in the native codec, but set the render codec to ProRes. That way, there will be no conforming until the final output, your rendering will be much faster, and your graphics and color grading will have the benefit of the ProRes codec. It’s really the best of both worlds.