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XDCAM export to disk
Hello,
Posting this in both the PDW forum and the Final Cut forum because I think that it could apply either place.
I’m having a problem writing XDCAM clips back to a disk. We shot some car mount footage on another camera (GoPro)
• I compressed that footage to XDCAM 1080i60 35Mb/s
• Placed the compressed footage into a Final Cut timeline (XDCAM HD 1080i60 35Mb/s VBR).
• Set Audio output to four channels, 1 and 2 dual mono and 3 and 4 dual mono.
• Set our deck (Sony PDW-HD1500) to 59.94i/HD420-1080/HQ/4CH-16Bit
• File > Export > Sony XDCAM…
• Export to “Untitled” (the XDCAM disk that’s in the deck.
• As format MXF (HDCAM, HD, HD422)
• Using settings XDCAM HD 1080i60 VBR
• REC INHIBIT off on the deckIt won’t write that to the disk. I continue to get “Export Failed” windows telling me to check settings and make sure record inhibit is off.
Here’s the problem: when I set the settings to XDCAM HD 1080i60 CBR (which is 25Mb/s) or XDCAM HD422 1080i60 CBR (which is 50Mb/s) the file writes properly EVEN THE DECK IS SET TO 420HQ.
Our show is shot at the 420HQ (35Mb/s) format and that is what we have to deliver to post.
The problem seems that CBR works just fine and VBR does not. Does the computer have a problem with a variable bitrate that it doesn’t have with a constant bit rate?
The footage is not going to suffer at 25Mb/s, since it was shot on the little GoPro camera (it records to an mp4 file at a much lower compression). But we want to get the footage to post in the same format that they’re getting everything else.
What can I do to fix this situation?
Thanks,
Stef -
2 Replies
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Hey Stef
[Stef Allan] ” Set our deck (Sony PDW-HD1500) to 59.94i/HD420-1080/HQ/4CH-16Bit”
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“Here’s the problem: when I set the settings to XDCAM HD 1080i60 CBR (which is 25Mb/s) or XDCAM HD422 1080i60 CBR (which is 50Mb/s) the file writes properly EVEN THE DECK IS SET TO 420HQ.”When you are in FAM mode then the read/write operations to the XDCAM disc are just file transfers so the deck’s format settings make no difference.
[Stef Allan] “What can I do to fix this situation?”
Is it a blank disc? You can’t mix formats, so if it already has clips recorded / stored on it in at 1080i60 CBR then you won’t be able to add new clips formats at 1080i60 VBR.
Another possible workflow you might try is to export your clip to the desktop (in XDCAM Transfer) instead of the disc … then, at the Finder level, try to drag and drop that exported clip directly to the disc’s CLIP folder.
If you are getting nowhere and need to get these edits to disc by any means possible then you can switch the deck into A/VC mode and use FCP’s “Print to Video” command to layoff the edit using appropriate output hardware (Matrox, AJA, Blackmagic Design).
Cheers
Andy -
Thanks for all the help. The exact same settings worked just fine on another computer, so that’s how we’re doing it right now. The question at this point is why there would be the VBR vs. CBR problem coming out of my computer.
I haven’t had to go back and check it (and probably won’t for a while) but it’s weird. Hopefully just a gremlin that has since flown out of the deck.
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