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XDCAM HD / FCP transfer speed
I’ll work with 1080i (50/60 i don’t know yet) XDCAM HD footage and I’d like to know, how fast is the transfer speed from an XDCAM deck to FCP6 with this resolution.I’m really interested in answers getting the experience from real life not from catalog Sony ads.
I used XDCAM but SD IMX and DVCAM footage and the speed was 1.2-1.8 with IMX and 2-3.5 with DVCAM.(MacBook Pro, 2.5Ghz, 4Gb Ram)Is this the same for everyone or is it possible somehow to fasten it up?
I’m a bit frustrated with IMX speed but I think it’s because FCP cannot work with native MXF files and it needs to convert it to .mov.If I think something wrong , please let me know. -
6 Replies
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hi Michael,
the rewrapping of the core codec from its native mxf wrapper to a quicktime movie file wrapper is not really a significant factor in the transfer speed. what is a significant factor is quite simply the file-size. the IMX files transfered more slowly than the DVCAM because the data rate of the codec is higher for the IMX (30 / 40 / 50 Mbps) than the data rate for the DVCAM (25 Mbps).
just like IMX with its data rate variants, so XDCAM HD can have different data rates (18 / 25 / 35 Mbps and with the new F700, 50 Mbps).
how fast these files will transfer to your Mac will depend of the data rate you’re shooting … do you happen to know which camera you will be using? and what codec you’ll be shooting?
cheers
Andy -
What I know at the moment that it will be shooting at 35Mbps but
I don’t know which camera.
The file size is larger with XDcam HD footage than an IMX 50Mbps.Can it be a factor with importing speed or just the data rate that really matters? -
Off of a 330 camera I’m getting about 1.4x and using the PDW-U1 drive unit I’m getting round 2.5x.
I think the deck is more like the camera than the drive. I haven’t transferred footage off the deck only the camera and I haven’t used that since getting the drive. Although I’ve thought about going back to the camera again because the drive doesn’t have write software so I’m not able to change my disc names with it. But it is significantly faster than the camera.
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>The file size is larger with XDcam HD footage than an IMX 50Mbps.
Nope, wrong way round.
The data rate of XDCAM HD in HQ mode is 35 Mbs, which equates to around 4.5 MB file size for each second of footage … a standard 23 GB XDCAM disc can hold a little over 60 minutes.
The data rate of IMX50 is 50 Mbs, which equates to around 6.5 MB file size for each second of footage … a standard 23 GB XDCAM disc can hold a little around 45 minutes.>Can it be a factor with importing speed or just the data rate that really matters?
Yes … and the data rate is what dictates the filesize.
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To cut a long story short, you’ll see faster transfers with XDCAM HD at the HQ setting (35Mbs) as compared to your experience with XDCAM / IMX50 … but those transfers will not be as fast as with XDCAM / DV. To achieve faster transfers speeds than you may have seen previously, you might want to consider getting (or asking for) one of the new PDW-U1 drive units, as these have the newer faster optical mechanism (max read speed of 120 Mbs versus the older max read of 72 Mbs)
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Thanks Andy!
Big help!
I can see the light now at the end of the tunnel. -
I’m working on an 1080p24 (35Mbps) project and import seems to take me around 1x-1.5x per clip on a 2.16Ghz MacBook Pro via Firewire 800.
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