Andy Mees
Forum Replies Created
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XDCAM Transfer is an application that enables you to load the proxies from the camera onto your local hard drive, browse and optionally subclip those proxies, and import the full resoultion HD clips (or sublips) onto the local hard drive, and optionally import those clips directly into your FCP project. an export plugin from FCP allows you to export clips and sequences back to the XDCAM disc. the application bundle from Sony installs all the drivers necessary to make this possible, both as a standalone application, and as an import/export plugin to FCP.
all transfers are handled via the firewire connection. no transcoding is involved. all youare doing is transfering raw data from XDCAM disc to local hard drive and visa versa (the only trickery involved is that the XDCAM Transfer application handles the unwrapping and re-wrapping of the camera native MXF container to the Mac compatible Quicktime container, and visa versa)
all that said, its not been plain sailing. many have issues with the flakiness of the system, particularly on export. my advice, if you choose this workflow, is to ensure your camera’s and/or decks have all the latest firmware upgrades, as each new upgrade brings improved compatibility and stability to the process. the current version is 1.62.
as for mastering back to the XDCAM format. this is the process we use as we are not delivering to a third party but to our own broadcast center. we generally don’t have any need for gfx and effects in our edits, at least not the raw edits that are submitted, although gfx and effects may be added later, in house. if I’m editing for delivery to a client then I master to HDCAM … but this is not using FCP as the NLE so is outside the scope of the question/forum perhaps.
cheers
Andy -
Willie … lose the caps lock mate!
do you mean Digital Heaven’s Movie Logger?
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if you’re so inclined you can even hard-wire the effect by changing the source code of the effect itself … Shane Ross used to have a video tutorial explaining just how to do that but I can’t find it at present
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“[l_vaughan] “If I were to edit using Mini HD could I output to a HD tv/monitor if I ran the output signal through the camera itself?”
That format is called HDV. And no, you can’t monitor this like you can DV. For this I’d suggest the Matrox MXO. This will convert a DVI to HD SDI, component, composite, and eve output a DVI signal to an Apple 23″ or Dell 2407 and get you broadcast colors. Perfectly designed for what you are trying to do…edit HDV on a laptop.”
one of the new features of FCP6 is that you can set your external video preview to a different format than your timeline … in your case you could monitor a downconverted DV version of your HDV timeline, via the camera, whilst editing. not HD, but nonetheless a workflow that leverages the power of FCP6 and doesn’t require the MXO. (but the MXO is a much nicer and full HD solution)
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Import the raw media from disc using XDCAM Transfer
Edit natively using the imported media
Export edit back to disc -
really? so XDCAM Transfer, specifically Export > Sony XDCAM… is not working in FCP6?
the new version of XDCAM Transfer is slated for September with the release of the PDW-U1
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As a reference, the relationship between the analog and digital levels, for the AES and EBU standards ,can be defined as:
SMPTE / AES (USA): +4dbu = -20dbFS (==> +24dbu = 0dbFS)
EBU (Europe and other EBU members): 0dbu = -18dbFS / 0dbu = -12dbFS (16 bit resolution systems)Especially in the UK there is also another scale called PPM in use, that’s Peak Programme Meter. PPM 4 is 0dbu and every step equals 4db.
You can find out everything you never wanted to know in a couple of in depth articles, by Bob Katz, here:
https://www.digido.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=8 <https://www.digido.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=8>
https://www.digido.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=9 <https://www.digido.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=9> -
hey luke. a good size is the maximum pixel resolution you need and no bigger… thats going to vary depending on whether you work in SD NTSC or PAL or HD, and whether you intend to add pan or zoom motion on those stills
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why not play out from the camera composite output direct to a DVD Recorder … that would be the most sraightforward way