[Andy Mees]

Thanks Daniel

[Andy Mees]

>This seems like an obvious thing and something that was meant for proxy workflow

Simon

An offline proxy / online hi res workflow has never been advocated by either Sony or Apple when working with XDCAM and FCP … everything about the integration of the toolset on the Mac has been towards a full online only workflow. A few folks have successfully developed their own proxy workflows for sure, but there has never been anything “obvious” about them.

Recently however things have changed on this front. Bouke Vahl of VideoToolshed has created a toolset that is designed to enable a straightforward Mac/ FCP based proxy workflow, and whilst his tools are never too pretty to look at they do get the job done. Here’s what you want to look at:
XDCAM Extract: https://www.videotoolshed.com/?page=products&pID=40

If you are intent on pursuing an XDCAM proxy based workflow in FCP then you check this one out.

Best
Andy

[Andy Mees]

Are you sure its not clip specific Nigel? Can you test again with one of the clips that appeared to convert without issue beforehand.

Regarding the “Save As AVI” component … MPEG Streamclip’s rewrap function should already work just fine without this component installed as it’s functionality is already built directly in to the app; installing the component allows you to also use Quicktime Player or other supported apps to rewrap by using the “Movie to Save As AVI” option from the Export settings list. With that in mind, you might try using Quicktime Player 7 to open and export/rewrap one of these problem clips and see if that works ok.

Best
Andy

[Andy Mees]

no, not at all Rafa, it can’t be just anything it has to be an AVI supported codec

[Andy Mees]

apologies Nigel, I misread .. you’re going the other way yes? trying to rewrap dv pal avi to dv pal mov.

[Andy Mees]

Nigel
Did you install the MPEG Streamclip “Save as AVI.component” from the Extras folder?
Andy

[Andy Mees]

Anyone know a good video crop tool??

Sure … Compressor is a fine video crop tool. Check the “Geometry” pane.
https://documentation.apple.com/en/compressor/usermanual/index.html#chapter=24%26section=5

[Andy Mees]

[Shane Ross] “HDTVs are 8-bit, computer monitors 6-bit.”

Hey Shane, ya know the Apple Cinema Displays may be 6 bit panels but that does not mean that all computer displays are limited to 6 bit, the MXO will happily display 8 bit color on an 8 bit or better computer display panel. Similarly, some HDTV’s may only have 8 bit panels but by no means all of them and the MXO2 will happily display 10 bit color on a 10 bit HDTV panel if you’ve got one.

[Eli Mavros] “What I can’t understand is why the MXO2 does not include the ability to monitor video on a computer monitor, like its predecessor.”

The MXO interrupts the regular DVI out, does its thing, and passed it on … so it was probably relatively simple and rather obvious to give the box scan conversion capabilities. The MXO2 is a more traditional I/O box and not designed for computer display output. That said, I wouldn’t be overly surprised if Matrox did add back in some kind of extended desktop support to the MXO2 at some later stage but I’d imagine theres a long list of other things they’d like to do as well at some point so it all becomes a matter of priorities.

If you’re using a tower then check out your low budget I/O options from Blackmagic Design too … they always had what they called a “Video Desktop” option in their driver settings that basically did the same thing if this is a deal breaker for you.

Best
Andy

[Andy Mees]

EMA is absolutely fantastic, but for this I think Digital Cover-Up might be better (its from the same plugin author):

https://sheffieldsoftworks.com/

[Andy Mees]

Hey Peter

Appreciate your concern, but the supposed “fanless” issue is massively overstated, at least with regard to laptop disc based external enclosures. In my recent experience ( 40+ ENG crews around the globe working on laptops and a variety of external 2.5″ enclosures, both fanned and fanless, over the last 3 years or so ) I’ve not seen or heard of any of those drives failing due to overheating or other fanless based issues … dropped and broken drives, yes (that big orange bumper is a big orange gimmick btw), fans failing and making a nasty noise even, but not “oh no my drive just stopped working, I think its cooked”.

That said, I’m not a particular fan of the Lacie Rugged drives especially; they are perfectly good drives and are solid and reliable performers but as alluded above, I do think you’re paying a premium for that bit of orange rubber. I’ve found them to be no more or less reliable, or more or less “rugged” than any of the other drives we’ve used.

Fwiw tho, if you’re budgeting for a replacement drive and are thinking of upping the ante a little, then my current drives of choice would be the G-Technolgy G-DRIVE mini SSD, the Sonnet Fusion F2 (fanless), the G-Technolgy G-RAID mini (fanned) and the Lacie Little Big Disc Quadra (fanless).

Hope it helps
Andy