Clint Fleckenstein
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COW Coin
Forum Replies Created
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What I was provided with are Quicktime files.
That’s the problem right there. You need the raw clips in a properly generated BPAV folder. Then the free Sony apps are your friend, at least giving you some flexibility to convert the footage as needed.
I was going to agree with what Dino said, until I saw the above quote in your most recent post, since nothing about shooting tapeless has a perfect equivalent in the tape world we grew up in. People in every step of the production workflow need to resign themselves to the fact that we have to change the way we think and work, period.
It’s more complicated than handing you a tape for which you have no tape deck. Whoever said that they’re not really just Quicktimes, they’re Final Cut Pro files, was spot on. In this case, someone needs to realize that the way to get their footage to the editor is to provide you the raw BPAV folder clips so you can get it into your workflow. Plain and simple.
Cf
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After mulling around a few of the reviews out there, we picked up the Sennheiser to use as a boom mic. We’ve been very pleased with it. We use it on a pole rather than on any of our cameras. On a whim I tried attaching it to the EX-1, but its diameter is too small. I haven’t had the need or opportunity to find some foam or something to make a liner for it. Our EX-3 is on order, I’m interested in seeing whether it has the same inner diameter on the mount.
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Here’s what I got from Sony re: the PDW-U1:
Hi Clint-
It’s actually going to require a combination of U1 firmware and an updated driver for the Mac, both of which are still a few months away.
The driver will enable you to write MXFs back to the disc. The firmware will enable you to expand the ‘General’ area up to the remaining capacity of the disc (currently it’s locked at 500 MB). We’ll have an announcement on the website when the driver is available, or you can feel free to check in with us in a month or two.
Curt Pair passed this along in a prior thread about archiving to disc:
A person in Sony’s POSC recently sent me the following email: “GENERAL folder storage update is on the way but will first be released for the pdhd1500, then the U1, then possibly the F75 and other phase 2 machines. ETA is sketchy but it should happen within the next few months.” (note: other phase two machines are F70/F30)
So now it’s a waiting game. I think the Sony folks have created a great architecture that, once they start figuring out some of these features, is going to get even better. Sure, it’s a bummer that the archiving end of it is running behind, but I remain optimistic.
Cf
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Seems to me it would work; it’s a bayonet mount just like the lens hood on the stock lens. Everyone’s saying that the EX3 lens is the EX1 lens, but removable. I plan to get one of these for an EX3 if we add one to our arsenal; I can’t justify $4000 (according to Sony website) for the full wide-angle lens, as little as we use it.
Cf
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“In this forum I have told about quite a lot of lost footage, due to poor DVD-media. After a long e-mail correspondens with the seller, I got the same number of discs with good media (Verbatim DVD-DL). So I know the importance of good archive media.”
Then you have to take into consideration other factors, such as “how often are these discs going to be pulled from the archive to review footage by people who set discs on the countertop instead of in their cases?” 🙂 If your non-tech-savvy office staff will be handling your company’s archive material, get something in as bulletproof a cartridge as physics will allow.
Cf
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I too seek the Grail. It was one reason why I chose the XDCAM EX route. Sadly, I have a PDW-U1 paperweight on my desk right now; I didn’t know that the software to use it was still vaporware. I want to use the discs as data discs for backups of projects and raw clips, an idea I got from a pre-release review of the PDW-U1 when I was researching XDCAM EX for possible purchase.
Once I got my drive and realized it wouldn’t work the way I had hoped, I emailed Sony to ask about the capabilities I’d expected, and got the following response:
Hi Clint-
It’s actually going to require a combination of U1 firmware and an updated driver for the Mac, both of which are still a few months away.
The driver will enable you to write MXFs back to the disc. The firmware will enable you to expand the ‘General’ area up to the remaining capacity of the disc (currently it’s locked at 500 MB). We’ll have an announcement on the website when the driver is available, or you can feel free to check in with us in a month or two.I got that response a couple of weeks ago. Since then they’ve released the new XDCAM Transfer (2.8) that enables write-back to the cards, from what I’ve read. I feel comfortable at this point taking Sony at their word, that they’re working on opening up new possibilities in the XDCAM architecture such as making my drive work.
I don’t know much about the disc-based XDCAM gear, because it’s out of our price range, but I was under the impression that it was not 1920×1080, but akin to HDV dimensions. I don’t know if that’s the case nowadays, or if that is how footage would be written back to the PDW-U1. If that’s the case, I’m even more certain I’d rather use the discs as robust data media, keeping my original HQ material intact.
I wish I’d waited on my PDW-U1 purchase, though; its warranty clock is ticking even though it’s sitting unused, and I don’t want to pay the 15% restocking fee to send it back and get a new one once the proper drivers and firmware are released. Despite that downside, I still remain optimistic. Archiving XDCAM footage to these durable cartridges truly is the holy grail of workflow for me.
Cf
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Just thought I’d pass along the reply I got from Sony:
Hi Clint-It’s actually going to require a combination of U1 firmware and an updated driver for the Mac, both of which are still a few months away.
The driver will enable you to write MXFs back to the disc. The firmware will enable you to expand the ‘General’ area up to the remaining capacity of the disc (currently it’s locked at 500 MB). We’ll have an announcement on the website when the driver is available, or you can feel free to check in with us in a month or two.
So that’s where we sit for now. It’s good to hear that they’re at least working on it. I can’t wait for that software to come out, I have a $2600 paperweight on my desk right now!
Cf
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“Look around you, can you form some kind of rudimentary lathe…..;)”
I watched Galaxy Quest again in my garage last night while I was getting things ready for winter! I don’t think I’d have ever caught that reference otherwise…
Have a great week everybody!
Cf
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I finally found the article that I originally got my ideas from:
Well all this is about to change with the new firmware updates. The first firmware update will allow the U1 to become a writer i.e. you can export complete edited project timelines back to disc, export individual clips/groups of clips etc back to disc. But now for the good bit, well, AMAZING bit actually. That 500mb of allocated file space I was talking about, well it is about to become a lot larger than 500mb, the entire disc to be exact, that’s write (pun totally intended). When this second firmware becomes available later in 2008 you will be able to insert a blank XDCAM disc into the U1 and it will format it as a 23GB (or 50 GB depending on the size of the disc used) file storage device if you so desire. This will mean you can treat the entire disc space just like a regular Blu-Ray writable disc or hard drive. You can drag/drop any file directly onto the XDCAM disc, files such as: Sony’s new SxS MP4 video media folders, other video files, audio files, photos, text documents, well, anything you like.
The article can be found here. Hopefully he knows what he’s talking about; otherwise, I’m ready to box up the deck I just received and send it back!
Cf
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Interesting. That’s not a deal breaker, though; if I can at least dump our raw footage to these discs for archiving, that’s great too. Sadly, it doesn’t look like that’s a possibility on the Mac just yet. So much for my brilliant workflow idea! That is, at least, until Mac support materializes.
Thanks,
Cf