[Craig Seeman]

It’s hard to recommend what to delete when we don’t know what you have on your hard drive. If you have BPAV folders on your hard drive you can back them up to another hard drive or DL-DVD and delete those since you’re using MOV files or MXF files (you haven’t told us what edit system you’re using).

[Craig Seeman]

Unfortunately it’s hard for us to determine the complete file structure or whether it’s damaged.

Each BPAV folder must have a SEPARATE parent folder. Is that the case?

[Craig Seeman]

[Sandro Cannova] “Is it possible to convert XDCAM files with FCP or do I have to use the transfer tool?
Or as I understand from FCP 6 it is possible to use the XDCAM files, but it’s still easier to convert them bz the tool. “

If by “convert” you mean have the BPAV rewrapped to MOV (it’s lossless) you can do that with XDCAM Transfer as stand alone or XDCAM Transfer as plugin . . . and now you can do it using FCP’s Log and Transfer Import too. There was a plugin for that but I believe and suspect the recent round of updates to the Sony utilities might have included that option.

Someone with FCP 6.0.4, Clip Browser 2, XDCAM Transfer 2.7 who did not download the separate utility (I think I found it on Sony Canada’s site which seems to be in the Sony vanguard) may want to confirm that. If not, I can dig up the link to that plugin.

[Sandro Cannova] “The perfect solution (as we wanna stick to Apple) to get a MacBook Pro with loads of Hard Disk, so we can store and check the clips in the breaks. Am I right in this assumption? “

You “betcha!” I just did a 2 and half hour shoot with MacBookPro and had one card offloading while the other card was still shooting. 2 and half hours and no “reel” changes. The whole think imported as one continues clip. Using SxS with MacBookPro is never having to say sorry, gotta do a reel change. Never have to worry about interrupting a speaker or worry about missing part of a live show for a tape change again.

[Craig Seeman]

Matrox MXO2 might be a solution. I don’t own one but it’s something I’m looking at.

https://www.matrox.com/video/en/products/mxo2/

[Craig Seeman]

ShotPut Express from Imagineproducts will run on PPC and does copy and file verification similar to ClipBrowser. It’s not a player though but it might be a good way to copy BPAV from SxS to hard drive.

[Craig Seeman]

[Stephen Schott] “Sony, especially, is fairly good at making sure you HAVE to use only Sony stuff with Sony stuff.”

Sony’s actually begin to change on that a bit . . . finally. Their XDCAM drive, which originally only worked with XDCAM and XDCAM HD (not even EX) will, with firmware upgrade, work as a complete data drive. That means you can use it for EX file storage . . . and, since it’s a data drive, even Panasonic P2 files.

So while the EX cameras require Sony (and Sandisk) cards for recording, the data pretty much can go anywhere. And, as I note above, their XDCAM drive will pretty much become an open ended data drive rather than being locked into XDCAM only.

[Craig Seeman]

[Stephen Schott] “when you will still want the .mov files? Do you still have to transfer back to a SxS card, “

???

Transfer from DL-DVD to MOV using the XDCAM Transfer Tool.

Why would you think one would have to go back to SxS card?

Both Clip Browser and Transfer tool look for BPAV folder which, like any folder, can be on whatever one chooses to store it on.

Some may store the BPAV on Blu-ray. Others may use XDCAM disc as data storage. I’ve even stored the BPAV on a portable USB flash card to bring over to a friends house.

[Craig Seeman]

Since I moved to Intel Mac I’m ALWAYS archiving the BPAV to DL-DVD. Clip Browser 2 has a split button so 16GB cards will fit on 8GB DL-DVD. Clip Browser 1 didn’t break at the right point so you’d have to type in 7.9GB (which is what a DL-DVD actually holds . . . 7.95GB to be exact).

I’m thinking YEARS into the future when I archive. I’ve seen so many NLEs come and/or go through major changes that I just wouldn’t trust the .mov variant which is tied to FCP/QuickTime.

I use ClipBrowser to copy from SxS to hard drive. Use XDCAM Transfer to wrap to MOV. Back up BPAV to DL-DVD. Delete the BPAV from hard drive. At that point I have MOV on hard drive and BPAV on DL-DVD. The MOV gets deleted sometime after the project is done.

Also at some future point you may want or NEED to give the files to someone ELSE. What if you’re handing stuff to a graphics person on Windows for example . . . or heck a graphics person on Mac who does NOT have FCP (hence doesn’t have the codec). You’re FCP MOV files aren’t going to work. ClipBrowser 2 can rewrap the BPAV MP4s to “MXF NLE” for example (Avid and other NLEs?).

In fact as long as you have those BPAV MP4s you can hand them to nearly ANYONE and they can view them with the ClipBrowser which is cross platform. You can’t do that with the MOV files.

[Craig Seeman]

[Clay Porter] “So 60p is a better format then? It would seem this way. 60p has more infomation to it. And 60p is the most similar to HDV 1080i60 in terms of look. Is this correct? “

Don’t use “better.” One uses what one thinks is the best settings for a given job/purpose.
60p and 60i have the same 60 snapshots a second. For various reasons some prefer progressive, some prefer interlace. In this case it’s 720p60 vs 1080i60. I prefer 720p60 because I like the 720 lines of progressive info per snapshot vs 540 alternate lines (2 separate fields of alternating lines) in interlace to equal 1080 lines.

[Clay Porter] “Why can you not overcrank with 60p footage? When I want to overcrank I have to shoot 30p”
The camera shoots a maximum of 60 frames a second regardless of mode. In overcrank it’s handling a very high data rate. More like 87Mbps rather than 35Mbps.

[Clay Porter] “Say I am shooting all 3 formats, which timeline should I use? Should I just use the format that I have used the most in the project? “
Why would you deliberately shoot all three formats? You may have to do some conversions in Compressor (or other equivalent) since mixing these formats can make a bit of a mess in the timeline.

[Clay Porter] “Finally say I am mixing HDV 1080i60, EX1 720p60 and EX1 720p30. What should I make my timeline in FCP?
“
What’s your goal and why are you mixing formats? My target guides my timeline use.

[Craig Seeman]

There’s a lot to this so I’ll start with a simple explanation and others can add details as they wish

60 “snapshots a second is greater temporal resolution. There’s much debate over 720p60 vs 1080i60 but both have 60 snapshots a second. More snapshots per second more detail to the motion.

24 snapshots a second would be much lower temporal resolution. You’re taking fewer snapshots so there’s more motion traveled between frames that either isn’t recorded or blurred.

Simply more frames per second, more shots of the moving objects, more motion detail.

There’s also the impact of shutter speed but I’m starting out simple for you.

Shutter speed determines how much motion is captured in that frame. Fast shutter speed and you get that “Saving Private Ryan”juttery effect. Slow shutter speed and there’s blur to the motion. With 24p you need to keep your movements slow and/or have a slow shutter speed.