[Craig Seeman]

[Chris Babbitt] “While you were at it, Craig, did you happen to ask about the problem with duplicate clips appearing in the bin while using File Transfer inside of FCP?
“

Yes I hope they fix this too. My current workaround is to use the Transfer Tool as a separate app and then import into FCP. It seems the Transfer Tool has been forcing open FCP (but not importing) with this workaround though.

Basically Sony needs to examine whether the NDF flag on DF time code is something happening in Camera or in the Transfer Tool. Note that Quicktime just shows the Flag change and FCP further changes the time code numbers to NDF when imported.

If someone can test this on a Windows PC with Sony Vegas it might help determine whether it’s an EX1 issue or a Mac Transfer Tool issue.

[Craig Seeman]

Good suggestions Michael.

Just to add and maybe clarify.

Clip Browser on Mac is just a copy tool. It can also split BPAV into smaller sizes. This is good if you want to backup 16GB card onto 2 DL-DVDs (8GB each). BTW Clip Browser on Windows also rewraps to MXF.

Transfer Tool is necessary to convert file to MOV that FCP can use.

One possible shoot workflow is use Clip Browser to copy and then immediately burn DL-DVD backup.

I like this for several reasons:
You now have optical disc backup.
You can give those to the client if they want to walk with something (or make an extra set for them). They can play on Windows or Mac with their own free copy of Clip Browser.
Having optical disc backup means you’re protected if you accidently overwrite the BPAV folders with other BPAV folders.

The Clock time issue seems to be related to Drop Frame time code being flagged as Non Drop Frame. I’m also finding ALL Drop Frame time code coming from the EX1 has this problem.

I’m not sure if this has impact on PAL frame rates since all PAL time code is Non Drop Frame. It would be interesting to test.

[Craig Seeman]

I called Sony Professional today and they confirmed the issue. They said Sony Japan is working on the fix although they can’t confirm whether it’ll be firmware, Clip Browser, Transfer tool update or a new piece of software.

I guess I’m one of the few doing windows dubs with Drop Frame time code source here.

[Craig Seeman]

Nielsen Sigma encoding is recorded on lines 20 & 22 which would be in the Vertical Blanking Interval which would not be visible to the viewer unless they had full scan or underscan monitor.

You’d probably need a box that can play the mpeg2 encode SDI out to the Nielsen Sigma encoder. Have you asked if DG can do the encode on their end?

[Craig Seeman]

Judy are you on Episode 4.4? Try updating to 4.4.1.

[Craig Seeman]

[Eric Pilhofer] “one Sigma encoding their spots before making the Episode conversion to MPEG2? If so how are accomplishing this and still maintaining the watermarking in lines 20 & 22? “

Wouldn’t you be adding the Sigma encoding AFTER adding the 32 lines on the top?

[Craig Seeman]

The thing is with Clock (Time of Day) time code, a producer or someone else can note a good take and I can find it easily when editing. Of course that’s not frame accurate but it’s disconcerting when I want to send the client window dubs, even more so when the time code in Quicktime does NOT match the time code in Final Cut Pro.

[Craig Seeman]

This is screen grab from FCP 6.0.2.
Note in upper right it shows as Non Drop Frame.
Note in time code display in bottom center of image the time code number of 20:11:00:01, a number that should NOT exist with Drop Frame Time Code.

BTW in Quicktime the above number does go from 20:10:59:29 to 20:11:00:02 as it should but Quicktime (as I noted previously) show the NDF Flag.

What I’m seeing:
Quicktime shows correct DF numbers but flags as NDF incorrectly
FCP shows NDF numbers instead of DF and flags as NDF incorrectly
Shooting in 1080p30 should be DF.

[Craig Seeman]

XDCAM EX codec is part of FCP 6.0.2

The alternative is to render to another codec that the other CPUs can play OR, when you first ingest, use the Sony Clip Browser and archive the original folder structure with the BPAV.

[Craig Seeman]

Nobody else seeing (or not seeing) this?
No one attempting to record DropFrame?

It’s either a camera software/firmware issue (in which others would be seeing this)
An XDCAM transfer tool software issue (in which other Mac users would be seeing this)
A Quicktime/Final Cut Pro issue (in which other Mac users would be seeing this)

Here’s an example of a 1080p30 frame with Clock DF time code. Note Quicktime shows it as NON Drop Frame.

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