[Daniel Wright]

XDCAM Transfer 2.12 does not work properly on Lion or Mountain Lion.

Upgrading to XDCAM Transfer 2.13 will solve your problem. You can find it on Sony Canada:

https://support.sonybiz.ca/esupport/Navigation.do?filetype=Software

[Daniel Wright]

I’m not aware of any documentation, as such. However, you can see what is available from XDCAM Transfer’s Applescript dictionary (select File > Open Dictionary from Applescript Editor and pick Transfer from the list). Most of it is pretty self-explanatory. Making subclips is not obvious but someone posted a pair of scripts which include an example of how to do that here:

https://forums.creativecow.net/readpost/142/870581

HTH

Daniel

[Daniel Wright]

You need to put the BPAV folder inside another folder called whatever you like (you must not rename the BPAV folder, though). Then drag this folder onto the Sources list on the left hand side of XDCAM Transfer. You should then see the thumbnails start to appear.

BTW, If you are using Lion, then you will need to upgrade to XDCAM Transfer 2.13.

HTH

[Daniel Wright]

What you see with a PDW-U1 depends on whether or not Sony’s XDCAM Drive Software is installed. I’m guessing that it may be missing.

If it is *not* installed:

The disc will be mounted using the standard UDF driver. In this case, the icon on the desktop will be the flat, whitish drive icon, as seen when a USB memory stick is mounted, for example. When you double-click on this, you will only see a PROAV folder and a GENERAL folder. The clips are stored in PROAV/CLPR in pieces (video and audio tracks are separate). XDCAM Transfer can handle this and make a single .mov but it is confusing when viewed in Finder, not very convenient and you cannot write to the disc in the PDW-U1.

If the XDCAM Drive Software *is* installed:

You should see the purple professional disc icon on your desktop. When you double-click on it, you will see a more user friendly view of the disc, with the clips (.mxf files) appearing to be in one piece inside the /Clip folder, together with a .xml metadata file for each.

The XDCAM Drive Software (if you don’t have it) can be obtained from here:

https://support.sonybiz.ca/esupport/Navigation.do?category=XDCAM+Optical

It looks as if version 2.3.2 is the latest.

[Daniel Wright]

You could try copying a clip off the disc to your import location with Finder to see if it is any faster. If not, then XDCAM Transfer is vindicated.

I think it is more likely to be something like another process consuming resources (check Activity Monitor) or an out-of-date version of the XDCAM Drive Software, perhaps?

[Daniel Wright]

Hi Meeri,

XDCAM Transfer’s Applescript support did not appear until version 2.11 so you will need to upgrade. The latest version is 2.12.

Once you have done that, you shouldn’t have any problems.

Good luck.

[Daniel Wright]

Are you using a PDW-U1? If you open up the U1 Utility, there is a setting which says something like ‘Generate Contiguous Timecode’ under User Settings. If you select this, then I believe the clips will end up on the disc with the required timecode. The only issue will be making sure that the clips are written in the correct order.

If you are using a deck, then there is probably a similar option somewhere, but I don’t know.

[Daniel Wright]

Have you installed the latest version of XDCAM Transfer (ver 2.12)? If not, then the FAM driver, which is installed by default along with XDCAM Transfer, may be out of date.

Otherwise, you could try some of the following tests to try to narrow down where the problem lies:

(1) Firstly, check Finder’s info window says you have read-write access. See what XDCAM Transfer says, too (bottom right-hand corner, Info tab).
(2) Try dragging a small file into the disc’s General folder.
(3) If that works, drag a short test clip out of the disc’s Clip folder onto the desktop and back again.
(4) If you have got this far, then I’m guessing that there are clips on the disk in a different format and the deck is not in mixed record mode (assuming you have an HD1500 or similar).

HTH

[Daniel Wright]

To answer your question, you should able to use the search facility to find all the .MP4s on the card and then drag the results into a folder of your choice. This definitely works on a Mac, if that is what you’re using, but it will probably work on other operating systems as well.

However, you will lose your metadata. Also, many believe that you should only copy off the card using Clip Browser because of its CRC check.

FWIW

[Daniel Wright]

XDCAM Transfer has an Applescript interface that can be exceedingly useful for this kind of task.

It’s a little rough and ready but this one will probably serve your purpose:

writesubcliplist.applescript.zip

Once unzipped, the file should open in the Applescript Editor when you double-click on it.

To use it, launch XDCAM Transfer, select the clips with the subclips you want to list and then click the green Run button on the script editor.

If all goes according to plan, a file will appear on your desktop called ‘subcliplist.csv’. It is in tab-separated format so a spreadsheet application will be able to sort it into columns.

HTH