David Boonton
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You wrote
Until MXF is supported by FCP and Avid, what is the best method for capturing the best
image?File based ingest will yield superior image quality than SDI ingest. (And much faster) When you capture via a card you are doing multiple transcodes on the algorithim. In other words you leave the MPEG-2 compression of the camera, go to baseband (which is analog not digital) then transcode to a QT codec supported by the capture card. Many of these cards tell you their codecs are uncompressed, but in reality there is not such a thing as an uncompressed codec, as every algorithim applies some sort of compression.
Even HDCAM-SR, which is actually MPEG-4 Studio Profile, is compressed.You then transcode on the way out back to the XDcam deck to MPEG-2.
Will capture card like BlackMagic and AJA Kona LH be a better solution than native FCP MXF conversion?
Advantages and disadvantages?See above. Remember you are not “converting” the MXF file. You are only unwrapping the metadata and
re-wrapping in QT. The essence media, in other words what you shot, remains native on the NLE timeline.
In the computer NLE world, native MXF editing is not relevant and will never happen. You do not edit metadata to create your finished sequence, you edit the essence media.What about the EDL export function and Essence markers? Is anybody using these features?
There is no NLE in the world that can edit the .SMI file (ClipList) generated from the cameras and decks.
Only Sony XPRI edit system can do this and that is no longer available. Hopefully you will see this feature added in future NLE’s as this is a truly powerful aspect of XDCAM.Avid is the only editing system that can read and directly interpret metadata in Sony’s implementation of MXF (Operational Pattern 1a) In the higher end Avid’s, Essence Marks are translated to Avid Locators, so the ability to jumnp to a particular scene can be done easily. In addition, Good Shot flags can also be read, created by Sony’s PDZ-1 software. No other NLE’s can do this as of this writing and it will be a while before any of them do this. Most are still battling with codec support. Avid will release full codec support for XDCAM-HD in the next few weeks for Newscutter and Media Composer systems and portable software solutions.
Has anybody played with the Gamma settings to create series of Profiles? If so any sugestions?
Yes, the sky is the limit here, experiment and save what you like. 64 Scene files can be saved in the camera. Start with the built in Cine files, there are 4 of them, and work from there.
What are the Strengths and weakness of the format?
Metadata, proxy manipulation, non linear access to clips you shot on disc, robust, cost effective, etc
As you can see I am a fan 🙂
Any suggestions for a field monitor?
Use CRT with HD-SDI in if you can. You get SMPTE 1920*10870 output that way for critical monitoring.
Stay away from LCD and the like. Or just use the built in LCD, it’s very accurate. -