Don Greening
Forum Replies Created
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[Peter Humble] “when I import them to FCP the ‘data rate’ column in the browser window reads 4.3 Mbps. Is this of concern? “
Not at all. Mine says the same thing and I’m editing HQ 1080 30p 35 VBR.
[Peter Humble] “he codec says: ‘Apple XDCAM EX 1080p25 (35 Mb/s VBR
Is this what I edit with or should I be converting this file to some other format.”It depends on your delivery format and the speed of your computer to edit in long GOP, which is fairly processor intensive. But since you’ve got FCP and version 6.0.2 at the very least I’ll assume you have a fairly recent Mac with enough processing power that this isn’t an issue for you. You can choose to edit in the EX native codec and change your sequence renders to Pro Res in FCP preferences. That way you have the best of both: editing in the native format but rendering in a faster “I-frame” codec.
As with anything else to do with FCP, there are always several ways to do the same job and no one way is better than the other. The way you choose simply depends on how you like to work.
– Don
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[Tom Parke] “What would be the best or most reliable backup solution for those of us who are only using XDCAM Transfer, which for me so far works fine?”
Hi Tom
I’m in the same boat as you in that I copy everything to dedicated hard drives at the moment, but as we all know, hard drives will eventually fail.
Most people serious about long term EX clip storage are waiting for the update to the PDW-U1 firmware which will allow full rez EX clips (or anything else for that matter) to be stored on XDCAM disc. You can use the drive right now but only for a downconverted 1440×1080 frame size because that’s the original XDCAM HD format.
https://pro.sony.com/bbsc/ssr/product-PDWU1/
– Don
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[Noah Kadner] “They have a long working relationship with Apple and so I’m sure they’re aware of the problem and an update will come as soon as is humanly possible.”
The proof of that is the fact that Sony had all their EX software ready to go for the Mac and Final Cut Pro first and at least a month before the EX1 was even shipping. The creation date on my Clip Browser software is October 10, 2007.
– Don
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Hi Stewart,
Try posting this in the Business and Marketing Forum here at the COW. There are a lot of good people who hang out there and would most likely have good advice to give you regarding your stock footage questions.
– Don
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[Jeremy Doyle] ” It’s been a long time since Q1 2008.”
That’s for sure. I haven’t heard anything yet. Sorry, Jeremy.
– Don
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[Chris Stevens] “The manual does not explain “Flicker Reduce Mode”.”
Actually, the manual does talk about it to some extent on pages 50 and 98, at least in the EX1 manual. To sum up, you can set the flicker reduce function to:
– be on all the time
– set to auto where it only activates when flicker is detected
– offYou can also set the frequency to 50 Hz or 60Hz, so you’re right on the mark. The manual also states:
“If the frame rate selected for recording is close to the power supply frequency, flicker may not be reduced sufficiently even if you activate the Flicker-Reduce function. In such cases, use the electronic shutter.”
This last statement is Sony’s disclaimer or “get-out-of-jail-free” card with regard to how well the function will………..function.
– Don
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[Nancy Yachnes] “If I shoot in SD after all, what should my AV and sequence settings in FCP be?”
The following recommendations apply if you live in NTSC Land. If you live in a PAL country then use the PAL versions:
DV NTSC 48K Anamorphic. If your project will end up with lots of graphics, then a higher quality codec such as DVCPRO 50 48K Anamorphic or Pro Rez would suit you better. The higher quality codecs won’t make your SD video look any better but the graphics will benefit.
– Don
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That’s good to hear, Tony. As long as things are working now you can get on with shooting. When you get home think seriously about wiping that startup drive and re-installing everything. I’ve used the transfer app v.2.5.1 for almost a year now and it’s never crashed, either as a stand alone app or from within FCP.
Good luck on your shoot.
– Don
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[Tony Gordon] “Do you have any experience with this App ???”
No experience with the Main Concept program.
Workflow:
Connect camera via USB then turn it on. When the EX asks if you want to connect via USB select “Execute.”
Card icon should then appear on the desktop. It looks like a disc image icon and will say “untitled” if you didn’t previously name the card.
Start the Sony Transfer Tool. It should find your card icon on the desktop almost immediately and the clip icons will begin to appear in the main window. If for some reason the Transfer app. doesn’t detect the desktop icon right away just navigate to it by using the “Add” button down at the bottom left of the Transfer Tool window.
Choose a destination folder using the preferences within the Transfer app. Highlight a clip by clicking on it and choose “Import” down at the bottom right of the window. The program will import the clip and turn it into a .mov file from the native .mp4 file.
That’s pretty much it.
I’m using Sony Transfer Tool v.2.5.1, Quicktime v.7.3.1, FCP v.6.0.2 and Mac OS v.10.4.11 on a dual core Mac Pro.
– Don
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Never seen that before, Tony. The latest version of Sony’s Transfer Tool app. is 2.7. I’m using v. 2.5.1 and it’s rock solid on my dual core 3 Ghz Mac Pro. Perhaps v.2.1 is trying to access a database created by a later version of Sony’s Transfer Tool app? When cards are imported by the Transfer Tool it creates a database for each card that can be accessed within the app itself. When you eject a card the data remains until you decide to remove that particular card’s info. Perhaps this is the database your warning prompt is referring to. Other than that I’m now out of ideas at the moment.
– Don