Don Greening
Forum Replies Created
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[Glenn Hodgins] “My drive was about half full so don’t get why it was consistently freezing…”
Sometimes during a print to video session you’ll run into problems if you’ve got a lot of audio tracks in the sequence. Using the audio mixdown command with FCP usually solves it. Assuming that’s what your issue was, exporting a self contained movie and importing that works just as well but just takes more time.
– Don
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[Clay Porter] “Basically, I am just trying to weigh my options and see what timeline I should use. “
Just use the 60p timeline if that’s the vast majority of your footage. You can create any old timeline in FCP 6 and when you drag a 60p clip into it FCP will ask you if you want to change the sequence settings to match the clip settings. Just say yes. Any other video format after that will automatically be conformed for that timeline. Dirt simple.
[Clay Porter] “Is it that uncommon to have a project that contains both 30p and 60p footage? “
It’s not uncommon at all and I do this all the time. Most of my footage is 1080p 30 and I just drag the 720p stuff right in and it generally re-scales to fit. Remember that the EX 1080 stuff is square pixels and the 720p stuff is anamorphic. Doesn’t matter if it’s over/under cranked or straight 60p: It’s all anamorphic. Most of the time FCP gets it right and scales everything to fit the sequence settings. The odd time it doesn’t it’s just a simple matter of changing the scale parameters for that one piece. If you have more of the same that didn’t scale properly you can copy that clip’s attributes and then paste them on to all the other clips.
Hope this helps.
– Don
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[Stephen Schott] “but the BPAV folders do not have .mov files. Do they?”
That’s correct. The BPAV folder contains .mp4 files. It’s the process of transferring the .mp4 files from the card to computer using the Sony Transfer Tool that converts the files to .mov. It’s been my understanding that most people will do it this way because they want to edit their project right after the transfer process. Afterwards, the .mov files are simply transferred to another type of storage for archiving purposes.
Wanting to archive the actual BPAV folder is a sound idea if you want to leave the option open to edit on both Mac and Windows platforms down the road. I this case you would use Sony’s Clip Browser to archive to dual layer DVD or XDCAM Disc. Although I haven’t used this method it’s my understanding that the entire BPAV folder is transferred but, in the case of DL DVD-R, the program will split the folder into equal parts for the dual layer spec. When it’s time to retrieve your BPAV folder, I think, although I’m not sure, that the Clip Browser will transfer everything back to a single BPAV folder that you then use with the Sony Transfer app. to convert the .mp4 files to .mov.
– Don
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[Stephen Schott] ” Do you have to then put everything back onto a SxS card, then re-import using the transfer method so it is wrapped in an .mov file?”
I would suspect that the archived DVD dual layer media is already in the EX .mov format. Then it’s just a simple matter of copying the files back to your editing suite. No SxS Pro memory cards needed.
– Don
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Bill,
Thanks for taking the time to post your findings. I’d like to forward your info on to the tech guy I know at Sony Canada, as he is looking for clues and user reports regarding this issue. Your info may help to narrow things down a bit.
– Don
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[John Berardi] “Thank you for your replies – assuming you reply…”
We always try to answer your questions here. You’re talking about being able to offload the card media direct to a hard drive. You can buy somethng like a FireStore drive and hook that up to the EX via the firewire port but you’ll only be able to record HDV to the drive. These drives are not cheap, either.
You need software in order to record direct or offload (after the fact) to any hard drive. If you want to shoot in the HQ mode and record that to something at the same time you can use the SDI port but again, you need something with an SDI connection. Think expensive. There are many ways available right now to do this but you don’t want to spend the money. I don’t blame you.
Your best bet is to buy a 15″ Macbook Pro with an Express34 slot and a highly reliable and portable hard drive that is powered by the laptop’s FW port. Then you can shoot all day with 2 16Gbyte cards. You can probably get a laptop/ext. hard drive setup that’s less money than 2 of those cards.
– Don
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[John Berardi] “Should I splurge another couple g’s for true HD?”
HDV is generally accepted as being true HD. 1440×1080 is an anamorphic format, meaning that when it’s brought into your editing program the image will expand to fill the 1920×1080 frame. This is done because it takes less information to record a 1440×1080 anamorphic image than it does a 1920×1080 square pixel image. The EX image will have more detail because it’s using more pixels, but most viewers probably wouldn’t notice the difference unless the same picture was playing side by side.
Another issue with HDV is that the picture is recorded at a constant bit rate or CBR, so there are times when the codec won’t be able to keep up with abrupt scene changes. This is called “breaking the codec.” The EX codec records at a variable bit rate or VBR which means there will be more bits assigned to areas of abrupt scene changes or fast action. I haven’t been able to break the EX codec yet.
Your choice of buying an HDV camera or the EX depends on what you want to shoot. If you’re just doing talking head interviews or weddings etc. then HDV would probably be just fine. With the EX there’s no tape transport to go out of adjustment or wear out. No more picture glitches or tape drop outs.
There’s a substantial low light advantage with the EX and its 1/2″ CMOS chips compared to any of the 1/3″ HDV cameras. More shallow depth of field as well.
[John Berardi] “The card unloading is an issue of mine too but I’ll save that for another post.”
The workflow is dirt simple. It’s just that you’re archiving to a hard drive, XDCAM disc or dual layer DVD-R instead of tape.
[John Berardi] “Is HDV a format that is going to just get squeezed out of the picture now that true HD, tapeless cameras, are small and affordable.”
I think HDV is here to stay for awhile. Consumers like having an HD palmcorder that shoots to tape just like their old standard def. Mini DV cameras.
– Don
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[Peter Hitchcock] “Hopeful that could be in the Sony EX1/3 Manual next time.”
Agreed, but I’m wondering if Sony is even aware that this is happening.
– Don
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Hi Peter,
I just had a look at your sample and yep, I’m seeing the same effect with mine but only when I first turn the camera on. For me, when this does happen (and it’s not all the time) it’s under all kinds of different shooting and lighting situations. Whether it’s a CMOS thing or a signal processing thing I don’t have a clue, but what’s important to me me is that it goes away once the camera’s warmed up. Takes about a minute for that to happen.
– Don
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Bob and Jeremy,
You’re not alone. I had the problem on my original EX1 and still have it, though not as obvious, on my replacement. So far there has been no joy with getting an answer from my particular Sony repair facility. The tech I deal with there knows about my audio issues but has yet to hear about a fix from the head office here in Canada.
There’s an “electronic chirping” sound present if the levels are set to anything approaching normal volume for recording purposes with 3rd party mics and no amount of fiddling with the sensitivity levels gets rid of it entirely. I’ve taken my EX to other local camera stores I deal with and they have no idea what’s wrong. One day we tried about 7 or 8 different mics with the same result. Even this particular store’s rental EX had the same issue, much to their surprise.
– Don