[Emile Wamsteker]

The customize button is grayed out–can’t click on it.

[Emile Wamsteker]

Many thanks to everyone for the valuable feedback.

I took Noah and Rafael’s advice and converted to Pro Res. I forgot to mention that I am running an esata connected RAID 0 which helps. I guess I underestimated the power of my set up. Images look great, and everything is running smoothly.

Cheers.

[Emile Wamsteker]

Hi Noah,

Thanks for the feedback.

I was trying to avoid the ProRes route. I’ve heard many good things about the format, although I don’t know if my machine is up to the task. I have a MacPro 2.4GHZ Quadcore 8GB RAM.

I hear the ProRes files are huge and slow. The upside is you’re getting the best quality, I know that. I suppose I should run some tests to see how my machine does with ProRes files.

In any case, is there a way to convert the h264 file directly into the Sony XDCAM format to avoid double compression?

When you say “double compression”, I take it you mean that I am compressing once from H264 to Apple XDCAM and a second time when I plop it into the timeline which is set to run Sony XDCAM files. Correct me if I’m wrong.

Going directly into the Sony XDCAM format, instead of the Apple format, would eliminate at least one generation of compression. Again, the problem is MPEG Streamclip doesn’t allow for that. Does compressor? Perhaps I could do it through XDCAM Transfer?

Thanks again for your help.

[Emile Wamsteker]

Thanks Bob, and Michael,

This confirms what I thought, but needed reassurance from seasoned pros like you.

I’ve since run tests, and to my untrained video eye, I see no loss in quality when zooming into the subject using the EX-1 onboard zoom.

Thanks again for your comments.

Cheers,

-Emile