[George Creasman]

We use XDCAM HD here a lot…I’m sticking with XDCAM transfer for now (via PDW-U1), as you stated, it works. We are using the apple XDCAM HD and XDCAM HD422 codecs, 1080P… I do get an occasional audio drop out, but it is much better than when I tried the mxf files direct.

[George Creasman]

Anyone have a definitive solution for disappearing audio?? It is making editing impossible. Infuriating and disappointing.

Mac Pro mid 2010 OSX 10.7.4
2×2.93 6core Intel Xeon
24 gig Memory
Nvidia Quadro 4000

[George Creasman]

Yes you are correct, normal XDCAM preset produced a 4:3 ish image that was squeezed from the sides…the BMD 1920×1080 preset output a proper sized image.
I had the 9.5.2 driver installed (not 8), using footage exported directly from an XDCAM disc to my Hard drive, the files are .mxf…XDCAM HD 30P..29.97…when I went to the 9.5.0 driver it worked as expected in PrPro. Used a regular XDCAM HD sequence preset and it output properly. I used it all day with the only real issue being loss of audio on 1 clip for no reason, restarting Premiere fixed that.
Worked OK in After Effects too, except that the output could not quite keep real time when playing back a ram preview (same footage types).
Thanks for the interest and I’ll be watching for the next driver to try!
For what it’s worth we have BMD and AJA solutions in our facility and so far the BMD has been the less frustrating experience.

George

[George Creasman]

Peter,
I uninstalled the newest driver and then installed 9.5.0, it seems to be working well in the initial test.
I set up a quick multicam sequence as you asked and it was working fine also (4 XDCAM HD sources), output was clean and “almost” smooth.
Thanks for the suggestion!

George

[George Creasman]

Thanks for the suggestion, I’ll try the older driver on Moday. I’ll see if I can test the multicam, but it is a feature I never use, most of my footage comes from 1 or 2 cameras.
Strikes me as odd that the new drivers work fine (for my set up) in CS5, but not in CS6…also can’t believe they would not have CS6 on hand?!? No way to release drivers withou it.

[George Creasman]

Thanks for the quick reply! …we are currently using CS5 with no plans of changing anytime soon…I’d love to get my hands on a few seconds of XDCAM HD 422 native (mxf) footage before I recommend it though…it’s company money that will be spent, not mine. So far the native HD files have worked well for us in PP and AFX.

[George Creasman]

I feel your pain, please put in a feature request (I have) for working transfer modes that are just a right click away…I use FCP everyday at work, and would love to have this on my PPRO system at home…you can always go to after effects for this, but I agree it needs to be easily available in PPRO

[George Creasman]

Thanks for the response guys…you confirmed what I suspected

[George Creasman]

I doubt I will use my smooth shooter for weddings, maybe once in a while, I do mostly musical, corporate and industrial type videos, all of which usually require multiple takes of each scene…I can’t imagine using the GC4000 for very long (maybe 5-10 minutes) without the smooth shooter, my arm would fall off ( I am an old guy)! I have put in several hours of practice with my smooth shooter and am starting to see good results….overall it seems easier to use the GC4000 without the vest, but the weight and fatigue factors are a killer, and all the seasoned user agree on one thing to get good results…”just keep practicing”…”and practicing”…”and practicing”
Georgia you may want to consider keeping the vest and the arm unless you don’t plan on doing anything but weddings in the future, it could give you a competetive edge on some jobs. As far as an extender bar, I don’t think GC offers one, but I don’t think it would be too hard to make a longer bar to go inside the GC handle…within reason of course, no more than a foot.
I also hope the novelty of the moving camera doesn’t become too “old hat”, I see it as just another tool like a dolly or a crane, and I certainly don’t plan to overuse it in anything I shoot. To me it is juat another good way to help tell a story, and I admit it…it is fun to do!!…well gotta get back to it…practice, practice…practice!!

[George Creasman]

I’d like to hear more details, I just ordered a smooth shooter (with glidecam 4000) …are you using a monitor on the lower sled, or a flip out monitor on your camera? Which camera and GC unit did you use?