Greg Ondera
1
COW Coin
Forum Replies Created
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Wow. I just got home and Don, I can’t believe how generous you are with the explanations. This has all been mapped out so many times before too, and seems to get redone each time someone asks this same set of questions. I think it is really negligent of Sony not to have a workflow mini-course posted on one of their sites and it goes to show you how much they don’t give a hoot when you even have to go to a Canadian Sony site to get the drivers and software. They want to sell cameras and they are missing marketing the experience and value.
So to answer your final question, yes you will be able to edit up those two formats on the same timeline, but I would plan out how you want it to behave first and use the 60P as the format to establish the timeline if you want to do slow mo tricks where the action slows and is well defined and not blurry. Otherwise test it and try both and see what you get.
Also I advocate Doug Jensen’s DVD series on XDCam work at Vortex <https://www.vortexmedia.com/DVD_EX3.html>. Again, the main key warning to this whole XDCam workflow thing is not to alter the folders and files within the BPAV folder and not to copy over a BPAV folder from a first card with a secondary card. Otherwise you loose your previous footage, so you send each BPAV folder to its own folder. Then you use XDCam Browser to transfer it to your external hard drive, and XDCam Transfer to turn it into something that FCP can read. Then again, Command I and navigate to the footage to bring it into FCP and then do your thing.
Greg Ondera
http://www.Plexus.tv
http://www.SurgeonToday.org -
Every now and then I see these kind of posts from video guys where they rent or borrow one of the EX cameras and I feel sorry for them, as they are sort of dashed against the rocks with the workflow thing. Also Sony has done a poor job of mapping put EX workflow, in my opinion.
There are two aps you have to use, Browser and Transfer to get EX footage into FCP and the one important precaution, not to overwrite a BPAV folder if you have spanned more than one card. And yes, you do need FCP6.
So create a folder for each BPAV folder and place them into a folder labeled “Card A,” “Card B,” and so forth, by using Bowser. Drag and drop each clip by selecting all clips and dragging them into these folders from the top windows to the bottom.
Then create a folder in Capture Scratch and using XDCam TRansfer import each of these “Card A” “Card B” and so forth into Transfer, then in preferences, choose where you want the transfer to go, that folder in Capture Scratch, and highlight all cards in the left hand column, all your work that you did, especially the cards that spanned to a second card and choose import all and wait. Then using command I import your capture scratch footage into FCP. That’s it and it is a breeze once you do it several times.
Greg Ondera
http://www.Plexus.tv
http://www.SurgeonToday.org -
It sounds to me like you would be making more work for yourself than if you were to capture an AIFF file in, say Audacity or even FCP, then edit up the voice first instead of trying to make it fit the video. Does your program have to be a definite length or can you fit to fill some of that video to fit the audio?
Greg Ondera
http://www.Plexus.tv
http://www.SurgeonToday.org -
To my understanding this is a Sony software update/Snow Leopard readiness problem, and I have heard they will not be rectifying it until late March, but vaguely remember this. Version 2.11 XDCam Transfer should allow you to at least do the deed with a lot of warnings. But it sounds like you are having trouble. This is why I won’t get Snow Leopard yet, because I have to for Sony.
An alternative is to us XDCam Browser for your ingests and then go to <https://www.calibratedsoftware.com/> and get the appropriate plug in so you can edit those clips directly in FCP without Transfer.
Greg Ondera
http://www.Plexus.tv
http://www.SurgeonToday.org -
I just saw one at the Snader show here in the Bay Area, and have to admit I liked several of the ergonomic features on it. However it does not have a swivel handle like the EX1, not that I use that too often. And the LCD looked like quite a step down from the EX1.
Greg Ondera
http://www.Plexus.tv
http://www.SurgeonToday.org -
I would consider wrapping a heating pad that can be plugged in around the lens to raise the temperature of the lens so it doesn’t fog in the the cold. This is a trick we use in surgery to heat the tip of the scope so that it won’t fog. Keeping it warm will keep it fogless when the environmental temperature is otherwise warmer than the lens. That way you won’t have to rub the lens so much.
Greg Ondera
http://www.Plexus.tv
http://www.SurgeonToday.org -
YouTube publishes a criteria for best codecs, so refer to that. I don’t know where it is offhand, but it is in there. Also if it is interlaced video make sure you deinterlace, but don’t deinterlace if it is progressive. Always do 2 pass, even though it takes longer. Go ahead and choose a high bit rate, because YouTube will lower it anyway.I always crush the blacks at about 20 but leave whites at 255.
So here is one of my menus for H.264:
VBR using Peak Rate with peak at 1200 and average at 600 kbit/s
Reference frames at 5 and keyframe distance at 300 frames
B-frames at 3
I encode highest quality at CABAC using 2-pass
4:2:2 color space or 4:2:0 if you use CAVLC or go with the scheme of your source
90 for encoding speed
1 slice and every keyframe is an IDR frame with initial buffer fullness at 100%
Black and White Restoration with Black 20, White 255
Always keep the same frame rate as the original and this is for a 480 x 360 4×3 aspect ratio. Widescreen is pretty much the same with a bitrate of 1440 for peak and average at 1200. I know that most pundits say keep the average rate half the peak rate, but YouTube will alter it anyway.Greg Ondera
http://www.Plexus.tv
http://www.SurgeonToday.org -
Mine too, but on top. I just slapped some gaffers tape around it, but the top screw seems compromised.
Greg Ondera
http://www.Plexus.tv
http://www.SurgeonToday.org -
You need to use the free Sony XDCam Transfer (not Browser) to get XDCam footage into Final Cut Pro <https://www.sony.ca/xdcamex/software.htm> or go to Convergent Designs and get the Calibrated Software plugin <https://www.calibratedsoftware.com/MP4EXImport_Mac.asp> for reading MFX files in FCP directly, which may be an advantage if you plane on using AE back and forth.
Greg Ondera
http://www.Plexus.tv
http://www.SurgeonToday.org