[Ian Cook]

Ok, good. I believe I mentioned in the long post on using L+T that both cards need to be mounted for files that cross cards to be fully import-able, but what I was expecting was that it would show with “incomplete” next to it, not “partial.”

In any case happy editing..

Cheers,

Ian

[Ian Cook]

Also…

Clip Browser will run on an Intel Machine running Tiger but the Log and Transfer plug-in requires Leopard or higher.

[Ian Cook]

Hi Michael,

You have a few choices for ingesting the material.

1) Sony Log and Transfer plug-in. Allows for import of both SD and HD using the Log and Transfer window. When an SxS card is inserted the window will automatically populate with your clips. If the clips are stored on a drive you can browse to them and add the folders containing your clips manually.

2) Sony XDCAM Transfer plug-in. When installed, this adds an “Import Sony XDCAM” command to FCP’s FILE menu. When you execute this command a separate plug-in browser opens up. As with L+T, the files sync up automatically if they are on a card; otherwise you can add the folder sources manually. This is the better option for a number of reasons. Imports are a background process, so they do not tie up FCP; you can switch back to FCP and begin editing as the clips come in. There is also vastly better logging and sub-clipping functionality.

3) There are also various plug-ins which allow for native file import of the mp4s. MP4-EX Import from Calibrated software is one. Cinemon from Sony is another. If you go this route the Calibrated plug-in would be the better choice as the price point on the Sony plug-in reflects a number of other features (most related to XDCAM optical formats that use MXF files) you will have no use for. Either plug-in allows you to drag MP4s directly into FCP.

If you are going to use the card slot on a laptop, you need an SxS driver. If you are ingesting from a USB device like the camera or a card reader, you do not need a driver.

As far as handling the data, you can use the Sony Clip Browser app to manage the cards and perform secure copies of the files. If you find yourself copying/handling the files manually, always place the root folder of the SxS card (labeled ‘BPAV’) into a parent folder and give that folder a unique name. BPAV and its subfolders should not be renamed or modified.

SxS Driver v 1.04 (Supports 10.4-10.6, 32/64 bit): https://www.servicesplus.sel.sony.com/sony-software.aspx

Log and Transfer plug-in v 1.20:
https://www.servicesplus.sel.sony.com/sony-software-model-PDZKLT1.aspx

XDCAM Transfer v 2.12:
https://www.servicesplus.sel.sony.com/sony-software-model-PDZKP1.aspx

Clip Browser 2.6:
https://www.servicesplus.sel.sony.com/sony-software-model-PDZKP1.aspx

There are also workflow docs and other resources at https://www.sony.com/xdcamex

Cheers,

Ian

Ian Cook
Sony Broadcast and Professional Company

[Ian Cook]

Hi Iain,

I just did some more tests with spanned files on a PMW-350 (we don’t currently have a 320 in our office but electronically the recorder sections are the same) and FCP 7.0.3 and both the long-file spans and the across-card spans are showing up correctly in L+T.

I will continue to investigate but wanted to confirm that the behavior you’re seeing is the same with both HD and SD..?

Thanks,

Ian

[Ian Cook]

We tested 7.0.3 this morning and so far all the improvements work as advertised. The SD support in Log and Transfer is an especially welcome addition. HD clips import with time code and the import time for LPCM-recorded clips is now the same as for Dolby-recorded clips.

One minor disappointment was the lack of time code support for SD files. These do get reset to 00:00:00:00 import.

Enjoy,

Ian

Ian Cook
Sony Broadcast and Professional Company

[Ian Cook]

Hi Iain,

Are you importing from cards or card images (i.e. stored BPAVs on your hard drive)? Can you also let us know the following:

Camera firmware version (Menu–>MA–>Version)
Type/Size of media (e.g. SanDisk Class X, 32 GB)
OS Version (e.g. 10.6.x)
Does issue happen also with SxS or SxS-Pro?

Thanks!

Ian

[Ian Cook]

Hi Bill,

In Premiere there was a patch that had to be issued from Adobe. The sped-up sounding audio continued through the whole clip. This happened when playing the mp4s natively (no re-wrap/transcode) within the application.

Have you tried reinstalling the plugin? Not exactly advanced troubleshooting, I am aware, but we should do it just to be sure. In the meantime I will do some checking on my system and see what else I can come up with..

Ian

[Ian Cook]

Hi Bill,

What camera were these clips shot with? I ask because we ran into a very similar symptom with Premiere Pro CS5 that seemed only to affect clips shot on the PMW-350.

Have you tried using XDCAM Transfer, if only to see if the behavior is the same? Or importing from local storage vs an SxS card? What type of media are you using (SxS, SxS-1, SD etc)?

The Sequence settings in FCP should have no bearing on what L+T imports or how it previews clips. I would first try (if you have not already) making sure you have all necessary FCP, QT and Pro App updates and then reinstalling v 1.02 of the plug-in. Do you have any other XDCAM-related QuickTime components installed on this Mac?

Kind regards,

Ian

Ian Cook
Sony Broadcast and Professional Company

[Ian Cook]

Hi Iain,

With clips that span cards you should be able to import them as one file via Log and Transfer. When both cards are mounted L+T should show only one clip with the word “spanned” next to it. If only one of the cards is mounted you should see the clip portion on that card with “Incomplete” next to it. Are you seeing separate entries for spanned clip portions on the same card?

File Spanning is part of how the format works. It allows EX to work with Fat32 storage, which has a 4 GB file size limit, and to record across multiple cards. When a recording nears 4 GB or crosses cards a .smi file is created. The .smi is what FCP uses to import the spanned files as one clip.

The image below shows both types of spanned clips. 0016_01 spans 2 media cards, Untitled and Untitled 1. If I were to suddenly yank ‘Untitled’ from the reader, ‘Untitled 1’ would show “0016_01 (Incomplete).” 0007_01 is a long record that’s made up of 2 .mp4s on the card but for which only one clip entry is shown L+T.

XDCAM Transfer unfortunately does not support SD files..

Please provide a bit more info on what you are seeing in L+T if it differs from what’s above and hopefully we can assist..

Cheers,

Ian

Ian Cook
Sony Broadcast and Professional Company

[Ian Cook]

Can you remove the Calibrated components completely, if only to test?

Are you running the Calibrated software in Demo mode? If so, that’s may be why you’re seeing white video with no audio. If not, it’s a codec resources conflict because you have the Apple codec and the plug-in codec trying to perform the same decoding.