[Mitch Lewis]

Making a blu-ray disc using FCP and Toast 10 couldn’t be easier.

1) Just export your sequence using the Quicktime codec of your choice (I would recommend either ProRes or ProRes HQ)
2) Launch Toast and select Video>Blu-ray Video
3) Drag the exported seq into the Toast window
4) Burn the disc

NOTE: You don’t need a blu-ray burner or blu-ray media to make blu-ray discs. No kidding. Just use a regular DVD burner and a DVD-R and you can burn 20-30 minutes of video on to the disc. You will need a blu-ray player though to view it.

https://www.macvideo.tv/dvd-authoring/features/index.cfm?articleId=112361&pagType=samecat

Sony EX3, Letus Ultimate, Nikon lenses, Sachtler tripod
20 years as a videographer/editor – HD and 35mm adaptor newbie
Experienced with Apple products, Final Cut Studio, Adobe Creative Suite, MOTU Digital Performer, Flip4Mac, etc…

[Mitch Lewis]

Don’s process is the same as mine. Clip Browser for transferring the files to hard drive for archiving. But then I point XDCAM Transfer to that same hard drive where it unwraps the clips and saves them on our editing system RAID. So the clips end up residing in three places:

1) The portable hard drive that Clip Browser transfered to
2) The RAID that XDCAM Transfer unwrapped them to
3) The drive we use to backup our RAID (using Apple Time Machine)

Sony EX3, Letus Ultimate, Nikon lenses, Sachtler tripod
20 years as a videographer/editor – HD and 35mm adaptor newbie
Experienced with Apple products, Final Cut Studio, Adobe Creative Suite, MOTU Digital Performer, Flip4Mac, etc…

[Mitch Lewis]

You can delete all the clips off your SxS card using Clip Browser. Then you could use the workflow you’re suggesting.

1) Start shooting on Card-A
2) Card-A fills up and camera switches to Card-B
3) Remove Card-A and insert into MBP
4) Transfer all clips from Card-A to your hard drive using Clip Browser (with CRC turned on)
5) Delete all files from SxS card using Clip Browser
6) Put Card-A back into camera
7) When Card-B fills up camera automatically switches to Card-A
8) Repeat steps 3 thru 6 using Card-B

NOTE: Using the Clip Browser software, if you copy all your clips from both cards into the same folder on your hard drive, Clip Browser will join any clips that spanned 2 or more cards. You’ll end up with one long clip instead of two (or more) clips. I used this technique to record nonstop for 7 hours. I had a helper transferring the clips to a hard drive so I could continue shooting. (it was a long day!)

Sony EX3, Letus Ultimate, Nikon lenses, Sachtler tripod
20 years as a videographer/editor – HD and 35mm adaptor newbie
Experienced with Apple products, Final Cut Studio, Adobe Creative Suite, MOTU Digital Performer, Flip4Mac, etc…

[Mitch Lewis]

Thank you very much Kevin for the detailed reply. I’m printing out this thread and will try your suggestions immediately. I’ll let you know what I find. Thanks!

[Mitch Lewis]

Here is our workflow Brian. We use Apple Final Cut Pro.

1) Plug camera into computer via USB (or use Express Card adaptor if you have one)
2) Plug in your portable hard drive for archiving
3) Launch XDCAM EX Clip Browser
4) In the Clip Browser software, set up two windows; one window shows your SxS card contents, the other window shows the root level of your portable hard drive
5) In the Clip Browser software, create a new folder on your hard drive and label it appropriately
6) In the Clip Browser software, select all your clips and drag them from your SxS card window into your newly created folder on your portable hard drive.
7) Eject your SxS card and insert another one if necessary, then repeat step 6, dragging all the additional clips into the same folder on your portable hard drive. This will also automatically link any clips that have spanned two SxS cards.
8) Launch the XDCAM Transfer Software
9) Click the Add button at the bottom and navigate to the folder you created in step 5
10) Thumbnails of all your clips should now appear
11) One by one, select each clip (or a group of clips) and name them. You do this by clicking on the Information tab, and then naming them within the Clip window (not the Source window). You can name one clip at a time or select a group of clips and name them all the same thing. If you choose the latter, a consecutive number will be assigned at the end of each name.
12) You can also mark and IN/OUT for a clip, shortening it’s length. This creates a Subclip and can sae you storage space if you don’t need to import an entire clip (you only need part of it).
13) (This is the part I think is poorly designed) Go to the XDCAM Transfer Preferences and click on the Import tab.
14) Under “Import Location” click the Browse button and navigate where you want your clips to be stored (like on a RAID or other fast hard drive….not your portable drive, it’s probably not fast enough)
15) Finally, select all your clips (command+A) and click on Import button at the bottom right of the screen.
16) After a few minutes all your clips will be converted into proper MOV clips ready to edit in Final Cut Pro or another Apple based editing program. (iMovie, Premiere, etc…)

[Mitch Lewis]

I’m having a similar problem with Shine. I’ve trouble shot it a bit. It will render in AfterEffects if I render using progressive. But whenever I try to render interlaced, it won’t render.

I’m going to do some more testing to see if I can narrow this down further.

[Mitch Lewis]

Trash your preferances? (worth a try)

[Mitch Lewis]

Blurry/shaky video is usually caused by a miss match in your video codec. For example:

AE is set to 29.97frames per second / Low Field First
Output Device (Final Cut Pro or Avid or Premire or ???) is set to 30 frames per second / Upper Field First

There can also be problems if the composition size in AE doesn’t match your Output Device.

DV Codec = 720 x 480 non-square pixels, lower field first, 29.97 frames per second

I’ve rendered a movie by accident at 640×480 and it’s looked “blurry”. It’s also a very common problem to have your field dominance wrong (upper field first/lower field first)

[Mitch Lewis]

Hopefully mine will arrive this week (Dec. 19-23). Just in time for Christmas. I’m upgrading from a 1Ghz DP Quicksilver. Sounds like I’m in for a treat! I ordered mine with 4GB of RAM and the GeForce 7800 GT graphics card. I’m hoping that it will make AE scream!

I’m also looking forward to burning DVD’s at better than 1x speed. And we ordered a 30 Cinema display for it as well. Pretty great corporate Christmas present eh? (hopefully I don’t have any problems with it)