[Steve Knattress]

try https://www.rawmaterialsoftware.com/ppm.php there is a free demo , has many different settings.

It is on the audio input, you need to re-direct fcp output to it using the free soundflower application.

Steve.

[Steve Knattress]

Hi Mark, thanks for your input.

2.5X RT isn’t fast enough for you? Geez. You must be too young to have worked with linear tape!

Not that young, I started on VR2000, over 30 years ago! (2 inch days of edivue and the microscope.)
I am used to tape offline-online editing as well as broadcast avid fcp work.
I have not however previously used FAM ingest from XDcam so was unaware of what speeds to expect.

[steve knattress] “Every one tells me that this should be quicker! ”

Who is “everyone” and what are their qualifications?

I think you’re confused between “proxy” ingest and full rez ingest. Yes, proxies load much quicker.
And NO, you can’t edit with them in FCP without transcoding them to a FCP friendly format.

The production team and cameraman were saying they had seen it faster!.
It turns out that they had been viewing short clips, not the 20min plus continuous race clips that I was importing.
It is mentioned in the 1500 manual that due to dual optical heads the theoretical speed with dvcam was 5x, but I am now satisfied that the 2.5x was what “every” one else gets!

I know the proxy files import at about 50x, and very good they were to, via the sony software to preview the rushes.
The proxy files can be exported from the sony software as mp4 files with 8Khz audio from the proxy cache, and carefully re-named to match the xdcam files.
As you state the nine+ camera angles would then have to converted into a FCP friendly format for multi clip editing.
I believe also that if I were to try to batch ingest, after the “offline” the clips need to be imported in their entirety. ( ie a 5 sec shot used in a 1 hour clip would need all of the clip to be ingested?
Unless I decompose the offline sequence and real time video digitize the sub-clips from over 20 xdcam discs (using the 1500 in RS422 video mode.)
The avid ability to automatically, via a menu item, to “make hi-res” would appear to be simpler, but just as time consuming.
If all the continuous running cameras were used at least once, all the camera clips would still have to be ingested I believe?

We use multiple PDW-U1’s in “FAM” to ingest mountains of media. Did you know that you can runTWO pdw-u1’s on the same computer… simultaneously? You can buy several PDW-u1’s for the cost of one 1500 and be able to bring in multiple streams of media simultaneously.

Thanks for the information about the capabilities of the PDW-U1s. Are they faster than a 1500 at FAM or the same? (1.5 xdcam, 2.5x dvcam from xdcam?)
I assume that I can use 2 usb ports for this on a MBP simultaneously, or do I need a hub?
Do I need two copies of the sony xdcam transfer software running or will one copy cope with two xdcam drives?

Meanwhile, either suck it up at 2.5X or figure out the “proxie” to on-line workflow for FCP.

Perhaps I should have said to “easily” use the proxies!
I don’t believe the time constraints on this programme would helped by a proxy workflow…
ingest then edit, or edit from proxies then ingest ?
…unless any one know better…?

Thanks again Steve

[Steve Knattress]

I recently did a job on location where I ran multi-cam of dvcam footage ingested from xdcam optical discs using a 2.6GHz MBP and a G-raid2 FW800 disc drive. (run from an express34 FW800 card)

I managed 9 cameras (plus a couple of intermittent record cameras) without problem.

In fact I could ingest using FAM on the internal FW400 bus at the same time, this did however get a bit jittery! Each time a clip completed the FCP time line stopped whilst the .xml file was written to FCP.