good system for XDCAM HD?
 

Will my current computer import, edit and export XDCAM HD footage nicely?

Dual XEON DP 3.2GHz, 2MB Cache, 800MHz FSB
NVIDIA Quadro FX 540 Pro Video Edition
2GB RAM

Most definitely if you are working in the XDCAM format. 35mbs data rate should barely break a sweat on those system specs. If you want to capture uncompressed via HDSDI, then of course you would need a fast disk array but your CPU is plenty fast for editing at least a couple streams of XDCAM HD @35mbs.

Part of the equation is the NLE software. Some are just more efficient than others when it comes to realtime editing performance.

-gb-

excellent!! i'm using sony vegas...

You're going to enjoy working with XDCAM and Vegas. With the release of version 7, the integration is top notch.

-gb-

Any word if the next version of Premiere pro will support the XDCAM native format?

I've built a similar system in hopes of editing my XDCAM stuff without capturing and have used Premiere Pro for a long time because of it's seamless integration with After Effects and Photoshop. I'm willing to give Vegas a try, but it's the workflow of the Adobe stuff I like so much.

MainConcept plug-in
 

The world's biggest codec company MainConcept has released one of the word's most marginal plug-ins for Premiere that does enable native 35 Mb/sec XDCAM HD ingest and editing. MainConcept also makes the codec used in Vegas and even FCP I believe. It has some great design features and much potential -- sadly yet unrealized.

The plug-in is pricey and in version 2.0.1 is getting a little closer to acceptable, but is pure hell compared to working with the Cineform intermediate (HDV only). But I don't doubt that a point release or two down the road it will work very well.

I wish that Cineform would upgrade Aspect HD to ingest the 35 Mb/sec, but that will never be. What might someday work for 35 Mb/s is their significantly more expensive (but 10-bit) Prospect HD.

Tip

I have downloaded a trial version of MainConcept plug-in, and it failed my expectations miserably, especially, since... it would crash repeatedly after importing 40+ clips of XDCAM footage that I had on my HDD.

Each clip took about 20-30 MBs of available RAM. When the total RAM usage reached 2 GB (on a 3 GB system), Premiere crashed.

I was not able to import all the clips I had, and I believe that 40 is not too much to ask, is it? The clips themselves were OK, I could edit them in Edius or Vegas.

So for me - thumbs down for MainConcept. As much as I love Premiere, the lack of its support for XDCAM is a reason for me to consider switching to Edius or some other NLE.

Edius
 

Edius 4 Broadcast version supports native XDCAM HD very nicely as well.
I think you can dl a free trial from the canopus website.

For XDCAM HD we recommend one of two solutions:

Sony Vegas 7 or Grass Valley Edius Broadcast.

Both handle the footage very well. I would say that Vegas is the better editing program, Edius is the more powerful when it comes to handling mixed resolutions and HD footage.

Gary