Windows CS3 Workflow
 

Ok on the flipside of Mike Williams thread....This from a different post leads me to ask these questions:

"Its my understanding...
That if your doing any serious software based editing with Premiere pro in HD, then you really have to have Aspect HD installed. All the adobe people at the conference really push Aspect HD as if its there own product.

The only downside might be having to spend time to convert the files to the cineform codec as opposed to editing the XDCAM files nativly. But cineform codec is a good one.

Some how Vegas was able to have the aspect HD codec software engine - whatever - become a part of Vegas natively... is that right? Im not sure why Adobe cant do this, but perhaps there are licensing fees they don't want to pay -and it would make premiere more expensive... when anyone that needs it can just go buy it from Cine form as a plug in."

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What is the best Workflow for the Ex on a Windows PC Workstation or M90.

I was going to use my M90 for editing for now with CS3.

Was looking into getting updating to a Workstation Desktop next year with a new Matrox RT.X2 card then.

So if I add Cineform Prospect (can it do both SD and HD?)

Also whats the story with programs like CS3......Can and do many of you install it on both Desktop and Laptop?

I know the old "You cannot use both copies at once".
Was just not sure if you can still do it on the new CS3 or any program for that matter.

I think the most easy answer to all your questions is the Matrox Axio HD or LE...

I too have the same query as Aidan. So if I had to invest in Premiere 2.0 + Aspect HD + Matrox RT.X2 will I be able to edit XDCAM EX HD? So once I transfer the clips from the sxs cards what needs to be done until I can start editing on the timeline? Do I need to convert the clips? If so what will be the timings involved for say 1hr of footage assuming a quad core / 3Mhz cpu / 4 GB ram pc?

Robert you had suggested the Axio - but doesn't the Axio work with Premiere as well? So wouldn't we have the same problems? Or am I missing something?

And what about Sony Vegas 8 Pro? Is it a better alternative to Premiere? Does it need hardware for real time? And above all does it edit XDCAM EX HD?

These are the most important issues that need to be tackled now once I know that the camera seems to be a no-nonsense camera.

Can I ask why people are discussing Matrox Cards etc... is that for the SDI ingest only?

If I just want to edit 1920x1080 25p footage on a timeline in CS3 I can just insert the SxS card into a card reader and drag the footage into CS3 - right?

... right?

If I'm not interested in live capture, surely I don't need anything fancy??

I hope. Or am I just being naive?

Someday, yes. But not right away. Adobe has said that the new XDCAM-EX format is a very low priority for them, no support anytime soon.

That's not really new; they're just now getting around to launching P2 support, almost two years after the HVX hit the market.

EDIUS will support it probably quicker than anyone, and that should be a matter of plug in the card, drag the files to the timeline.

I'm sure the folks at Cineform will have something going much sooner than Adobe.

Right now, Prospect HD supports full 1920 x 1080 and they've been working with the HVX for quite some time.

Cineform a better deal than straight Adobe anyway as it's faster and is 'visually lossless' when it comes to recompression.

On the Edius Professional Users forum Mike from Grass Valley said he had one of these cameras sitting on his bench at IBC and I quote

"You can import the clips much like the XDCAM importer"

Here is a quote from SR, the site administrator at an edius support website, who is at IBC.

"Today I visited the Sony booth.
I played with the Sony xdcam ex camcorder.
According the Sony rep the camcorder will hit the stores in November.
Sony had a beta version of EDIUS in which there is support for the Sony XDCam EX format.
It works much like the xdcam select. There was a shortcut to Sony ex in edius. This opened a window where clips could be selected.
You can edit EX right of the cards or copy to disk.
It was real time and the footage looked good.

The Sony rep told me that EDIUS will have support for the XDCAM EX format upon the camcorder hitting the stores"

Cheers Vaughan

Briefly I have been using and demoing the following....

You can use the mainconcept MPEG PRO plugin with PPRO and it will edit EX material. I have been demoing this at IBC. It works pretty well. You use the Sony Clip Browser to import (drag and drop) the material in to PPro and can edit directly from the card or from material transfered to the Hard Drive.

Edius works very well again using the Sony Clip browser to import EX material. I think it is version 4.6 that you will need. This is a better implementation than Premiere.

Vegas works with EX but I will check whether we have the stock version of vegas 8 or a beta of a new build.

Avid Media Composer and EXpress pro can be used to edit 1440x1080 EX material once you have use the Sony Transfer software to convert the MP4 files to MXF.

FCP will work with EX via a new xdcam importer which will be available very soon.

Regarding the EX1 and PPro, I'm still trying to sort out my workflow options.

According to D.W. Leitner's review in Digital Content Producer (referenced above in a sticky) he states "Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0 reportedly already handles EX1’s MP4 files with aplomb—drop ‘n’ drag style".

By inference, it appears as though this can be accomplished out of the box, but I'm skeptical PPro can do this with "aplomb" without incorporating the Mainconcept MPEG Pro plug-in or one of Cineform's codecs. Anyone care to comment?

Alister, you say the Mainconcept plug-in works "pretty well". Can you provide any more details? Ease of use and retention of quality are obvious goals.

Now if I could just find this Aplomb software, I'd be all set ;)