New XDCAM FCP transfer tool
 

PDZK-P1 : XDCAM Transfer Tool for Apple Final Cut Pro v2.7.0

http://www.sony.co.uk/biz/view/ShowC...BC+Tools+XDCAM

* Requires Apple Final Cut Pro v6.0.3

New features are :
Support for native import/export of XDCAM HD 422 50Mbps format
Support for MXF import of XDCAM EX files created in Sony Clip Browser

And it's STILL NOT up at the Sony USA site
https://servicesplus.us.sony.biz/son...el-PDZKP1.aspx

But when will the fix the issues with the Clip Browser?

I posted on the XDCAM HD forum about that. It will be there in a couple days. I got my copy today.

-gb-

It's up at Sony USA site this morning.

https://servicesplus.us.sony.biz/Sof...eDownload.aspx

Is this update needed if we only use an EX1?

Scott K.

It's not clear how it helps the EX1 specifically but I've already heard it helps some file sorting issues.

Excuse my stupidy here but what the point of this software? I just go "file, import, Sony XDcam," and bring in all my footage to FCP that way.

What is this software for?

Steve

When you go ' "file, import, Sony XDcam," and bring in all my footage to FCP that way, ' what you are in fact doing is asking FCP to bring up this Sony Xfr Tool to do the actual work of importing.

In other words, the Sony XDCam Transfer tool acts as a plug in for FCP to use for XDCam import.

You can also use the Transfer Tool independently, but mainly on the Mac this is the way most people use it.

HTH
Cheers
Chris

Thanks Chris had a feeling that was the way it worked but if you click on it it opens up as a standalone as well, hence the confusion I had with it.

Cheers
Steve

Can somebody point me to the best thread to explain the BPAV folder workflow? I'm getting lost (confused) about when to use the XDCAM EX Clip Browser or the XDCAM Transfer program when I want to bring files into FCP. I'm finding it real difficult to open BPAV's that I've copied onto external HD's.

If you've got copies of the BPAV folders on your hard drive then you just connect that drive to your FCP system first. Then start FCP, make a new project and choose "Import Sony XDCAM" from the file menu. This will start the Sony Transfer Tool. Within that program click the Add button down on the bottom left. Navigate to your first BPAV folder and choose "Import".

Make sure that each of your BPAV folders resides inside another folder. The folder that contains the BPAV folder is the one to open, not the actual BPAV folder. The actual BPAV folder will be greyed out. You don't need to highlight that, but the fact that it appears in the Sony Transfer window means that the program can see it. The Transfer Tool will import the contents of the BPAV folder, transcode the EX .mp4 files to .mov files and deposit them into FCP's Browser window. If you have multiple BPAV folders you can Cmd-click all of them after you've navigated to them all and choose to import everything at once.

Don't ever change the folder name of ANY of the BPAV folders (e.g. BPAV-1, BPAV-2 etc) because the Sony Transfer Tool will NOT see them. This is a very common mistake by first time users. If you have multiple BPAV folders on the same hard drive you must put them in separate folders that are named whatever you like, such as EX Shoot card 01, and so on. If you try to put multiple BPAV folders into a single folder on your hard drive the first BPAV folder will be over-written because they have the same name, so don't do that either.

Happy editing.

- Don

Just to expand a bit on Don's excellent advice... don't be trying to manipulate individual files in those BPAV folders either. Always use the clip browser or transfer software. All of those non-MP4 files and sub folders are critical in nature. The FAT 32 format means clips greater than 4 gb have to be split into multiple segments. It's those additional files that give the Sony software a roadmap for reconstruction.

Another good suggestion that came up in our local FCP meeting was to use OSX Disk Utility to make a DMG image file backup of your EX card. This apparently invokes some additional error checking in the creation process vs. a straight copy to a folder on your HD so that your data is safer. Give your DMG a unique volume label identifier and you're good to go.


-gb-

When Clip Browser 1.5 comes out it'll be able to handle "orphaned" MP4 files. It'll be able to create a BPAV folder.

The current Clip Browser is SUPPOSED to do that but there's a bug. If you read the Clip Browser manual it mentions importing MP4 files and it does create a BPAV folder but it's not a functional BPAV folder though.

WITHIN the Clip Browser, when the bug is fixed, you will be able to move files individually and it'll create BPAV folder. To put it another way, you'd be able to create "selects" from your shoot and make a new BPAV folder of just those selects to give to a client or whatever.

Thanks so much for the guidance, guys. I guess I've hosed these files up somehow because I'm getting an error message when I try to import them into FCP 6.0.3. Also, I've somehow lost the audio track for this clip as well! And, I'm not sure if it will show or not, but I kept in a small part of my friend's black hat which has the IR problems and shot as a dark brown. I'm sure when my EX1 gets back from Sony Service that the sun will shine again and the birds will sing, but I can't seem to win this week! ;-)