mp4/mxf playback without fcP.
 

any suggestions here? looking to delay the $1200 additional outlay just now. i found a plug-in for QT called CalibratedMXFQStat, but haven't managed to make it play back mxf or mp4 just yet.

thanks in advance....

Michael

Not 100% sure what you mean, but if you just want to view your footage the VLC player is quite good.
It´s a free media player available here VLC media player - Open Source Multimedia Framework and Player
It plays the Ex footage right out of the folders.
You can also set it to be the default player for mp4 clips.
I always include that when I handle footage to clients that don´t do editing

thanks Joachim. sorry for being unclear, but you've answered my question. i just want to be able to view and verify the files i've downloaded.

i have FCE, but don't want to pony up for FCP just now. it seems pretty screwy to me that QT on its own won't handle mp4 or mxf. it seems even screwier that FCE+QT won't, but oh well.

thanks again.

The Sony XDCAM codecs are part of the Final Cut Studio Install. They are not standard quicktime codecs which is why you need FCP 6 or higher or an alternate player. Another option is to install calibrated-Q's XD decode codecs which will allow playback in quicktime player without FCP.

I did a little test on a bare bones, low end Mac - never seen FCP, etc - and of course XDCAM Transfer didn't work.

However, Sony Clip Browser worked just fine:

Sony | Micro Site - XDCAM EX

It's free and there's versions for Mac & PC.

BTW, when I say 'just fine' which means WinXP in Parallels on my MacBook Pro, I then tried it out on a £300 Dell Mini-9 Hackintosh and yes: you could watch clips and do stuff. Just. But it felt like having four rugby players hitching a ride in your mini.

Update: It's also available from the UK Sony website:

http://support.sonybiz.net/software/...F&model=XDZ-P1

But for Mac users, that URL seems to only work with FireFox, not Safari. Qu'elle Suprise!

hence the obstacle, and the phrasing of the question in my original post.

i tried that, it looked to be the perfect solution. however i was unable to make it work. i got it to open a file that i had exported with clipbrowser as an "mxf for nle." however the file was blank (like a slug) when played in QT.

thanks Matt. i'm using clipbrowser on a fairly substantial new 17" macbook pro. i plan on purchasing fcp further down the road, but presently i'm making due with fce.

having said that, i'm a little surprised with the the apparent picture quality viewing the ex3 footage on my high res screen. the picture looks pretty noisey.

Agreed. It is rubbish. I tried dipping into Preferences, hit the PLAY tab, selected MPEG HD over Proxy. Nope. Tried different resolutions. Nope. It's that cheese grater look that means the software is cutting corners on putting the shots on screen. If you export the XDCAM HD footage as Raw DV, it looks miles better.

Having said that, Clip Browser doesn't take much of a PC (or Mac) to run.

I think it's aimed as a producer's tool or just something to give to somebody to log rushes. I bet the Marketing Department at Sony had some say in this matter too.

PS: Try exporting some of your clips as Raw DV and editing them in FCE. You may be somewhat pleasantly surprised. You may need to take clips into QuickTime Player, hit Command-J, select the "DV - PAL" or "DV - NTSC" line, click the "Visual Settings" tab, uncheck "preserve aspect ratio", then enter 1024x576 (PAL) or 853x480 (NTSC). Or if FCE allows it, set your newly encoded and imported Raw DV file to be 'Anamorphic 16:9'. Either way, that may get you editing EX1 rushes in FCE.

unfortunately final cut *express* will not support xdcam footage. :(

I'm not sure what you have installed of our plugins but to playback MXF XDCAM files in QuickTime Player with our plugins on Mac computers without FCP or Windows computers, you need to install both Calibrated{Q} MXF Import and Calibrated{Q} XD Decode.

Cheers,
Greg

Calibrated Software

thank you Greg. that must be the problem. i'll go look for 'XD right now.

I was thinking of cutting the Raw DV files from Clip Browser in FCE, not the XDCAM files.

well, that works. oddly, the raw dv looks about the same as QT (and VLC, etc) playback of the mp4 or mxf.

which is to say, not very impressive. i have to assume that working with the files at full res in FCP doesn't compromise the picture quality in the same way.

Absolutely not. XDCAM-EX in FCP = wonderful. You may particularly enjoy 720p25 mode.

Time to upgrade.

BTW, I do hope you're going through the full process of bringing in Raw DV, editing it, then exporting it to QT, then judging it from there? Maybe even burning a DVD? Or at least not making the mistake of taking the FCP view of things on your internal monitor as being the final quality? The downconvert of Clip Browser isn't that bad, and on my system looks far better than the previews I was getting from Clip Browser. Please note that I ususally use XDCAM Transfer because Clip Browser is so fiddly. If you're Mac based with an EX1 in your workflow, you shouldn't be messing with FCE. Clip Browser is for Producers.

On Mac Clip Browser and XDCAM Transfer serve two different purposes.
Clip Browser to copy BPAV and Split or Combine BPAV for archive.
It can also export to other codecs (some need MainConcept plugins).

XDCAM Transfer is to wrap files in MOV. Subclipping if desired. Probably better logging feature than ClipBrowser as well although I don't log until in FCP myself.