xdcam ex codec
 

Hello,

I'm sure this has been discussed many times before, but I wasn't able to find a satisfying answer to my particular problem:

I shot footage with my EX1 camera (720p, 24). Got on my Mac and used XDCAM Transfer to import the footage to my hard drive. When imported, I got .MOV files (insted of the .MP4). I can edit these on FCP without any problems. I do all of my work on Mac systems, and I've never had problems with EX1 clips before. However, this time I need to give the raw footage to my client so he can edit it himself. He uses a PC, and so far it's been impossible to make either After Effects or Sony Vegas recognize the .MOV files XDCAM Transfer gave me. AE and Vegas do recognize .MP4 clips, but the problem is I used XDCAM Transfer to import all the clips into my hard drive and it converted all of them to .MOV. I formatted the SXS card so now I don't have access to the original .MP4 clips. Any ideas on how to get AE or Sony Vegas to read the .MOV clips? You're help would be very appreciated.

I just took an .mov file I had ingested via XDCam Transfer and brought it into MPEG Streamclip, then exported it as an AVI from there. I imported that AVI into Sony Vegas and it worked fine.

You'll have to do them one at a time; but it's do-able.

The PC won't recognize the .mov files. They have to be transcoded. You might as well export them as pro-res from the Mac. This is one reason why we preach to preserve the original file structure in your backups. You can get to either platform from there with just a re-wrap and no transcoding.

Use the Free Sony Clip Browser instead of XDCAm Transfer in this case and export the clips as MXF files... Works great in Vegas and AE or just about any other NLE, I do this all the time via my Mac.

This is why you ALWAYS use ClipBrowser (with CRC ON) and back up the BPAV folders.
Going down a generation with another lossy encode is also wrong.

FCP can unwrap it back to MP4. No additional loss.
Sorry to point to another forum but here's a quick tutorial on that.
Final Cut Pro timeline to XDCAM EX MP4

Egads... the poor guy asked for help with a problem and three out of the four responses were lectures about what he SHOULD have done. What's up with that?

Tough room, huh?

;-)

Well, in re-reading the responses, each offered a solution to the current issue, and several offered advice on how to prevent it in the future. I hardly think that constitutes as a "lecture". Especially considering the longest response was exactly 4 sentences.

I want to thank all of you very much for helping me out. I used Craig's method and it worked like a charm. Starting today I will use Clip Browser instead of XDCAM Transfer, and I'll backup my stuff with the original files. Before this particular issue that came up, I was very happy editing transcoded .MOV files in FCP, but I've learned my lesson. By the way, is there a loss in quality when transcoding to .MOV? I've been editing like this ever since I got my EX1 camera and always thought there was no loss in quality. Was i right?

Again, thank you all so very much. Your input has been very useful for this, and for my future projects.


I should have thought about using MPEG Streamclip. Thanks for mentioning it, Charles. I'll keep it in mind for next time. Although I have to say that since I'm not too familiar editing .AVI files, I rather stick with QuickTime.

That did it. Thank you so much.

This was going to be plan B after Craig's suggestion.

I tried using Clip Browser to see if i could convert the .MOV files to .MXF, but curiously enough, CB wouldn't read the .MOV clips. Did I get you right? or were you referring to future projects?


Kind regards,
Fernando

Since there are NLEs that use either the EX MP4, MXF, MOV, keeping the BPAV allows one to hand sources to anyone. The FCP trick means you can even hand edited sequences to someone.

Re-wraps are lossless. ClipBrowser can re-wrap to MXF. XDCAM Transfer re-wraps to MOV. No loss in either.

Calibrated Software has a neat set of plugins for around $80 each that are XDCAM and EX specific. You can use the MP4 directly in FCP. No need to re-wrap to MOV. They also have a plug-in so that you can use the MOV in non FCP systems (Mac and Windows) so if backed into a corner buying that plugin would allow the client to use the MOV.

XDCAM EX MP4 in Mac
Calibrated{Q} MP4-EX Import for OSX

XDCAM EX MOV in Windows and non FCP Macs
Calibrated{Q} XD Decode

Thanks so much for the explanation, Craig. I'll definitely look into those plug-ins. I wasn't aware they existed, but now they seem like a viable option. You've been very helpful, and I appreciate that very much. Have a good one.

Those Calibrated Software plugins are a bargain considering what you gain.

If you're a Final Cut Pro user:
You no longer need XDCAM Transfer
Alternative you no longer need to use Log & Transfer
You save time by avoiding the re-wrap to MOV
You save hard drive space since you don't need have an MOV copy at all.
The clips work just like MOVs complete with matching time code, etc.

If you do have MOVs (whether EX camera or EX edit masters) it might be more efficient to buy the plugin for your client than having to find a way to convert all your files. Your client doesn't even need an NLE. Their EX MOV plugin works inside Quicktime.

If you don't have FCP you need both the MP4 plugin and XD-Decode to play back MP4's, plus you do have to drill down through the folder structure to get to each individual MP4 file.

It's easy enough to do a search and pull all the MP4s out.

With FCP I've also found it easy to import the whole mess and then do a search in FCP and delete the whole mess except for the MP4. I should probably post it as a video tutorial.

Would like to see that.
 

I downloaded the trial version of the Calibrated Software based on this thread. It's nice to use the MP4s on the timeline and not having the wasted space for the .mov's. But I'm still figuring out the naming. And having to search for each clip is a potential dealbreaker. I have a summers worth of BAVs on my harddrive that are numbered not named. Any tips to sort throught them would be appreciated.

I could name them in XDCam transfer - which I don't use at all - and then move them. But that's not much of a time saver vs. using L&T.

I wish someone would get all these pieces of software together and create one that had more seamless transfer and naming options.