ClipBrowser to Premiere workflow
 

The slowdown that I am facing when using ClipBrowser and Premiere is that when I find clip I need, I can`t just drag and drop to Premiere
I need to remember title number of clip and find it with Premiere media browser every time
Importing all clips to premiere bin isn`t good because I have a lot of clips I don`t need

What is your way to get the clips in Premiere?

I am using Premiere CS5 and ClipBrowser 2.6

I just drag the entire session onto the timeline and then delete the clips that are not needed. It would be handy to see a preview in Premiere, but you can't (yet)

Could you clarify what you mean by this? I just drag the MP4s straight into CS5 without even bothering with Clip Browser and I can view the files in the preview monitor just fine.

Am I misunderstanding?

With most video files (avi, mov etc) you can see a thumbnail preview when you click on it, or if you have thumbnail view on. For some reason CS4-5 doesn't generate a thumbnail for EX files (MP4). I am sure this will be updated. You can use the preview monitor to see the clip but this means opening each clip to see its contents.

Vincent,

I have no problem with Premiere CS5 showing thumbnails with XDCAM EX files from my EX1. Are you setting the view to 'List' or 'Icon'? The thumbnails show up with it set to Icon. In either view, clicking on a video within the bin shows up at the top with a Play button and slider for scrubbing through the clip without having to open it in the Source monitor.

Steve, you are quite right, I can see the EX files as thumbnails once imported. When viewing files in the Media browser tab they just appear as a list. I guess this is what Patrick was saying in the first post. Sorry.

I typically create a new Bin and call it Storyboard or something along those lines. Then I import all the clips and drag them into the new Bin. From there I upsize the thumbnail view and sort and discard clips as needed until I have what I need. The next step is to insert the Bin into a Sequence using the Automate To Sequence feature. It has a default cross-fade transition that you can choose to use or not then once its in the Sequence you edit each clip length to taste and you're done. The key is working with Bins to see the thumbnails. You can use Icon view for looking at all your imported clips but using Bins makes it easier to sort and discard before committing to a Sequence.

I had this same problem and finally got an answer similar to Steve's from Adobe's Premiere forum.

Load all your clips from your media card onto an external hard drive with Sony Clip Browser. When you open premiere the Premiere media browser will find all the clips on the hard drive. Import all the clips you want into your project. Your clips will then be visible via thumbnail in the project list window. You can scrub thru them and drag them to the preview window for trimming, etc. Works well for me.

My next (probably stupid) question is why use Sony Clip Browser at all? Given that CS5 handles the MP4 footage straight out of the camera, what is the purpose of taking an intermediate step of doing anything in the Sony software?

The Sony ClipBrowser is a quick way to view your clips and transfer them to your system.

The only thing that is lacking in the Adobe workflow is previewing the clips in their Media Browser prior to bringing in clips to a Bin.

How is that quicker than just importing directly into Premiere?

The only difference is that you can activate a datacheck in Clip Browser to verify the copied files are copied flawless. (Like verifying a burned DVD).
It takes more time, but since you probably want to use your memorycards more than once (unlike tape), so a check before deleting the footage from your SxS gives some peace of mind.

(Offcourse there is also the flashbanding filter in Clip Browser and some other options I rarely use.)

A question is only stupid when you don't ask and wonder forever ;-)