Dumb Codec Question: EX1 QT to Windows CS5

[Dave Sperling]

Hello Mitchell,
I was under the impression that XDcamEX files would still play just fine on a mac that has (free) XDcamEX Clip Browser installed, or presumbaly the newer Clip Browser software as well. I've been on many shoots where the producer hasn't had any NLE at all on his mac and has been able to view my EX files every night using XDcamEX Clip Browser.
Of course remember that this only plays the files the way they were recorded by the camera - from the BPAV file structure.
I know your post says 'MOV files generated FROM our EX3', but just to be clear, there is no such animal as 'MOV files generated BY an EX3' - so the conversion onus really falls on whoever performed the FROM part of the sentence.

[Mitchell Lewis]

Thanks for the nice reply Dave. Sorry I wasn't very clear.

1) Our graphic designers would like to open the MOV files inside Photoshop to pull stills from the video. Can't do this unless you have FCP or Premiere installed on the Mac. (or Calibrated Q as Alister points out)

2) When I said MOV from the camera, I should have said, MOV's generated by XDCAM Transfer or FCP Log & Capture. Sorry. :)

[Dave Sperling]

Probably not what you had in mind, but...
XDcamEX clip browser (at least the PC version) can do frame grabs from your native EX BPAV folder files into standard bitmap (.bmp) files that open easily in photoshop. They save to default 1920x1080 24bit files.

[Mitchell Lewis]

Good advice! I think they have XDCAM Clip Browser already installed. We were all just being stubborn trying to get it to work inside Photoshop. Good recommendation. Thanks.

[Alister Chapman]

Originally Posted by Mitchell Lewis

Isn't it a little bit crazy that you can't play XDCAM EX footage on a Mac without having Final Cut Pro or Premier installed? What if you wanted to use iMovie or some other editing program? I think this is a major oversite by Sony. They should make the proper QT drivers available to everyone. Heck they should come on a disc with the camera.

Just my $0.02. :)

It's not Sony, it's Apple refusing to support mpeg 2 properly. The same issue happens with any mpeg with quicktime. Canon have to go through similar steps with the XF cameras. Try opening a .mpg or similar with quicktime player... you can't.

What Sony/Canon/CalibratedQ have done is create a work-around for an age old, very irritating quicktime limitation. It's why Apple came up with the AIC codec, because you can't edit or play native HDV (mpeg 2 again) in FCP.