Workflow for XDCAM EX1
 

Hi guys.. considering to make the switch but I'm still pretty confused on the workflow for Vegas. I understand that I need a laptop to get the clips from the SxS.. is it possible to get it from the CAM via USB? I know that Firewire doesnt work for HQ. After that can I load the mp4 directly on the timeline? Do I still need to use the free sony sw to convert them to mxf?

Sean,who says you need a laptop to get clips from sxs card ?
The workflow with this cam and vegas is eeeeassy.
Plug card into card reader,or use cam via usb.
Open clip browser,(free sony software).
Look into sxs card from clip browser.
Select the files which you want to convert to MXF.
Select destination of where you want rewrapped files to go.
Press go.
Job done. Conversion takes around 5 x,ie 10 mins of footage will be done in about 2 mins.
Delete clips from card with clip browser and then you don't have to reformat the card again when it goes back in cam.
With clip browser you can also copy the whole BAPV folder instead/aswell as rewrapping.

Open vegas,go to explorer,find the mxf files,edit.

HOWEVER..

Around July (i think) vegas is getting an update so it can use the raw files,no rewrapping needed !!

Also clip browser is getting an update so it can also downconvert to SD at the same time as rewrapping !!

So i presume this means that your pc will be editing SD footage instead of HD footage,which should be easier for the pc,which is great if the finished product is gonna be on SD dvd.

A couple of months ago,i too was trying to get my head round the workflow before i actually had my EX1 and clip browser and vegas.
As it turned out it's so easy,i picked it up in a few minutes.
Don't worry about it,just go and get it.

Hope this helps.
Paul.

PS,footage at link below,straight out of EX1,rendered in vegas

www.vimeo.com/paulkellett

Hey Paul,

I just had a look at that footage -- looks fantastic. Great work on the coverage on "Kiss Me Kate". Didn't watch it all, but I thought your framing was very good, esp. given that you had to work for a single spot the whole time.

Well done,

marks

Thks a MILLION Paul!!! U made it sound (n it is) so easy! The EX1 is quite a heavy financial investment so I was pretty worried about the backend cost.. seems that I will be able to handle it with my current setup :) But ARGH!! The Vimeo webby says the video is no longer available!

Sean,i just checked Vimeo,and i can watch all my clips/channel,so something must be wrong at your end. I presume you've got your EX1 then. Check you backfocus,if it's not right then check out my backfocus fix demo,also on my vimeo channel.

Mark,i was only on the same spot for the 1st night,the 2nd night i was upstairs on the balcony,i multicammed it all together after to make it look like 2 cams,i covered zooms by switching to the other cam/night in multicam editing. It was my first proper solo shoot. I ended up selling around 40 dvds,burnt,printed,boxed etc.
I had 4x8gig cards and finished the shoot with 4 mins left on the last card.
Here's a pic of how far away i was when i shot from upstairs.
Sorry the quality is crap,they were taken with my mobile phone.

Hi Paul, the vimeo is ok now. there was a prob last nite at my part of the world. Nope i have not got my EX1 yet but its in the pipeline =)

Glad to here it Sean.
what do you think of the Vimeo footage ?
Paul.

Paul, I just got my EX1 this past Wednesday, and I've been shooting test footage and playing with it in Vegas 8, so I was glad to read your 'success story'. I wonder if I could ask you a few questions:

1. What is the usual destination of your projects? DVD?
2. What preset/settings do you use in Vegas to output?
3. Do you do any color correction?
4. For the Vimeo clips, what format did you upload to the site, what export settings did you use, and do they re-encode it for you?

I appreciate what ever info you can offer, as I'm going to be shooting a dance concert in the middle of July. The destination will be DVD, and I'm trying to plan out my workflow, shooting settings, and export settings (for DVD as well as for web). Thanks!

David.
I'll save you a lot of work.
For a start i use picture profile below.Matrix....On
Select....Hisat
Level.....0
Phase....-5
R-G.......75
R-B.......0
G-R......-18
G-B......-32
B-R......-27
B-G......13

Color Correction....off
White...............off
Detail..............on
detail Level........0
Detail Freq.........0
Skintone............off

Knee...............on
Auto Knee..........on
Point..............90
Slope..............0
Knee sat Level.....50

Gamma..............-8
Gamma select.......cine1,
or cine2 if there's a lot of white's getting blown
Black.............-8
Black Gamma........0


and for vimeo i got the template here

http://eugenia.gnomefiles.org/2007/1...-for-vimeo-hd/

Hope this helps.
Paul.

Vegas dvd template here

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=116196

but obviously you'll need to change the tab to NTSC.

Paul.

Thanks, Paul, I got great looking footage from that dance concert. I appreciate your suggestions! I'll post a vimeo link soon. I did notice, however, that my reds were shifting towards orange; have you noticed that when using the settings above?

Hi David.
I'm glad to have helped.

And yes i have noticed that red's appearred orange on 1 occasion, and it was on the Kiss Me Kate show, i just put it down to the lighting.

Paul.

I shot two different dance concerts at two different venues with those same settings, and reds appeared orange in both places. I think it's safe to say that it's the picture profiles setting. Many of those settings aren't clear to me; any idea which to adjust to get more true reds?

I'm going to take some time in Vegas and correct those oranges back to red. I'll let you know what I come up with.

A clip from the dance concert
 

This was shot with EX1 at 1080p30, using the PP that Paul posted above. No post processing (besides export to 720p for vimeo) has been done on this clip. Any suggestions are welcome, though I think it looks pretty nice as is. Thanks Paul for these settings!

http://www.vimeo.com/1222248

now the hunt begins for the best process to SD DVD. I've read so much on this forum about that, my eyes are about to pop out of my head.

What I've done thus far is simply render to MainConcept straight out of Vegas. Looks pretty good to my eyes. I've never produced a widescreen DVD before though, are there any 'gotchas'? Can I mix 4:3 menus with 16:9 video streams? And are there DVD players that can mis-read the aspect ratio and show the video wrong? I have a client that is describing what sounds like that to me...