System Requirements of XDCAM EX native editing in PPro CS4?
 

I was stupid enough to get a 5400RPM Hard Drive in my otherwise higher end laptop. I can edit HDV footage quite fine with it though. I have a 2.6 GHz T7800 Intel Core 2 Duo and 3.5 GB of usable RAM. I have also edited using an external 7200RPM, which is seemingly faster, despite being connected via USB2 cable.

Now, I would like to know how CS4 will handle XDCAM EX files in premiere pro - apparently it is a similar MPEG2 codec to HDV. What issues am I going to face if I edit natively on either hard drive? As HDV has caused me very few?

Thank you so much for any help you can give me.

PS: How is the DVD export feature in PPro?

Could anyone shed some insight?

The XDCAM EX codec is a flavor of MPEG2, but its data rate is 35Mbps, vs. HDV's rate of 25Mbps. You might notice a dip in performance with playback and scrubbing through your timeline, and your hard drive will fill up significantly faster!

If you're having issues, you can always get yourself an external drive. A firewire 400 drive should be adequate for light to medium range editing. If you want to go all out though, pick up an Express Card adapter that will allow you to hook up an eSATA drive via your card slot. With a good eSATA drive, it will be just like editing on a decent desktop!

thanks for the heads up

On another note...
 

is there any way to convert the current MP4 files, or wrapped MXF files into an HDV MPEG2 codec? (other than using the 25mbit settings and capturing over firewire?)

This is so I can make use of the efficiency of SxS cards while I save up for some compatible software. Oh and hopefully make use of 720P and the slow motion settings...

Your hardware should be sufficient for at least basic editing of the XDCAM material. I wouldn't worry about transcoding to HDV. You won't see much performance improvement. However, if you absolutely need the drive space then go ahead.

Either connect your external drive with firewire or eSata, then you should be good to go.