Anyone use the Sony XDCAM PDW-530
 

Hi there,

Has anyone used this camera, the Sony XDCAM PDW-530 in IMX mode, or knows this camera very well?

We are about to use it and PRACTICAL info is scarce in North America. Anyone know of any websites that can help with this camera?

I.e. one issue we had is trying to output some IMX shot footage through the firewire port....didn't work for some reason. The manual says it can firewire output both IMX and DVCAM footage.

not familiar with this camera but have seen one on demo. i think it only work with it dedicated software. could be wrong.

ed

I haven't used the 530, but I do own a 510.

You can't output an IMX stream through the firewire. The confusion is arising from the FAM mode of the camera.

If you are using the PDZ1 software, or software which can edit with the cameras MXF files, you can use the camera as a hard drive via the FAM connection through the firewire port and transfer the footage to your edit station using it rather than digitising or standard video capture.

If you stream footage throug the firewire port and your footage is recorded in IMX format, the camera will perform a real time conversion of the IMX footage to DVCAM. in other words you can only stream DVCAM footage through the firewire port unless you are using that port for FAM as mentioned above.

Also, for using the firewire port you need to check the menu settings for the following;

1. If you want to stream footage from the firewire port you need to go to the Operation menu, then the power saving page (page 6), and turn the I.Link output to ENABL.

2. If you want to stream back into the camera you need to go to Page 21 Source Sel, and switch REC VIDEO SRC to EXT.

3. If you want to use the camera in FAM mode using the firewire port for use with PDZ1 or software such as Avid or Pinnacle Liquid, you will need to go to page 21 again and switch PC REMOTE to ENABL. If you do this, make sure that you boot the computer up with the camera switched on and connected as the PC will need to boot up with the XDCAM being seen as an extra drive.