transfer back to Prof.Disk
 

I am using Vegas 7 & 8 most of the time - so I am not too familiar with other programs that offer transfer via FAM.

I rendered a bunch of short masters and want to write them back to disk.

Is there a way to write several files AT THE SAME TIME back?

Until now I only found a way to write back ONE file at a time.

Any idea?

Thanks

ULI

Flip4Mac offers a transfer back to the disc, the PDF is located here:

http://www.flip4mac.com/pdfs/PRO_XDC..._UserGuide.pdf

See the section on transfering media back to
Exporting Media from Final Cut Pro

Flip4Mac XDCAM allows you to export media you’ve rendered as IMX directly out of Final Cut Pro onto an
XDCAM as an MXF file. With Flip4Mac XDCAM installed, a new menu item is added to the Export menu:
• Sony XDCAM (Ethernet)

.....................................................

Yes. Open the XDCAM disc on the desktop and drag your MXF files to the Clip folder. The camera will refuse other types of files being copied to this folder, but it should work for MXF's as long as they are the same type as the format of the disc.

HI Simon,

never tried this - I´ll have a try later today, that would help much!

Thanks

ULI

THAT is EASY...

Thanks for the hint.

Now I can batch render clips from Vegas and simply copy them to Disk for archiving...

ULI

Will the camera automatically generate the proxy files too - or is that only done when recording?

I guess I shouldn't be so lazy and try it myself... ;)

Yes it will.

-gb-

Thanks - I guess the U1 will do the same when the write firmware is out?

That I don't know. I would presume that to be the case, however. It's kind of an underlying rule of XDCAM that all full res material shall have a proxy file to match.

-gb-

I guess so. Otherwise you couldnt exchange U1 Masters to other U1 user/studios and use the proxy files...

ULI

AFAIK When you write back to a U1 the software on the computer will generate the proxy file.

I guess that's why the proxy files are 'relatively' poor quality for their large size, compared to say an equivalent wmv/mov etc file - it must be all about speed of creation.

The proxies are 1/4 the resolution of the full resolution material. They have many uses, one of them being smaller size for web transmission.

-gb-

strange - today I tried that again (select a bunch of HD mxfs, copy to CLIP folder) with some NTSC 60i footage. Didnt work (Alert).

Copying via Vegas works (so the MXFs do correspond the disks settings)

hm......

Hi,

yesterday I tried to transfer 8 2Gig MXF Files back at once to disk (CLIP Folder) via Desktop - but only got an Alert Message....
Disk was fresh formatted, but it didnt work.

Transfer via Vegas worked fine.

I am investigating if this is due to a very fresh disk (perhaps not "knowing" the video format yet)

uli

How were the MXF files created - were they originals from the camera or created in another edit app etc?

the files have been rendered by Vegas8 in the correct (same) format.

(Sony MXF, HQ etc.)

I remember trying the "desktop copy" some weeks ago - the only difference was that today I used NTSC setting (60i, the original material was 60i too) and a fresh disk instead of a used one adding the files.

ULi

here is what I found - I couldnt get it working by desktop copy.

But I looked closer to the pdz1 software (that I am usually not using) and found "TOOLS -> FAM CLIP COPY", there you can select several mxf files to copy to disk at the same time.

...problem solved...

ULi

I tried to drag and drop clips to the clip folder and it would only work if I named the files to match what was already on disk. (Example C0055.mxf)

A file named :untitledsequence.mxf" wouldn't work, but all I had to do was change the name to "C0055.mxf" and it went perfectly.

Peter

THAT sounds right...

If I use PDZ Software, files are renamed to C.... as well!

Looks like this was the problem - I´ll have a try in a minute...

ULI

I wonder if the sending device has to update the XML files that are held on the disc along with the clips?

Surely Sony must have some documentation on this process?

the cam generates the proxies itself.

Regards

ULI

Try copying one clip to see if that works. Sometimes I have had issues when trying to copy multiple clips at once.

how can i backup my ex1 cards to my prof discs using a mac and my f350?

Phil, that's a good question!

Hideously I think that the only solution until they get U1 writing sorted with a 1920x1080 MXF wrapper is to individually render out MXF's from FCP to export back to the 350.

In other words, at the moment there is no decent solution to the problem.

Simon you are correct, there is currently no way other than via FCP to create MXF's.

However, if you shoot SP mode the conversion is very quick, similar to the speed of the PC transfer software MP4 to MXF conversion.

I hope Sony add a simple one click transfer to Pro-Disc option for the Mac.

They need to, and they need to do it fast. This latest version of the transfer software was supposed to bring it in line with the PC version. Quite frankly it hasn't.

Agreed, I was hoping to be able to create a clip list in this version and save it to disc. This version will only read them if they exist on the disc, allowing you to create sub clips out of the clip list.

Another feature I had requested didn't get in either. Maybe next time.

Something else that needs to happen fast... a Leopard compatible ProDisc driver.

-gb-

Yes, this is a must. In fact Leopard is working superbly for me at the moment without issue. But the only thing that is keeping a bootable Tiger partition on my machine is the need to be able to copy files back to the disc.

Simon, can you not copy files back to the disc in Leopard? I don't have a problem. I can export out of FCP no problem, it's just the disc isn't mounted in the finder and the disc name is all corrupt.

It would be nice to just dump the ex1 files onto the discs with drag and drop! Can't see that happening!

Yeah, I can write files back with FCP. Though the lack of the disc mounting in the finder is a huge limitation when it comes to putting project files into the General folder.

what do you mean by putting files in the general folder? What is that and how do you do it? It sounds like something that could help me out. Any idea when the new software comes out?

Each XDCAM disc has 500Mb reserved for any files you may wish to back up. The space for this is the General folder on the XDCAM disc. You can copy all your project files, graphics files etc associated with a project to this folder so that your original footage and projects can all be kept in a safe place when a project is completed.

But in order to take advantage of it the XDCAM disc must be visible in the Finder.

that's good to know. Cheers Simon.

The corrupted disc name is a major problem for me. I go to the trouble of naming the discs and have XDCAM Transfer place the imported full res movies into a folder that takes on the name of the disc volume label.

In any case, I was originally told the Vista driver wouldn't be here until Q1'08, so let's hope a Leopard driver isn't far behind.

-gb-