New XDCAM Transfer software for Mac out next week.
 

Good news for Apple Mac users.

Sony's excellent XDCAM Transfer software for Mac has been updated with new features. It will appear on Sony site as a free download early next week.

Here are some of the improvements and additional features:

Performance improvements: The speed of all import operations has been improved on Macs with PowerPC processors. Subclip importing is also faster in this version of the software, on both PowerPC and Intel- based Macs.

New video codecs: The new Apple video codecs included in Final Cut Pro 5.1.2 are supported for import and export. Final Cut Pro now supports XDCAM HD (18 and 35 Mb/s VBR) at all frame rates. HDV (25 Mb/s CBR) is supported at 25p as well as at 50i, 60i and 24p.

Essence Marks and additional workflow enhancements: Essence Marks now appear in the XDCAM Transfer clip player on the timeline as well as
in an overlay on the video image when the playhead is positioned at the Essence Mark. When clips are imported directly to Final Cut Pro, the Essence Marks become clip markers in Final Cut Pro.

Import now also transfers more metadata to Final Cut Pro, including the source disc or folder name and the clip comment as the ‘Reel’ and ‘Log Note’ respectively. There is also a new Preferences option to only import the monitored audio channels. Shortcuts are now provided for Import All Clips and Import All Subclips. The subclip lists are now saved when the application quits to enable offline subclip selection for later import.

Is there an official date for the release next week?

No, it is passed from Japan, just takes a few extra days for web guys to get it together. Might even be over the weekend sometime, but more than likely next week.

For those who are interested, this software is developed and written in Basingstoke UK Sony offices.

its available from the uk site
 

you can download the latest official release of the XDCAM Transfer application from the sonybiz website in the uk. you have to set up an account which is a pain in the provebial, but the download doesn't yet seem to appear on the other Sony sites.
dated 20/10/06, apparently it was ready quite a while ago. if you go to http://www.sonybiz.net/xdcam, and follow the link to "Apple Final Cut Pro/XDCAM Transfer Software: Free Download " and then proceed to the link for "PDZK-P1 XDCAM Transfer Package Software V1.00" that'll take you to the old download. however from that page, you'll discover for yourself that there's actually a link to Version 1.1. weird but true.