Owners of AX2000
 

Can anyone confirm that this camera works with the New Final Cut Pro X?

Re: Owners of AX2000
 

It should work fine, my NX5U and AX2000 footage works perfectly with Vegas Pro, Avid Studio, and Pinnacle 15.
I highly doubt you will run into any problems with the new final cut pro....

Re: Owners of AX2000
 

The real question is : Can Final Cut Pro X read the NX5U/AX2000 AVCHD native format?

If you are using the previous version of Final Cut Pro you will need to use the Log and Transfer button. The AVCHD format will then be uncompressed in the ProRes format of your choice. In the meantime, you have to set the audio on the camera to Dolby not LPCM, well this is what I need to do with my NX5U. With LPCM you may run into problem with Final Cut Pro in doing uncompress to ProRes, in some situation it is just not working.

As per Final Cut Pro X I cannot tell, I do not own a copy.

Hope it helps!

Re: Owners of AX2000
 

Excuse me for hijacking the thread for a moment but David, you said it works fine with Avid Studio. Have you tried the PCM audio? I'm an old Liquid user and would like to return to something close to that interface. Never got a response at their forum.

Re: Owners of AX2000
 

Thank you for your replies.
I'm seriously considering this for Weddings.

Anyone confirm how this camera performs in low light?
I really dont want to go the DSLR route.

I'm more worried about the 12 min / 2 gb file size limit.
Dropped frames and dropped audio between clip breaks.

Is this still an issue?

Re: Owners of AX2000
 

yes, it does perform in low light, however you need to set up your gain because, if too dark you will have a lot of grain. In reading on the forum you should find responses to this issue.

As per the 12 min/2gb this is the first time I read there an issue with this. If your issue is at the log and transfer time, this cause by the audio setup on the camera which I gave you an answer to that.

I have been shooting shows with two NX5U cameras, then using multicam in FCP without major problems.

Re: Owners of AX2000
 

Thanks for the info.
Maybe that clipping is only with the AX2000 and not your model?

Re: Owners of AX2000
 

The included software from sony with the AX2000 as well as the NX5U combines the clips with not dropped frames or audio, I have done several shows with the AX2000 that go well over 2 hours in length and have not had any problems with the audio when the sony software combines the footage...

Re: Owners of AX2000
 

I will give it a go tonight using footage from my NX5U and let you know how the PCM audio works in Avid Studio...

Re: Owners of AX2000
 

OK, just brought in a video file from my NX5U with PCM audio enabled into Avid Studio and it recognized the AVCHD Video file as well as the PCM audio, it rendered without any issues at all, so it is compatible with PCM audio....

Re: Owners of AX2000
 

I was told that program only works on Windows not on a MAC : (

Re: Owners of AX2000
 

That is correct but all is far from lost. First, I believe I read somewhere recently that FCPX and bring in the AVCHD files without audio gaps if you copy the whole media folder from the SD cards. This apparently lets FCP/FCPX read the metadata files that are needed to join the files without audio gaps. Second, there are numbers of threads mentioning a simple script that somebody wrote for copying and joining the files. AFAIK, the little program will run on both PCs and Macs. I don't have time to look for them at the moment but I believe the script joins the files together without audio gaps when run in "terminal" mode on a Mac. Sorry, not a Mac user so can't help much there.

As for your question about low light, please see the response I posted to the similar question you asked about the XA10 versus the AX2000.

Re: Owners of AX2000
 

You're the best Jay!
Thanks : )

Re: Owners of AX2000
 

I am a MAC user and the program provided by Sony does not work on a MAC.

In the meantime, the Log and transfer function provided by FCP makes an excellent job. There are no audio gap which occurs.

When copying AVCHD files from the SDHC cards you MUST copy the entire AVCHD structure onto your hard drive. The FCP log and transfer function will take of everything.

Re: Owners of AX2000
 

David, thanks for the info.

Re: Owners of AX2000
 

Thank you. I'm going to assume then that they same process works on Final Cut Pro X

Re: Owners of AX2000
 

Marc, if you want to join clips and not have to transcode to ProRes, but simply rewrap the files, I highly recommend a program called ClipWrap.

When you import files into FCPX the original files on the cards are not recognized by FCP as they are PC format (.mt2) files. So they eitehr have to be re-wrapped in a Quicktime (.mov) wrapper or transcoded to ProRes.

Clipwrap can re-wrap the files and also seamlessly join them together so there are no gaps at all.
As long as you have FCP installed on your system, it will also let you transcode the files to ProRes, DVDPROHD, SD etc. It's very stable and re-wrapping is real fast.

Also a not, when you re-wrap a file there is no image degradation what so ever, as all the program is doing is swapping out the PC wrapper for a MAC wrapper.

Re: Owners of AX2000
 

MTS files created by the camera should never be imported individually, you will sure have problems with the audio. This is why it is better to copy the entire AVCHD directory structure onto your hard disk. And then use the Log and transfer FCP function.

As per the no lost in the quality with Clipwrap, I never tried it and cannot say anything. However a 60 minutes video sequence can easily take up to 80gb when transcoded with the FCP log and transfer function. All depends which ProRes format you choose, I usually go with ProRes LT.

The only way for you to see the differences is to tried both options. You will then see where are the gains and the lost.

Re: Owners of AX2000
 

Daniel you are right about importing off of the cards.
Like suggested I always transfer the entire file structure of the cards onto a hard drive to start. I do this anyway, because I have backup of every project on 2-3 drives for redundancy.

When using Log and Transfer in FCP, definitely go for ProResLT. I have done lots of testing, and there is negligible difference between LT and 422. However you CAN'T capture to ProResLT in FCPX, as you ONLY have the option to transcode to ProRes422 or ProResProxy on import.

If you decide to work in native AVCHD in FCPX, you can simply import without transcoding. FCPX will then re-wrap your files in an .mov wrapper.

As I suggested before, ClipWrap will work with your .m2t files just fine as well, and is faster than FCP when rewrapping the files. Also you can join spanned clips in ClipWrap, whihc can't be done in FCP. And transcoding to ProRes can be done in ALL flavors if needed (444,422,LT, and Proxy). I have tested these extensively against FCP transcodes, and there is no visible difference. but ClipWrap is faster transcoding as well.

If you transcode to ProResLT, expect about a 3.5X file size increase from the original AVCHD files.

Re: Owners of AX2000
 

Thanks Michael,

Very good information, I will look at Clipwrap more closely.

I was not thinking to go at FCP X, now you've convinced me. I will only acquire Compressor 4.

Re: Owners of AX2000
 

The NX5U (ergo AX2000) and Final Cut Pro X work beautifully together. Lots of options to edit native or to work with transcoded files (which transcode transparently in the background while you're working with the native files.) You can see the first clip I edited with the NX5U and FCPX in the Samples section (Truck Racing)

Re: Owners of AX2000
 

I downloaded the entire file structure on my hard drive.
Used the "AVCHD" folder and all of it contents.
When using Final Cut Pro X - I point to that file directory and it doesnt not recognize ANY file inside that folder for import.

How is everyone importing in Final Cut Pro X?

There is no "Log and Transfer" its been removed on FCP X.

Thank you for your time.

Re: Owners of AX2000
 

OK I got it!
You have to use the "Import from Camera" NOT "import files"..

They now all show up.

It sees the memory card as a virtual camera, but the camera interface is still just a fancy file browser.