Exporting to MXF
 

Can anybody help.

Filmed a music drama today and having problems exporting two clips (1 on card A and the second spans to Card B).

Copied both clips to hard drive using XDCAM ECX clip browser software.
When I asked to export to MXF got this message:

Condition failure - assertion failure: acheivable padded length.


The upshot is I can't convert to MXF files fore editing in Vegas.

SxS cards... Sony vs Other
 

So now that the attention is focused on other branded SxS cards. I'm curious. What is the $$ number to go with a differnet brand? If an off brand is only 5% cheaper, I'm likely to just stick with Sony.

What would the opening price have to be to switch for everyone?

8gig?
16gig?

Transfer footage directly from EX-1 to hard disk
 

Hello all,

I know it has been asked before, but can someone transfer the footage from an EX1 to an external hard drive without the use of a laptop? I found an article on how the HVX-200 does it (http://www.noladoc.com/?p=29). I was just wondering if the EX1 had a similar feature.
Thanks.

SxS Card Reader Needed to rent
 

Hi Folks,

I've rented my camera out to an indie shooting in the San Francisco Bay Area next week and they're desperate for a SxS Card reader. Is there anyone in the Bay Area that would be interested in renting there card reader out for the week? It would be out on the 24th and back in on the 29th.

Let me know if anyone's interested.

Thanks!

What do the matrix settings mean?
 

I have been following the Picture Profile threads very closely.

I have been unable to learn one thing: What do the individual adjustments mean? R-G, R-B, etc. What does each one change? And what does the phase adjustment change?

Thanks.
Pete

720p50 slow motion effect without Cinema Tools
 

Hey guys!

Did a lot of skiing footage this easter. Needed to get sound AND slow motion so shot in 50p. To get the footage to play at half speed in a 25p timeline i need to export with prores 422 and conform with cinema tools. Is there a faster way to do this? Maybe a plugin?

To letterbox or not
 

I'm not sure whether anybody had written about this phenomenum-

I connected the EX1 via composite to both a 21' and a 36' CRT TV and I played around the downconvert options from squeeze to letterbox to edge crop. I was focusing on a back focus test chart and I was on the extreme tele position. When I choose letterbox, the picture looks soft but when I choose any of the other 2, the resolution seems to increase by 1.5x to 2x more (this being subjectively to my eye). The lines of the test chart stand out much sharper!

Incidentally this softness and lack of detail/resolution that I'm seeing in the downconvert to letterbox option is the same type that I have been experiencing when trying to convert from HD to SD in any way and means, i.e both via software or hardware. I wonder whether there could be any correlation.

I also wonder whether other HD or HDV camera owners, such as the Z1, can see this issue, or whether this is only an EX1 issue.

Matching EX1 to F330/350
 

I am a great fan of the Sony LBEACHC scene file on my F330. Does anyone know if this can be matched on an EX1 and if so how to do it. Thanks.

Blu-ray FYI
 

I know that Blu-ray delivery is of interest to this forum--see this thread for my experience.

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=114552

Alternative to Prime Support for European users
 

I spoke with a well-informed techician at Sony Professional Broadcast service center in Cologne about Prime support and possible alternatives for European users:

If Europeans decide to buy otside Europe (much lower price but no Prime support) they WILL get full repair/service/support for their EX1 at Sony Professional Broadcast service centers. Payment will be on a time and material basis, after cost estimate. Quality and speed of service will equal that of Sony Prime support, but no free loan units given.

Since one can save up to EUR 1,500.00 when not buying in Europe I find this worth a consideration!

More on curve settings
 

Here are a few more examples of some curve adjustments.

The first two are related to the Gamma setting:

http://www.dvinfo.net/gallery/showim...3&userid=50923
http://www.dvinfo.net/gallery/showim...3&userid=50923

The second two show the max adjustments of the Black Gamma setting:

http://www.dvinfo.net/gallery/showim...3&userid=50923
http://www.dvinfo.net/gallery/showim...3&userid=50923

Hope these are useful for visualization of these settings.

Workflow: lost clips
 

It crossed my mind today that as Final Cut Pro isn't used to import footage directly, any in / out points from the original SxS footage is not stored in the NLE. So for instance, if I use the XDCAM Transfer app to import a small part of a clip then a quicktime file is created on my scratch disk of that small part.

With tapes, if I need to recapture that clip I can just load the appropriate tape and using timecode re-capture it. Can the same thing be done the the Transfer app?

Paul.

EX1 Acceptance Checks
 

I am going to be picking up my EX1 in the next couple of weeks, and was thinking we could come up with a set of acceptance tests that any buyer should do to make sure the camera is free of the known issues. I have:

Vignetting - OIS on - point camera at uniform expense of wall - set correct exposure - zoom through full range - watch for vignetting particularly between 10mm and 25 mm

Backfocus - set full manual focus - zoom in - focus on object at about 3 m - zoom out - check whether focusing closer sharpens image

Zoom - set top handle zoom speed to 2 - zoom and check for smoothness

Any additions or corrections?

Cheers, Nick

FS OpenFork failed while updating movie atom
 

I'm getting this message 4-8 times per card ingest (8 and 16 GB cards).

The dialogue concludes with (Cancel All Tasks) and (OK).

Clicking OK continues the ingest, and maybe it will cough up another instance. Maybe not.

When the dialog appears, the clip currently ingesting IS NOT INGESTED.

Therefore, before doing a wipe of a card, it is imperative that you check each clip in the browser against every clip in the Finder's folder to ensure you have them all.

Clips that cause the dialog to appear in one pass do not seem to repeat when tried again. Go figure.

With a file copy to one hard drive and a full card ingest to another drive, this is making the process something that has to be watched moment by moment, rather than something that can be checked or simply automated.

I can work around the very powerful audio system that can bite you if not careful. I can invest in IR filters to protect lenses and get neutral blacks. I can, to a certain extent, assign Flange Back adjustments to 'Maintenance' and forgive rather poor ergonomics with a friendly shrug, but this error is spooking me badly. What's even more spooky is that nobody else seems to have mentioned it...

... Anyone else?

HDV to IP Video?
 

I was wanting to take the firewire output from the EX1 and connect it to my desktop computer, possibly control the camera and record video on to the hard drive. Is there any software I could use to remotely access the desktop from any computer and control the EX1? Or remotely start recording and/or monitor the firewire output of the EX1?

I tried VNC but the video blanks when I connect remotely to my desktop.

G-SATA external drive
 

I recently purchased a 500Gb version for use as a high speed external scratch disk but it causes my mac pro to lock up whenever I use the XDCAM Transfer app. Copying files too and from it manually works fine, it just seems to be the Sony app that causes the problem.

Anyone else have a similar experience?

Paul.

Basic Questions on setting up a system
 

I{
P;ease ignore this post -I do mnot know how to delete it.

Best Price For Sony 16gb Cards?
 

I am looking to purchase the 16 gb sony SxS cards. I am looking for suggestions as to the best prices. I also would like to know if anyone has orderd their EX or other items from Promax? Is this a good and reputable company? They seem to have good prices and good reseller ratings.
Thanks for any info.

Joel Brooks
Moments in Time Video Productions

field audio recorder to fit with XDCAM EX
 

Hi,

I am looking for field audio recorder to fit with xdcam ex. Any suggestions? As far I know there is no possibility to sync any audio recorder to xdcam ex. Am I wrong?

Thanks!

Regards,

Sven

EX1 4:2:0 vs 4:2:2 Comparisons?
 

Has anyone been able to shoot and record via HD-SDI out yet? I'd love to see some comparisons between the 422 and 420 recorded to the cards - not to mention the artifacting differences that anyone may be seeing.

Odd cause of "pulsing" light
 

I was shooting a wedding with my EX1 this past weekend, and I got pulsing or flickering light in a couple of shots (noticed it right away on the LCD). My first thought was some of the fluorescent light issues folks here had been reporting, but I didn't see any fluorescent fixtures around (and would have been kind of surprised if there were any in this very fancy hall). A few minutes' search revealed the culprit, and it had nothing to do with the EX1's CMOS sensors or anything else technical. Several light fixtures were located ABOVE ceiling fans, so the fan blades kept interrupting the light. Our eyes don't really notice, but the camera does... Sometimes the cause is simple and physical, not complex and technical...

Affordable remote mic
 

I don't usually do weddings but have been asked by a friend to do his son's. It will be on horseback at a lake in the country. The bride and groom come riding in and all. I would like some suggestions on how to get the audio. I will use EX1 and an HV20 for video, Sony A-700 for stills.
Thanks in advance

1/24 Shutter (24P)
 

Hello all,

A few of you guys mentioned that you've shot 1/24 shutter (1080 24P) on weddings for low light. In other words shutter off

For still shots, speeches, dinner time, lobby shots this makes sense

What about dances?
I typically pan slow anyways but there is motion in the scene in this case
Does it look ok? What do you see - blurring?
I don't mind a slight blur vs. dark or grainy video


Sidenote:
I plan to go 1/48 normally and keep the movement civilized :)
I did some outside shoots at 1/96 and above in sunshine - to me that looks nice too.

Paul

Boris FX Not Working in FCP Studio 2?
 

I recently upgraded from Apple FCP Studio to Studio 2 so I could edit footage from my XDCAM EX-1.
Boris FX appears in the effects tab as before the upgrade. I can drag Boris onto a clip in the timeline. When I click on the filters tab, Boris appears in the filter tab and there is a red render bar over the clip in the timeline.
But there seems to be no way to launch Boris.
Previously I would go to the filters tab and there would be a launch button on the Boris effect, but not anymore.
How do I launch Boris FX 9 now?

Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks.

Kevin Jones

Splitting / Combining media
 

Hi Everyone,

I have a client that wants hard copies of everything on HDCAM. I had a short shoot to test playing out HDSDI to HDCAM and everything went fine.

Now I'm leaving for a week-long shoot in TX where I'll be off loading the cards onto a MBP and burning DLDVDs for backup. I have 3- 8GB cards and 2-16GB cards.

I don't know the procedure for splitting up the 16GB media into 2 8GB chunks for the DLDVD burning. Has anyone done this? If so, how is it done?

My other questions are about combining 2-8GB cards' worth of media onto a 16GB card for playout to HDCAM. Has anyone combined 2 - 8s to a 16?
What would be the procedure for that?

Thank you for your help.

Jac

Sony Clip Browser Version 2 - some good news
 

From everybody's new favourite site:

Sony are also working with software plug-in company Main Concept, who are building some additional functionality for Clip Browser version 2. One such function will be the ability to take your 35mbps HD footage and using the Main Concept option* you will be able to up-convert it to 50mbps in 4:2:2 colour space directly onto XDCAM HD Professional Optical Disc using the PDW-U1 USB Disc reader/writer. This is kind of a ‘transcoding’ process.

Another function of the Main Concept plug-in will allow you to take any clip from the Clip Browser and to export it as Windows Media, Apple QuickTime, PSP file, iPod file, and even YouTube files. This is a great way of saving video files for multi-media web purposes. No more need to learn the art of compression for the web; nice!


* Is the "Main Concept option" something that will come standard with it or is it something we'll need to buy from MainConcept?

EDIT: Ok, so all I had to do was read the paragraph that I accidentally skipped.

Hopefully the plug-ins will be cheap. It sounds good. I am well and truly sick of the compatibility issues with the footage from this camera.

At least Version 2 will have HD -> DV conversion built in. That's overdue.

That said, I don't think the Clip Browser has anything to offer that Cineform's HDLink doesn't.

smaller (A1 size) camcorder coming?
 

Hi there,
Just read a review regarding the upcoming release of the EX-3, to "expect a smaller (A1 size) camcorder to appear too".
Any educated guesses about this? The reviewer was talking about the EXs, so surely this would also have 1/2" sensors, etc.. Maybe the lens wouldn't be quite so nice? Maybe it would just record at 25mbps? Just wondering.
Malcolm

Zoom Speed!
 

what's the slowest zoom speed on the fujinon lens ?

Which audio is right: MXF or MP4
 

I used the clip browser to extract a bars and tone from MP4 clip to MXF wrapped clip. Then I imported this into adobe premiere 3.2, both as a native mp4 and as a native mxf. Both imported just fine.

However when I put the mp4 on the timeline, the tone is at -20db. When I put the MXF in the time line, it adds two audio's, one on a4 and one on a5. If both play the audio is at -15 or -16. If only one is selected, the audio is at about -25db.

Ok, what gives, and which is right. I think the mp4 is right at -20db. But why does the clip browser split the audio, and why is it at different levels.

Is Adobe's import of the MXF wrong? Is the clip browser wrong?

Zoom control
 

Any word about the Manfrotto EX1 zoom control that was to debut at NAB?
Best, Craig
Thanks, I have since located the information.
http://dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=102972&page=8

Focus and zoom together?
 

Can you both focus and zoom the lens at the same time? Thats currently a problem I am having while I dolly in and zoom to maintain the framing the cameras can not do both at the same time.

Anyone using a Vegas workflow? How is it? is it as intense as AVCHD or more like MT2 workflow? do you use or need cineform?


Thanks for any help. I am considering the switch.

CS3 mac version editing EX1
 

I am a long time windows Adobe user but now have my Mac Pro on order. (need a faster machine for HD and get past limits of xp32) Adobe are ready to ship me the MAC version of the CS3 Master Collection when I fax them my windows version destruction agreement.

I could use bootcamp and my existing windows Master Collection but for access to all the 6GB ram I am drawn to using CS3 with leopard and with 3.2.0 upgrade on Premiere edit the EX1 footage.
Any happy users doing this ?

I have edited EX1 footage on my PC in Premiere 3.2.0 with success except for dissolve transitions (white flashes). My present workflow is SxS card into my Vista laptop, use sony clip browser to copy BAPV folder then make a 8GB dual layer DVD backup and export mxf files over my network to my video xp pro machine for editing.

I plan the same workflow when I replace my pc with the MacPro.

Every EX1 video I have seen uses FCP but with native editing in CS3.2 it saves a conversion step - correct?

Any comments ?

James Goodman

Lens Hood Recommendations for Sony Wide Angle
 

Are there any out there that will fit?

EX1/Clip Browser + Mac + Avid: best workflow 'til July?
 

Hi there,
I just ordered an EX1, and would love to resolve this workflow question before getting it - - any advice very much appreciated. I understand, by the way, that at the end of June Sony will release Clip Browser version 2, which from the sounds of it will resolve all of my problems (even my personal ones).

until then, though, I have to find a not-too-expensive way to get footage from the EX-1 into Avid for editing.

Avid just updated Media Composer, so it now "supports the Sony EX1 35Mb Data Rates (Avid Xpress Pro will support XDCAM HD at 25Mb as it is - basically HDV)". Does this by chance mean that it will import the Sony EX-1 files as they are, or do they still have to be converted to MXF first? I suspect they have to be converted... so what would be the best (and cheapest) way?

I have a MacBook Pro with the requisite ExpressCard slot. So I can dump from SXS card in the field to my MBP. It won't be converted to MXF. But maybe I could borrow an old PC, and, when I get back to my office, transfer the EX files from my MacBook Pro to the PC, and then use the PC version of the Clip Browser to convert to MXF.
Then I'd copy these MXF files to my MacBook Pro, and import into Avid.

Is this the best workflow for me? As I say, by the end of June, with the new Clip Browser v. 2, I should be fine with just my MBP; by then, too, Media Composer will be Leopard-compatible... but until then...

Cheers, Malcolm

720p60 vs 1080i Are you losing a stop or two?
 

So the EX1 and the EX3 are looking delicious as far as updating our cameras but I've had this burning question.

Do you lose a few stops shooting 720p60 as opposed to 1080i60 with this cam?

I've been reading all about the improved sensitivity with these units (apparently comparable to a DSR-300) but I'm afraid these people are shooting interlaced.

So what's the story with progressive? Sensitivity as good as DSR-300 or PD-170 (which of-course are interlaced).

Do tell!

1/2" lenses for EX3
 

Coming over from the JVC side...

It's great the EX3 can change lenses, especially in 1/2" size. But I see power to the lenses must come from a "hotshoe" or something. I guess that's those 2 little plates at the base of the lens mount?
The problem I see is most HD 1/2" lenses from Canon or Fujinon use a power cord for juice. As far as I can tell, there's no way to plug it into the EX3. But I think I saw in a EX3 video presentation a lens adapter that appeared to have the power cord plug built in. I would guess it draws power from the hotshoe connectors, then transfers it to the lens via the cord adapter. Does anyone have any info on this?

I don't see the benefit of putting a really nice HD lens on the EX3, only to have the zoom motor not function. Also, since most broadcast lenses have the controls for zooming already on the lens, does the zoom control on the EX3 override this function, or do you have to use the lens' control? Using the lens' control would certainly shift the balance of the camera, as you would be supporting the front weight of the camera directly on the lens, not the camera's grip. Or when you remove the supplied lens, does the camera's rotatable grip come off with it? Are they a one-piece unit?
I understand Fuji will make a dedicated 2/3" lens adapter with a 12-pin connector. I wonder if they'll make one for the 1/2" lenses?

SBAC-US10 USB Reader/Writer - any other/better options
 

Hey everyone,
I have been looking around for a better solution to the SBAC-US10 USB Reader/Writer. Preferably something that holds more than one SXS card at a a time.

Panasonic has the AJ-PCD20, which holds 5 P2 cards.

Do any of you guys know if something like this is in works for the SXS cards?

I will be using the EX1 for underwater footage so I would like to be able to shoot as much as possible, like 4 cards worth and then sit down and process.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Flicker reduction ?
 

How does flicker reduction work? Would this function also be useful for shooting under 60 Hz fluorescent lighting?

Clip Browser (Mac?) bug on why "raw" MP4s aren't working
 

Clip Browser (Mac) SHOULD allow you to import an MP4 file an create a BPAV folder. It apparently doesn't correctly create the XML and other metadata.

In other words, you SHOULD be able to use the Import feature on Clip Browser on an MP4 (those without a proper BPAV folder for various reasons) and it would create a new BPAV folder. It creates a BPAV folder but doesn't do it correctly (see above) so the XDCAM Transfer Tool does not see the clip in the BPAV folder.

I contacted Sony on this. They discovered this last week so they told me.

There will be a Clip Browser 1.5 that should fix this. When that happens you'll be able to import MP4, create new BPAV folder, rewrap to MOV using the XDCAM Transfer Tool (Mac).

Once they get this working you won't have to worry about what to do if you've wound up with only an MP4 for various reasons.

Not sure if this affects Windows users since Windows Clip Browser can create MXF and now some NLEs can handle MP4 directly.

50p to 25p/50 without Cinema Tools?
 

Hey guys.

Is there some plugin that anyone knows of that can make 50p footage to be played back in slow motion on a 25p timeline without conforming the footage? Conforming is such a time-consuming thing..

This is useful for when filming extreme sports in slow motion but still need the audio..

Great if anyone could help.