Media for the PMW 200

[Duane Dubiel]

I have been using the SXS Pro cards and the SBAC US10 SXS card reader with my EX1. I'm thinking of trying the SXS 1 cards or the XQD S cards in my new PMW 200. Will the US10 read the SXS 1 and the newer XQD S cards with the EX ExspressCard adapter. Why, and what, media are the rest of the new PMW 200 owners out there going to be using. No matter what, I am going to need more media. Thanks for the information.

[Jack Zhang]

XQD is much more cost effective than SxS-1. If you update your EX1 to 1.30 (You gotta dig around to find it. I found it on Sony UK's site and did the BugMeNot trick.) You can use XQD on your EX1 as well, provided you are currently above firmware 1.15 on the EX1.

I have no experience with the USB reader, but using the USB port on the camera as a fail-safe never hurts.

Speaking of which, there are no first-hand accounts of using XQD on a EX1/EX1R on firmware 1.30 anywhere.

[Jack Zhang]

Just read the manual. You cannot use XQD cards formatted with the 200 outside of the camera. You are forced to use the USB terminal on the camera.

If you want to keep convenience in using an external reader, I'd still stick to SxS. If you are willing to just use the camera's USB port, you can get XQD cards.

[Doug Jensen]

Jack, maybe I am misunderstanding what you are saying, but you are incorrect that the camera must be used as a reader for XQD cards. I use XQD cards from my PMW-200 in an external reader all the time and it only cost $45. Sony XQD Card Reader MRWE80/BC1 B&H Photo Video

To answer the original question, no XQD adapters won't be recognized by the SBAC-US10 reader.

[Jack Zhang]

Thank you Doug. The language in the manual makes it seem like you can only use the XQD card in-camera after formatting, but this proves that you just have to do your initial formatting in camera and that you can still use an external reader.

[Jim Michael]

Is the Hyperdeck Shuttle and SSD cards a viable option for this camera?

[David Dwyer]

Originally Posted by Jim Michael

Is the Hyperdeck Shuttle and SSD cards a viable option for this camera?

How does Windows Premiere Pro CS6 handle these formats? I'm editing on a laptop and wondering if it might struggle on ProRes

Seems to be aimed at Mac users?

[Jack Zhang]

ProRes is guaranteed to struggle on PC editing solutions like Vegas and Premiere.

Vegas is limited by it's 32bit Quicktime file I/O host process and keeping that under 1GB, which means large project has to be split. There's also the black frames issue with Vegas with ProRes and possibly even DNxHD.

Because the 200 is moderately noisy, there is no real benefit from external recorders (especially at 50mbps) except if you plan to grade your footage a lot. Bake in your look using a picture profile and you should be set.

[Doug Jensen]

I agree with Jack. There would be very little benefit to using an external recorder with the PMW-200. And yet there would be tons of hassle and workflow disruption compared to just recording on internal cards and using XDCAM Browser.

[Mark Morreau]

Originally Posted by Jack Zhang

ProRes is guaranteed to struggle on PC editing solutions like Vegas and Premiere.

Beg to disagree with you, Jack.
Am using Premiere CS6 to edit four camera multicam shoots done with 2 x EX1s, and 2 x Z5s recording to ProresLT on Ninjas. Four streams from an ordinary disc playing in real-time in the multicam monitor.
This is using a mid-range i7 computer and a three-generations old graphics card.
Computers find Prores easy to edit, since there's no de-compressing to do. It's just the disc throughput that's an issue given the high data rate of the Prores files.

However, that's a digression, and I have to agree that there's no point in using an external recorder with the PMW-200

[Jack Zhang]

Then specifically Vegas has a really hard time with ProRes. If you use Vegas, avoid the Ninja and Samurai at all costs.

A good Picture Profile close to a graded look that would require the least amount of grading afterwards gets around most codec limitations.

[Hal Protter]

New PWM-200 will not let me record with the cards and adaptors that I have from my EX-1 in UDF mode which is the new best quality 50/mbs/sec mode. Do you have a solution or one in the works?

[Doug Jensen]

In any of the UDF modes, only SxS cards and XQD cards can be used.