Avid Liquid has direct support for mp4 files. That along with it's native mpeg2 core which means it can work with any style of mpeg2 you could ever dream to throw at it may mean it already supports footage from the EX before it even knows it.

It would be great to get a raw mp4 sample from the camera to test this out.

In some ways it is nice that the EX uses mp4 instead of MXF. Mp4 is easier to write software for and adding MXF is much harder. For example most open source video software such as AVI-Synth can read mp4 files through Directshow. MXF on the other hand is a lot harder to read without special software to do so. My biggest fear about the industry using MXF is that I may never be able to support it in any of my custom software. mp4 may not have been the best choice for a wrapper but at least I know I will be able to support it in some way in my tools.

Thomas have you had a chance to test clips in Liquid from the EX yet?

No because I have not found any clips yet.

What I do know is that
1. The 25mbit mode will work to capture via firewire just like any HDV device. So you can always shoot the 25mbit mode for now until direct support gets there.
2. Liquid works with MFX XDCAMHD files and I understand a tool will come with the camera to convert to a MXF format during the transfer to your internal drives you use to edit with. This does not reduce the quality at all since all it does is put the tracks in a new wrapper.
3. mp4 is a pretty open format and there are dozens of free tools out there to demux mp4 files into the raw m2v and wav streams that can be imported directly into Liquid. Again this will not reduce the quality at all because the tracks just get stripped out of the mp4 container and copied to raw streams.
4. Get a Liquid Chrome XE and capture as uncompressed through the HD-SDI port.

Liquid does support mp4 files and is a native m2v NLE. I tried creating my own fake mp4 file which contained a 35mbit m2v stream but it didn't work in Liquid. Then again I was using a free tool and the file may have been a little funky since I do not know the exact way it should be done right now. I wouldn't be too worried about it however since there are many ways to use the footage in Liquid.

Thank you Thomas.

The 25mbit mode will work to capture via firewire just like any HDV device. So you can always shoot the 25mbit mode for now until direct support gets there/... there are many ways to use the footage in Liquid.

Hi Thomas,
Will Avid Xpress Pro work with these EX1 files? If not now, do you think it will be long in coming?
Malcolm