Hi all:

I have been shooting with the HVX-200 since it came out and have shot thousands of cards worth of material. I have it down pretty well.

I have been hired to be a technical producer for a four camera EX-1 iso shoot of a live panel discussion for a famous sci-fi series. We will roll four EX-1s, probably for quite a few hours. Not sure yet how many SxS cards we will have but at least 2-3 per camera and hopefully 4 per camera.

1. Coming from dealing with HVX/P2, is the process of dumping files similar?
2. Any "gotchas" or weird issues I need to be concerned about? (like lastclip.txt with P2)
3. As far as the camera, I will be borrowing one tomorrow to shoot for a few days so I can become familiar with the menu structure, gammas, frame rates, etc. Once again, coming from an HVX-200/Varicam/HDX-900/XL-H1/Varicam BG, any special issues or things I should be concerned about? I have read all of Adam Wilt's articles and it seems fairly straightforward.
4. I will probably be a camera operator as well as be in charge of media management. I have done this for years with P2 so I know it can be done but I want to make sure that there aren't a lot of surprises.
5. If I have FCP 6.01 on my MBP, will I need any special codecs or plug-ins to work with XDCAM EX footage? What about my MBP, will I need any special drivers to be able to dump SxS cards? If so, do you have a link or does the camera come with the software?
6. Is there anything like P2CMS or P2 Log Pro that will quickly playback SxS card material for verification or do I have keep FCP loaded up and booted for the shoot?

Any advice expecially from HVX to EX-1 users would be appreciated. This project is for broadcast so I need to be totally confident and up to speed.

Thanks for your advice!

Dan

If I'm not mistaken you need the free XDCAM Transfer program to get your files into FCP, it's free and you can download it from Sony's website.

If I'm not mistaken you need the free XDCAM Transfer program to get your files into FCP, it's free and you can download it from Sony's website.
Yes, Mathieu, You are correct, he will need the free software download for FCP6. works like a champ.
Best, Craig

You will need FCP 6.0.2 to have XDCAM EX codec. Update FCP (free).

You'll need free SxS driver from Sony to use Express slot for card transfer.

You'll want free Sony Clip Browser to copy from SxS to Computer. It'll also allow you to split folders from 16GB to 8GB to backup on DL-DVD. With MBP's Express Card slot expect something the 7x real time transfer speed. You don't get that with P2. You can use Clip Browser to log and screen clips without FCP.

Using Clip Browser copies entire BPAV folder structure. You can do this by hand but make sure to put each BPAV in separate folder though. BTW while recording, clips will span over 4GB (for long takes - over 12 minutes or so). Viewing, logging, importing into FCP of spanned clips tends to confuse people but at the Clip Browser stage it should be easy.

BTW, burning to DL-DVD backups (and adding Mac/Windows Clip Browsers) will mean you can give a copy of the Masters to the client to screen after the shoot.

You'll want free Transfer Tool (2.5.1) which can work as standalone and plugin to FCP. This will rewrap the files to MOV for FCP. You may not need to do this on location though since Clip Browser allows you to copy, view, backup clips. Transfer Tool has more logging functions too.

At XDCAM setting 16GB card holds 50-57 minutes. With two cards and transfer many times faster than real time you go on forever (until your hard drive space runs out) with two cards without pause.

You'll like the mic sensitivity controls if you're using mics into camera for audio.

Under/overcrank works in one frame increments from 1 to 60 when shooting 720p. If you shoot in multiple frame rates ( I shoot 1080p30 but often go to 720p24 or 30 to shoot overcrank) you'll like that you can play back the various frame rates you've shot in camera without having to change record frame rate.

While playing back last clip is easy, it'll take a few seconds to switch to full Play Mode (Media) to playback all the clips.

You can split clips in Play Mode (in effect edit and delete bad parts of long camera runs).

XDCAM Downloads from Sony
http://bssc.sel.sony.com/BroadcastandBusiness/markets/10014/xdcamEXdownloads.shtml

FCP 6.0.2 and related downloads
http://www.apple.com/support/finalcutpro/

Hi guys:

Thanks for all of the details and links, I really appreciate it.

Will report back next week how the project went down.

All my best,

Dan