Tonight I will need to film something longer than 1hr... and I have just two 8gig chips. I'll have my laptop with me. I plan on filming on chip a till its full, then switching to b, pulling a out and dumping the footage....

my question is this.

How is the correct way to 'format' the chip once the footage is off the chip?

I'll copy it to a projectName/footage/chip1 folder. Then once I have verrified the footage is all there, then what? I PROBABLY could get away with stopping filming and going through the menu, but would rather do it the correct way, which I think is via the computer.


THANKS :)

PROVIDED you're using the Clip Browser utility, after having copied the card's contents to you HDD folder just select all clips on the given card and choose delete.

The card is ready for recording - no format necessary.

Also, you don't need to switch the camera from Card A to B - it'll do it automatically. While recording on Card B, have your assistant dump Card A to your PC and re-insert into the camera's slot. It'll switch to it automatically when the Card B is full.... and so on.

This way, you can wrangle your two cards and record without ANY interruption.

I was hoping that was the answer :) (yes i have the clip browser utility).

And have had the auto switch from A to B happen so I'm good with that.

Perfect! Thanks very much for the info!!

I'm glad I could help. Be sure to also read what I wrote in this thread:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=116133

I did that continuosly for 5 hours one time.
No problems at all,except,after rewrapping and before deleting i like to check all the rewrapped footage is on the protable hard-drive,i check with VLC palyer,BUT,VLC doesn't play the 1080/50i SP footage,only the audio,but because of the length of each band,(1 hr),i had to go with that format because i only have 4x8gig cards. 2 cards was just enough to film 1 set,then take out card 1 & 2,insert 3 & 4,rewrap 1 & 2 whilst cam is locked of and recording onto 3 & 4,end of that set,remove 3 & 4,insert 1 & 2, and so on.
One my own for 5 hours one day then 3 hours the next day,,,, i am the king of workflow now !!!.


I find it strange though that clip browser can rewrap to MXF but then can't play them back !!

Paul.

Paul
If you install Snell and Wilcox MXF Desktop then WMP will play MXF clips.

Malcolm

Having just completed 4 days at NAB in the EX NLE workflow pavilion, there is a nifty new piece of software that costs $49, runs on Windows or OSX, and lives to do the dump and go for your SXS cards. It will back up to 3 separate destinations if you want, will verify the data, dump your card, and even unmount the card volume for you so you need only pull it out of the reader and put it back in the camera.

Supposed to be available soon... like real soon.

I have no vested interest, but I demo'd the software for a few booth attendees and it seemed to work as advertised.

-gb-

"a nifty new piece of software"

These days products have some odd names for sure but let me guess the above is not the name.

What is it called and/or who makes/distributes it (when the time comes)?

Where can i get the snell and wilcox software.
It seems i need to fill out some sort of online form to get it,i'll then be contacted by someone in the near future before i can have the software.

Is this software a free download ?

Thanks.


Paul.

Hi Paul
Yes, you fill in the form.
I said I wanted it to see my XDCAM-EX files
The reply was quick.
The download is free. No strings attached.
Malcolm

Having just completed 4 days at NAB in the EX NLE workflow pavilion, there is a nifty new piece of software that costs $49, runs on Windows or OSX, and lives to do the dump and go for your SXS cards. It will back up to 3 separate destinations if you want, will verify the data, dump your card, and even unmount the card volume for you so you need only pull it out of the reader and put it back in the camera.

Supposed to be available soon... like real soon.

I have no vested interest, but I demo'd the software for a few booth attendees and it seemed to work as advertised.

-gb-

Greg,

Thanks for this interesting info. You say it will "even unmount the card volume" - and I have a question connected with just this part (didn't know whom I should ask it, knowing Sony would not answer anyway :))

So, here it goes: when I insert an SxS card into my Sony Vaio ExpressCard reader, it mounts automatically, is very fast when accessed by Vista, and the try icon allows to unmount it for safe removal (I understand that "nifty" software will do it for me).

However, I also am using one of these PCIe->ExpressCard readers in my desktop PC. While very fast, it has problems with just that - i.e. mounting/un-mounting the SxS cards! I mean, in order for the PC to recognize the device I have to cold-reboot my PC with the card in the reader; when I want to replace the card with another one - I need to use Device Manager to uninstall the device first (after I physically removed the SxS card), then (after I inserted another SxS card) I need to use Device Manager again to scan for HW changes; only then will the card be recognized and mounted as a drive again.

I guess what is missing is the SxS driver lacking the functionality to mount/umount the cards; in fact - even with a card recognized and mounted - it's not offered to be "safely removed" at all.

Do you know if there is any chance for this inconvenient behaviour to change in the near future, and whether it's a software only problem?

Has this entire conversation been about using SxS with a PC?

I have the same question regarding Mac? Any suggestions?
I usually don't use the Clip Browser software at all and go directly to XDCAM Transfer in Final Cut Pro.

silly question, you have installed sxs driver onto your pc / mac

paul

silly question, you have installed sxs driver onto your pc / mac

Silly it is not, but you haven't read my post carefully enough:


I guess what is missing is the SxS driver lacking the functionality to mount/umount the cards; in fact - even with a card recognized and mounted - it's not offered to be "safely removed" at all.

Right now this seems to be the only device I see
http://www.synchrotech.com/products-expc/pcie-expresscard-slot-drive_02.html
and you can see their Mac comments regarding having to reboot. I do see the comment about working to resolve Mac related issues.

I just purchased the Sony SxS to USB device because I was tired of using the camera but I'd buy the above in an instant if they got it to work on the Mac without reboot and a cable to an external box something like this modified for external use
http://www.synchrotech.com/products-expc/pcie-expresscard-slot-drive_03.html

Has this entire conversation been about using SxS with a PC?

I have the same question regarding Mac? Any suggestions?
I usually don't use the Clip Browser software at all and go directly to XDCAM Transfer in Final Cut Pro.

"nifty new piece of software" will be available by end of April latest (they responded to my inquiry). It looks like a much better organizational tool than the Sony Clip Browser. It'll be a download only purchase so I don't think this is something one would get through a DVInfo sponsor.

Chris H. can we post the link?


Having just completed 4 days at NAB in the EX NLE workflow pavilion, there is a nifty new piece of software that costs $49, runs on Windows or OSX, and lives to do the dump and go for your SXS cards. It will back up to 3 separate destinations if you want, will verify the data, dump your card, and even unmount the card volume for you so you need only pull it out of the reader and put it back in the camera.

Supposed to be available soon... like real soon.

I have no vested interest, but I demo'd the software for a few booth attendees and it seemed to work as advertised.

-gb-