Anyone heard anything? It's been a long time since Q1 2008.

Attended a Sony roadshow last week and was told November for release, then told by the Sony Rep that it would be beginning of 2009!!
Not very satisfactory as I am on Avid and having spent all that money on the U1, I use the camera to ingest.

Anyone heard anything? It's been a long time since Q1 2008.

Still looking at 2009 for the write back to Mac capability.

-gb-

Hey Roddy,

I too am on a Mac running Avid MC 2.8. I bought a U-1 with the hopes of letting my camera get a little rest, but I cannot seem to get Avid to recognize the disk properly. It shows up on the desktop as a hard drive, so Mac is seeing it. But Avid does not see the proper folder structure and will not import the proxies or hi-rez material. Is your U-1 working for import?

Hi Kevin

I am running AVID MC 3.05 with Mojo DX, also FCP/Blackmagic on a separate boot drive.
The problem is how the Mac sees the file structure when using the U1. That's why we are awaiting the new Firmware update for the Mac which will not only allow write back to disc, it will allow the Mac to see the correct file structure needed by Avid to allow import.

The only import I can do at the moment is proxy from U1. The other option is using the XDCAM Transfer software to import Quicktime, but a bit pointless as Avid then converts it back to MXF.

I will say that FCP does Xdcam better than Avid. As with Avid you have to take the whole clip in and don't seem to be able to log partial clips.

I'll stop rambling, hope this helps.

Thanks for confirming what I suspected. I too am only able to import proxies via the U1.
I have Final Cut on my Mac as well but, as you say, it is pointless to import into FCP then re-import into Avid.

I love the XDCAM camera and the workflow concept. Had I known I wanted to stay with Avid, I would have moved to the PC a long time ago. Mac is apparently just an afterthought at Avid.

I have been using Avid since the time you could only get it on a Mac, but it's getting better. Problem is that there are far more PCs out there so the software tends to reflect this, it was the same with P2 in the earlier days, Mac support was poor. Sony is no different, roll on next year.

I was at an event yesterday where they said Feb. 2009. For what it's worth.

Well it's 2009, anyone know of a definite release date for the update for the Mac?

am waiting as much as you!

I have been shooting XDCAM for two years now and I have 3 clients and myself each waiting to buy a 1U as soon as it works with Final Cut....Sony is making me crazy!

Jeffrey, when you looked into it two years ago, did you get the same answer -- "any day now"? :-)

is there still no firmware available? is there no way to use the fcp xdcam export plugin to write back to the u1?

I was just talking with a sony engineer today and was told end of this month/start of Feb. He told me it would be available with in thirty days.

Now last year he told me by the end of 2008 so we'll see if he's right this time.

And it will be Leopard only and only intel macs.

Now last year he told me by the end of 2008 so we'll see if he's right this time.

As early as last June, my Sony contacts were saying Q1 2009. So if they get it done by the end of this month, give or take, then they have hit the time frame I was given.

-gb-

Pdw-u1 - The Digital Video Information Network (http://www.dvinfo.net//conf/showthread.php?t=109243&highlight=PDW-U1)

2 years is a long time in our business.

Just received message from a Sony representative that the software will be available
by the end of June... According to her the delay is caused by the fact that the upgrade
has to be developed by Sony and Apple together. And working together apparantly is
difficult.

I am a PC...

Just downloaded it and it works a treat.

Check out my very brief blog for almost no more information but I promise to update with more tests asap!!!

Philip Bloom Blog Archive XDCAM PDW U1 Mac write back software…finally! (http://philipbloom.co.uk/2009/02/24/xdcam-pdw-u1-mac-write-back-softwarefinally/)

and XDCAM Transfer Tool version 2.9 will be on Sony : XDCAM : United Kingdom (http://www.sonybiz.net/xdcam) in the next few hours.

Can't find it on my usual Sonybiz site? Anyone got a good link?

it's not there yet. I was fortunate enough to get hold of a copy early. The link should be up very soon. i can't say exactly when, but as soon as I know I will let you know...

Alister said that software would be up in the next few hours; I kept clicking every few hours to check.

Then I realised that he posted it on the Sony board... they must be Sony hours. (It's like a football minute.) So I'll check back in a few hours (in PST, that's "April") and see.

It's there now!

I wish the US site would post this soon.

Downloaded it from the UK site... Did the U-1 firmware upgrade. Took a little massaging and a few restarts, but I am successfully writing back to XDCam drive.

Will hold off a few days to make sure everything else is working okay, but thus far... it's a success.

-MW

PSA: You can't record a disk on the F70 after you've written it via the U1.

-MW

Mike, what firmware version do you have on the F70?

I just deleted about 30 clips from the middle of a disk (via U-1) ... And got at least some of that space back! This is amazing!

Hey guys,

I don't have a U1 at the moment. Has anyone tried writing back to the UserData area on the disc? I was hoping the new software would allow clip write back as well as UserData write back for archiving non-MXF data. You'll need a disc formatted in a PDW700 or PDWHD1500 to see the folder at all.

Andy

HD1500 already can store "anydata" on the disk (23gb or 50gb) - U1 not (not yet).

Regards

ULi

Thanks ULi

Jim Venturi lent me a U1 to try this out, thanks Jim. I confirmed that as well. I was able to copy MXF files to the Clips directory and export from FCP directly to the disc. The UserData directory does not show up when the U1 is attached. So data cannot be read or written with the U1.

Andy

It seems that you can delete clips from the middle of a disk, and while you don't get 100% of the space back, you do get a vast majority. How much seems to vary based on a number of factors that I haven't figured out yet.

It seems that when you delete the last clip on a disk via the U-1, you can no longer record on it via the F350. However, when you delete clips out of the middle of the disk, you can still record on the disk via F350.

Is anyone else playing with this?

edit: Nevermind. After upgrading the firmware on the F350, now I can't write back to any disk that has had clips deleted on it. Back to square 1.

It seems that you can delete clips from the middle of a disk, and while you don't get 100% of the space back, you do get a vast majority. How much seems to vary based on a number of factors that I haven't figured out yet.

In order to minimize disc fragmentation, the disc space will only be reclaimed in a minimum of 30 second increments. So, if you delete a 10 second clip, you won't get anything back. It has to total 30 seconds or more.

We had a discussion about this back when they introduced deleting from the middle of the disc.

-gb-

I was unaware this was possible at all. Outside of U1, how else can you delete clips from the middle of a disk?

Thanks ULi

Jim Venturi lent me a U1 to try this out, thanks Jim. I confirmed that as well. I was able to copy MXF files to the Clips directory and export from FCP directly to the disc. The UserData directory does not show up when the U1 is attached. So data cannot be read or written with the U1.

Andy

How about the "General" folder, can you see it with the U1 connected to a Mac? On PCs, you can store 500MB of user data in it.

Thierry.

I was unaware this was possible at all. Outside of U1, how else can you delete clips from the middle of a disk?

On the F350, you can do it a couple ways. But the quick shortcut is to pull up thumbnail view, and select the one you want to delete. Hold shift+reset(lcd). You will get a confirmation screen. It can be done via the clip menu in thumbnail view, but this method is faster IMO.

-gb-

Posted a video on the U1 write back functions. Check it out on our blog -

PDW-U1 Write Back In Action | CineTechnica (http://blog.abelcine.com/2009/03/30/pdw-u1-write-back-in-action/)

Hi Andy can i use the pdw u1 write back function with an old apple G5 dual?
or do i need a new Mac with intel?
Greetings jurgen

Here are the required specs for the new software:

Mac Requirements:
OS: OS X 10.4.10*
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo 1GHz or higher**
Memory: 1 GB or more recommended

So you'll need an Intel Mac for sure.

Has anyone tried writing back XDCam 422 1080p24 files? I have some stuff originally shot on HDCam at 23.98 that I wanted to archive on XD disc as an MXF. Getting an error when I try to write back using that 24p timeline.

error message in U1 Utility Driver alarm log reads:

Unsupported Files (0x89000004) err=-3007 (VFAMAPI_WriteFile)

Looks like 30p will write back just fine. Wondering if anyone else has come across this?

All firmware has been updated. -
XDCam transfer - 2.9
U1 Utility - 2.10
Final Cut 6.0.5

Thanks.

useful video tutorial by Dennis Lennis of tapelessmadeeasy.com here

Tapeless made easy Learn to archive SxS using the PDW-U1 (http://www.tapelessmadeeasy.com/2009/04/learn-to-archive-sxs-using-the-pdw-u1/)

It's a good tutorial, but it does not specify anything about a 24p timeline. Is there a block on the drive as well so that it is incapable of writing 24p files until a "key" is entered?

Thanks,

Jeff Halperin

It's a good tutorial, but it does not specify anything about a 24p timeline. Is there a block on the drive as well so that it is incapable of writing 24p files until a "key" is entered?

The U1 is basially a dumb drive. All the magic happens on the computer side. I'm speculating that they just didn't get that mode implemented in the software as of yet. I will ask about that issue today.

-gb-