With my Z1U I used Adobe Bridge CS3 to preview, keyword and catalog its footage. Now I've got a EX1R and am using a Win7 Adobe CS5 suite machine. I liked Bridge for cataloging and seaching by keywords, but Bridge CS5 won't preview XDCAM-EX .MP4s without buying an external codec (unless I'm missing something?). I use Sony XDCAM Browser 1.10 to transfer the footage, and the preview is great, but there is no keyword creation and search capability (again, unless I'm missing something).

What do you suggest/use for previewing, cataloging, keywording, and searching your XDCAM-EX footage?

TIA,

Bruce...

Well, thought I'd post my research findings anyway.

Sony XDCAM Browser 1.10 (1.1.0.231)
Pros: Creates thumbnails and will preview clips as-is. Can add Titles and Description text to clips. Can then "Find" with search criteria in those fields.
Cons: Doesn't seem to drag-n-drop import the .MP4s directly into Premiere CS5 correctly (throws an import error). Can't selectively add or append to the description (eg. already have descriptions on 10 clips, want to add a new keyword to 5 of them).

Adobe Bridge CS5 (4.0.4.2)
Pros: Very nice keywords capability with multiple search options and ability to selectively add or append keywords. Will correctly drag-n-drop import into Premiere CS5
Cons: Can't get thumbnails or preview within Bridge without buying the two Calibrated Software codecs for $200. I can preview outside of Bridge using either VLCPlayer, MediaPlayer Classic, or WMP after installing the K-Lite Codec Pack 7.0 Basic, but would still not get thumbnails.

CatDV - Looks like it might be a nice catalogging system, but you still have to buy the Calibrated Software codecs to use it with XDCAM-EX .MP4s, so you're looking at $89 +$200 just for the basic version.


Bruce...