I have copied the card intact to an attached hard drive; also used shotPut Pro and copied to same.
FCPX will not read. Also attempted to download from mounted card reader (no problem in FC Studio) and FCPX will not read.

I understand the integrity of the entire card must be preserved, but am at a loss right now; Any thoughts are appreciated.
Larry

Does FCPX support the XF codec? I'm told it doesn't.

Apple has not implemented the XF100, 105, 300 and 305 codec recognition.
On their website it says something like: 'You need software from Canon'

So it's the old story again. Nothing works until we get an update from Canon and hopefully the system can work with the files without encoding.

I'm also working with Production Premium CS5.5 and that software can work with almost any TV materials made between 1948 and the present. I'm amazed by the choices Apple made with this software......until now. I hope they will improve it soon.

I have found a workaround; Foxreal Video Converter for $35.00 available from the Mac App store or from their website. Time consuming, but it works well. You can try the trial version, which has a watermark, and then if you purchase the program you need to uninstall the trial version and download the program after you purchase it.

It will have to do until Canon addresses the compatibility issue.

Canon's flavor of MXF has been out well over a year now, other NLEs handle it natively without any trouble at all, Apple is known to have not shared information during development with many if not most 3rd party vendors, and FCP X is a brand new app that is unable to support MXF. I'm not understanding how the responsibility gets laid at Canon's feet?

Here's a link to Canon's XF 305 page that includes a FCP plug-in in the Downloads area:
http://usa.canon.com/cusa/consumer/products/camcorders/professional_camcorders/xf305#DriversAndSoftware
I'm not a Mac user, but I'd assume this doesn't work in FCP X so I guess you'd use your old version to convert.

Hi,

I already posted this is another thread inhere - but well, here it is again :p

I made a solution for the problem, that's both fast, free and lossless - and works for a sensible workflow for me...

You can read the blogpost, including download link on my blog: XfcpX – From Canon XF100 to FCPX – a working flow! – PikaBlog'en - Fotograf Rune Espensen (http://pika.dk/?p=406)


/Cheer

Edit: And no, this is not just another spam post about the Aunsoft/Foxreal Best Converter that is currently cluttering up the internet :-)

Hello Rune-

After the application of your utility to the files, can the .mov files be imported natively by FCPX? Or are they required to be imported as prores 422 files? If they can be used in their native format, must they be copied into the events folder, or can the vids in the events folder be linked to the vids in the master folder? (no duplication of media)

Thanks, this sounds as if you have done Canon and Apple's job for them. No longer a need for the plugin to work with the cameras...

I'm going on heresay here; but I have heard that the free Sony XDCAM MXF to MOV converter works for XDCAM, Nanoflash & Canon XF codecs.

PDZKP1 XDCAM Transfer Software Version 2.12

Sony | Micro Site XDCAM EX (http://pro.sony.com/bbsc/ssr/micro-xdcamexsite/resource.downloads)

Simon, I was told that the audio has syncing issues when the canon files are converted with the Sony software...

Hi,


Sorry for the slow reply here - I thought I would be getting emails when people posted in a subject I replied to. Oh well, guess I have to watch manually.

First off - the Sony XDCAM utility will not play nice with your Audio from the XF100 - I have tested it, and it works fine for video though - so if you need no audio (or record on an external device, like the Zoom 4HN) you could use it.

I suggest my program though - it's better ;-)

In response to Dan's Question:
Once you have processed your MXF's through my program, you'll have a bunch of mov's in your destination folder. They can be read directly into FCPX (New Event -> import files -> select the directory). You could leave it like that - and indeed, FCPX will play nice with them and you can start editing right away. I would recommend, however, that you let FCPX Analyze & Transcode the imported media files - ProRes422 is simply better for NLE than the original mpeg2 stream. The good thing about FCPX though, is that you can start working right away, and it will be transcoding in the background and automatically start using the 422 files, once it is done transcoding.

Be sure you download the latest version, as there are already a few bugfixes in it - like a fix for the audio problem that breaks the Sony software - difference is, I am handling it ;-)

Link again: XfcpX – From Canon XF100 to FCPX – a working flow! – PikaBlog'en - Fotograf Rune Espensen (http://pika.dk/?p=406)

Enjoy.

I don't have this camera but I am trying to convince my superiors to get one...

Anyway, I'm also trying to figure out how to bring the XF codec into Final Cut Pro X natively. The XfcpX programs sounds good but what if you don't have the card structure? Well I found a company that developed a MXF plugin for Quicktime. ( http://www.calibratedsoftware.com/MXFImportDownload.asp ) You can view the MXF files in any Quicktime compatible player. You still can't pull them into FCPX but you can rewrap them in MPEG Streamclip. The plugin does cost $180 (it's on sale now, regular cost is $250) but it has a demo mode. I download a couple of sample clips that I could find and it seems to work well.

You could also do batches through MPEG Streamclip as well.

-- Omar

Hi Omar,

I see no reason why you would not have the card structure to be honest - that's all about your workflow, which, if you are a professional, is going to be the same each time you do anything. Well, except if you download sample clips and want to test it of course ;-)
If you want to test your sample clips for comparison with XfcpX you can just create the structure around the files you download. That way you can compare the quality and the workflow between XfcpX and the 180USD program you refer to.
In order to test it out, create the following folders somewhere on your harddrive (case sensitive):
Masters -> 20000000000000 -> CONTENTS -> CLIPS001 -> Test
then copy your downloaded test files into the "Test" folder and point XfcpX to the "Masters" folder.


Personally, I would not mind spending 180 dollars if that meant a workflow that would let me get to the important part - editing - as fast as possible. To be honest, the 180 dollars solution sounds like it adds more steps to the workflow, including a transcoding in Streamclip you'd have to wait for. With the XfcpX solution, the final transcoding to ProRes422 is, if you choose so, handled in the background by FCPX - but let's you start editing right away.


In the end, you should choose the tool that fits your personal workflow the best, even if it costs you money. If you're a pro, the money spent on utilities should earn itself by having a proper and repeatable workflow.

For some reason I can't get the process to go. I did everything you said but it doesn't seem to do anything. It detects the card structure and I select and click on 1...2...3... Go! and it just moves it over to the left column. I must be missing something... I saw that it created in the destination folder, a folder with the card name (20000000000000) but nothing is inside of it.

With the MPEG Streamclip program, it can transcode but you don't have to. You could just "Save As" and save them as MOV files, which just rewraps and doesn't transcode.

--Omar

Hmm...strange - TBH I just wrote the above from memory ;-)

Could you post a listing of the contents of the "Test" folder?

(Start "terminal" from spotlight, type "cd <the complete path to the Test folder>" hit enter, then type "ls -la" and copy paste the output - no quotes in the above commands)

Macintosh:Test omarquinones$ ls -la
total 1071912
drwxr-xr-x 11 omarquinones staff 374 Aug 24 10:18 .
drwxr-xr-x 3 omarquinones staff 102 Aug 24 10:18 ..
-rw-r--r--@ 1 omarquinones staff 82043464 Aug 15 18:09 AA001601.MXF
-rw-r--r--@ 1 omarquinones staff 52859452 Aug 15 18:09 AA002101.MXF
-rw-r--r--@ 1 omarquinones staff 59072060 Aug 15 18:09 AA004801.MXF
-rw-r--r--@ 1 omarquinones staff 49749564 Aug 15 18:09 AA005001.MXF
-rw-r--r--@ 1 omarquinones staff 55965244 Aug 15 18:09 AA005301.MXF
-rw-r--r--@ 1 omarquinones staff 56009276 Aug 15 18:09 AA005701.MXF
-rw-r--r--@ 1 omarquinones staff 52892220 Aug 15 18:10 AA005801.MXF
-rw-r--r--@ 1 omarquinones staff 84230216 Aug 15 17:32 AA026401.MXF
-rw-r--r--@ 1 omarquinones staff 55971900 Aug 15 17:35 AA028101.MXF

Also, after testing out MPEG Streamclip a little bit more, I noticed that on some clips it introduced some artifacts so I suppose that wouldn't be a good option...
Edit: I take that back... Seems it must be a framerate issue or something. All of the test clips I have are 25p or 50i. When I play back the native MXF I get these artifacts as well. When I go frame by frame they don't appear...

hmm, everything looks right at first sight.

What version of the program are you running? (Is listed in the top bar of program) If you downloaded within the last 24hours all is fine.

Send me your log file and I will take a look at it. It resides in your home directory (/Users/<yourname>) and is called XfcpX.log

Send it to rune (at) pika (dot) dk

If you are recording interlaced, you will ses jagged lines on horizontal movement. Only way to get rid of it, is to deinterlace it - neither XfcpX or a simple rewrap in Streamclip will do that for you; you need a conversion in order to calculate the missing info.
As I mention in my blog, interlacing is, in my view, a thing to be avoided ;-) Solution: Use only "p" modes on your camera ;-)

Thing is the clip I download was shot 25p... I will try and get a log to you here soon.

Thanks,
Omar

I just tried it again and it working now. I downloaded the update from your website. I didn't know that you had updated it.

I looked through everything and it looks really good. I even played back the clip that I had artifacts in and they didn't show up in Quicktime. Really weird.

Anyway, this program is absolutely the way to go. If I can manage to convince my superiors that its time to upgrade our camera(s) then I will be throwing some money your way for this program.

Thanks for all of your help!

--Omar

Looking at the video again and looking at the properties of the video, I see that it sees the video stream as just regular MPEG-2 Camcorder Video. Before it would say that it was XDCAM422. Why is that?

Also I'm only seeing 1 audio channel.

--Omar

Hi Omar,


I am not sure what you used to identify them as XDCAM422. The MXF container has previously and mainly been used by the Sony XDCAM cameras. My guess is, that whatever utility you used, was simply assuming it would be XDCAM HD 422 as, like the Canon XF, it is just an mpeg2 stream, with a pcm audio track wrapped in the same container.
Either way, both the Sony XDCAM HD 422 and the Canon XF is just that, a yuv422 mpeg2 stream embedded in the MXF container - so no worries about "suddenly" seeing it as mpeg2 - it's what it is, in it's core ;-)

About the Audio, you are quite right - there were only one channel in the produced files. I just discovered that myself, yesterday - it seems I introduced a bug with the previous version in handling the audio. The Canon XF does not record a single Stereo track, rather it records 2 distinct mono tracks. It's a subtle, but important, difference. In the process, I lost the secondary (right) track. There's a new version up now on the Blog that fixes this issue.

When I open the clips in Quicktime using that MXF plugin, Quicktime reported it as XDCAM 422. When I open the rewrapped clip from XfcpX in Quicktime, it says MPEG-2 Camcorder Video. Not sure why. When I did the rewrap with MPEG Streamclip, it kept the info as XDCAM 422...

Also when I imported the rewrapped clip from XfcpX into FCPX, it didn't say anything about the codec info, just m2v, which is MPEG2 video...

It says m2v because it is what it is - an mpeg2 stream. So is the Sony XDCAM422 format, no matter what they choose to put around it.
Well, either way it's just meta data - I am embedding no meta data in the resulting .mov file - so you get the "raw" mpeg2 stream in an "empty" .mov container... same same, all the data is there - which is what matters, not the label of the file ;-)
Better meta data handling is on the todo-list though - but to be honest, you probably wont see me embedding a wrongful wrapper tag (Sony XDCAM422 on a Canon XF file) in the resulting .mov ;-)

Oh ok. Thanks for explaining everything to me. Hopefully one day, I will be able to get the XF 100 or 300 and use your program.

Thanks,
Omar

You are welcome. I hope you manage to convince them - they are wonderful cam's ;-)