Mac to PC, PC to mac video footage transfer issues at DVinfo.net

Tyson Persall · June 19th, 2007, 02:43 AM

I am wondering in the newer Intel macs will read NTFS files - .AVI files that were captured on a PC in adobe premiere? -and then allow you to edit in Adobe Premiere pro CS3 for mac?

If this was true it would solve all our problems.

My friend and I make films together -and were always at wits end because he wants to edit on Mac and I want to edit on PC, and we both have investments in editing gear for both... but when we do a film together we want to be able to both edit the same film on separate computers. -2 editors can get more done faster.

Mike Moncrief · June 19th, 2007, 04:32 AM

Hello,

I have captured AVI files using DV Rack on a PC.. And then have moved the firewire drive to the Mac and imported them into FCP to edit with.. Without any problems.. Keep in mind that I believe the Mac will read a drive using NTSF, but will not write to it..

Mike M

Richard Alvarez · June 19th, 2007, 08:00 AM

If you want truly seamless compatiblity, the ability to move quickly back and forth, import timelines, clips, transitions and effects without having to convert or transcode.

You HAVE to be on the same NLE. I know you can do this with AVID. I'm not sure how Premiere handles it now that they are cross platform.

Dave Lammey · June 19th, 2007, 11:29 AM

I create "Microsoft DV AVI" files with my Canopus DVStorm/Premiere 6.0 system, and can easily import them into FCP on my MBP. I can't import "Microsoft AVI" or "Canopus DV" files, presumably because they have something specific to the Canopus codec that the Mac can't read. But if it's a sufficiently generic AVI like the "Microsoft DV AVI", that imports fine from a NTFS hard drive.

I don't think you can go the other way, though ... the Mac can't write to an NTFS drive, and a Mac-formatted drive can't be read by a PC.

Giroud Francois · June 19th, 2007, 11:49 AM

there are several softwares allowing mac drives to be used on a pc.
(MacDrive ?)

Tyson Persall · June 19th, 2007, 12:06 PM

Yes... but Im more specifically worried that if i have a long video file - an AVI that is (for example) - 16GB - that the MAC wont be able to use it in the edit. Any time i have captured video on a MAC the footage has been broken down into 2GB segments that make up the entire 16gb file.

Mike Moncrief · June 19th, 2007, 05:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tyson Persall

Yes... but Im more specifically worried that if i have a long video file - an AVI that is (for example) - 16GB - that the MAC wont be able to use it in the edit. Any time i have captured video on a MAC the footage has been broken down into 2GB segments that make up the entire 16gb file.

Was the footage captured on a a drive that was formatted on a PC?? If so it was probably formatted using the Fat 32 file system.. Which has a 2 GB limit on file size..

Once again, if you capture it using Premiere, Vegas, DV Rack etc.. and the firewire drive was formatted using the PC NTFS file system.. It will be fine.. With the caveat that on the Mac you can read from a PC drive that is NTFS on a Mac, but not write to that drive.. If the drive was formatted using FAT32, then you can read and write to it using the Mac..with the reminder of the 2 GB file size limit..

One thing you can do is to capture using your PC system(with NTFS file system), and then connect the drive to your Mac, and copy all the files to one of your Mac Firewire or SATA drives,, and all should work fine..

Mike M.

Gene Crucean · June 20th, 2007, 09:03 AM

As far as hard drive setup goes, the best way (imo) is to format all storage drives as HFS+ and use macdrive on all PC's that will need access. That way every computer can read and write to the drives without any limitations.

The main variable (and main question) is if can you capture on either system and have both OS's read the videos. From my experience that's a big NO without quite a bit of re-encoding and hassle, not to mention duplicate files. But, the thing I'm not sure about is how Premiere Pro CS3 will handle this being that it's available on both OS's. It might be able to read some format that's compatible on both. Maybe do a little research on that end.

Hope that helps a little.

Oh, also keep in mind that it's fairly easy to transfer video as image sequences which are very cross platform. Just an idea.

Tim Holtermann · June 20th, 2007, 10:31 AM

FCP 6 will not read my m2t files directly.

I don't want to have to re-encode them to a different format creating another compression pass. Does someone have a way to edit their m2t files directly with FCP 6?

According to the documentation FCP 6 support JVC Pro 720p 24 but it doesn't read the native m2t files.

Thoughts?

Tyson Persall · June 20th, 2007, 08:40 PM

Will Premiere CS3 for Mac use Quicktime DV files like Final cut pro does?

Christian Brown · April 25th, 2011, 01:23 PM

Bump.

Another videographer is trying to provide me HD footage from an uninterrupted event. He shoots on tape and edits on Mac. I shoot on SD cards and edit on PC. I have a FAT32 drive that can be read by both Macs and PCs. However, the file size limit in FAT32 is 4GB.

**Is there a way to tell FCP to automatically break up a tape (based on size or length) into smaller chunks when capturing?

Kevin McRoberts · April 25th, 2011, 02:44 PM

Is there any reason he can't ship you a tape?

Alternately, you could use a compression/achival program (zip. rar. etc) to wrap and split the video into bite-sized morsels.

Bart Walczak · April 26th, 2011, 03:04 AM

The fastest and surest way would be to either you get a PC driver for Mac filesystem like MacDrive or your client to get a Mac driver for NTFS filesystem like Tuxera.

Gerald Webb · April 27th, 2011, 04:19 AM

Hi to all,.
I'm running Windows 7 and OSX Lion on the one machine, I convert all my files now to Avid DnxHD ( normally do it on the Mac side overnight.)
All my Data drives are NTFS and I have NTFS-3g installed on OSX.
I can edit in Vegas on the Windows side, and Premiere on the Mac side without changing the files in any way.
As of a few weeks ago, I can now use Cineform files the same way.
I'm just hoping when Final Cut X comes out I can do the same.

June 19th, 2007, 02:43 AM	#1
Tyson Persall Major Player Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: North Hollywood, Atlanta Posts: 437	Mac to PC, PC to mac video footage transfer issues I am wondering in the newer Intel macs will read NTFS files - .AVI files that were captured on a PC in adobe premiere? -and then allow you to edit in Adobe Premiere pro CS3 for mac? If this was true it would solve all our problems. My friend and I make films together -and were always at wits end because he wants to edit on Mac and I want to edit on PC, and we both have investments in editing gear for both... but when we do a film together we want to be able to both edit the same film on separate computers. -2 editors can get more done faster. __________________ Tyson X

June 19th, 2007, 04:32 AM	#2
Mike Moncrief Major Player Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: orlando florida Posts: 426	Hello, I have captured AVI files using DV Rack on a PC.. And then have moved the firewire drive to the Mac and imported them into FCP to edit with.. Without any problems.. Keep in mind that I believe the Mac will read a drive using NTSF, but will not write to it.. Mike M __________________ Mike Moncrief mikemoncrief@gmail.com www.themikemoncrief.com

June 19th, 2007, 12:06 PM	#6
Tyson Persall Major Player Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: North Hollywood, Atlanta Posts: 437	Can Mac read files over 2GBs? Yes... but Im more specifically worried that if i have a long video file - an AVI that is (for example) - 16GB - that the MAC wont be able to use it in the edit. Any time i have captured video on a MAC the footage has been broken down into 2GB segments that make up the entire 16gb file. __________________ Tyson X

June 20th, 2007, 08:40 PM	#10
Tyson Persall Major Player Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: North Hollywood, Atlanta Posts: 437	Quicktime DV or Microsoft DV AVI Will Premiere CS3 for Mac use Quicktime DV files like Final cut pro does? __________________ Tyson X

April 25th, 2011, 01:23 PM	#11
Christian Brown Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Washington, DC Posts: 194	Re: Mac to PC, PC to mac video footage transfer issues Bump. Another videographer is trying to provide me HD footage from an uninterrupted event. He shoots on tape and edits on Mac. I shoot on SD cards and edit on PC. I have a FAT32 drive that can be read by both Macs and PCs. However, the file size limit in FAT32 is 4GB. **Is there a way to tell FCP to automatically break up a tape (based on size or length) into smaller chunks when capturing? __________________ http://artslaureate.com/, http://facebook.com/ArtsLaureate http://www.christianamonson.com/

June 19th, 2007, 08:00 AM	#3
Richard Alvarez Inner Circle Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: San Mateo, CA Posts: 3,840	If you want truly seamless compatiblity, the ability to move quickly back and forth, import timelines, clips, transitions and effects without having to convert or transcode. You HAVE to be on the same NLE. I know you can do this with AVID. I'm not sure how Premiere handles it now that they are cross platform.

June 19th, 2007, 11:29 AM	#4
Dave Lammey Major Player Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Simsbury, CT Posts: 247	I create "Microsoft DV AVI" files with my Canopus DVStorm/Premiere 6.0 system, and can easily import them into FCP on my MBP. I can't import "Microsoft AVI" or "Canopus DV" files, presumably because they have something specific to the Canopus codec that the Mac can't read. But if it's a sufficiently generic AVI like the "Microsoft DV AVI", that imports fine from a NTFS hard drive. I don't think you can go the other way, though ... the Mac can't write to an NTFS drive, and a Mac-formatted drive can't be read by a PC.

June 19th, 2007, 11:49 AM	#5
Giroud Francois Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: switzerland Posts: 2,133	there are several softwares allowing mac drives to be used on a pc. (MacDrive ?)

June 20th, 2007, 09:03 AM	#8
Gene Crucean Major Player Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 295	As far as hard drive setup goes, the best way (imo) is to format all storage drives as HFS+ and use macdrive on all PC's that will need access. That way every computer can read and write to the drives without any limitations. The main variable (and main question) is if can you capture on either system and have both OS's read the videos. From my experience that's a big NO without quite a bit of re-encoding and hassle, not to mention duplicate files. But, the thing I'm not sure about is how Premiere Pro CS3 will handle this being that it's available on both OS's. It might be able to read some format that's compatible on both. Maybe do a little research on that end. Hope that helps a little. Oh, also keep in mind that it's fairly easy to transfer video as image sequences which are very cross platform. Just an idea.

June 20th, 2007, 10:31 AM	#9
Tim Holtermann Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2006 Posts: 184	FCP 6 will not read my m2t files directly. I don't want to have to re-encode them to a different format creating another compression pass. Does someone have a way to edit their m2t files directly with FCP 6? According to the documentation FCP 6 support JVC Pro 720p 24 but it doesn't read the native m2t files. Thoughts?

April 25th, 2011, 02:44 PM	#12
Kevin McRoberts Major Player Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Charlottesville, VA Posts: 700	Re: Mac to PC, PC to mac video footage transfer issues Is there any reason he can't ship you a tape? Alternately, you could use a compression/achival program (zip. rar. etc) to wrap and split the video into bite-sized morsels. __________________ Freelance pudgy bearded lighting camera operator www.mcbob.tv

April 26th, 2011, 03:04 AM	#13
Bart Walczak Major Player Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Warsaw/Poland Posts: 716	Re: Mac to PC, PC to mac video footage transfer issues The fastest and surest way would be to either you get a PC driver for Mac filesystem like MacDrive or your client to get a Mac driver for NTFS filesystem like Tuxera. __________________ Creative Impatience - The Solace of Simple Solutions. A few useful plugins for Adobe users, and my remarks on the tools and the craft in general.

April 27th, 2011, 04:19 AM	#14
Gerald Webb Trustee Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Central Coast Australia Posts: 1,046	Re: Mac to PC, PC to mac video footage transfer issues Hi to all,. I'm running Windows 7 and OSX Lion on the one machine, I convert all my files now to Avid DnxHD ( normally do it on the Mac side overnight.) All my Data drives are NTFS and I have NTFS-3g installed on OSX. I can edit in Vegas on the Windows side, and Premiere on the Mac side without changing the files in any way. As of a few weeks ago, I can now use Cineform files the same way. I'm just hoping when Final Cut X comes out I can do the same. __________________ http://vimeo.com/livewebvideo