Sony PXW-X70 announced: Pro XDCAM version of AX100

[Mike Griffiths]

Sony Catalyst is available! a bit strange but it does work for the X70

[Mike Griffiths]

Originally Posted by Noa Put

Honestly, I have seen better looking downsampled ax100 footage.

I agree, but have you seen the Sony promo where they are blowing glass? that will blow your mind

[Mike Griffiths]

Thanks everyone for the comments on IR. I'm new to Sony, having used Panny cameras for several years now. This test does illustrate the points made. The IR light is weak, not much use but someone will use it
See a VERY short clip

YouTube (Short URL)

[Ron Evans]

I am a little disappointed so far. It does not recognize the Sony MRW-E80 XQD card reader at all which PlayMemories does just fine, it will only display/transfers AVCHD files and does not join these FAT32 flies into m2ts clips so pretty useless for me !! There are icons for files and clips in the lower right of the copy window but the clips icon is greyed out. So hope it is me not using correctly or maybe a future update but as it is it is useless to me. Will stay with using 3 programs ( Playmemories for AX1, Content Management Utility for NXCam AVCHD and PMB for the CX700 stuff). Since there is no driver for Win 8.1 for the MRW-E80 I will see if it works for the AX1 directly connected on my laptop later and report back.

Sony seem to be going backwards in their software. Playmemories has less features than PMB, the original NXCam Content Management Utility for me has more useful features than the newer Content Browser !!!

Ron Evans

[Barry J. Weckesser]

Originally Posted by Mike Griffiths

Sony Catalyst is available! a bit strange but it does work for the X70

About the only thing it does is add clip previews and playback. When you copy it to your hard drive it puts in the whole structure - not just the MXF files - it puts in XML files and if you are copying a group of clips you can't select copy all - you have to go down and individually select every other file (MXF) or organize them according to clip size and only copy the large files (XML files are only a few KB). You cannot drag and drop a group of clips into your NLE (at least not mine - Edius Pro 7). Content Browser was much simpler and more efficient.

[Erwin van Dijck]

Strange piece of software that Catalyst Browser... You can't do much with it.

- transcode to another format must be done clip by clip, rather annoying when you have 300 clips to transcode
- strange way of browsing, not intuitive at all
- adjust color: missing simple things like EXPOSURE or CONTRAST, or things like PRESETS
- when selecting clips I hear loud ticks from my USB audio unit!?! Buggy
- nowhere you can right click and get a nice context sensitive menu with lots of options
- it can copy, wow, but you can already do that with finder or explorer
- still can't open X70 clips with Final Cut
- missing: adjusting the interface, dragging borders, adding or deleting columns
- adding metadata not there
- confusing keyboard functions... delete lets you browse up a level?

This software isn't even for beginners. Let's just say it is a beta version with lots of possibilities for future expansion.

[Ron Evans]

Tried Catalyst on my laptop , Win 8.1, did not recognize my FDR-AX1 but thought it was just an attached USB drive !!! It saw the XAVC-S files when I searched through the directories and would play them. PlayMemories recognizes it as a FDR-AX1 and presents the clips without having to search through the directories. The NX30U was recognized and metadata displayed but not clips just individual FAT32 files. Useless. I will wait to see if a real version appears in a future update.

Ron Evans

[Barry J. Weckesser]

Originally Posted by Erwin van Dijck

Strange piece of software that Catalyst Browser... You can't do much with it.

This software isn't even for beginners. Let's just say it is a beta version with lots of possibilities for future expansion.

I agree completely. If they just could have taken the old Content Browser and made it recognize other codecs than Mpg HD 422. It was all so simple - just have it recognize the SxS from the camera - copy to another file on your video editing drive and then click on that and highlight and drag the thumbnails right into your video editing bin.

I suspect some of the features that people really want will be in Catalyst Prepare at $200 a pop.

[John Woo]

Originally Posted by Gabor Heeres

Earlier on, some people asked for some X70 raw footage. Here are some of the files i shot in the park behind my appartment today:

http://we.tl/XlxyCMBi6U

Please feel free to use, not to publish.

What surprises me the most: The XAVC files are in .MXF format as wrapper, Sony people on the Sony stand at IBC told me it would be .MP4. Furthermore, VLC player doesn't play these XAVC files, hope they come up with an update really soon. Older versions of NLE software neither do cooperate with these files so updating your software is absolutely necessary.

After unzipping the mxf files, I am not able to drag and drop into Sony Vegas 13 timeline. Am I missing something? Please help as I will be ordering 1 soon. thanks

[Josh Bass]

So what do we think of the quality of the footage? On "another forum" they are not impressed, calling it mushy and soft. Yes, I've seen the glass-blowing piece. Yes it looks very nice. What do our members who've got hands on experience think?

[Andrew Smith]

It has potential for great footage. but easily suffers from noticeable noise in shadows and/or low light. Some of the zooming exacerbates this.

I feel that the higher quality XAVC format is slightly wasted on the camera.

You can also hear the zoom servo when zooming quickly.

Probably good value for the price point, though.

Andrew

PS. My experience with the camera is limited to reviewing the test footage that was linked to in an above post.

[Barry J. Weckesser]

Originally Posted by Josh Bass

So what do we think of the quality of the footage? On "another forum" they are not impressed, calling it mushy and soft. Yes, I've seen the glass-blowing piece. Yes it looks very nice. What do our members who've got hands on experience think?

I have limited experience due to time constraints namely my son's Taekwondo class (shot in XAVC-L at 1080 60p) but imo it is every bit as good as my PMW 200 shooting the same material under same lighting conditions. I notice no mushiness - I can read the small lettering on the uniform patches and also the colors are excellent. You do have to pay a little more attention to proper focus with the 1" sensor and DOF consideration but I am pleased with the camera so far.

[Josh Bass]

Would you say those noise issues are worse/better than/equal to that on an EX1? That's a cam I get to use fairly often and have seen the footage in post a lot. In the dark with some gain applied (even 6 db) you can see some minor noise.

[David Dixon]

Now listed as "In Stock" at B&H - for now

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1072752-REG/sony_pxw_x70_professional_xdcam_compact.html

[Ron Evans]

Originally Posted by John Woo

After unzipping the mxf files, I am not able to drag and drop into Sony Vegas 13 timeline. Am I missing something? Please help as I will be ordering 1 soon. thanks

I cannot get them to play in Vegas 12 either but they work fine in Edius Pro 7.

Ron Evans